A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2)

by Mann, Cat

  “You think it’s funny that she nearly died half a dozen times trying to save our lives? Not to mention that last year when she was in London she saved you from cancer. Did you even thank her? You must have forgotten that someday Ava will be the end of us all. One day, she will come for you and if she is feeling kind, perhaps she will show you mercy. I don’t know what your beef is with Ava right now, but you had better get over it or you’re going to think it’s really funny tomorrow when the two of us don’t show up for your stupid Christmas.”

  I saw Aggie’s face blanch as I made my way, unnoticed, to the kitchen counter. I grabbed the garbage can from under the sink and started to get sick from both pain and shock. Ari yelled a bit more and used a couple of foul words I was fairly certain he had not used in front of his mother before. Aggie lost her nerve but then quickly found it again and started yelling back at him. The whole kitchen erupted into chaos around me. I began to feel dizzy and got on my knees as I continued to get sick in the garbage. I heard someone trying to calm Aggie and Ari down but I couldn’t concentrate on voices or words. I tried to get sick again but my lungs would not let me take in any more air. I finally gave up, put my head down on the cool kitchen floor and closed my eyes. I did not pass out but I was weak and my lungs were screaming for oxygen. The pain was overwhelming.

  “Hey, Ava, are you okay?”

  I looked up and saw Julia standing over me. I shook my head no and she hollered for Rory. He rushed over and picked me off the floor and cradled me in his arms then started to yell through the screaming to get someone’s attention. He bumped my ribs against his body. I let out a little cry with the pain it caused. Rory started to freak out, his booming voice outdid everyone else and the room finally fell quiet.

  Ari took me out of Rory’s arms and went straight to Gianna’s garage. He put me in the front seat of her tiny sports car. He peeled out onto the street and sped all the way to the closest hospital.

  Emergency personnel took a chest X-ray as soon as I arrived and confirmed that I had three fractured ribs, but couldn’t determine if my lung was collapsed. The on-call doctor kept me under observation for a few hours.

  After quite a wait in a dim hospital room, the doctor finally determined that my lung was unharmed and that I had had an anxiety attack. I tried to convince Ari, whose jaw was still tightly clenched, to apologize to his mother, whom I could hear crying, perhaps a bit too dramatically, in the waiting room. But he refused.

  I heard a knock on the door and Ari left my side to yank it open, “oh,” I heard Ari say, “hello, officer.”

  “Mr. Alexander, do you mind if I have a moment alone with Ava?” I heard the familiar voice of Detective Scott say.

  “Ava,” Ari said as he turned around and opened the door all the way revealing Detective Scott. He looked the same as always, with his dark hair slicked back, wearing his presumably expensive suit. I nodded my head at Ari to let him in the room.

  “I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything, okay?” he asked, smoothing my hair.

  I smiled at him.

  “Ari, I’m okay, really. I already feel a hundred times better. He probably just wants to know if I am going to press charges against you.”

  I tried to say the words playfully, even though I was sure that was why Scott was there. I mean why else would he be? I had told the hospital’s staff the truth, that my husband elbowed me in the ribs. I was sure my statement had not made us look good. Ari looked grief stricken as he walked out of the room.

  “Merry Christmas, Ava,” Detective Scott said as he took a seat next to the hospital bed.

  “Merry Christmas,” I said with a half-smile.

  “So what happened?”

  I recapped the evening and Detective Scott laughed aloud. He was already well aware of my extensive list of injuries, since he had shown up every time I had been in the hospital. He was well aware of my preexisting rib damage. I guess you could say we had a sort of friendship growing.

  “So, are you planning on pressing charges against Mr. Alexander?” he asked.

  “No, of course not,” I said, feeling a tiny bit appalled.

  “I had to ask, Ava; it’s my job. Is there anything else I should know?” he asked, giving me a good hard look in the eyes.

  I shook my head from side to side and let out a “nope.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Why, what are you getting at?”

