Fortitude (Heart of Stone)

by D H Sidebottom

  “Rebecca?”

  She stood rigid and tense, her whole body giving off waves of animosity. Her pupils were wide and animated, her nose constantly twitched as she sniffed frequently but it was the glare in her expression that made me strengthen my stance, my fists squeezing tight in readiness as the rage bubbled in preparation.

  “Just tell me one thing?” She asked as she cocked her head sinisterly, her eyes refusing me any break away from her. “What do you have that I don’t?”

  I stared at her in confusion but confusion soon turned to horror when I watched the two men slide from their car on the edge of the road and race up my path, one knocking Rebecca unconscious instantly as another grinned at me manically before he winked and struck the side of my temple.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Terror

  Mason

  I cringed as my car wheels squealed when I pulled up outside the cottage. It was late and I knew Ava’s neighbours were far from happy at late night noise, yet right at that very moment I didn’t care. Noise or no noise, I was there to get my wife, to haul her over my shoulder and lock her down in my apartment until she saw sense, until she realised how much I loved her… and how much she loved me.

  She was mine. She had always been mine, it was about time she knew it too.

  I pulled my keys from my pocket as I walked up her path, singling out the little tool that would get me through her front door but as I lifted it to the lock, the door swung open.

  You know when you’re on a train when you are little, and you enter a tunnel, how the dark walls seem to race past you and all you can focus on is to keep breathing until you emerge out of the other side? Well that’s exactly the sensation that overtook me when I stared down Ava’s hallway.

  I looked down and stared at her bag, the contents spewed out over the floor as it tipped to one side. Her phone, keys and medication telling me that she didn’t leave on her own accord.

  Racing back to my car, I pulled my laptop from the boot and fired it up as I plonked my arse in the passenger seat, then logged onto Ava’s exterior camera.

  ***

  “Benjamin Olson and John Danby, both known associates of Frank Halliday.” Kade said when the computer software found a match to the images from Ava’s cameras.

  “Fuck!” I closed my eyes and shivered. “Etta.”

  “Maybe,” Sam intersected. “Or maybe Frank. Just cos’ he’s in the nick doesn’t make him obsolete to external dealings. He’s quite capable of still running his family from the inside Mason.”

  “Shit, but why now? It’s been two years.”

  “Because it’s the first time Etta has been within touching distance of you and Ava since you shipped her off to Italy?” Greg offered with a quirked brow. His face was pale, his worry over Ava nearly as crippling to him as it was me.

  “She’s just a kid, it’s too… too detailed for her.” I shook my head. None of it made sense.

  “Oh come on, Mase.” Greg scoffed. “And how old were you when you first let the darkness consume you?”

  I huffed at him but shook my head, “My past and Etta’s are far from similar, Greg. I chose this path at such a young age to fight my father. She’s a girl with issues, hardly the same.”

  “But if her issues are potent enough, then who knows what the girl could be capable of.” Sam interrupted.

  I turned to Kade who was furiously rattling the keys on two portable keyboards, his eyes scanning the screen in front of him with a deep concentration. “You’ve spent the last two years with her, any input for me?”

  He blinked at me then shrugged. “No but to be honest, it just doesn’t seem like her.” He pursed his lips in thought as his gaze fixed to the wall. “I mean, yeah the girl had a bit of trouble adapting at first, but when she gave birth to Jamie, she was suddenly different. He was… is all that matters to her.”

  “Ahh fuck!” I rubbed at my forehead. “George.”

  It hit me with the force of a sledgehammer as I snatched my keys from the desk and shot out of the front door. “Traipse through every single surveillance cam the city has. Find her!” I shouted before the door slammed shut.

  ***

  “That’s twice now!” George yelled at me as he pushed me out of his bedroom and pulled on his shorts, leaving Debora to stare at me wide eyed from beneath the duvet. “Why the fuck can’t you knock?”

  “Etta?” I barked at him leaving him to blink at me in bewilderment. “You’re taking Jamie aren’t you?”

  “What?” he spluttered as he took my arm and led me into his bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind him. “For god’s sake dad, keep your voice down.”

  “I knew it.” I shook my head at him sadly, “Why?”

  “Why?” He stared at me in shock, his eyes wide at my bafflement over his actions. “Because he’s my son, that’s why.”

  “But what about Etta? She loves him and you’re trying to snatch him from under her.”

  “For fuck’s sake, dad. You can honestly tell me with a family like hers that she can be a good parent, a good role model?”

  My jaw dropped and I fought with myself over whether to string the fucker up and smack some sense into him, or praise him for caring enough to want to look after his blood.

  “George.” I rolled my lips, wondering how to voice what I needed to say for him to see sense. “Are you telling me that your mother was never a good mom?”

  “Eh?” He stared at me in surprise. “Of course mum’s been a good parent.”

  I nodded slowly, “Yet she came off the streets. She killed and stole to survive. She’s since killed and stole. And she married into my family, but I’ll tell you something, I have never witnessed a woman with as much love as your mother has for you and Katie. Just because she has a rough background doesn’t make her a bad mother.”

