Chapter 43
forty-three
. . .
Felix
Smiling, I carry my newest gift up the stairs.
I love that the store wrapped it in turquoise and black paper for me.
It’s heavier than I expected it to be, but I think the memory box with all the items I took from her house before starting the fire is just the thing to help make this place feel like home for Eden.
I open the door.
“Eden, come see what I have for you.”
The apartment is quiet. I set the large package up on the kitchen table so she’ll see it when she comes in.
“Eden?”
She must be sleeping. I head down the hallway to the open bedroom door. My smile fades when I see her phone and credit cards on the bed, but she’s not there.
“Eden,” I yell a little louder.
Anxiety snakes along my spine as the silence settles over me. She’s not here. It’s too still. It’s like it was before Eden moved in and made my life whole.
Even knowing she’s gone, I step into the room and grab her phone off the bed. My breathing stops when I turn and see the closet.
“No.”
Sure enough, the door is open, and the lock is broken. I step inside and find my crowbar on the ground. The computer screen glows with a video of Eden in the shower. It’s paused, but I know every clip like the back of my hand.
I know what she saw.
I should’ve known when she was asking me all those questions earlier that something was off. Eden has never been like that with me, unless she’s been around Kris.
“Fuck!”
My chest feels like it’s caving in with the pain of her absence.
Doesn’t she understand that I love her? Everything I’ve ever done is because she is my whole-fucking-world.
My lungs aren’t working right, as if she’s taken all the oxygen with her.
No, no, no.
I dart out of the room, looking for anything that will give me a clue to where she’s gone.
We are a single organism. You can’t just remove the heart and expect the body to live. Eden knows I need her. She knows I’ll drown without her.
Some drawers are open, and I find them half empty.
My hands are shaking so hard. Breathe. I need to breathe.
But how can I breathe when she is my entire world? Without her, I cease being anything worthy.
Racing out into the living room, my eyes sting with tears when I spot the little turtles. I love her. Everything about her. Love is supposed to keep you safe. It anchors the two of us together so neither of us floats away in the turbulence of life ever again. We’ll always have each other.
I have to start thinking like Eden…what will she do?
She is a creature of comfort and habits. My first guess is Kris, but that seems too obvious. The police aren’t here kicking down my door, so she didn’t call them.
“Where did you go?”
My phone rings, and I nearly drop it in my haste to answer.
Unknown.
Normally, I ignore those, but since Eden doesn’t have her cell, I hit talk.
“Eden? Is that you?”
“No, but she has a real nice ass.”
The room spins.
No…it can’t be…he’s dead.
“You still there, son?”
My knees quake as my hand tightens on the phone.
“Father?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Give the boy a prize. He hasn’t forgotten his old man’s voice.”
“You’re supposed to be dead. The police said that the transport bus burned.”
“Apparently, God saw fit to spare my life.”
“I don’t think that was God,” I snap back, the anger in me burning hotter by the second.
“You’ve got a smartass mouth on you now, don’t you? What does he win for mouthing off to his father? I know…”
My heart thumps as loud as his feet do when he walks. But then it goes completely still when I hear a squeal that I’d know anywhere.
“Let go of me,” Eden growls.
Fear like I’ve never experienced grips me by the throat and squeezes. I want to yell at her to lie still and not fight back. He likes it more when someone fights him. But, I also want her to claw his eyes out.
My body trembles as ice water runs through my veins.
“Give your boyfriend a little hello, let him know you’re alive, would ya?”
“Fuck you.”
He laughs, that sickening sound that haunts my nightmares. He loved to laugh when he hit me, locked me up, and made me watch him destroy everything I loved.
“That will do,” Father says.
Then Eden’s voice becomes muffled, and I know he’s gagged her. I know that sound too. Mom sounded like that when he gagged her and raped her all night but didn’t want the neighbors to call the cops.
“What the hell do you want?”
The words come out in a snarl.
“I want you to pay. You need to learn that family and blood mean something, son. You sat in that courtroom and talked shit about your old man. You made me look bad in front of all those people. You helped put me behind bars.”
“You were going away no matter what I said. That’s what murdering someone will do,” I growl.
“That’s not the point. You turned on me,” he yells into the phone. “That is not what family does!”
“You beat the shit out of me and Mum all the time. That is not what family does,” I yell the words I wanted to say in the courtroom that day and never got a chance.
“Yeah…well, you’re going to learn some respect now, son. And you’re going to learn that there are consequences to your actions.”
“If you hurt her…”
“You’ll what? Cry about it?” He laughs maniacally. “You don’t have the balls to do anything about it. Not then. Not now. Not ever. You’re pathetic and a pretty thing like this needs a real man. Time to go, son, but it was good catching up. We’ll talk again soon.”
“No, tell me what you want to set her free,” I beg.
“You willing to do anything?”
“Yes, I will do anything, just let her go.”
He laughs again.
“Good, I’m glad you love her that much.”
The phone clicks dead.
“No!”
My knees give out, and I hit the floor. Tears fall, splashing on the hardwood as my heart bleeds.
No…not again. Not this time.
I’m going to kill him. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to kill him.
Book 2 - Pretty Broken