  Detective Scott put his elbows on his knees and scooted the little rolling stool a tiny bit closer.

  “Ava, I know who you are,” he said so quietly that I could hardly hear him.

  “I think you have mistaken me for someone else,” I said, and tried to hide the shocked look on my face.

  “No, no I haven’t. I know exactly who you are, Ava. I knew who your dad was, too. I just want to let you know that if there is anything you need -- all you have to do is call.”

  He handed me another one of his cards, wrote his cell phone on the back, and stood up to walk out of the room.

  “There’s another one,” I blurted out. “No. 7. And I know who it is; I just need to, um, get rid of him.”

  Scott nodded at me. “Who is it?”

  I bit down on my lip, unsure then responded, “Margaux Baio.”

  Detective Scoot peered down at me. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive.”

  He ran a hand through his slicked back hair.

  “I wish you all of the luck in the world, Ava. If there is anything I can do, please call.”

  I nodded and swallowed hard.

  “Oh, and Happy New Year,” Scott said as he walked out of the room.

  Ari came in right after he left and Aggie and Andy trailed in behind him. Aggie was still beside herself and her eyes were bloodshot and moist.

  “Oh, Ava, I am so sorry.”

  She took my hand in hers and held it, too tightly. I looked at Ari to see if they had made up yet. He shook his head no, so apparently he was still mad at her.

  “It’s alright, Aggie; you didn’t even do anything. Where’s Max? Is he alright?”

  “He’s fine. He’s at home getting ready for Santa. Collin and August stayed back with him.” I nodded at her. I guess I could have been more friendly, but to be honest she hadn’t been particularly nice to me for quite some time, and I didn’t feel the need to bend over backwards to make her smile again. Besides, I was still in pain – and everyone knew I am grouchy when I don’t feel well.

  I put my head back against the bed and closed my eyes.

  “Ari, I just want to go home. Can you please find the doctor and get my release?” He brushed a kiss on my forehead and left to go find the on call doctor.

  I turned to Andy.

  “Hey, do you know Detective Scott?” I asked, showing him the LAPD business card.

  “Yeah, I know him. I see him all the time at the courthouse.”

  “Is he Greek?”

  “Yeah, I guess he is. Why do you ask?”

  “He knows who I am.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean he came in here and told me he knows who I am,” I said making a scissors gesture with my pointer and middle finger.

  Andy tapped his lips with his fingers as Ari and the doctor came back into my room.

  I watched Ari hold his breath as the doc checked me over one last time so I could go home. Doctor Miller prescribed some painkillers and urged me to take them to prevent another pain-induced anxiety attack. He added that I should follow up with Dr. Phillips after the holiday and I grudgingly agreed.

  Ari drove me home while Andy and Aggie went to fill my prescription. I stood at the counter in our kitchen with my back to the door. My hands were pressed down firmly on the marble counter top for support. It was cool and smooth against my hot, sticky palms. Ari and I were discussing Detective Scott. He thought Scott’s knowledge of who I was probably accounted for why I had been asked so few questions after the deaths of No. 1 and No. 2. I a
greed. My story had been full of holes but Scott never really seemed to have doubts about it. He had known that I was a Fate from the start.

  I heard a small knock at the back door but I didn’t turn around. Ari walked passed me and yanked open the door.

  “If we come over tomorrow, we’ll be late, so don’t wait around for us,” I heard him say in a clipped tone.

  “Oh…ok,” his mother responded.

  Ari shut the door and turned the lock. He came back to my side and opened a small, white paper bag. He pulled out two pill bottles, opened them and placed two pills in front of me. One was a large oval with a big V on it; the other was a small circular white pill. He opened a bottle of water and waited for me to take my meds. I took the painkiller then pointed to the small white pill.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Anti-anxiety.”

  I looked at the pill for a minute then flicked it across the room. It pinged against the oven, then skidded across the kitchen floor, and finally came to a stop underneath the refrigerator. Ari looked angry, but he also looked too tired to fight anymore.

