Shattered Love_Heart_Rending Love Story

by Ivy Rose

The drive to the location is exactly like I expected, ending in the middle of nowhere, so far out no police will ever travel up this far. There are no houses around. I pull down the dirt road and park in front of the run-down building. It used to be a slaughter house. The irony isn't lost on me.

  I look at the building where I'm going to take my last breath. Closing my eyes, I see Avery’s smiling face. I see the life we had built and the plans we made. I see my beautiful baby girl and the life she’s going lead.

  I swing open the door and see him standing there.

  He matches me in size, but his amber eyes pinned you, a stark contrast to his mocha skin. His lips curl. “Changed your mind?”

  I stare at him and the scorpion tattoo that looks as if it is crawling up his neck, and a smile the devil would be proud of plays at my lips.

  Two goons come at me from the sides, but I don't move. Even with everything in me built to attack, I just stand there, the disgust rolling over me. They pat me down, shaking their heads.

  The scorpions are a gang known for drugs and trafficking. They’re the lowest of the low. They fight dirty and have killed women and children in some of their attacks. They never care who is caught in the crossfire.

  Even with the jigsaw pieces all in front of me, I still couldn't see the picture. I was missing the final piece and I knew it was inside.

  The doors are opened by two more goons who physically flinch when they see Braxton. That's saying something. He's known in the dark world. Where people rarely have fears he makes them scared.

  The place still has that lingering smell of death. It invades me as we walk through a corridor into the main room.

  The men disappear at the slight lift of Braxton’s fingers, he’s top dog.

  Then it’s only Braxton and myself. We both stare the other down none of us giving in.

  I cross my arms over my chest, making him smirk.

  “You still haven't put it together. I can see it in your eyes. Let me help you. Behind door number one…”

  The door flies open and Mac is pushed into the room. Already taken a beating. He lands on the floor with a thud, groaning as he tries to get up. Standing on shaky legs, holding his side. His eyes widen when he sees me and he staggers backward until his back hits the wall. He looks between Braxton and me.

  “What’s happening?” Mac’s voice is rattled and shaky.

  Braxton’s eyes turn cold. Raising his chin, baring his teeth, and sweeps his arms in my direction. “Looks to me like Stone got closer than you ever thought, even with all the dead ends you've chucked his way.”

  I lunge for Mac.

  I growl like an animal. Breathing heavily through my nose I grasp for Mac’s neck. “It’s a trade. You were there the day Avery was killed. You took everything from her. She was going be a mother, a fucking great mother. We had fucking plans and you took them away. You fucking shattered our love.” It's a deathly whisper.

  I pull back, punching him in the face a few times he slides down the wall before he hits the ground I pull him to his feet. My hand goes around his throat. “What part did you play? Because I know you didn't kill her. You didn't pull the fucking trigger.” We’re so close I can see my reflection in his eyes. I can see my demons smirking, their smiles as I squeeze tighter.

  Nodding like a fucking bobble head. “I did. It was me. It was fucking me. Kill me, you bastard.” He spits as snot and tears run down his face.

  I look into his eyes, the pieces coming together. “My girl loved you. She looked out for you.”

  His face goes bright red from lack of oxygen and I let go just as his eyes start to roll back in his head. He gasps for oxygen like a fish out of water.

  I bring back my fist, punching in the stomach. Watching as he falls to the floor.“You've been around my daughter. What did you see when you looked at her, knowing you killed her mother?” He is the final piece of the puzzle.

  He sits on the floor pulling his hair as his face is buried in his knees. “I haven’t seen Juliet since she was little. I couldn’t look at her.”

  I pull away only to pace the room. “Who. Are. You. Protecting?” I can’t help myself and grab him off the floor and chuck his body against the wall with a sickening thud.

  “Oh, I guess it's time for door number two.”

  Braxton’s hard voice makes us both turn.

  The door is thrown open and the body chucked in the same way as Mac.

  I drop Mac to the floor as the eyes of the killer look back at me.

  “Molly.”

