Love and Sacrifice (12 page)

             
“Who the hell are you?” Roman asks me, his tone calm but full of rage.

             
“What is going on?” Ella asks in confusion. “Tommy, what happened?”

             
She walks up to me, but is stopped by her mother who pulls her by the arm toward her.

             
“Mom, what are you doing?” she asks her mother, still staring at me.

             
“Claudia is in danger, Ella.” She looks at her mother.

             
“What?!”

             
“And Tommy has something to do with it.”

             
Ella quickly turns to me, about to walk over to me, but a bodyguard gets in front her. “Tommy, tell them it isn’t true. Tell them!”

             
Tears fall from her eyes as she silently begs me to tell her it isn’t true.

             
“I’m sorry.” It’s all I can say.

             
The guards pull their guns and point them towards me. “Let’s go outside in the back kid,” one of them tells me. I stare at Roman Pierce who I can tell wants to kill me.

             
I quickly grab the guard on my left and take his gun away from him, hitting him in the nose and putting my arm around his neck, pointing the gun at his head.

             
“Stay back,” I calmly say to them.

             
“When you get a clear shot, take it,” Roman Pierce orders them.

             
I bag back, pulling the guard with me, as a shield. I glance behind me and see another guard raising his gun. I quickly shoot at him, hitting him in the arm. Letting go of my hostage and running through the crowd, knowing they can’t shoot at me, enter the kitchen through the side door, causing everyone to scream when they see my gun. I run through another door that leads outside into an alley. I check my surroundings and hop a tall gate, running until I can’t anymore, until Ella’s face spreads across my brain. I finally stop and try to catch my breath. Her face when her mother told her.

             
I let go and scream into the air as I drop to my knees.

What have I done?

Chapter 20

“A Fool In Love With A Trickster”

Ella

            
 
I just saw the guy I love shoot his way out of my cousin’s wedding. The guy I love is a liar. I’ve been a fool this whole time and I couldn’t feel any more broken and numb inside than I do now.

             
Tommy was right. Claudia had been in danger. When Donovan and the guys got to his apartment, the police were already there, informing them that Claudia had been attacked. Some guy had attempted to rape and kill her, but Claudia had fought her way out of it, falling down a flight of stairs with her attacker. A couple heard her screaming and the guy got away. She has bruises on her face, bandages around her head, and will probably be more emotionally scarred then she already was. And Tommy knew this was going to happen. 

             
“Mr. and Mrs. Pierce,” says a man with black hair and brown eyes as he approaches us in the hospital waiting room.

             
“We have already talked to the police about what happened at the hall,” Dad informs him.

             
“I know that, sir. I’m here to talk to you about Tommy Dumas. Officer Joey Manning, Sir,” he says, holding out his hand to my father and flashing a badge with his other.

             
The detective pulls up a chair in front of us and stares at me with sympathy.

             
“Have you found him?” Donovan asks him, furiously.

             
“No. We went through his place, but nothing. Officer Stevens informed me that you said he warned you that Ms. Stonem was in danger, right?”

             
“Yes,” Donovan says. “I suppose you want to give him a medal for that.”

             
“No. I just think that maybe Mr. Dumas might have had a last minute change of heart.”

             
“I don’t care what he had,” My dad interrupts. “That son of a bitch came into my house, ate with my family, and took advantage of my daughter. If you don’t find him, I will.”

             
“Is that a threat, Mr. Pierce?” Officer Manning challenges him.

             
“That’s a promise.”

             
“Roman, stop it. We need to be thinking about Claudia,” my mom says.

             
“I am. I am thinking about my whole family and this kid needs to be stopped.”

             
“That kid is not the one after your family, Mr. Pierce,” Officer Manning hesitates. “We believe Mickey Valentine is.”

             
What?

             
That name means so much to my family; the name of the man whose brother killed my father’s mother, the same brother who later became my father’s first kill.

             
“What does Mickey Valentine have to do with this?” my mother asks.

             
“I think you know why Mr. Pierce. Now, I don’t need you to admit to anything, but Mickey Valentine is out for revenge and he recruits young boys that are from broken homes to become his enforcers. Tommy Dumas is one of them.”

             
“You have got to be kidding me.” My brother gets up from his chair and slams it down.

             
“Donovan, stop it,” my mother tells him, rubbing his back as he leans against the wall.

             
“Now Tommy, he is still… someone that has humanity left in him. I think that’s because of your daughter, Sir.”

             
“My daughter?!” my father yells. “Let me tell you something. That little shit is going to regret the day he ever laid eyes on my daughter.”

             
Finally, it all comes together, his conflicted looks, his mysterious appearances. It was all planned.

             
I continue staring at the floor, dazed and confused. Officer Joey Manning continues pleading Tommy’s case for some reason and my father makes a complaint to his superior. They say they don’t have any idea where Mickey Valentine is now, so they’re going to keep police around to keep us safe.

             
I notice our goofy guard, Mike, setting his gun strap down on the coffee table, why I don’t know, but when no one is looking, I grab it and sneak out of the exit. I shoot my mom a text and tell her not to worry before I grab a taxi. I don’t even know if he is going to be there, but if I really do know him, I know where he’s going to be.

