Killing Hearts_A Dark Romance

by P. Brier

  I’m a gold-digger, I know this. I grew up poor. With nothing, then Marco found me. Dancing in one of his clubs. I saw my ticket and took it. I was never meant to be a mother. I don’t give a shit about anyone but me. But, I am good actress. To the world I am a caring mother, to my husband, I am who I am. We don’t keep secrets. Okay, maybe some secrets. We don’t love each other, we don’t trust each other, we tolerate each other. But, I can’t get to the top by being his shadow. Don’t get me wrong, it started off romantic, he was charming, I was a shy, poor, stripper. He made me strong, but I overcame strong and become invincible. I owned him and he doesn’t have a clue what’s coming for him.

  The sound of the door slamming shut wakes me from my thoughts, and I know Marco is home. The twins are with the nanny, who we payed quite graciously to keep them out of my hair. He walks straight to his office and a second bang echoes through the house. Bad day at the office, poor baby. I decide now is better time than any to tell him about what’s cooking inside me. I walk to his office and barge in like I own the place, he looks up from his desk, annoyed at my disruption.

  “We have a problem, honey” I say in the most sarcastic tone I can muster. He doesn’t say anything, typical.

  “Oh, Honey” I say on a sigh, I throw the test on to his desk and say the one words that gets his attention, “I’m pregnant.”

  At this he looks up. Surprise etched on his face.

  “You’re what? He growls.

  “I’m pregnant”

  He smiles, fucking fool.

  “That’s wonderful.” he looks back at his computer and dismisses me, shock etched on my face.

  “Perfect for who,” my tone, taking on an edgier octave, “You don’t want another child just as much I don’t want another child, so please tell me how it’s wonderful, husband?”

  “You will have this child Irina, it’s not like you take care of the twins” ignoring my question, he throws a bag on the table with a smile. I step a little closer to catch a glimpse of the candy he threw on the table, delectable crystal white power stares back at me. My hand starts to shake. My weakness.

  “Go take care of yourself, it’s the last one you will get until after my baby is born”

  “You can’t talk to me like that” I spit.

  “I just did, dear” he smirks, without looking away from his computer screen.

  I turn to leave, intentionally forgetting the bag on the table. I’ll show him.

  Before I make out the door completely, I hear his rough voice, “Oh, and honey, this one better be mine”

  I stop in my tracks and turns toward my husband, he is now standing, arms braced on his desk, his face a mask of anger. How the fuck did he know?

  “Oh, you think I didn’t know that Danny and Travis weren’t mine, that you had an affair with my partner.” He walks around the desk and starts walking towards me, I step back, slightly afraid for the first time when it came to Marco, I never thought he had the balls. He grabs my chin in his hands.

  “This is how it is going to go, Star” using my stripper name instead, “you will continue to work for me, and stay my wife for appearances. I will fuck whoever I want to, things won’t change, much,” he states as if he is selling cookies, “you belong to me, and you will tell nobody of their paternity understand?”

  He squeezes my jaw causing me to flinch, “you played me bitch, and now that child inside you, she will pay. I don’t give a shit about paternity, I care about power. That little slut inside you will soon work for me, like you will for the rest of your fucking life.

  His words sting, but don’t hold the punch they should.

  I could do what most mothers would do, grab my children and run. But here I have everything I could ever need. Drugs, sex, the party lifestyle, and more money than I can count. He may be mad, but I’m still his wife. First thing is first, I am going to get high, so high I can’t even tell the sky from the ground. Then I will go grab Travis from his room, I will pack his shit up, and send him away. My heart feels heavy for a mere second, I’m a heartless bitch, but somewhere in me I do love my boys, I just love coke more. They don’t keep me warm at night, or make me feel invincible when the world is crumbling around me. I’m scared of being poor, again. I will do anything to stay on top, and that includes selling my own child. He will not win, but for now, I’ll play the part. He pushes me away and walks back to his desk, I turn and grab the baggie on his desk, smiling my devilish smile, “This isn’t over honey” and walk out the door.

  23: Take My Truth, Let Me Be

  “The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”

  ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

  Now…

  Jesse Montgomery

  I HAVE TRIED everything to get out of this room. If this room is any indication of the rest of the house, I have a long night ahead of me, one I don’t think I have. Bane could be back any minuet. He may be playing this kinder act, but I don’t buy it. The end game is still the same. I am dead. Either by Bane’s hands or someone else’s. He said that he works for a company that makes people disappear. Someone hired him, meaning I am not in company of my only threat. Mother wouldn’t want me dead, if I die she loses everything, the money would get put on hold, and she wouldn’t see a dime of it even if she peals back all the layers the lawyers concocted.

  I have been working on this window for over an hour. I am low enough that I can jump without damage, but one wrong move and I could break a leg. I must be stealthy, something I haven’t been very good at.

  “Ugh” I growl, jerking the window in frustration, I hear a snap, I jerk again, and feel something loosen. The window slides up with a screech as freedom wisps through my hair. But the thought of what is out there scares the shit out of me. Someone wants me dead. Where will I go? I can’t go to Travis, he should stay out of this. Plus, I am not at hundred percent, I am still weak and my body aches all over.

