The Broken (22 page)

I twist my face
from his. “How can you be so cruel? You know the pain I’m feeling,”
I cry.

He scoffs. “Why
wouldn’t I? He wasn’t my brother.”

I narrow my
eyes. “But you lost a sister, didn’t you?”

He eyes go wide
with shock. He paces a few steps, and then stops. “She was a cunt,
a drain on my mother. They worshipped that little bitch! They left
me home, ill with measles while they took her to a birthday party
because she cried to go.” He laughs. “I could have died because she
wanted cake and balloons.”

I suck at the
air to feel my lungs. “You killed her, didn’t you?”

He turns his
dark eyes on me. “She fell asleep in the bath and slipped under the
water. I just kept her there.”

Oh my God.
“There’s something wrong with you, Danny. You’re fucking
crazy.”

“Crazy in love
with you, River, and you love me, or you will again.”

“As soon as I
get the chance, I’m going to kill you or myself,” I tell him.

“Then I won’t
give you the chance. And before you go thinking of killing
yourself, you might want to see this.” He holds a piece of paper up
to me. It’s too close; I squint trying to read it. It’s from the
hospital. “You’re pregnant. Congratulations, we’re going to be
parents.”

This can’t be
happening. Danny can’t have children, so that means I’m pregnant
with Sammy’s baby. Oh, God.

“I can see the
cogs turning in that beautiful head of yours. It’s a miracle,
River. We’re having a baby.” I shake my head, and he continues,
“I’m the only man you’ve ever been with. I know this crush with
Sammy had you confused for a while, but it was just a silly crush.
Now we’re having a baby, you’ll be my wife, and forget all about
Sammy and Jasper.”

“You’re
crazy.”

Danny grips my
face. “Am I, River? Because if you’re telling me that’s not my baby
inside you, I’ll rip it from your fucking womb with my bare
hands.”

I visibly shake
with fear, the knowledge of what he was capable off had me
terrified that he would carry out everything he threatened. “It is
yours, Danny.”

“Of course it
is. We belong together, you’ll see.”

“Y
ou passed out,” are the first words from Derek’s
mouth. “How are you feeling?”

“She’s
pregnant,” I breathe.

He pinches his
eyebrows together, putting his fingers to the bridge of his nose.
“You heard that, huh? Listen, Sam, I will find her and bring her
home. I’m taking a guess that this is your baby?”

Danny can’t
have kids. River is pregnant with my baby, and he knows. He took
her results.

“Where’s
Jasper?” I ask, ignoring his question.

“He’s out of
surgery and doing well. His father showed up around twenty minutes
ago.”

I look down at
the gown I’m wearing and the sling over my shoulder.

“They fixed you
while you were sleeping.” He smiles.

“There is no
fixing me.”

I try to move
but Derek’s hand stops me. “You need to get some rest.”

“Fuck that,
Derek! She’s out there somewhere with that maniac, and she’s
pregnant with my baby.”

He holds his
hands up. “I get it, Sammy. But we have nothing to go on yet. There
are officers at the Kane household. The remains of her father were
just dug up from the garden. It’s crazy there. You’re better off
resting here while we wait for a lead.”

“I can’t! What
if she gets away and comes to the house looking for me? I need to
go.”

I know I’m
being optimistic, but that’s all I can be without breaking. I need
to believe she will get away from him. I need to believe she’s
safe.

“Sammy, if you
insist on leaving, let me take you.”

I appreciate
his help, but I wish he would get out there looking for River. I
listen as his phone rings, and he swipes the button and puts it to
his ear.

“What you
got?”

I stare at him,
my body on high alert with every face muscle he moves. “Get down to
the department. Get Hance to have a look at it, see if we can get
anything from it. Okay, keep me informed.” He slips the phone back
into his pocket. “They found Danny’s laptop. They’re taking it to
our tech department to see what we can get from it.”

I rub my hands
down my face. Danny’s a genius with technology, there’s no way they
will pass his firewalls.

The drive back
to the scene of the crime is tense. Every minute that passes my
hopes dwindle. He could have her out of state by now. It’s fucking
killing me, the thought of never seeing her again.

“Sammy, you
ready?”

I look up at
Derek, then out of the window. We’re home. A coroner’s van is
parked on the lawn in River’s front garden. There’s yellow tape
bordering around the front gardens, and floodlights set up,
highlighting the house. Some people are walking around in white
overalls, going back and forth into River’s back yard. Police
officers keep nosy neighbours and reporters behind the yellow
tape.

“Sammy,
Sammy!”

Please tell
me I’m imagining my mother’s voice
. I look over at an officer
holding my mother back. She’s frantically waving her hands at me.
Derek gives the officer the okay to let her through and she smirks
like she just one upped him. Can she not see the devastation all
around? This isn’t a time to be smug. She looks a mess. What
possesses a woman to give up the love of a good man, and the
happiness of a family to dress like she’s eighteen, drinks like
frat boy and, let’s face it, whore herself out for pennies?

“What happened
to you?” she asks, poking me in the arm that’s held up by the
sling. I grunt from the shooting pain she caused to explode in my
shoulder, and back away from her. Her face looks like one of those
watercolour paintings, the ones where they let the paint bleed
well. My mother’s make-up is bleeding off her aged face.

“Why are you
back?” I ask.

She huffs and
crosses her arms like a six-year-old. “So you didn’t miss me?”

Is everyone
visiting their inner crazy today or what?

“You were only
gone five minutes.”

She looks
around at the carnage. “Five minutes too long by the looks of it.
What happened, and who is he?”

