Cazmir
The sound of my mother’s screams never stopped.
Even after the call disconnected, they continued echoing inside my head as I stumbled toward the front door, barely registering Kade calling my name behind me.
Questions chased after me as I raced to my truck, but I couldn’t answer any of them.
Hell, I didn’t even know what I was trying to outrun.
All I knew was that my mother had never sounded like that before, and every instinct inside me screamed that if I didn’t get to her now, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.
The drive to my parents house was a blur.
I couldn’t tell you what lights I ran, how fast I was driving, or whether I almost hit anybody along the way.
My hands gripped the steering wheel so tight, my knuckles turned blood red, as every terrible possibility imaginable fought for space inside my head.
The closer I got to my parents neighborhood, the harder it became to convince myself everything was going to be alright.
None of them compared to the reality waiting for me when I turned onto my parents street.
Police cruisers lined both sides of the road with their emergency lights flashing against every neighboring house, crime scene vans crowded the curb, and bright yellow tape stretched across the front yard of the very home I’d grown up in.
My heart dropped straight into my stomach as I threw my truck into park before it had completely stopped rolling, jumping out so fast I nearly lost my footing trying to reach the front door.
A uniformed officer stepped directly into my path before I could make it halfway up the walkway, holding both hands out to stop me.
“Sir, I can’t let you through.”
“My mama in there,” I said, trying to move around him.
“I’m sorry, but this is an active crime scene.”
“I said, my mama is in there.” Within seconds two more officers moved in beside him, all three blocking the entrance as though I was some stranger trying to force his way inside.
Panic quickly turned into frustration as I looked from one face to the next, wondering how the hell they expected me to stand there while my family was on the other side of that door.
“My name is Cazmir Valecrest. This is my mothers house and Chief Elias Valecrest is my father. Now get the fuck out my way before I have all of your badges.”
The moment my father’s name left my mouth, the entire atmosphere shifted.
The officers exchanged uneasy glances before one of the detectives hurried over, quietly confirming who I was.
Whatever he said was enough for them to step aside immediately, each offering an apology as they cleared a path toward the front door.
I barely acknowledged any of them. My legs had already carried me inside before another word could be spoken.
The house looked the way I’d left it a week ago, yet somehow felt completely unfamiliar.
The smell lingering in the air made my stomach turn almost instantly, a mixture of cleaning chemicals desperately trying to overpower the unmistakable scent of blood and burnt gunpowder.
My eyes searched frantically until they landed on my mother sitting in the adjoining sitting room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
The second she looked up and saw me, every ounce of strength she’d been holding on to disappeared. She stumbled toward me, collapsing into my arms as violent sobs wracked her body, clutching onto my shirt like letting go meant she’d lose the last piece of herself she had left.
“Cazmir...” she cried.
“Oh God...”
I wrapped both arms around her, holding her as tight as I could while trying to make sense of everything happening around us.
It wasn’t until my eyes drifted over her shoulder that the rest of the room came into focus.
My father’s favorite chair still sat facing the television, right where he’d always watched the evening news after dinner, but the wall behind it had been painted with crimson splatter that no amount of bleach would ever erase.
Blood stained the upholstery, pooled into the fibers of the area rug below it, and vanished beneath evidence markers scattered across the hardwood floor.
The chair remained right where it belonged, but the man who should’ve been sitting in it was gone.
I couldn’t stop staring. Every memory I’d ever made inside that house suddenly collided with the image in front of me until I couldn’t separate one from the other.
Just a few weeks ago my father had been sitting in that same chair telling me about one of the biggest cases he’d ever worked.
Now all that remained was dried blood, shattered pieces of the life my parents had built together, and a silence so heavy it felt like it might swallow the entire room.
“He...” My mother’s voice trembled as she tried to speak through another wave of tears.
“He was right there when I came home from work.” She pointed weakly toward the chair before burying her face back into my chest. She couldn’t say another word, she didn’t have to.
Everything I needed to know was already written across those walls.
Seeing enough, detectives escorted me and my mother downtown to police headquarters, where we were placed inside of a cold interview room.
They asked the same questions over and over, piecing together timelines neither of us could fully remember.
My mother explained that she’d spent the day working at the registrar’s office before coming home that evening.
The house had been quiet when she’d walked inside.
She’d called my father’s name twice before making her way toward the living room and finding...she couldn’t bring herself to say the rest aloud. The lead detective excused himself, and shortly after returned carrying a case file.
“My condolences, Mr. Valecrest.” He took a breath before opening the file spread across the table.
“Based on our preliminary investigation, Chief Valecrest was killed earlier this afternoon, sometime between the time he arrived home and when Mrs. Valecrest returned from work. He sustained a single gunshot wound consistent with a professional execution. There were no signs of forced entry into the residence, and the home’s security system had been disabled before the shooting occurred, which tells us the perpetrator either knew how to bypass it or had inside knowledge of the property.
