Love and Hate

Love

&

Hate

                
By Chelsea  Ballinger

All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the
prior written approval of the author except for the use of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published by Chelsea Ballinger

Cover image created by Chelsea Ballinger through
Kindle Cover Creator

Cover Image under license from Istockphoto.com

This is a work of
fiction. Names, titles, places, characters, and events are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual
events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any trademarks,
service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property
of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no
implied endorsement.

                  
This novel is
dedicated to my grandparents.

                         My grandmother,
the light of this family

                My grandfather, the
spark that created a way for me

Table of Contents

Prologue

1Spark

2 Forever

3 I Don’t Know You, But I Miss You

4 The Consequences Of Fate

5 Stolen Moments

6 Defining Moments

7 Trouble In Paradise

8 A Moment Of Clarity

9 Say It First

10 I Gladly Welcome It

11 Our Deepest Fear

12 In This Together

13 Honorable Sacrifices

14 Words From The Wise

15 Truth Be Told

16 A Killer And A Lover

Epilogue

 
Prologue

“Christian!”
The tall built
man yelled out for his son. Out of all his children he knew Christian would be
the first to respond, for he was the oldest and the most mature. The man heard
his son’s footsteps getting closer and closer as he came toward his office. Once
he heard the footsteps stop he looked up to see his equally tall and built son
who had sandy brown hair like his mother.

“Yeah, dad?” Christian asked his
father who was going through his wooden bookshelf. He glanced around and
admired the elegant room his father had created for himself. He added modern
detail through the long, glass desk his mother had talked him into getting. He
noticed the books over the charcoal color, marble surround fireplace. His
father had a collection of law books and classic novels for example; his
father’s favorite book was the Count of Monte Cristo. He never knew why and
never bothered to read it himself. He wasn’t a reader like his little brother.

“What are you doing?” His father
asked him.

“I just finished unpacking and
setting up my room.”

“Where is Donovan?”

“I don’t know. He said he was
going for a walk. I guess he’s in one of those moods again.”

“Why?” The father looked at his
son with a frown. “What’s going on with him? He’s been moping around here like
he lost his dog or something.”

“Well, what did you expect? You
did move us back here without any type of warning. Especially since this is the
town where all that crap happened even though he chooses not to remember.
Besides he’s a brooder.” Christian wondered why his father acted shocked by his
brother’s normal behavior. Since birth, Donovan has always acted this way.

“What is a brooder?” His father increased
his frown.

“You” Christian and his father
turned to see his wife standing at the doorway. Her long sandy brown hair
looked full and beautiful as always. Her radiant, green eyes brought out her
smile as she made fun of her husband. Every time the man saw his wife he
couldn’t help but to turn his frown into a crooked grin. He was and forever
completely enamored by his wife.

“You my dear Roman have always
been a brooder.” His wife said while brushing her son’s hair and kissing him on
the cheek.

“Of course, Vera. As always, you
are right.” Roman said sarcastically to his beautiful wife as she walked up to
him and kissed him on his lips.

Christian watched them feeling
grossed out by their affection, but still admiring the love his parents had for
each other. His whole life the greatest representation of love he had known was
defined by his parents. In spite of everything they have gone through, they
never forgot the love and loyalty they have for each other. He hoped to find
someone to love like that one day.

“The fact that you don’t see
yourself in your own son is ridiculous because I swear it’s like looking in the
mirror.” She chuckled

“I know he is. This is what
worries me.”

“You and me both.” Vera joked,
but was also serious at the same time.

Roman wrapped his arms around
Vera as she smiled and looked at her eldest son. Her family was her pride and
joy. Three beautiful children that she would move mountains for and a husband
who would always protect them no matter what.

“Christian, get Ella and look for
your brother.”

“What’s wrong with Donovan?” Vera
asked. She too was concerned about her son and hesitant about moving back to
Eastbrook because of their past there.

“Your son likes to leave the
house without his phone and not tell anyone where he’s going.” Roman said
remembering why he was angry in the first place. He loved Donovan with all his
heart, but still annoyed at how much he disobeyed him.

“Well Roman you know Donovan has
been going through a lot. You have to be patient with him.”

“I still need to know where he’s
going Vera.” As he held on tight to Vera, Roman yelled for his daughter.
“Ella?!”

“Dad, you know she’s deaf. I’ll text
her.” Christian pulled out his cell phone.

“Really?” Vera was shocked at her
son’s laziness.

“Ma, its technology, don’t hate.”
He sent his sister a message saying their dad wanted to see her.

