Page 65 of Shattered Love

She sniffs, wiping her nose. Her arms are full of track marks. She smiles that sickly sweet smile. I heard that she and Carter had separated a few years back. “Avery loved you, jumping in front of that bullet for you. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet.” She grins like she enjoying it, the danger is exciting her—that twisted bitch. She takes a step forward, her eyes unfocused. She’s fucking high. She lets out a cackle. “Dominic won't kill me. He couldn't kill a woman, no matter how much darkness he lives in.” She smirks, licking her lips. “Faced with his wife’s killer, he can't pull the trigger. He’s the devil with a heart.” She grabs the gun from behind her back, pointing it directly at me. “Avery changed you.”

Her words hit me. My eyes widen. It’s as if Avery is there with me. The love we shared is still alive. Avery didn’t change me. Her love did. I rub my chest over my heart, begging Avery to tell me what to do—if I kill Molly, I lose the last of my humanity, Avery would have died for nothing.

“He might not be able to, but I fucking can. Say goodbye, bitch.”

A loud shot echoes around the room. Molly’s eyes hollow before she falls to the floor with a bullet between her eyes. I snap my head to see Lettie dressed in black her dark hair in high ponytail like she some fucking Lara croft. I take a step toward her pointing.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Why are all the women in my fucking life so stubborn?”

Lettie raises an eyebrow. “We’re a team. That means where you go, I follow. Suck it up, Stone.” She smirks. “Plus, you kinda like me around. Admit it.” I shake up head throwing my hand in the air. She spots Brax who is watching her with intensity.

“You shouldn't have done that.” Mac stands to wipe his hands across his face. “She didn't mean it. It's not her fault. She was sick.”

I look at the man I considered a friend, thinking of all the time he spent over at my house. All the times we shared a beer. It all comes together as I look at Molly’s dead body. “She’s your sister?”

Mac leans down moving her hair out of her face, closing her eyes. “Marilyn. She used to follow me everywhere. She looked up to me. She was my little sister. Then she fell in with the wrong crowd. She fell in love with Rixs. He got her hooked on the drugs, on him.”

He looks so fucking desperate.

“She was brainwashed. She wasn’t my sister anymore.”

He looks at me, so fucking lost.

“When she married Carter, I tried to stop her. I tried to talk sense into her but Rixs said he wanted her close to force an easy in. They could get the information they needed because they suspectedthere was a rat. The police had too much information.”

His words don't move me. She was a fucking junkie. They both lied to us all. But I need to know something. “Does Carter know?”

Laughing like a maniac. “Carter had his suspicions. That's why he wanted you to drop the case. He knew something was wrong, but he thought it was a bent officer. He didn't realize he was actually sleeping with the fucking enemy.” He laughs again. He's completely deranged. Rubbing my face, my head is swimming.

“What about her sister? Your sister Sienna who was at the wedding?”

Mac’s lips curl up, pointing at Brax. “She was one of their women. Your girl fucking pissed her off that night.”

His eyes burn into me. “After Avery was killed and you disappeared, Carter lost it. He gave up caring where Marilyn—Molly—disappeared to.”

I feel like someone kicked me in the gut. All the times Carter had tried to get in touch, tried to visit me…we were partners, best friends. He was my family.

“I was meant to kill you that day. It was me who was meant to put the bullet in you. You were too smart, got too fucking close. But I fucking couldn't. I couldn't fucking do it.”

I nod. I already knew it wasn't Mac. My lips curl. I point to Molly’s dead body. “But she did. She took Avery.”

Mac sobs, nodding. “She spoke to her on the phone like it was any other day, not like she was just about to kill her husband. She didn't care who lived or died as long as she had Rixs, and he didn't even notice her!” He shakes his head. “I heard Avery call your name. I saw what she was going to do, taking the bullet that was meant for you!”

He starts pacing. “Marilyn didn't flinch. Everyone screamed as we stood there and watched Avery die in your arms, but she didn't flinch, no emotion. I knew I lost my sister that day. I knew she was gone.”

He looks down at Molly, pulling at his hair. “I could have saved her. I could have saved her.” He holds the gun up, shaking. “Now you've taken her from me.”

I watch in slow motion as he pulls back the trigger. Pushing Lettie out of the way, I feel my body jerk before hitting the floor. White-hot pain radiates through my body. Fuck.

A door slams against the wall. I hear a man shouting.

Lettie growls. “Get your hands off me.”

Her voice brings me back from the darkness. I try to stand, getting to my knees.

“Get the fuck away from her.” I’m wheezing, feeling like some fucker is stabbing over and over.

Tear-stricken eyes meet mine before they harden and she pulls a move that has the man behind her screaming in pain and holding his dick.

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