AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s happened?” Grayson asks.
“My mom. There’s been a break in.”Cold dread fills me.
“Shit,” Grayson hisses.
Rosa. Shit. I run up the stairs to her apartment and find her throwing clothes around her room, the drawers hanging open and empty.
“Baby, I need to go to my mom’s. There’s been a break in. Are you ready?”Panic throws my words out in a jumble.
“Oh god, is she okay?”Her hand flies to her neck and her face pales.
“I don’t know.” I swallow down the bile in my throat.
“I can’t find my phone. I need it to call Eva. Go check on your mom then come back here. I’ll be fine.”She digs into her closet, pulling dresses from the hangars.
“I’m not leaving you.”
Grayson clears his throat behind me. “I can’t get hold of your mom.”
Shit.
“Okay. Rosa. Lock the doors. If you need me, you call Grayson from this one.” I hand her my phone. “The password spells out Rosa–7072. I won’t be long. I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too, Luca.”She rushes to me and wraps her arms around my waist.
I drop her a kiss and sprint back to the car. This can’t be happening. I speed off into traffic,running red lights and gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white.
I’m praying to God it’s just a break in. That she’s at Zumba or whatever it is she goes to all the time.
I pull up outside her house, unholstering my gun. I kick open the little gate and head to the side entrance.I motion to Grayson to go check the back.
He nods and heads off around the side of the house.
My feet crunch on the glass of broken picture frames. I bend down and pick up the photo that’s facing down on the floor. My heart in my throat as I turn it around. It’s me, Keller, and Mom on the day of Keller’s wedding in Vegas.
I creep towards the living room. Spotting the steaming cup of coffee placed on her little table in the kitchen, I know she was just here.
When I step around the corner, my gun clatters to the floor.
No.
No. No. No.
Bending over, I violently throw up at the sight. It feels like every internal organ is trying to tear loose and flee my body.
I can’t look. Smashing my fists into the nearest wall, my vision blurs from the pain.
“Fuck!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
I rush towards her and slide to a stop on my knees into a pool of blood smeared across her wooden floor.Her shirt is split open and a dark hollow is opened in the center of her chest. My trembling hands pick up the red mass resting on top.
Her fucking heart. The monsters ripped it right out of her. I slump over her, grabbing at my shirt. I can’t breathe, the metallic smell is suffocating me.
The clock on the wall ticks, and I sit there, staring. Her mouth is open, her gray hair is covered in blood. Sobs sear painfully through me.
“Mom, no. Not you.”
I pull her lifeless body onto my lap.