  We went to bed. Ari encased me in pillows then gently wrapped his arms around me. I stayed awake fighting off the effects of the medication. Ari could tell how emotional I was feeling, so he stayed awake and calmed me down by telling me stories of how nervous he used to get when he came to my dorm room at night. And of how he would get a stomach full of butterflies each time he saw me in the halls or rode with me in the elevator. I listened to his soft, sweet words until my eyelids grew too heavy and I gave up and lost the battle to sleep.

  I woke up the next morning in a fog and my side ached like crazy. Ari traced his fingers down the side of my face.

  “Merry Christmas, Baby,” he said quietly.

  “Mmm,” I said nodding my head, “Merry Christmas.”

  “How are you feeling this morning?”

  I took a deep breath and quickly regretted doing so as shooting pain radiated through my body.

  “Fine,” I answered.

  “You promised you would never lie to me, Ava.”

  “Okay then, Ari,” I said, grinding my teeth. “I feel awful. My side hurts like hell, and I am in an incredibly bad mood.”

  “That’s better,” he said as he climbed out of bed. I watched Ari walk out of the room only to come back moments later holding pills in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. He helped me sit up and he held his palm open waiting for me to take the meds. I stared at them for a moment, wanting nothing more than to knock his hand away and send the pills flying. I resisted the urge, took the pain pill, tossed it to the back of my throat, and swallowed. I looked at the other pill and then, defiantly, at Ari.

  “Ava,” Ari said, brushing a stray stand of hair off my forehead, “I know that you don’t think you need this and maybe you’re right, but please just try the medication.”

  I kept firm my face unchanging and waited for him to take the pill away.

  “I know you are strong, we all know that and no one is arguing with you. No one will think you are weak if you take this, I promise. Just please, Ava, do as the doctor told you and try the meds for a while. If they don’t help, then I promise you can stop taking them. Please give this medication a chance. Do this for me.”

  I wanted to scream and yell and kick and I may have had my ribs not hurt as much as they did. I blinked and felt a stupid tear run down my cheek.

  “Oh, no. Don’t cry, Ava.” Ari wiped my tear away with a kiss, causing the floodgates to open; tears poured down my face, my eyes swelled and my nose turned stuffy. He crawled back in bed with me and softly held me to him, wiping away all the tears as they fell. I sat there and cried until I ran completely dry. I was upset because he was right. I probably did need the pill but I was more upset that I was in the situation to begin with. I was mad that I couldn’t figure out what to do with Margaux and that I had a sense of impending doom that I couldn’t shake. I was angry that I could feel this pain and was too weak to be able to deal with it on my own, without pain medication and antianxiety crap, as I had been able to do in the past.

  I began to feel the loopy feeling that the painkillers cause and then gave up on my fight and took the stupid little white pill. We sat in bed for a while longer as I tried to fight off the painkillers. I absolutely hated the way they made me feel. My eyes were droopy, my nose itched, my head was clouded and hazy. My arms and legs seemed to weigh a ton. Ari chuckled and I smiled at him.

  “What?” I said, dragging the word out much longer than necessary.

  “Nothing,” he smiled, and suppressed a laugh.

  “Do you want to go next door today or not?”

  “Ari, you know we have to go. You know we should have been there hours ago and you also know that you owe your mom an apology.”

  “I don’t know that I owe her an apology, Ava. I think she needed to be reminded of a few things and now we are back on a level playing field. You are my wife. You are my family now.”

  I put my head back against the headboard, closed my eyes, and let my mouth hang open.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” I said, opening one eye to look at him. “I just don’t feel like getting dressed.”

  “Ok,” he said with a smile, as if taking on a challenge. “I’ll do it for you.”

  I bobbed my head up and down in agreement and closed my eye again.

  Ari got up and went to the closet. He put on a pair of gym shorts and some Nikes then pulled on a hooded sweatshirt, something he wouldn’t be caught wearing outside our home in a million years. In fact, even when he is lounging around in the house he wears jeans and a fitted tee shirt.