  “I know that.”

  “Yet you chose to believe it of Etta. You think that because of what her parents were that doesn’t give her the right to be a mum.” I prodded his chest, my anger now surging at his foolishness. “In which case that doesn’t give you the right to be a dad, because your mother and I are far from innocent in this fucked up world.”

  He squared up to me, his face tight and angry as he for the first time rid himself of the hatred he had for me. “Wrong, dad. You are the guilty one in this fucked up world, you just dragged my mother along with you, destroyed her innocence along with everything else in your path.”

  I laughed at him, shaking my head in humour at his blindness. “You have no idea, George. About me, your mother, her life or even mine, so before you point the finger, you really ought to see things as they fucking are!”

  “And what’s that?” he spat as he pushed at me. “If the truth is so different from how I see it, then tell me. Fucking TELL ME!”

  I was battling with my wrath. I couldn’t ever let it loose on George but right at that moment he needed to see how life was, like it or hate it, it was still life and it still held many secrets and truths that obliterated our fantasies and hopes.

  “Come on,” he prodded further. “Tell me what can possibly turn the tables on your guilt. You took my mother, and you turned her into a monster.”

  “YES!” I roared at him as I slammed him against the door. “But your fucking mother tore out my heart and spat on it.” I let rip, giving a few home truths he needed to hear. “She took my love and trampled it into the fucking floor when she slept with my brother-in-law just hours after I’d asked her to marry me. She took my love and she fucking laughed at it whilst she fucked another man.”

  I closed my eyes as shock covered my son’s face, his breathing silent as he daren’t breathe in case my words penetrated and made them real. “Yes,” I whispered harshly. “Yes I made her a monster, but she made me into something far worse.”

  I pushed him out of the way but turned back to him before I left. He didn’t look at me, just kept his gaze trained on the floor.

  “She turned me into a man with a brok
en soul who had nothing left to lose in life. But even then, even though she moulded me into something that the devil himself would love to become, even then I still love her. I still can’t breathe without her, I still can’t live without her in my life.”

  He finally looked at me, his eyes sad and full of an ache. “And still I know I will die if I ever lost her. I will give up my right to breathe just to see a smile on her beautiful face. I will forfeit my own right to smile if it grants her another hour with me, another second in my arms, because despite what you think, George, love is a powerful thing but sometimes, it’s just that little bit too unhealthy.”

  I left him staring after me as I went in search of my wife, a monster I had created but an angel I would follow into hell with.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Frustration

  Ava

  The slow drip of water that echoed around me opposed the frantic pace my heart was hammering at, its laborious rhythm trying to soothe the velocity raging inside my chest.

  I didn’t want to open my eyes. I knew what I would find, the damp smell streaming up my nostrils and the subdued light filtering through my eyes told me everything I needed to about my current prison.

  My ears were on high alert, listening and seeking for sounds that would help me at least attempt to formulate some sort of plan whilst my nose endeavoured to search for any unusual smells that could give me an idea of where we were being held.

  Rebecca’s moans and weeping didn’t help my situation and I desperately tried to block her out of my concentration but she, as usual, was prominent and irritating.

  “Rebecca!” I grated out as I turned in her direction and finally opened my eyes, “Will you shut the hell up!”

  She stared at me, her eyes wide and wet, mascara trails streaking her face as her endless tears painted her face like some freak. That made sense. She was a bloody freak.

  Her body was trembling as she sat with her back slumped against a metal pillar, her bound hands were above her head secured to the post and her knees were drawn up to her chest defensively.

  “W..what’s going o..on?” She hiccupped as she sobbed out each word.

  I rolled my eyes and slid my gaze slowly around the room. “I have no idea, that’s what I’m trying to work out and your incessant whinging is not helping me concentrate.”

  “Fuck you.”

  I tutted and sighed as I mentally went through each specific point of Mason’s training. One exit door, no obstacles in the path from my position to the door. One small window, maybe wide enough for a body to slip through, although it was high up, almost adjacent to the ceiling. There were possible available weapons, one pipe that directed the water to the single tap in the corner of the room and a few chains, one which hung above Rebecca’s head. I smirked at that possibility.

  Daylight shone through the window which told me it didn’t lead onto a street or alleyway and blue sky was visible, telling me we probably hadn’t been out for too long, night hadn’t descended yet.

  I could smell a hint of oil and metal, a trace of manure and quite a heavy load of fresh grass, leaving me to consider the area to be slightly rural but somewhere where maybe cars or something mechanical was involved. Maybe a farm or an old working garage.

  The room was bare except for the support structures Rebecca and I were secured to. A few chains hung from the ceiling in random spots and of course, the dripping tap in the corner of the room. The door was metal, causing me slight bother when I knew I’d never be able to penetrate it but the small window in it would alert me when we had visitors.

  “Can you move?” I asked Rebecca eventually.

  “Are you fucking stupid? Does it look like I can move?”

