Beautifully Unbroken

by D. M. Brittle

  “I swear I will never keep anything from you again. I promise,” I said as I turned in his arms. Water lapped over the sides as I nestled as close as I could get to him.

  “Every time I think of how you must have felt, it kills me,” he said. “Don’t ever keep anything from me again, Jo,” he said sadly. I looked up into his eyes; they were saddened. “I thought you were dead,” he said. “When I heard you scream and the phone cut off …” He scrunched his eyes tight as he remembered the pain. When they reopened, they were full of unshed tears. “I thought you were gone. Just like the night at the club. I have mentally lost you twice now, Jo, and I can’t even explain to you how that feels. But it’s made me sure of one thing.”

  “What?”

  “I am never, ever, going to lose you again. After everything that has happened today, the past two weeks, since I first met you even, I never, ever, want to experience life without you in it again.”

  I sat up and straddled his lap, taking his face into my hands. “I am so sorry,” I said before kissing him. “So, so sorry.” Our mouths clashed as all of the anger, hurt, and love that we both shared came spilling out at once. His hands tightened on my waist as his erection started to press against me.

  A loud knock at the door startled us both. “That’s going to be the police,” Blake said, watching me carefully. “Everything is going to be fine, Jo. I promise.” Blake climbed out of the bath and hurried through to the bedroom to change. I climbed out slowly a few moments later. I still hadn’t managed to tell Blake about the baby. I had tried, I really had wanted to tell him, but the words found it impossible to leave my lips. I made myself a promise that no matter what, once the police were gone this time, I would tell Blake about the baby.

  My body was already shaking before the police had even told us anything. Once dressed, I headed to the kitchen, where Blake, Detective Grayson (who was leading the investigation), and two different officers that had been at my apartment earlier were all seated around the dining table.

  “Miss Summers,” Detective Grayson greeted me. “How are you feeling?”

  I nodded. “Okay. Have you found something?”

  Detective Grayson looked from me to Blake before focusing his attention back to me.

  “Miss Summers, I’m not sure exactly how to tell you this.”

  “What is it?” I asked nervously. Blake immediately took my hand as he sat next to me.

  “In your statement,” he said as he opened the folder and began reading through the text, “you mentioned a Cooper Henderson?” I nodded in response. “You say he was with you and pulled you from the road as the car approached you at speed.”

  “Yes, he saved me,” I answered, confused. “Why?”

  “We ran a check on the car that has been pursuing you. The car was rented out two weeks ago from a hire company right here in New York.”

  “Okay,” I said, “so you have the name of the person that hired the car from them then,” I stated.

  “Yes, Miss Summers, we do. I’m afraid that the person who hired that car two weeks ago was Cooper Henderson.”

  “What?” I laughed. “You must be mistaken. Or there must be another Cooper Henderson here in New York. I mean, that’s possible, isn’t it? It can’t be the Cooper I know; how could it be? If he wanted me dead, he wouldn’t have saved me from the car.” I looked from Detective Grayson to Blake. “He wouldn’t have done that; I know him!” I said loudly as everyone else remained quiet.

  “Miss Summers. We have a match on MR Henderson’s identity. But I’m afraid there is more. MR Henderson wasn’t working alone. It seems that he has been working alongside somebody else, who wanted you dead.

  “That bastard!” Blake slammed his fist to the table. “I should have killed him when I had the fucking chance.”

  “We’ve seen this before. Cooper would befriend you; find out what you’re doing, where you’re going, etc. But the whole time, he would be reporting back to whoever else was responsible, planning their next move.”

  “He saved my life,” I said quietly as tears started rolling down my face. “He was my friend; he saved my life.”

  I felt Blake’s grip tighten on me. “Have you arrested him?”

  “Shortly after we discovered that MR Henderson had hired the car, some of our officers went to his apartment to arrest him. He wasn’t there. They did a sweep of his apartment and found numerous pieces of evidence that suggest he had been working alongside a female. Immediately, calls were put out to every officer in the area to keep an eye out for either the black SUV or indeed Cooper’s own vehicle.”