Whoever carried this out was efficient and gone long before anyone realized what had happened. ”
“We’re pursuing every available lead,” the detective concluded, sliding the case file closed before offering me the same rehearsed look of sympathy he gave to countless grieving families over the years.
I lowered my eyes to the folder resting on the table between us, my father’s name printed neatly across the front as if reducing his entire life to another investigation somehow made any of this easier to accept.
Every detail the detective had just laid out only confirmed what I’d known the moment I walked into my parents living room.
A professional execution. No forced entry.
Security disabled. Whoever carried this out knew exactly where my father would be, how long he’d be alone, and how to disappear before anyone realized he’d ever been there.
They were looking for leads while I already had one. All roads led back to Marius. The son of a bitch who crossed a line on this side of the fence there was no coming back from.
After the detectives finally wrapped up their questions, I drove my mother back to my place instead of letting her spend another night inside that house.
She hadn’t said much during the ride, and truthfully neither had I.
There wasn’t anything left to say. Every now and then I’d glance over to make sure she was still awake, only to find her staring aimlessly out the passenger window with my father’s wedding band clutched tightly in her palm.
Somewhere between leaving the station and pulling into my driveway, she’d gone completely numb, and I couldn’t decide whether that scared me more than the tears or not.
I helped her inside, made sure she’d eaten at least a few bites of the soup I made, and waited until she finally drifted off to sleep in one of the guest rooms before wandering out onto the back patio.
The Memphis skyline stretched across the distance, its lights flickering against the darkness while the rest of the world continued moving as if today hadn’t changed mine forever.
I lowered myself into one of the patio chairs, resting my elbows on my knees as exhaustion settled into every inch of my body.
I’d spent the entire time trying to be strong for my mother, answering questions, making phone calls, and keeping myself together long enough to get us both through the worst day of our lives.
Now that it was quiet, there wasn’t anybody left to be strong for.
I buried my face in my hands and finally let the tears I’d been fighting fall freely. The man who had given me life, who taught me how to ride a bike, throw a punch, shake a man’s hand, and carry my last name with pride, was gone.
Just like that. There was no goodbye. No final conversation. No chance to tell him I loved him one more time or thank him for everything he’d sacrificed so I could become the man I was. One phone call had stolen every tomorrow I’d convinced myself we’d still have.
My thoughts drifted to Majeston. They’d spent decades standing on opposite sides of the law, yet somehow they managed to build a genuine friendship rooted in respect that very few people ever understood.
I couldn’t imagine what this news was going to do to him.
Hell, I couldn’t imagine what it was doing to any of us anymore.
Aretha was gone. Sera was gone. Mama Sina had barely escaped with her life. Judge Emory was lucky to still be breathing. Now my father had joined the growing list of casualties, and every name somehow traced its way back to the same war consuming Memphis one body at a time.
I never blamed Kade for any of it. If anything, he and Ysis had been fighting just as hard as the rest of us to keep the people they loved alive.
The blame rested squarely where it belonged, with Marius.
Ever since fate saw fit to place Kade and Ysis in each other’s path, that old devil had been determined to burn down every life connected to theirs, caring little about who got caught in the flames as long as somebody suffered.
Somewhere along the way, the rest of us had become collateral damage in a war we never asked to fight.
I leaned back in the chair, wiping my face with both hands before staring up at the stars scattered across the night sky.
Talk about a fucking dark romance. A love story that had begun with two people finding each other against impossible odds had somehow evolved into a battlefield where innocent people kept paying the price.
As much as I hated to admit it, there was only one way this story ended now.
Marius had to die.
My thoughts drifted away from death and landed on the one person who’d somehow become my peace in the middle of all this madness. Just thinking about her made my chest ache in an different way. Things between us still weren’t completely back to where they used to be.
Life had a funny way of interrupting happiness every time we got close to finding it, but despite everything we’d been through, there wasn’t another person on this earth whose presence brought me the kind of comfort hers did.
She had this calming aura about her that couldn’t be explained.
It wasn’t anything she said or did. It was simply who she was.
Whenever she was near me, the weight I’d been carrying never felt quite as heavy. Tonight I’d give anything to have her sitting beside me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, staring at her name for a few seconds before pressing call. It barely rang once before she answered.
“Caz?” The worry in her voice hit me immediately.
“I saw what happened. It’s on every news station in Memphis. Are you okay?” She paused for only a second before asking the question I knew she’d been holding back.
“Is there anything I can do?” I looked out across the dark backyard, feeling the emptiness surrounding me settle a little deeper into my bones.
“No...” I closed my eyes, swallowing around the lump that refused to go away before trying again.
“No...I’m not okay. Come over.”
“I’m on my way.” I heard the shuffle of keys, a door closing in the background and the determination in her voice before the line disconnected.