Hey guys sorry for the long wait, pregnancy has been kicking my muses butt! I will update soon with this one and the others since I am due in 20 days so bare with me.

Thank you all for the support. Stay Blessed!

Mercedes awoke to laughing and momentarily forgot where she was. Sitting up in the bed she noticed Sam was gone, she heard the laugh again and realized it was Sam talking to someone. As curious as she was to see who he was talking too, she didn't want to go out looking a mess with bed head. Grabbing a quick shower, put on her lavender sun dress and ruffled her hair. She decided to forgo makeup and walked out the room heading for the kitchen. She smiled seeing Sam standing over the stove cooking while talking to a man who was basically the older version of himself. She cleared her throat and two pairs of green eyes met her. Sam wiped his hands on his jeans, turning down the stove and walking towards her.

Placing a soft kiss on her lips he pulled her close and walked over to the man. "Merce this is my dad, dad this is the love of my life."

Dwight stood extending his hand to her as Sam went back to the stove. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sam has been telling me all about you."

"Its a pleasure to meet you sir."

"Sam has just been filling me in on your situation."

Mercedes frowned. "I am sorry he had to call you in on this, sorry I got him involved."

Sam was about to speak but his father beat him to it. "Sweetie, Sam is the product of two very generous and outgoing people. He was raised by the strongest woman I know. He has a great head on his shoulder and honestly there would be nothing you can do to stop him. Even if he wasn't in love with you, he would still be trying to do all he can to save you, protect you. I see how he feels about you, just in his words. So there is no need to apologize to me for him calling me in. Your ex is a rotten son of a bitch, excuse my french. And its bad enough he threatened your life, but for him to come after my son, well now its personal."

Mercedes nodded silently thinking over what he said to her. He held out her chair and she moved to sit next to him. He cleared his throat. "Ok so lets get the work out of the way so I can spend some much needed time with my son. What exactly happened between you and your ex?"

Mercedes sighed looking to Sam before turning towards Dwight. "I didn't want to marry him, and even if he denies it, he has always known it. I met him when i was 16 and I knew right away he was not the one for me, he pursued me for a few years and after my dad found out who he was, he encouraged me to date him. Our families merging made my dad richer than he ever imagined. And I was the one who had to keep it going for him and my mom. I never wanted to marry him, but my parents guilted me into it. They convinced me that I was making the right choice. I married Brad and honestly at first it wasn't so bad. He wasn't so bad. We actually got along quite well. Mostly because he spent alot of his time, learning the business from his dad. So I got to be alone. I cooked and cleaned and that was enough for me. As long as we were not together I was fine. But then he started getting overwhelmed and I became his punching bag. I fought back I did, but it just made him angrier. I tried to leave but my parents threatened to disown me, so I saved and saved until I was able to leave. He has a bad temper, and I am not gonna lie I was terrified of him. But I knew I needed to get away.

Sam helped me, he helped me break free of Brad and find my voice. But Brad found me and he tried to kill me, if it wasn't for Sam he would have succeeded. I owe your son my life and I can never repay that. I can't let Brad continue to hurt me or that man I love so if you can help us, if you can help me I would be grateful."

Dwight took her hand in his. "Consider it done. I can see you love my son.`And the fact that you are engaged makes you family."

Sam placed the plates in front of Mercedes and his dad and smiled. "Time to eat. Now I am not as great a chef as Mercedes, but I can throw some things together."

Mercedes smiled as Sam sat next to her. She finally felt relaxed and was beyond grateful for Sam and his father.

Jesse had been putting off meeting up with Rachel, he knew he was supposed to get rid of her but he just couldn't do it. He wasn't Brad, yes he wasn't a good guy but Murder wasn't something he could do. That is why when he saw what Brad was doing to Mercedes he stopped him. He couldn't be a party to such things no matter how much he was getting paid. He finally came up with a plan that would both spare him from having to hurt her and save her from being killed by Brad. He would move her away, far away and have her set up everything while he found his way out of Brad's control. She was worth starting over for and there was no way he was going to end her.

Walking up to her door he stopped in his tracks seeing it was slightly ajar. Glancing around he slowly pushed his way into her apartment and the sight before him chilled him to the core. Everything was tossed around like there had been a struggle. He made his way further into the apartment and immediately fell to his knees at the sight. Rachel was bloodied and bruised laying on the ground. Tears filled his eyes as he reached over to her praying to find a pulse. His eyes closed as he felt her wrist, holding his breath until the soft treading made him exhale. She had a pulse. She may have been barely alive but she was alive.

Not thinking at all he picked her up and carried her out to his car, taking her to the hospital and praying she could be healed. He knew Brad had something to do with this. Brad must have realized that Jesse wouldn't do it, couldn't do it and he hired someone else to handle it. Rachel was paying for his mistakes and it made him sick to his stomach. He knew he couldn't go with the police with all he knew about Brad, without taking himself down too.

Jesse sat at her bedside waiting for her to regain consciousness, he needed to apologize and needed her to know how sorry he was. He heard her stir and glanced over to her wanting more than anything to erase all the bruises on her face.

"What happened?"

"I am so sorry baby, I am so sorry."

"Jesse?"

Jesse felt tears come to his eyes. He couldn't stop the confession that fell from his lips.

"This is all my fault. I got you hurt, I got Mercedes killed. I am so sorry please forgive me say you forgive me."

Rachel looked at Jesse and frowned. "Mercedes? Mercedes isn't dead." She said groggily. Jesse glanced up at her his eyes widened in surprise.

"What?"

"I had just hung up with Sam when a man bust through my door and attacked me for no reason. Jesse you said this was your fault?"

"Yes but I swear I am gonna fix it. I am gonna fix it now. I will be right back baby."

Kissing her forehead he walked out the room, not before grabbing her phone and placing a call to get his plan in motion. Brad would pay, he would make sure of it.

Sam and his dad worked on a pan as Mercedes tried to busy herself around the condo. She knew they would be returning to home soon and everything would hit a head when they did. She needed this to be over, all of it. The part she played as well as Brad's. She should have been stronger. Told her parents no when they came to her, but instead she went along with it. She married him. Gave herself to him even though it made her sick. The things he did to her horrified her but the way her mother took his side, the way her father stayed silent, that broke her down to her core. There had to be a way to stop Brad once and for all. Had to be a way to turn all the negative into a positive.

She heard Sam's phone ring and walked over to the nightstand noticing Rachel was calling. She hesitated picking it up but thought it could be an emergency.

"Hello? Rachel?"

She heard someone inhale deeply.

"Hello?"

"Um is this Mercedes. Mercedes Jones?"

"Who is this?"

There was a long pause and she was close to hanging up when he finally spoke again.

"My name is Jesse and we need to talk."