  I grit my teeth together and prayed for some sanity. I would never survive an hour with her, never mind how long we were actually going to be detained for. “I meant have you any leverage on your post?”

  “What?” she curled her lip and looked at me as though I was asking her to tap dance naked with One Direction.

  “Is – your – post – weak – enough – to – yank?”

  Good Grief!

  I licked at my dry lips, giving my mouth something to do other that spit hatred at her. She finally pulled at the structure but it remained firm. “Shit.”

  I looked around, searching frantically for something, anything to help us get out but nothing offered that option. We were there for the duration. Rebecca and I were together for the duration. I wanted to wrap that chain around my neck and do myself in. Fuck the cancer, Rebecca would finally pop me off.

  “Is there anyone that would want to hurt you?” I asked her, the list of available answers already forming in my head.

  ME

  ME

  ME

  ME

  ME

  ME

  “Whatever you might think, Ava. I don’t have enemies.”

  I screwed my lips tightly together and nodded firmly, “No,” I replied seriously. “Of course you don’t.”

  “And what the fuck do you mean by that?” she hissed, venom spewing from her with every syllable as her eyes fired daggers across the room at me.

  “Well, you’re not exactly the nicest of people.”

  “Says her.” She huffed.

  “Oh my God, Rebecca.” I shook my head sadly. “How old are you?”

  “Bollocks, bitch.”

  “I rest my case.” I sighed and tapped at the column my wrists were attached to with my fingers, giving something other than the fuck whore’s annoying screech to focus on.

  “Well, have you asked yourself that question?” she smirked at me.

  I sighed as the image of sudden superpowers being bestowed on me came to mind and I mentally visualised yanking the metal support from the ceiling and swinging it in her direction, severing her ugly fucking head in one swipe. I pouted when she remained in one piece and smiling that grotesque bloody grimace of hers.

  “All the time, Rebecca. All the bloody time.”

  “Well, I rest my case then.”

  “You know when I get out of here,” I growled across the room at her. “I am so giving you my middle finger on my way out.”

  She sneered at me as she tried her bonds once more, struggling with them, her body and arms yanking at them furiously.

  “You’ll either burn the skin on your wrists doing that, or you’ll pull a muscle in your arm.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Right now, that is such a better option.” I retorted with a snarl.

  “My God,” she screeched. “I’m gonna go mad if I have to spend my last breaths in the same room as you.”

  “I can make that a lot quicker for you if you wish.”

  She sighed then pouted childishly as she gave in and relaxed again. “I should have finished you years ago,” she declared.

  I started chuckling at that thought, which then turned to laughter and then full on hysterics. My belly hurt at the humour with her announcement. “Finish me years ago…” I sniggered, “That is the funniest shit I’ve heard in years.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You’ve finally gone mad.”

  I nodded to her, “I think I may have. I’m actually laughing at one of your jokes.”

  “Oh just fuck off Ava.”

  I laughed harder. I couldn’t help it, I think I had gone slightly mad. The thought of spending any more time with the bitch had sent me crazy, giving me something other than horror to focus on.

  We both froze when the door opened and a tall light haired man stood in the doorway. I didn’t have chance to engrain his features to memory before I spotted the syringe he held in each hand.

  “Oh no.” I said as I scurried backwards in a wasted effort to draw myself away from him.

  Rebecca started to cry again, her high pitched wails hurting my ear drums before the guy put me out of my misery and sent me to oblivion with some shit he injected into my veins.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Fear
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  Mason

  “You okay?” Layla asked as she deposited a cup of coffee beside me. I turned to look at her. Her face was pale, her eyes dull and sad as she gave me a sombre smile. She sighed heavily when I shrugged.

  “I’m not sure really,” I told her honestly. Most of me was going slightly crazy, a burning inside that I couldn’t douse as the fear crippled me. She fiddled with my hair as was usual for my best friend, her fingers trying to tame the wild few strands that obstinately fell the opposite way to the rest of my hair. “I’m scared shitless. I’m terrified for both her and Bec, Bec more so cos’ if I know Ava, it will be her that kills her before their captors do.” Layla smiled and flicked her eyebrows in agreement. “But then there’s this part of my heart that knows Ava will survive this.” I swallowed and grabbed Layla’s hand, holding on tightly to her. “Is that wrong?”

  “Is what wrong?” She asked as her pretty face gazed at me in confusion.

  “That I’m not as worried as I should be.”

  She exhaled heavily and sighed noisily. “Nope. If anyone knows how Ava will be handling this, it’s you. She’s resilient and tough and although it’s awful to say, she’s been through worse than a couple of people locking her up.”

  “With Rebecca” I added with a smirk.

  “Ah,” Layla chuckled. “Yes, that in itself may be trouble.”

  “So no joy with Etta?” she stated as she plonked on the sofa beside me.

  “Nope, she seems to have disappeared along with Ava.”

  “Are you sure it’s her?”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t ever sure who in cases like this but I always relied on my instinct and it had usually never been far wrong. “Nothing else springs to mind. She’s angry, I get that, George is trying to take away her life, Ava and I ruined her life to start with…”