  She stands up with confidence, brushing down her clothes. “Dominic,” she says with coolness, as if it’s any normal day. Looking down at her nails before raising her eyes back to me.

  I look between the two of them and watch as Mac tries to slowly make his way to her.

  He stands in front of her, protecting her and crying like a fucking baby. “Dominic, please take me. Kill me.”

  Molly looks at Mac with disgust, her lips in a sneer. “Stop crying. You look like a damn pussy.” She flicks her hair over her shoulder.

  I take a step forward.

  Her eyes widen and she takes a step back. Her eyes pining between us as she scratches her arms.

  “You were Avery’s friend. You fucking cried, big fucking tears at her funeral.”

  I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but I’m about to.

  Her features soften for a split second before she rolls her eyes. “She was okay for a bitch. Not like that weak pussy, Cecelia. Christ, she used to whine like a bitch over Brax. The girl needed a good dick to sort her out.”

  She sniffs, wiping her nose. Her arms are full of track marks. She smiles that sickly sweet smile. I heard that she and Carter had separated a few years back. “Avery loved you, jumping in front of that bullet for you. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet.” She grins like she enjoying it, the danger is exciting her—that twisted bitch. She takes a step forward, her eyes unfocused. She’s fucking high. She lets out a cackle. “Dominic won't kill me. He couldn't kill a woman, no matter how much darkness he lives in.” She smirks, licking her lips. “Faced with his wife’s killer, he can't pull the trigger. He’s the devil with a heart.” She grabs the gun from behind her back, pointing it directly at me. “Avery changed you.”

  Her words hit me. My eyes widen. It’s as if Avery is there with me. The love we shared is still alive. Avery didn’t change me. Her love did. I rub my chest over my heart, begging Avery to tell me what to do—if I kill Molly, I lose the last of my humanity, Avery would have died for nothing.

  “He might not be able to, but I fucking can. Say goodbye, bitch.”

  A loud shot echoes around the room. Molly’s eyes hollow before she falls to the floor with a bullet between her eyes. I snap my head to see Lettie dressed in black her dark hair in high ponytail like she some fucking Lara croft. I take a step toward her pointing.

  “What the fuck are you doing here? Why are all the women in my fucking life so stubborn?”

  Lettie raises an eyebrow. “We’re a team. That means where you go, I follow. Suck it up, Stone.” She smirks. “Plus, you kinda like me around. Admit it.” I shake up head throwing my hand in the air. She spots Brax who is watching her with intensity.

  “You shouldn't have done that.” Mac stands to wipe his hands across his face. “She didn't mean it. It's not her fault. She was sick.”

  I look at the man I considered a friend, thinking of all the time he spent over at my house. All the times we shared a beer. It all comes together as I look at Molly’s dead body. “She’s your sister?”

  Mac leans down moving her hair out of her face, closing her eyes. “Marilyn. She used to follow me everywhere. She looked up to me. She was my little sister. Then she fell in with the wrong crowd. She fell in love with Rixs. He got her hooked on the drugs, on him.”

  He looks so fucking desperate.

  “She was brainwashed. She wasn’t my sister anymore.”

  He looks at me, so fucking lost.

  “When
she married Carter, I tried to stop her. I tried to talk sense into her but Rixs said he wanted her close to force an easy in. They could get the information they needed because they suspected there was a rat. The police had too much information.”

  His words don't move me. She was a fucking junkie. They both lied to us all. But I need to know something. “Does Carter know?”

  Laughing like a maniac. “Carter had his suspicions. That's why he wanted you to drop the case. He knew something was wrong, but he thought it was a bent officer. He didn't realize he was actually sleeping with the fucking enemy.” He laughs again. He's completely deranged. Rubbing my face, my head is swimming.

  “What about her sister? Your sister Sienna who was at the wedding?”

  Mac’s lips curl up, pointing at Brax. “She was one of their women. Your girl fucking pissed her off that night.”

  His eyes burn into me. “After Avery was killed and you disappeared, Carter lost it. He gave up caring where Marilyn—Molly—disappeared to.”