  “So you haven’t gotten him yet?” Blake asked angrily. “He is still out there?”

  “Please, MR Mackenzie, let me finish. Cooper was spotted shortly after, heading southbound on Route 33. There were two people in the car, so our officers gave chase.”

  “Thank God,” I said, feeling the relief that they had obviously found him before he could hurt me again.

  “MR Henderson continued to drive, at speed. He had no intention of surrendering to us.”

  “So he got away,” Blake said bluntly.

  “MR Henderson lost control of his vehicle. He spun off the road at speed and hit a tree.”

  “Is he okay?” I asked quietly.

  “I’m afraid MR Henderson died instantly from the impact.”

  I gasped. My whole body shuddered with shock. Cooper, who had saved my life only a few days ago, the man who had been one of the closest friends that I had made since arriving in New York, the person who had made me feel safe in Blake’s absence, had been the person who wanted me dead. Feeling the bile rising rapidly in my throat I scraped my chair back from underneath me and ran to the bathroom. My stomach emptied its entire contents into the toilet until all I could do was heave, and even then I didn’t feel finished. Cooper was dead. I couldn’t accept that he had died while being chased by the police for attempting to murder me. It must have all somehow been a mistake. They must have had the wrong person, the wrong car, the wrong Cooper. He had saved me. Cooper had saved my life.

  I felt Blake’s warm hands on my shoulders as I finished washing my face. Immediately I turned in his arms and buried my head into his chest.

  “He didn’t deserve to die,” I whispered.

  “He tried to kill you, Jo,” he said gently. I shook my head against his chest. “Why would he save me if he wanted me dead? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know.” Blake placed his lips to my head and inhaled a deep breath. “Detective Grayson said he has something else he needs to talk to you about.”

  “What else could he possibly have to say to me?”

  “The other person. They have her under protective custody in the hospital.”

  “Are you ready to go back out?” I nodded even though I wasn’t ready to go back out to face Detective Grayson and his team. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide from the world for the rest of my life.

  “Blake held my hand as we rejoined the officers at the dining table.

  “Miss Summers, I understand this is a massive shock for you. I’m sorry.”

  I forced a smile. “It’s okay. Can you tell me about the other person? Do I know her too?”

  Again Detective Grayson looked from Blake to me. “You do know her, Miss Summers, yes.”

  My mind went into overdrive wondering at whose name he was going to pull out. Everything up until now had been so unbelievable, so this would certainly come as no shock what so ever but deep down, I knew exactly who this was. I had asked Cooper to look into Sara for me, to find out her whereabouts and what she had been up to. He had told me that she was still in rehab, still getting all of the help that she needed to get better. That help was obviously coming from Cooper.

  “It’s Sara McDonnell, isn’t it?”

  “I’m afraid so, Miss Summers, yes.” I felt the anger boil inside me for allowing myself to become such an easy target for her. “Was she ever in rehab? Was she ever getting help? Or was she a
fter me the whole time?”

  Detective Grayson flicked through the notes he held in front of him. “Miss McDonnell was admitted to Greenfields Clinic July nineteenth. She discharged herself only two days later. Her mom hasn’t seen or heard from her since that day. On raiding MR Henderson’s apartment, we found substantial evidence that she had resided with him since discharging herself from the clinic.”

  I placed my hand over my mouth in disbelief. “He knew all along that she wanted me dead, didn’t he? He knew and he helped her.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Detective Grayson replied. “There is one more thing.”

  I sighed heavily. “What?”

  “We have Miss McDonnell in protective custody in hospital. If she recovers, she will be going away for a hell of a long time.”

  “Good,” Blake said sharply.

  “She has asked if you would see her.”

  “No way,” Blake yelled as he stood from the table and ran his fingers through his hair. “Jo has been through enough; there is no way she is stepping foot anywhere near that crazy bitch.”

  “Miss Summers?”