  I slip one leg over the open window, knowing I must try. I can’t stay here and die, knowing it won’t fix anything, I can’t die for nothing, and until I stop mother, everything would be in vain. The crisp air tickles my arm, and I breathe in the aroma of freedom. There is a roof below that I can land on to get to the ground without breaking any limbs. Out further there is a small pond and what looks like a forest of some kind. Somewhere there must be a road, it’s like finding a needle in haystack, but my odds are more in my favor then hanging around to be tortured some more.

  For a moment, I replay Bane’s and my turmoil of a relationship. Its poetic that we ended this way. We both lied, we both hurt each other, and now we just might kill each other. But it’s painful to know, how beautiful we once were. I never wanted to hurt him, but now he isn’t him anymore. I changed him, he is a monster, and now he sees me for the monster I am as well. Together we killed each other’s heart, and in a perfect world together we would mend the broken pieces.

  I shake my head knowing I need to hurry. Stop focusing what could have been, it’s done, broken, nothing will bring us back together. I pull myself over the window sill and brace myself to land on my feet on the roof below. I’m hanging by my fingertips, a jump away from landing on the roof. When I hear the rumbling of his truck pulling into the driveway. I know he can’t see me, but the more I procrastinate the more trouble I will be in. I take the leap, and land like a cat, I look down to see my next feat is only twelve feet below. I brace myself for the jump, praying I don’t injure myself, I jump off the roof landing on my ankle wrong and rolling it.

  Sharp pain shoots up my leg and my ankle is already swelling. Another thing to add to the list of pain my body is going through. Fuck, I can’t take anymore, I am maxed out on the level of pain I can handle.

  “JESSE!!!!” I hear Banes loud roar, he pokes his head out the window, and I stand to start running.

  “Stop, you don’t know what you’re doing” he warns, obviously I am not listening.
<
br />   He disappears from the window and I know he is giving chase. I limp-run towards the trees, when I hear an engine growing louder in the distance. I see him come over the hill on a four-wheeler, anger and concern in his eyes.

  Right now, I don’t want to admit I should give up. I am limping, every move hurts worse, he is on four wheels and I have two barefoot feet. The odds are against me, but I keep trying. He slows down to a crawl, knowing I can’t go much further.

  “Jesse, just stop” he begs, desperation in his voice. Why? I keep walking, but slowing down the further I go, my body fighting every step I take to the freedom I will never have.

  “You know you can’t take one more step. You’re not well.”

  I turn around, anger masking every other feeling in my body.

  “YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!” I yell, my chest heaving from the extreme emotions coursing through me, “I get it you wanted revenge, Bane, I’ll gladly give it to you, but not yet, okay.”

  I hear the engine kick off, and my feet stop moving at the same time. I hear footsteps coming closer, and my body becoming lighter. He still can make me feel all over, even after everything. His hands come up to my shoulders, and the moment his hands touch me, I slump in his arms, all strength leaving me. He cradles my fall, and lowers us to the ground. We stay salient for what feels like an eternity. My body cradled in the bulk of his. It almost as if the last few years never happened and we were together and free. But that can never be us again.

  I start to pull away when he brings me in closer, tightening his hold on me.

  “Not yet” he mumbles in my ear; the sound of his husky voice penetrates my heart and I lean into his embrace.

  “If what you said is true, that you had no choice, tell me what happened. Tell me why I spent three years in prison for a crime you committed. A sentence I would have served blindly had you asked me too”

  I stiffen at the sincerity in his voice, and it breaks down my defenses. He needs to know something, anything, maybe just maybe, if I tell him what I can, he will let me go. The further away from him I can get, the safer he is, if that means I must die so be it, but he needs to know the truth before I go.

  “I’ll tell you everything, just get me back….” I look behind me, “there”.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Then…

  Since we didn’t eat our food and left in such a hurry, Bane went back inside to get us some food. A payphone to the rights gets my attention. I need to speak to mother. I need to know what she wants from me. Maybe I can’t change her mind. I never thought mother was evil, she can still be saved.

  I run to the phone and slid seventy-five cents in the outdated slots. It rings twice before the sound of her scratchy voice echoes through the phone.

  “Come to your senses” she bellows.

  “I can’t do it, mother. This is wrong. You know what father did to me, to us. I can’t do this to Bane”

  “You will, Jesse. Because I will keep to my promise, either way, Bane is out of the picture, and you and your money are coming with me. Let’s make this swift dear, I figured you were going to have issues with my request. So, I thought I would help move things along. Bane is taking you to Colorado to a cabin in Rye.”

  “How do you know this”

  “Don’t interrupt,” she scolds me, “like I was saying, some very nice agents will be by to pick up our little convict, and Jesse before you think to warn him, remember the outcome if he doesn’t go to prison, and even then, I will still own you”

  “Mother, please, stop this,” but before I have a chance to beg her the dial tone blares in my ears like a horn in back to back traffic. This is happening and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

  I jump when I feel hands on my shoulders.

  “Woah, calm down, it’s me” Bane eyes me suspiciously, “who were you talking to”

  “I called Danny’s voicemail, I needed to hear his v-voice” I stutter at the end of the lie.