A minute later Ella entered the
office looking beautiful with long sandy brown hair just like her mother. Ella
had blue eyes just like her father and Donovan. She was a good mixture of both
parents while Christian resembled their mother and Donovan their father. She
stared at her family wondering what they wanted.

“And what were you doing?” Vera
asked her.

“Texting Dina.”

“That’s all you kids do is text
and text. I don’t get it.”

“Mom, we are trying to find out
what we’re wearing to the party tonight.”

“Clothing that covers up your
whole body.” Roman said. He had been noticing how his daughter was blossoming
into a beautiful young girl. Sixteen years old now, which meant she was going
to start dating. He was mortified at the thought of it.

Ella rolled her eyes at her father’s
comment. “What do you guys want?”

“Excuse me?” Vera arched her brow
at her daughter’s attitude.

Ella slouched knowing what her
mother meant. She stood up straight and began her question again with polite
sarcasm. “Mother? Father? How may I help you?”

“I need you to go with Christian
to find Donovan.” Roman said.

“Ugh.” Ella slouched again at her
father’s order. “I know where he is.”

Roman’s brow creased. “How?”

“He’s pretty predictable. He’s a
brooder.” Christian and Vera laughed at Ella’s comment agreeing with her.

“So what does that make me?”

“Predictable. Love you daddy.”
Ella grabbed her brother and left before her father could respond.

Vera laughed hysterically turning
around to face her husband. “Aw sweetie I love you’re brooding.”

“You better love my brooding.” He
winks at her.

She placed her lips on his to
confirm how much she really loved his brooding.

Roman and Vera Pierce were in
love. They had been married for twenty years. Roman Pierce had always known the
importance of family and loyalty, but never love, at least not until Vera. His
father raised him to be strong and a leader. There was never any room for
compassion, due to his mother being murdered by an enemy of his father's when
he was a child. The man that killed his mother became Roman’s first kill when
he was sixteen, which sealed his destiny. He was to become the head of the
family business.

Roman was a gangster, a mob boss,
a criminal. He met Vera when he was twenty three and she was twenty. Love at
first sight, they always agreed. She was the daughter of his father’s closest
friend and employee, a bookie who ran the gambling operations for the Pierce
family. Vera never wanted to marry a criminal, but she couldn’t help it after
she first laid eyes on the beautiful blonde haired and blue eyed young man when
she visited her father in New York that one fateful summer. He was everything
to her and she never regretted marrying him. Especially because she received
three beautiful children out of her choice. Also, Roman always kept his promise.
He would always do what was best for the family. That was all Roman was about,
honor and family. He would always say if you didn’t have loyalty or trust, then
there was no point in living. People feared Roman, but also respected him. Everyone
except the law of course. The police hated Roman because of how he kept getting
away with everything. The Pierce family was one of the most untouchable,
organized crime families in the state of New York. If a list of most hated
criminals in New York existed, Roman would be number one on that list.

Although still dabbling in some
illegal activities, Roman was finally trying to settle down and retire from the
crime world. He had made peace with his enemies and even moved his family from
the city. He wanted his children to be safe and hopefully break the cycle, not
continuing to thrive in the crime world. He wanted Christian to be a doctor,
Ella to be a fashion designer, and Donovan to be happy. He knew Donovan was
like him, unsure of what he wanted out of life. Roman just prayed that it would
be different from the path he chose.

Word was getting out that Roman
Pierce was going legit. People started considering it to be the truth, except
for one. He was a man who devoted his whole life to bringing the Pierce family
down, who lived by the law, and resided in Eastbrook. He was going to stop at
nothing to bring Roman down now that he had returned to Eastbrook. Roman has
always known this enemy, in fact he has been his enemy since he took over the
family business. He always knew this battle was going to go on, until he ended
it someday. He just didn’t know how to end it. Roman has committed many bad
acts in his life, but killing a man of the law is not on his list. Roman was a
different kind of criminal, people said. He was a mob kingpin who knew of
mercy. He studied law books to defeat the police instead of using a gun. Every
action and decision he took, he did it with rationality and noetic mentality. The
only way he would kill is if the person is attempting to kill him first. Or if
they had hurt his family. So the battle continued and Roman remained confident
that Henry Stonem, the Assistant State’s Attorney and one of the top prosecuting
attorneys for the organized crime unit in the criminal division for the Southern
District of New York, would never find enough evidence to put him in prison. What
he didn’t know was that the battle with Henry Stonem was about to hit a major
turning point.