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Her eyes are wide and she’s shaking her head violently back and forth. She drops her eyes to the ground and whispers, “I just can’t. I can’t Ford, and I’ve never been so sorry for something in my entire life.”
I punch the door frame with my closed fist, causing her to flinch, her wide and terrified eyes meeting mine.“If you’re going to stand here and rip my fucking heart out, I want you to look me in the eyes while you do it,” I grit out, gripping the door frame that I just splintered in my calloused hands. “Look me in the fucking eyes and tell me you don’t love me anymore. That you don’t love us. Tell me you’re going to walk away from me and our fucking kids.” Because fuck if that isn’t what they are now, our kids. Zoe will always be their mom, but Alexis has stepped in and those kids love her so goddamn much that this is going to crush them.
She raises her chin, tears still sliding down her cheeks. Cheeks that I’ve kissed hundreds of times. And with six little words, she fucking destroys me.
Lex
“I-I’m not in love with you,” I whisper, my heart shtering into a million little pieces. Ford exhales shakily, running his hands through his hair. Hair that I’ve ran my hands through a hundred times. One more lone tear escapes his eye, tracing a path down his beautiful face. God, I love him so much.
Dropping back a step he points his finger at me. “You may think this is over, but you’re wrong,” he says, scrubbing his hands over his face. “You’re wrong, Alexandra Renee Carter. You’re my fucking soulmate. You said it yourself, it’s like we were written in the stars. All the bad shit that happened in our lives, all the fucking pain that we have been prisoners to, it was for this. For you and I to come together and finally, fucking FINALLY get our happy ever after. This. Isn’t. Over.” He grits out and finally turns on his heel and leaves.
I slowly snick the door shut and let my forehead rest against it. Inhaling a shaky breath I turn and wipe the tears from my face, my eyes colliding with my husbands, eyes I used to get lost in, but now the malice behind them is so fucking sickening, I can’t even stand to look at him. The gun he had pressed to Sophie’s head the whole time I was talking to Ford now hangs loosely at his side. Her eyes are wide with horror, tears running down her face, the same thing she’s been doing since I walked in from my run an hour ago to find Jason sitting at my dining room table.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it, Wife?” He sneers at me and makes his way over. I try not to react as he reaches his hand that’s holding the gun up to my temple and slowly drags the cold metal down my cheek. He reaches his other hand up and yanks me by the hair so that we’re nose to nose. I squeak out a cry, pain radiating from my head as he presses his lips to my temple and whispers in my ear, “Go on up and pack a bag. We leave in ten minutes.”
He releases me so quickly that I stumble a little before I right myself.
“I did what you wanted me to do. I broke his heart and mine. Let Sophie go.” That was our deal. I dump Crawford and he wouldn’t kill Sophie. When I came home earlier to find him, he said if I didn't do what he wanted he would make me suffer, starting with Sophie and ending with Aria. There's nothing I wouldn't do for those kids, Sophie, too because it's not her fault she’s a fucking psycho and needs help. She doesn't deserve to die. Jason cuts his eyes from me to Sophie and back to me.
"She stays when we leave. Once we're gone, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. Now get the fuck upstairs and PACK YOUR BAG!" He finishes the last part on a roar. I turn and scurry up the stairs. Slamming my door shut behind me I collapse against it and drop to the floor, burying my head in my hands.
I didn't just break Ford's heart. I broke mine, too. I allow myself a minute to cry. For me. For Crawford. For those kids that I've begun to think of as my own. And for the life I'll never have.
Ford
There are times in your life when you realize that everything you've ever done has led up to this pivotal moment in your life. My pivotal moment? Meeting Lex Carter, and nothing she had to say could make me think any differently.
I push throu
gh my front door, slamming it shut behind me. I toss my keys in the direction of the entryway table, not giving a fuck where they land. I won't be needing them tonight, the kids are with my mom and I plan on drinking until I'm numb. I hit the kitchen and open the cupboard above the fridge where I keep the whiskey. Grabbing a glass, I fill it up with ice. Heavy handed, I pour myself a double and take a sip.
"What, you're not even going to offer your favorite brother a drink?" I whip around to see Zander sitting at my kitchen table.
"Jesus Christ, Z. You scared the shit out of me." I take a slug from my glass, taking my brother's appearance in. He's been gone for three months and he looks like he aged five years. His arms in a sling and he's got a butterfly bandage over his eyebrow. I lift my chin at him, "You look like shit. Rough mission?" I ask, ambling over to the table and dropping down into a chair across from him. I slide the whiskey bottle across the table towards him and he twists the top off and takes a swig.
"Yeah, you could say that," he drops the bottle back on the table, "but I don't want to talk about it right now. Why do you look like someone just killed your dog?"
I slump back in the chair, roughing my hand through my hair and tugging on the ends. "Lex and I had a huge fight. I was a dumbass and she dumped me." Zander’s eyes get big and he coughs a little.
"Damn, bro. That sucks. What are you gonna do to get her back?" His lips twitch a little at the end because he knows me so well. I won't go down without a fight.
"I…" my phone ringing in my pocket cuts me off. I hold up a finger, "Hold that thought," I say as I dig my phone out of my pocket. "Hello?"
"Ford, it's Detective Layne. I got a hit on that number you gave me. It pinged at a tower close to your neighborhood thirty minutes ago." I shove out of the chair and it clatters to the ground.
"Close to here?" I'm already on the move and out the door by the time he can confirm. I can hear Zander behind me, shouting at me to wait up, but I can't. I hit end on the call and stuffed the phone back into my pocket, jogging across the yard between our houses and onto Lex's porch. I start banging on the door.
"Lex, I know you're pissed but open the fucking door." I shout, trying the doorknob but it's locked.
"Ford, what's going on?" Zander asks from behind me. I'm still banging on the door.
"Alexis's crazy fucking husband. He's been stalking her for months. And I just got confirmation that he's in town." I try the knob again. Nothing. I take a step back and kick the front door open, splintering the door frame. I'm halfway to the back of the house looking for her when I hear Z call for me.
"Uh, Ford. I think you should come here," he says, and I follow his voice to the living room.
"What the fuck?" Zander is consoling Sophie, who's tied up with tape over her mouth in the living room closet. He helps her to her feet and gently pulls the tape off her mouth.
"Hey, hey. Shhhh. It's okay. Shhh." Zander is consoling her while he unties her bounded hands and feet. I can't believe she's standing in front of me. She's been missing for almost a month.
