A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (35 page)

I saw a flash of light from car headlights hit the study
’s windows and, moments later, heard the front door open. Footsteps pounded through the house.

Oh, thank God, Ari
’s here
.

The footsteps made their way
up the staircase and down the study hallway at rapid speed and a figure dressed all in black stood in the doorway.

Oh, crap. It
’s Margaux
.

I swallowed hard and took a step to position myself in front of Max. Margaux squinted her beady little eyes at Aggie. They were standing right next to each other. One wrong move and the scene could go terribly wrong.

“Margaux, what are you doing here?” I asked over the ringing of my phone. My eyes stayed tight on Aggie, watching her every move.

“Stay still,” I mouthed to Aggie as quietly and calmly as I could.

“Why weren’t you at my party tonight, Ava? Ari promised you would be there.”

“Ari lied to you. You are the devil, Margaux. I hate you. Whatever made you think I would come to your party?”

Margaux looked down at the bracelet on my wrist.

“I see you finally got my message.”

Max poked his little head around my legs and stared, wide-eyed, at Margaux. She peered back at him and I felt him slide his hand up my leg. He pressed the old, cold scissors into my palm. “Use them,” he whispered. I curled my fingers around the scissors, holding them like a dagger.

“You shouldn
’t have come here tonight, Margaux. I am going to kill you,” I said, and I took another step toward where she and Aggie stood side by side. I caught another gleam of light hit the study windows as another car pulled up to the house.

“You don
’t know what you are talking about, Ava,” Margaux said in a hushed voice.

I heard the slamming of a car door.

“Yes, I do,” I said, as I took another step towards Aggie, trying to position myself in between her and Margaux. My back was to Aggie; I did not let Margaux out of my sight. Margaux, it appeared, did not let Aggie out of her sight.

Margaux slowly moved her hand and put it on her chest. She spread her fingers out wide then curled her pointer finger and tapped twice right above her heart. I blinked as I took one more tiny step.

I could feel Aggie’s breath on my neck.

“Help us, Ava,” my mother-in-law said. “She will kill us all.”

“Don’t worry, Aggie. I’ll save you.”

I took one more step, nearly closing the distance
between myself and Margaux.

Footsteps and hollering rang out through the house. The study door shot open, providing a distraction I
needed. I spun around, gripped my ancient pair of scissors and drove them straight into Aggie’s chest. Ari’s hand flew to his face in horror as he fell to his knees in the doorway. He had just witnessed me stabbing his own mother. Aggie collapsed to the floor as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her mouth opened and a white ghostly mist trailed out of her leaving Aggie pale and nearly lifeless.

“Margaux, save her!” I screamed and Margaux came to Aggie
’s side and began CPR. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. Once I was assured an ambulance was on the way, I riffled through my desk drawer and pulled out Detective Scott’s card.

“Scott,” he answered on the first ring

“It’s Ava. I need to you to meet me at the hospital. I just killed No. 7 and I have seriously hurt the host.”

“On my way.”

We both hung up with no further discussion.

Ari was catatonic, on his knees in the doorway. Margaux had removed the scissors from Aggie
’s chest and was working on wrapping the wound to keep her from bleeding out; Max stayed silent at my side. The paramedics arrived and took Aggie, who was unresponsive, out on a stretcher. I buckled Max in his seat in Ari’s car. Margaux slid into the front passenger-side seat as Andy pulled up in front of the house.

“Aggie has been taken to the hospital. Ari is still inside the house. Get him and go, now.”

“What’s going on, Ava?”

“I can
’t explain it right now, Andy. Just please get Ari and come on.”

I peeled away from the curb and drove to the hospital. I had to remind myself over and over again that there was a three-year-old child in the back seat and that I could not speed. Andy, with Ari in the passenger seat, passed us at lightning speed on the highway.

I called Rory, Gianna and August and told them that there had been an accident of sorts and Aggie was hurt.

We arrived at the hospital and there was no word yet on Aggie
’s condition. I sat with Max on my lap in the waiting room. Margaux took a seat next to me and put her hand in mine. I rested my head on her shoulder and stared blankly at the white tiled floor. Ari still had not even looked at me. An hour passed and the doctor hadn’t come out to tell anyone anything and I was beginning to freak out; if I had killed Aggie, I would never be able to forgive myself and Ari would never speak to me again. The waiting room was full of family, but no one spoke. The room was thick with tension.

Detective Scott broke the silence by running down the corridor from the emergency room. He pointed at me, then to an empty hospital room across from the waiting room.
Taking Max off my lap, he went willingly to Margaux. I followed Scott in to the room and he closed the door behind us.

“Start at the beginning,” Scott demanded. He took a seat on a rolling stool and motioned for me to sit across from him. Scott unbuttoned his suit jacket and the
gleam from the fluorescent lights in the ceiling bounced off the handcuffs hanging from his belt. I swallowed and stared at him.

“Well, Ava, come on. What happened?”

“Um… I am really nervous. Can Ari come in here with me?”

“I am sorry no, Ava. Please take a breath and tell me what happened earlier in the evening.”

I nodded my head up and down a few times while I gathered my thoughts.

“Ok, here goes... My grandmother, Margaux Baio has been possessed by a Kakos, No 7, for as long as I have known her and a month ago, I set out to find a way to kill her. But the closer I got to finding a way to ending her life, the less certain I felt about her being possessed. There was something different about her. She was nice and almost… caring.”

I shook my head and frowned.

“Aggie never saw the danger coming. She is by nature sweet and so loving. She was no match for evil. The thing, No7, left Margaux and attached itself to Aggie, maybe as long ago as
a few weeks. I didn’t process the change in my own mind until this evening, though.”