  I watched Ari disappear into the closet again. He strolled back out moments later with one of my bras, matching underwear, a pair of my black leggings and a black and grey baseball tee. The outfit was close to something I would wear to Pilates. He threw the ensemble on the bed. Ari peeled my shirt off my back and held up my bra and underwear. I blushed.

  “I’ve never had any experience in putting any of these on before.”

  “Ari!”

  “I’m just saying….” he smiled.

  Ari slid my clothes on slowly one article at a time. I giggled the whole time he dressed me, and in between giggles, I let out little cries of pain. He got me out of bed and we went to the bathroom to wash our faces and brush our teeth.

  “Turn around,” Ari said and made a circle motion with his pointer finger. I turned facing away from him. He began to gather my hair up in his hands. After a few failed attempts, he tied a hair tie around my hair in a ponytail. The ponytail was a tad high for my taste but Ari beamed at his handiwork. He tugged at the end of my hair playfully.

  “Too cute, Ava.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled a large, toothy smile at him.

  “Are you ready for your Christmas gift?”

  I cocked my head to one side.

  “You already gave me my gift. My iPad.”

  “I said that was one of your presents. I have a few more to give you… This gift was a bit last minute but I think you’ll like it. Collin helped.”

  “Ok…”

  “Follow me.”

  Ari grabbed my hand and we walked out of our bedroom. He turned left towards the study. We walked down the hallway and he stopped in front of the study door.

  “If you don’t like it then we will find something else to do with them.”

  “It… them… what is it already?!”

  Ari turned the knob and pushed open the door. I cocked my head to the side again and my jaw hung down. Ari had taken the scissors from my mother’s collection and had them arranged in a glass shadow box. The box hung magnificently on the study wall near the door.

  “What do you think?”

  “It’s beautiful. Perfect.”

  I walked closer to the wall and stared at the scissors carefully hanging in mix-and-match rows.

  Ari tapped on the glass at the pair in the middle of
the middle row.

  “Oh…” I furrowed my brow. “Those are mine – the pair Maya gave me.”

  “I hope it is okay that I added those. I figured they needed a home, too.”

  “The gift is perfect, Ari. I love it. I love you. Thank you.”

  “You’re most welcome, Ava.”

  I frowned.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” I shrugged a bit. “Your gifts from me are next door, but they aren’t nearly as good as the gifts you have given me.”

  “You give me everything I need by just breathing, Ava.”

  He kissed the corner of my mouth, took my hand and we walked back out of the study and towards the back door.

  “You know your mom is going to kill us for showing up at her house on Christmas dressed like this,” I said looking down at my bare feet and Ari’s hardly worn gym shoes.

  “Ava, I am sure she won’t have one negative thing to say for a very, very long time.”

  Ari pulled my favorite gray hooded sweatshirt from a peg by the door, the one that had once belonged to him, and wrapped me up in it. He tugged at my ponytail again with a smile, planted a kiss on my forehead and very slowly picked me up in his arms. He cradled me in his arms as he had on the evening of our wedding and I watched as his Nikes make Swoosh imprints in the sand.

  We showed up at the back door four hours late but we were still greeted with smiles and gentle hugs. Ari walked me straight to the living room and made a little nest for us on the couch.

  Max was sitting on the floor playing with a dozen or so new toys. I had gotten him a little antique piano. It was a kid’s toy from the 1950’s and probably shouldn’t have been played with anymore but I wanted him to have it. He sat on his knees and pushed on the tiny black and white keys. He had a grin stretched across his face from ear to ear. He carried it over to me and I played twinkle, twinkle for him and he laughed and had me do it again and again. I laughed, too, but I think it was mostly the painkillers talking.

  Apparently, my actions and reactions weren’t just funny to Ari, because after my second dose of medication for the day the whole house made a game out of making me say funny things. Ari was shaking so hard with laughter over a French conversation August was trying to engage me in that I had to have him scoot over to keep from shaking me, too.