  I looked up at Blake before turning my attention back to Detective Grayson. “I never got to speak to the last person who tried to kill me. She committed suicide two days before she was due to start her trial.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.”

  “I want to see her. I want to see Sara.”

  “No,” Blake said firmly before sitting back down next to me. “She is dangerous, Jo. Please don’t do this,” he pleaded.

  “I need to. I need to know why, what made her want to actually kill me. I need to know. I could have asked Cooper, only he’s dead now.” I shrugged. “When can I see her?” I asked.

  “I’ll call forward now, see what we can do.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered before standing and walking through to the bedroom. I could hear Blake talking to the officers as I closed the door behind me and sat on the edge of the bed. My mind went to Cooper, my friend who had died at the hands of Sara. I wouldn’t, however, allow myself to grieve for him. Everything that he had said and done to me had been a complete lie. The one thing that I could sit here and allow myself, though, was pride. I had lived the past four and a half years scared and running. I had always associated happiness with pain. Yet out of everyone who had ever tried to hurt me, I was the one that was seated here now with a future ahead of me. They had tried and failed to ruin me. I always believed that running would save me. I had run from London to New York only to experience it all again. I had tried to run from New York, but Blake hadn’t allowed it. I had been left alone for almost two weeks while Blake worked away. I had been in the presence of those who wanted me dead, yet I had survived. I had been forced to face my fears without even realizing it, and Cooper had died and Sara was under protection in hospital. I had won. Every single battle I had been faced with, I had won. Suddenly I had no fear any more. Nothing and no one could ever hurt me again. With that in mind, I pulled myself off the bed and headed to the wardrobe. I had a few things I needed to tell Sara, and I wouldn’t be holding back.

  21

  Blake had tried to talk me out of seeing Sara right up until the moment that we stood outside of her hospital room door, but I was not going to give in this time. This was something that I needed to do; I had questions that needed answers – answers that only she held the key to.

  Blake had wanted to come in with me; he was afraid that I would crumble if I tackled this alone. But this was for me; I needed this. I needed to see how badly she was suffering because of the pain that she had caused to so many people.

  Seeing Sara lying there fighting for her life while her body was wired up to so many different machines reminded me so much of when I lost my dad. The beeping of one machine echoed from the pumping of another. I was unsure whether my nausea came from the memory of losing my dad only three months prior, or from the baby that I was now looking after inside of me that Blake was yet to know about. But there was one thing that I did know for sure: the only difference between my dad and Sara was that my dad never deserved to die.

  “What are her chances of pulling through?” I asked the nurse that was currently topping up a drip that was being driven straight into Sara’s arm. The nurse looked to Sara, who nodded painfully before her eyes rested back on me.

  “She has internal bleeding that we are finding very difficult to control. The next twenty-four hours are crucial. I nodded and stepped forward to Sara’s bedside as the nurse left the room.

  “Why did you call me here?” I said bluntly “So I can see how shit you look and feel guilty for the rest of my life? What?”

  “I needed to tell you that I’m sorry.” Her voice was strained; the pain was evident in her body with every breath that she took. But in this moment; I didn’t care. “Cooper begged me not to hurt you. Once he knew what I was doing, he asked me to leave you alone; I swear he had nothing to do with this. I used him. Just to get to you, I used him.” Even her sobs sounded painful. “I’m so sorry, Jo.”

  “Are you sorry that Cooper died, or that I survived?”

  “I never meant for any of this to happen. It got out of control. I got out of control, and now …” she cried.

  “And now Cooper is dead,” I spat out. “He is dead because of you.” Charging forward, I had to stop myself from hurting her. My hands clung tightly to the sheets on her bed. “How do you feel knowing that you are responsible for the death of the only person who was willing to put up with your shit? You killed him!” I yelled. My body shook from the adrenalin that was running through my veins. If I could have got away with it, I would have put my hands around her neck and choked the last bit of life right from her. But she didn’t deserve to die. She didn’t deserve an easy way out of this.