Tommy

              The cops are probably raiding my apartment at Eastbrook now and I can’t go to my condo here in the city. I have a feeling that everyone knows the truth now, including Mickey. Joey probably questioned everyone. The only place I can think of to go is the All Saints Cemetery, to my mother, who I just want to hold me. Sitting next to her grave while I figure out what to do next will have to be enough.

             
Something startles me when I get there. A dark figure stands near my mother’s grave. I draw my gun and walk a little closer. Everything inside me drops. Ella stands there, still in her beautiful green dress, tears streaming down her face. This image will forever haunt me.

             
“I knew you would be here,” she says, and before I can respond, she raises a gun and points it at me. For the first time, my instinct isn’t to kill when a gun is pointed at me. I want to turn back time and start all over.

             
“Aren’t you going to defend yourself?” she asks, gesturing to the gun in my hand. Looking at the gun I’m holding and back at her, I put the safety on and throw the gun on the grass, away from me.

             
“How noble of you,” she says sarcastically.

             
“You’re not gonna shoot me,” I tell her.

             
A shot is fired past me, but I don’t flinch. The bullet was pretty close, though.

             
“I’ve used a gun before,” she says calmly. “My brother Christian taught me, and trust me… ” she holds the gun with both hands, “I have pretty good aim.”

             
“Ella ─ ”

             
“No!” she screams, biting her lip. “You had your chance to tell me the truth. Now I’m going to ask you some questions and you’re going to tell me the truth before I kill you.”

             
Messed up thing is that I don’t care if I die. I deserve to die for what I did to her. I just care about her being the one to do it because if she does pull that trigger, she won’t come back from it.

             
“You working as a waiter at my party was a cover, wasn’t it?”

             
“Yes,” I firmly say.

             
“And the mall? That wasn’t a coincidence, huh?”

             
“No, it wasn’t.”

             
“And you planned the cemetery, didn’t you?”

             
“No, I swear to you it wasn’t planned. I swear on my mother’s grave, that wasn’t planned.” I start to walk up to her, shaking my head.

             
“Stay back!” I stop at her command.

             
“Ella… I was sent to watch you. To get close to you… but I never planned on getting too close. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would change it just to spare all the pain I have caused you. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

             
She laughs harshly as her tears flow. “You didn’t hurt me, Tommy. You broke me. I told you that I loved you and you have thrown it back at my face. You have embarrassed me in front of my whole family!”

             
I can’t bear to hear anymore.

             
“So, that’s what Mickey Valentine wanted you to do? Fuck Roman Pierce’s daughter, then kill her? You were gonna kill me?”

             
“I don’t hurt women and children.”

             
“Oh, but you were going to kill my father?”

             
I give her a blank expression.

             
“Answer me!”

             
“Yes,” I choke out. “I was going to help kill him… because he killed the brother of the closet thing I have to a father.”

             
“Do you even know why my dad killed Eddie Valentine?”

             
I don’t answer because I never found out details. I just knew Roman Pierce killed Mickey’s brother and that was enough for me.

             
“No, of course you don’t. You’re just like the guys that work for my dad. Never question, just do. Well, my dad killed Eddie for killing his mother. He murdered my grandmother in cold blood. Just like your father murdered your mother. I bet that’s causing a lot of conflict inside of you, isn’t it?”

             
I don’t know what to think right now. It shouldn’t change my feelings toward it, but it does. It changes a lot.

             
She walks up to me, the gun still pointed in my face and presses the gun against my chest, right where my heart is.

             
“Any last words?” she asks, staring deeply into my eyes.

             
The only thing I can think of is the one truth I’ve wanted to tell her for a long time, but I don’t deserve to tell her that. But she does deserve an apology.

             
“I’m sorry,” I firmly say.

             
She pulls the trigger and… it’s empty. Son of a bitch!

             
“I only keep one bullet in it,” she says blankly, lowering the gun. “Now you know what it feels like to be tricked.”

             
She backs away from me and shakes her head. “I suggest you leave town because my father will kill you… and I won’t even shed a tear for you.”

             
And like that, she’s gone.

Ella

            
 
I slowly walk into the hospital. Benny sees me and is furious.

             
“Where the hell have you been, Ella? Your parents are worried sick.” I glance at him and keep walking towards Claudia’s hospital room. When I get there, my parents see me and storm out into the hallway.

             
“Where the hell have you been?!” my dad lashes out at me.

             
“Ella! What were you thinking?! Huh?!” my mother screams, her eyes puffy.

             
I didn’t mean to worry them. All I can tell them is my truth. “I’m sorry. I wanted to hear the truth from him. He was at the cemetery where his mother is buried,” I quietly say. “The cemetery where Christian is.”

             
“Benny,” my dad says without taking his eyes off me.

             
“Already on it, boss,” Benny says, leaving. I walk past my parents and see my brother sitting beside Claudia’s bed. She’s still unconscious, but I know she’s going to be okay. The look on Donovan’s face is filled with rage and guilt. I know him. He’ll blame himself for this, for bringing Claudia into our family, but it’s not his fault. He glances up at me and his furious stare pierces my soul. He gets up and walks over to me, not changing his expression.

             
“Donovan, it’s my fault. I should have known or I should have done things differently. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”

             
I expect him to lash at me, but instead he pulls me into his arms and allows me to cry on his shoulder.

             
“It’s not your fault. I promise you, it’s not your fault,” he whispers to me. I just let it all out; I know I’m a fool that fell in love with a trickster.