She looks in
Derek’s direction. He’s on the phone again, walking towards us.

“Dream on,
Mother.”

I didn’t like
the fact that he eye fucked River, but I’m not bitter enough to
pretend Derek isn’t a good-looking man, and a wealthy one.

“Sam, Danny’s
car was spotted near Keepers Woods, about one hundred miles from
here. Do you know if he has property there, or knows anyone near
there?”

My heart is
pounding again. I really am going to have heart failure before the
day is through.

My mom pipes up
“That’s where Keith has a cabin. He used to take me there. In fact,
that’s probably where Keith’s been hiding all these years.”

Derek and I
look at each other. He dials a number on his phone and informs
someone to search property in Keith’s name. My mother has a wild
imagination so she could be blowing smoke up our asses, but if she
isn’t, then it couldn’t be just a coincidence.

“Mom, you
better be telling the truth. And just so you know, Keith’s back
there.” I point to River’s garden.

Her mouth drops
open and she actually fluffs her hair and pulls the front of her
top down so her bra spills out the top. “Why would I lie? It was
about nine or ten years ago though, so maybe he got rid of it. I
don’t know. I can’t believe he’s back, do I look okay?”

“You disgust
me. You were still with dad, then! Oh, and you look okay enough to
impress a corpse. He never left.”

She furrows her
brow. “I don’t understand.”

“He was under
that platform River used to dance on, rotting like the scum he
was.”

She steps back
and looks to the activity coming and going from River’s garden, and
then she bends over and empties her stomach contents. It’s all
liquid, just like her diet.

“Did his kids
kill him?”

I shrug. “Does
it matter?”

She’s shaking.
“He was Jase’s dad,” she chokes.

My temper is
balancing on a razor’s edge. I grip her by her scrawny arm and hiss
in her face. “You just never stop fucking our lives up, do you? I’m
going to pretend you didn’t just tell me that. If you ever breathe
a word to Jase, or dad, I will kill you.”

She scoffs and
pulls her arm from my grip. “Your dad already knows.”

I blink back
the shock of her information. He knows and still keeps Jase with
him? I have a new sense of respect for him. Jase needs a stable
parent and Dad gives him that, even though he doesn’t have to.
That’s honourable.

I look away
from the mess my mother is, and train my eyes on Derek. He still
has the phone to his ear. He spins to face me while he replies to
whoever is on the phone.

“Transfer the
co-ordinates to my GPS. No, don’t inform them yet. I don’t want
rookie cops going in there and ruining our shot to get her out of
there safe, if she’s in there.”

Adrenaline
soars through my veins, my legs moving of their own accord towards
Derek’s car. I feel his hand come down on my one good shoulder.

“I can’t let
you come, Sammy. Let me go, and I’ll bring her home if she’s there.
I promise.”

I swing the
passenger door open. “There’s not a chance in hell you’re going
without me, and the more we stand and debate, the more time we
waste.”

He cusses but
doesn’t stop me. Nothing will stop me going to her.

“You’re a
stubborn son of a bitch, you know that?” he grumbles, as he folds
his tall frame into the driver’s seat.

“I’m definitely
the son of a bitch. Did you see my mother?”

He looks out
the front windscreen where my mother is wailing about Keith. Anyone
would think she cared about him, but I know better. That woman
doesn’t possess the gene that allows you to care; her heart is ice
fucking cold.

Derek pushes
buttons on his GPS before pulling out and speeding down the
road.

I
really need to pee. I can’t believe he actually left
me tied to a chair. The binds are cutting into my skin as I wriggle
to try and free my wrists. Every time I move, the stupid chair
moves with me, rocking me. I try to stretch my toes, to place them
on the floor, but it makes the binds at my ankles burn my skin. My
head is pounding from the blow he delivered earlier with the butt
of the gun. An hour, he said. But I have no clock. He could never
come back for all I know or care. I could rot in this chair, starve
to death and it would still be better than him coming back and
dragging me off somewhere to live the same shit I’ve been living
the last four years.

I can’t just
sit here and rot, though. I have an unborn baby growing in my womb.
A piece of Sammy I need to protect. Danny can’t share my affection,
not that he ever had it, but in his twisted mind he really believes
I love him. There’s no way he would share that love with a baby.
God, he killed his sister when she was eight years old. How does
someone do that? He was only twelve. Twelve years old, and a
murderer. He really fooled Blaydon and me over our father. All this
could have been avoided if we had locked the door to prevent
Danny’s entry and phoned an ambulance. Where would I be if that
night had turned out differently? Would I be in school? Or living
with Sammy? Would Danny still be in our lives? Would Blay be here?
Would Sammy have gone off to college and met Jasper, or would
Jasper be healthy, alive and scoping out the next victim for his
crotch to mingle with? Death has plagued my existence. Mom, Dad,
Maria, Blaydon, Jasper and my soul mate, Sammy. Is that all I have
to offer the life growing inside me? Misery and death? When it
comes down to it, if it weren’t for me, every one of those people
would still be here. Mom killed herself because she couldn’t watch
the affection my father had for me, and her death started a domino
effect. My dad died because Blay was protecting me, and Danny used
it as a way to get to me. Maria was Danny’s second try at using
death to keep me. Blay couldn’t take the guilt, and didn’t want me
to suffer by staying with Danny so he took his own life. Danny shot
both Jasper and Sammy because he was jealous that they had my
affection. How many more people would die because of me? I need to
kill him, otherwise it’s just a matter of time before he would hurt
the only thing I have left in this world. I’m going to be a mother,
and unlike my mother, I won’t fail my child.