  “Why did you do this?” I whispered. “Why did you want to hurt me? I have never done anything to hurt you; why did you want to hurt me?”

  Sara took a deep, shaky breath. “Because you’re everything that I wanted to be,” she said quietly.

  “Don’t patronize me! I have had a lifetime of being scared of people like you, feeling intimidated by people like you! I have run, over and over again. I run because that is the only way I could ever learn to deal with people like you. Not anymore. I deserve to be happy. I deserve a good life! I don’t deserve to feel as though I am the one who is in the wrong when I never have been! This ends, and it ends right now.”

  “If I could go back,” Sara said, “If I could have seen just how out of control I was, I swear to you I would have stopped before it was too late, I never wanted anyone to die, I swear to you Jo, you have to believe me, I just wanted someone to love me, to show me how much they cared; just how Cooper and Blake both loved and cared for you.” I leaned towards Sara, my face only inches from hers.

  “Do you have any idea what you have put me through? Can you even imagine how Cooper’s family is feeling right now?”

  “I’m sorry Jo, I am so so sorry. Please … please, forgive me.”

  “Never,” I shot back, “I will never ever forgive you or Cooper for any of this, and you know what? I hope you don’t die. Death would be too good for you. Instead I want you to survive this; I want you to get better and go to trial for everything that you put me through and for killing Cooper. I want you to rot in a tiny prison cell for the rest of your life. That is what I want, but one thing I will never ever do, is forgive you.”

  Sara’s eyes focused on me, and I could see the fear in them. I could see that she was more scared about living than of her body giving up on her right now. “I am going to go. I am going to walk out of this room with my head held high, knowing that no matter what, I didn’t choose the path that you took. You did that all by yourself. Goodbye, Sara.” I didn’t look back as I left the room and walked straight into Blake’s arms. Now I was finally ready to begin my happy ever after.

  Blake didn’t ask what words passed between Sara and me in the hospital room, but I sensed that
he could see the satisfaction that I felt from seeing her. I could even see it myself when I stood and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror; it was as though years of heartache and fear had evaporated from my body. It was either that or what I had read to be a pregnancy glow. But I felt different too. I finally felt free to feel happy without guilt or fear. It had taken almost five years and the deaths of both Imogen and Cooper for me to realize that none of it had ever been my fault. I would always remember this from that day forward. We all choose our own paths in life; no one but you is responsible for that choice.

  I sat at the dining table watching Blake as he plated up lasagna that he had made for us both. I was the luckiest woman alive to have Blake. Not only that, but I was also carrying his child. My life was finally about to begin.

  “Did you use all three ovens for this or just the one?” I said as Blake placed our plates in front of us. He smiled in what seemed to be relief before kissing me quickly and sitting down.

  “You doing okay?” he asked carefully.

  “Ribs are still a bit sore, but other than that … yes, I’m doing okay.”

  “Good.” Blake smiled as he leaned forward and opened the bottle of wine that he had placed on the table. I watched as he began filling his glass, knowing that now was the time to tell him about the baby. I placed my hand over the top on my glass just as he turned to me.

  “I’d better not have any,” I said nervously.

  Blake placed the bottle down. “You okay?”

  “There’s something I need to tell you. I should have told you when we got back from hospital, but everything went kind of crazy. Then I was going to tell you in the bath last night, but we got interrupted by the police—”

  “What is it?” Blake asked.

  I took a deep breath and turned in my seat to face Blake. “At the hospital, they did some routine blood tests.”

  “Oh my God, are you ill?” Blake said, taking my hands in his.

  “No. I’m not ill,” I replied quickly. “Blake, I didn’t mean this to happen; it just did. And whatever you decide we do, then that is fine by me. I don’t want to do anything that you’re not happy with, okay? I want to do what is right for us – for you and me and for our future. Because I can see it now; I can finally see our future, Blake, and it doesn’t scare me anymore.” I smiled, but tears also filled my eyes.