  I feel like someone kicked me in the gut. All the times Carter had tried to get in touch, tried to visit me…we were partners, best friends. He was my family.

  “I was meant to kill you that day. It was me who was meant to put the bullet in you. You were too smart, got too fucking close. But I fucking couldn't. I couldn't fucking do it.”

  I nod. I already knew it wasn't Mac. My lips curl. I point to Molly’s dead body. “But she did. She took Avery.”

  Mac sobs, nodding. “She spoke to her on the phone like it was any other day, not like she was just about to kill her husband. She didn't care who lived or died as long as she had Rixs, and he didn't even notice her!” He shakes his head. “I heard Avery call your name. I saw what she was going to do, taking the bullet that was meant for you!”

  He starts pacing. “Marilyn didn't flinch. Everyone screamed as we stood there and watched Avery die in your arms, but she didn't flinch, no emotion. I knew I lost my sister that day. I knew she was gone.”

  He looks down at Molly, pulling at his hair. “I could have saved her. I could have saved her.” He holds the gun up, shaking. “Now you've taken her from me.”

  I watch in slow motion as he pulls back the trigger. Pushing Lettie out of the way, I feel my body jerk before hitting the floor. White-hot pain radiates through my body. Fuck.

  A door slams against the wall. I hear a man shouting.

  Lettie growls. “Get your hands off me.”

  Her voice brings me back from the darkness. I try to stand, getting to my knees.

  “Get the fuck away from her.” I’m wheezing, feeling like some fucker is stabbing over and over.

  Tear-stricken eyes meet mine before they harden and she pulls a move that has the man behind her screaming in pain and holding his dick.

  I recognize him from the fight, the one with the Joker scar.

  She runs over, falling to her knees in front of me. Her eyes take me in.

  “I’m okay, kid.” I pull her behind me.

  Her lip trembles as she forces a smile.

  I fall to my side. Closing my eyes for just a second.

  She places my head on her lap, running her fingers through my hair. “I lied to you.”

  I snort, gritting my teeth from the pain. “Now’s not the time to tell me that, kid.”

  “It’s me. Juliet.”

  I feel a tear rolls down my cheek. I hold her face, smearing my blood across her cheek and looking into her eyes. My beautiful baby girl.

  “I was praying it was you. My heart always knew what my eyes didn’t believe. I’m sorry, baby girl, so sorry, my sweet Juliet.”

  I feel a hard slap to my face. “No Daddy. Open your eyes. We just got each other. You have to fight, Daddy. Fight for me, please.” Her voices is shaking so desperately. Is this what Avery felt like before the ambulance came? Numb in my arms? Looking up at her future?

  My eyes flutter open, a smile on my face as my body fills with warmth like a sun on summer day. “I always wanted to hear you say that, to call me Daddy.” I cringe. “You’re fucking stubborn just like your mother.”

  I see Avery smiling and standing behind Lettie.

  “She’s here. Your mom is here.”

  Her figure changes into a darker one and I see Braxton staring at me. I shake my head. “No.” I try sitting up. “Get away.” I move my hand on hitting empty air.

  Putting his arms around my baby girl, he pulls her back, she kicks and crawls.

  “Daddy, Daddy.” The whole room echoes with her screams.

  I roll to my side as I watch my baby girl’s heart break.

  “I'll gladly go to prison for this.” I growl at the men.

  They all laugh as they watch me struggle to get up. Braxton is sick with pleasure.

  Lettie stops fighting and she looks over at me. “I love you, Daddy.” There is fear in her eyes.

  “I’m coming for you, baby. Don't be scared. I'm coming for you. I love you.”

  She nods as tears pour down her face. “I know. I’ll be waiting.”

  Braxton pulls her out the door before the final shot is released into the room. I fall back and smile as my old friend, the darkness, takes his final claim.

  Dominic

  “Hey, handsome.”

  My eyes widen. I can hear her voice. “Avery.”

  That magic laugh rings out as she appears in front of me.

  “Beautiful.” I grab her tightly. “God, I've missed you, baby. I missed you so fucking much.”