Then I closed my eyes and described how hateful Aggie had been acting towards me the past few weeks and how Max seemed to be fine until she would come around. Whenever Aggie was near him he would cower and whimper as though he were afraid of her. Aggie had everyone believing that her cancer was back. That she was ill and upset. The truth was that she had been taken over by No. 7 and that No.7 had begun his ploy to kill me.

“So tonight, with Max and Margaux’s guidance, I stabbed Aggie in the heart with a pair of scissors.”

“Which scissors?” Scott asked wide eyed.

“Atropos’ scissors.”

“How do you know you had the right pair?”

“Because, Scott they are mine. They belong to me. I have dreamed of them every night since I was a young girl. I knew what to do with them as soon as Max placed them in my hand.”

“It s
ounds as though Aggie was lucky to have you there, Ava.”

“It wasn
’t an accident, Scott. I stabbed her.”

He put his elbows on his knees and his fingers formed a steeple in front of his mouth.

“Ava, you made the right decision. You did what you had to do. If you had not acted when you did, I am certain that you and Max would not have survived the evening. I believe that No. 7 was going to kill you in your home. Aggie was not a strong enough host; she was too kind and fragile for him to stay in that body any longer.”

“Is she going to live?”

“If you did it right, I am sure she will be fine.” He stood up to leave.

“So what
’s going to happen? What kind of trouble will I be in for this?”

“I thought you just told me that Aggie tripped and fell into the scissors you had in your hand. Have a nice night, Ava. Oh, and Happy New Year! Hard to believe it
’s only been a year. Feels like you’ve been keeping me busy a lot longer than that. No offense, but I am glad this part is finally over. I miss my wife.”

“Thanks, Scott.”

I steadied my shaking hands and took a few quick, calming breaths, then walked back out to the waiting room. Ari hadn’t moved...his elbows were still on his knees and his fists were knotted up in his hair. Andy paced the room until the doctor finally came out.

“Well, she
’s stable and her vitals are good. I don’t anticipate her regaining consciousness until the morning. I think it would be for the best if you all went home and got some rest. You come on back in the morning and we’ll see what’s what,” he said.

Slowly people made their way out of the hospital and into the parking lot. Ari climbed into his dad
’s car and my heart crumbled into a million little pieces. I buckled Max into his seat and drove him and Margaux back to our home. We were the last to arrive back home and our house was packed with family.

Andy sat on the couch next to Lauren, and Ari sat in the armchair in the same position as at the hospital, elbows on knees, fists in hair. I took Max
and changed him into his P.J’s. He was sleepy, but with all that was going on, he refused to lie down. He walked back with me to the kitchen and I stood with him as I looked into the living room at Aggie’s family. How familiar the room was and yet how overwhelmingly alienated the family looked to me. I didn’t know if I would ever be welcomed by them again. Margaux came to stand by my side, handed me a cup of tea, and squeezed my hand.

“You did the right thing, Ava. It doesn
’t seem like it now, but you saved a lot of lives tonight.”

I nodded my head and closed my eyes.

Max pushed at me in an attempt to get down. He is a lot like me and when he is sleepy, he gets pretty grouchy. He ignored everyone and walked back to the bookshelf only to come back out a few moments later dragging his favorite book by the cover.

“Hey, Buddy, want me to read that to you?” Andy offered as Max walked by him in the living room.

“No. I want my daddy to do it,” Max grumbled.

The whole house simultaneously sucked in a breath
at Max’s words and watched as he walked towards the chair and stood in front of Ari. Ari lifted his head and blinked at him. Without a word, he pulled the boy up onto his lap and began to read.

“Llama, Llama,” Ari started and Max put his little hand on Ari
’s face and fell asleep on the third page of the story. Ari kept quietly reading until the very end. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed. When Ari finished, he closed the book and set it on the table. He stood up and walked across the room with Max asleep on the soft spot of Ari’s shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled my face into his chest and in that moment, we both let go and cried.

P
eople began to shuffle around and the doors opened and closed, but neither Ari nor I bothered to look up or say goodbye. Ari held me to him long after we were alone. He took a deep breath, sighed, and kissed me on top of the head and I melted.

“I th
ought…” he paused as his voice caught in his throat, “I thought I had lost you. I thought I had lost you and Max both. I am so sorry, Ava. You asked me not to leave you. I promised that I would never leave your side, Baby, I promised you. I am so sorry I broke my promise. If something… if something had happened to you my life would have been over.”

“I
’m fine, Ari, it’s okay now.”

“I was so worried about you. When Margaux saw I had come without you, she was very angry with me. She jumped into her car and squealed out of her driveway. I thought she was coming to kill you. I called you a hundred times. I thought I was too late. Then when I saw you and Max standing together… you both looked so scared. I should have been there to help you.”

“We are okay, Ari. Please, don’t worry anymore.”

“How did you know…how did you know No. 7 wasn
’t Margaux?”

“Max. Max knew the whole time. He kept trying to tell me but I wasn
’t listening. He was so scared of Aggie.”

“When did this happen? How long had my mom been possessed?”

“Margaux told me on the ride to the hospital that No. 7 switched over to Aggie the day we arrived back to California from Greece and stopped at
baio
to see you. Something was off that day. We should have never walked into
baio
. I ignored warning after warning.

Aggie, Max and I waited for you at your office. I grew restless and left with Max and took him down the hall to Margaux
’s office. Your mom was alone in your office and No. 7 went looking for you and found her instead. Margaux said that No. 7 had wanted to get closer to me and was planning to move on to you. When No. 7 went in your office, he found Aggie instead and he made the switch.”