  He cups my jaw in his hands, and leans down and presses a small kiss to my lips. So gentle I almost didn’t feel it, if it weren’t for the warmth that spread to my core I would have never known he touched my lips at all.

  “I miss him too, darlin” he says as he pulls away, “come on, lets hit the road.”

  I smile a forced smirk, and pray he doesn’t see through my façade. I grab his outstretched hand, and follow him to the truck. He gives me a reassuring squeeze before he opens the door and I climb into the vehicle.

  Whatever happens next will change everything. There is a train coming, and there is nothing I can do to stop it from colliding with us as its target. Tonight, I may send him to prison, but I’m also serving a life sentence as well.

  24: Mine For Now

  I like dysfunction. Broken people who can't fix each other, but fit together because they're missing the same pieces.”

  ― Lime Craven

  Then…

  Bane Stratus

  I SHOULD SLIT his throat, end his life right now, while Jesse is in the shower. But she would never forgive me. Her brother stands by the kitchen counter eyeing me, waiting for me to make a move. I don’t budge.

  “So” he murmurs, “Are we going to have this out, or are we going to just stand here in silence, waiting for Jesse.”

  I don’t say a word, I continue to watch him, hearing him say her name causes me to boil in rage. He tried to kill her. Now he wants to play niceties.

  “I get it, you don’t want me near her. Hell, if I had I known her my whole life, I wouldn’t want someone like me around her either. But I’m her brother…”

  “Funny, you were trying to kill her not to long ago, and now you want me to believe you want to be the big brother” I’m fuming, “I don’t buy it, I know you’re up to something”

  “If that’s how you feel, why did you let me live.”

  “Because, if I had, it would hurt her” nodding to bathroom, where I heard the water shut off

  “Listen man, I didn’t make a good first impression, I am not here to cause waves. I have some information, I may be able to help”

  “Help with what” Jesse interrupts, her hair piled on top her head, wrapped in a towel. Her frail body in a pair of plaid shorts, and a black tank top. She looks ravishing in something so simple. Everything about her screams innocent. I look to Travis, hoping he sees the seriousness in my eyes. Jesse might know what’s going on, hell, she killed her own father for the very reason he wants to talk. But, I don’t know what he is going to say or what he knows, she is still in the dark about most of the shit her father and mother were involved with. I’d like to keep her as innocent as possible, and until I know what this motherfucker must say, he better keeps his mouth shut until were alone.

  “Nothing” wrapping my arms around her waist, and making a statement, fuck with her you fuck with me, with a hard glare, “Just getting to know our mysterious guest, that’s all.” I kiss her forehead and grab her hand and pull her towards the balcony, leaving Travis to his vices, so I can show Jesse the view, I know she will love it.

  “Bane, wait” she protests, “we can’t leave Travis.”

  “He’ll be fine” I spit out a little angrier than I intended, “I want to show you this” trying for a softer tone, guiding her to the upstairs balcony that overlooks the mountain terrain. Her eyes widen when she peaks over the ledge as if she could touch the mountains with a slight lean. She is so cute. I chuckle at her naivete.

  A whisper escapes her mouth, I barely hear it, “It’s beautiful”

  I walk up to her, my chest to her back, and wrap my arms around her waist. I put my lips to her ear, and smell the shampoo she used this morning, lavender, and mint, everything that is Jesse. She shivers in my arms and I know it’s not from the cold, she responds to my touch, my breath, she is the air I breathe, and now she is mine.

  “Yes, you are” I whisper in her ear, pulling the lobe between my teeth. She turns in my arms and faces me, but what I see isn’t adoration, or love, she stares back in f
ear, and a hint of guilt.

  “Bane, I have to tell….” Before she finished her sentence, Travis barging through the doors to the balcony. Fuck this guy. I growl in his direction.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but um, there are some people here for you,” he looks to Jesse, sympathy evident in his eyes, “they have badges.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Now…

  I remember the day I was arrested like it was yesterday. Anger fuels every action since that betrayal. I never thought she didn’t have a choice. I immediately saw the worst and now she is caught up in a mess bigger than she ever thought. She fears her mother, but she is in more danger now than she could imagine.

  I was hired to end her, if it wasn’t me who took the job, someone else would. I can’t kill her, I can’t finish the job. Which means we are both on the hit list, and we don’t have much time before they come knocking for our last breath.

  After I got Jesse back to the house, I sat her on the counter in the bathroom, grabbed the first aid kit, and attended to her wounds. She was cut up all over, fresh wounds on her feet and her ankle was swollen. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me and I lifted her chin so I could see her face. Tears fell from her eyes and a part of me I thought was dormant came back to life. I didn’t want her tears, not anymore.

  “I never wanted to hurt y-you” she stutters. Pain flowing through every breath. This made me angry.

  “Then why did you” I growl, hatred still being a strong emotion, my body going through turmoil as an onslaught of emotions plummet out of me. I continue my work on her cuts and try to be gentle when all I want to do is punch something. Three fucking years I wasted away for something I didn’t do, revenge being my only solace