  She places her small hands over my heart. “I've been here, Dominic, the whole time. I've been here.”

  I lift her hands, kissing each of her delicate fingertips.

  I remember the warehouse. “It was Molly.”

  She nods.“Yes, she had us all fooled.”

  I claim her lips as mine pull her closer my fingers finding their way into her hair tangling I feel it all of it. We pull back staring at each other lost in a time that just belongs to us.

  Juliet. My eyes widen. “Baby—” I try to swallow.

  Avery smiles one of those smiles that take my breath away. “It's okay, handsome. Our girl needs you. She needs you to chase her monsters away.” Her fingers trace my every feature.

  “She’s beautiful just like you, she’s sweet, but she’s got sass.”

  She shakes her head when a full laugh comes out of her. “Oh, she is going to drive you crazy.”

  I kiss her forehead. “I know. She’s exactly like her mama.”

  Avery places her hand on my cheek. “She’s just like you, too. She is part of both of us.”

  I slam my mouth down on hers. “I love you Avery, only you. Forever.”

  She starts to fade. “I love you, Dominic Stone.”

  I step forward.

  “So fucking much.”

  I try to grab her. “Avery, don’t leave me, baby, please.”

  I feel her smile as if it was the sun on my face. “I’m not going anywhere. You are. Give our baby girl a kiss from me. I'll find you, Dominic, in your dreams. I will find you, always.”

  I wake with a start and the machines beep around me.

  “Beautiful.” I search the room before reality hits me.

  I rub my chest, waiting for the pain. Fuck, it hurts. I close my eyes. I know she was here. I can still feel her, but for the first time in my life, I walked away from her. Juliet needs me alive. She needs her dad to chase away the monsters, just like I promised I would.

  I stand up, ripping the tubes away from me and hissing as the needle comes out of my arm, but nothing is stopping me from going after her. The machines around me are going crazy.

  A man dressed in an expensive suit walks in to my room. “Stone, cool down.”

  I turn toward his voice. He’s certainly not a fucking doctor.

  That’s when I take in the room. It’s not a normal hospital room. It’s too new, too expensive.

  “Where am I?”

  The man stares at me, hard. “Sit down.”

 
I cross my hands over my chest, my stance wide. “Nope. I’ve got to get out of here. There’s something I need to do.”

  Watching me.

  It’s the old game of who will break the stare first.

  He does. “Your daughter is safe, but her life depends on your next move.”

  His words stop me cold.

  Before he can blink, I have him by the throat against the wall, my forearm across his neck. I push against it, hearing him wheeze.

  “You better start fucking talking now before I snap your neck.”

  He swallows visibly. “You’re under protection.”

  I lift my lip, baring my teeth. “I don’t need protecting. I need to get to my baby girl. I promised her mother I would keep the monsters away. I promised her I was coming for her.”

  Shaking his head. “They think you’re dead. If they knew you were alive, they would kill her.”

  I grin. “A ghost is the best surprise.”

  He pushes me away. “You wouldn’t get anywhere near the place. They will kill her in front of you. If you want her alive, you need to do this with us.”

  I let him go. “What exactly are you doing?”

  He straightens his tie. “We have an informant watching over your daughter. She’s alive. They are giving us daily updates.”

  “You’re trusting a fucking rat with my baby girl’s life and expect me to sit here with my thumb up my ass and wait?”

  He studies me. “No, the man watching her is one of us, the best there is. He’s been assigned to this case and has been in deep cover for the last few years. He asked me to give you this.”

  He hands me a manila envelope and I rip it open. Quickly reading the note.

  “Motherfucker,” I growl, pulling my hair. I shake my head. “I’m not fucking happy about this.”

  A phone rings. The man passes it to me.

  “Stone,” I hiss out, already knowing the bastard on the other side.

  “I hear you’re up, and I’m guessing Anderson has explained everything.”

  Growling. “If one hair on her head is touched, I’m killing you. I’m holding you responsible for her life.”

  He sighs. “She’s a fucking hellcat. She’s a lot like you.”

  I grunt.