OUR BROKEN BEGINNINGS

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EMERSON

My soul was on fire. Everything was being burnt down, and it couldn't be stopped. I couldn't breathe. They took her. They hurt her, and I stood there. I was living in a nightmare where the woman that I loved more than the oxygen in my lungs was hurt, and I did nothing.

Fuck that. I was not going to stand there, afraid of two motherfuckers that don't know their ass from their elbows. If I had to kill them, so be it. Cassandra wasn't going anywhere.

I stared ahead at the man responsible, and I allowed my mouth to contour into a smirk as I said, "I am going to seriously enjoy making you beg for mercy."

The bastard smiled. "You aren't going to do shit to me."

My eyebrows raised as I asked, "Oh?"

Charles chuckled behind me, still burying that fucking gun into the back of my head. "He doesn't have the heart to do anything."

The laugh that left me promised death. A painful and strung-out death. "You think I have one? My heart belongs to my wife, and it went with her out the door. I am heartless."

I could tell that his face showed some worry that he tried to cover up with false confidence. He was nothing, and he knew it just as I did.

A surge of energy coursed through me. They wouldn't take her from me. They wouldn't. I whipped around and took the gun in my hand. My father had been holding it against me for so long that he had gotten bored. He'd gotten sloppy.

My finger was on the trigger, and there was no moment of hesitation. I angled the gun down and shot him in the leg. Samuel advanced toward me, but I predicted it. Another bullet shot to the fucker's right hand. I made sure to get the left one right after. He was rolling on the floor, and I enjoyed the way he looked like a fish out of the water. I wanted to stay longer to cause a little more pain, but there wasn't time.

I left them both groaning and rolling on the floor and ran outside. There she was, fighting against them, yelling my name. She was the strongest woman I knew. She didn't believe me, but I meant it when I said it to her. I knew from the very first moment I met her that she was a fighter. She didn't even back down from me. Maybe that's the moment I started to fall in love with her against all the warning signs in my head. It was inevitable. My love for her was completely inevitable. I was stupid for fighting it for so long.

"Cassandra!" I yelled her name as I willed my legs to get me to her faster.

Her head shot up at the sound of my voice. Her beautiful, sharp emerald green eyes were bloodshot and spilling with tears. Her brown hair was disheveled, and there was blood running down from her forehead and nose. Every drop of her blood would be repaid by those who hurt her, and every bruise on her body would be paid for too. There was no doubt in my mind about what I would do.

Her voice was broken as she said my name, "Emerson."

I shot at the two men holding her. They went down, taking Cassandra with them. Her mother stood there, and even as I held a gun in my hand, the only thing she displayed was anger. There was no fear of her impending death—only anger.

Cassandra got out from underneath the guard's body and stood up fluidly. I would barely be able to tell that she had been beaten. She stood strong as she always did. I fucking loved when she did that. Her back was straight and her chin up, defiance shining in her eyes. More men came out from the cars, and I was seriously outnumbered. I was also pretty sure that there were not many bullets left in my gun.

I didn't care how many men I would have to fight. I was getting to my wife.

My bullets did indeed run out, so I resorted to my fists. They knew how to punch, but they weren't smart about it. I looked up to see Cassandra fighting with her mother on the ground. There was only a moment to spare before the men were pouncing on me once again. Pain lanced through me. There were at least five men throwing punches at me, and I was barely keeping up.

She needed me. I had to keep fighting. This wouldn't be our end. It couldn't be. No matter how hard I tried, they overpowered me. They dragged me forward to where Cassandra was on the ground, bleeding. Her mother limped over to where a gun lay on the floor and picked it up.

No no no no. Anything but this. Anything.

This couldn't be it. I pulled against the men who held me, but it was no use.

"Janette I swear to God. I will fucking kill you. If you even think about putting that gun anywhere near her, I will put a fucking bullet in your head. I have done it twice, and I don't mind making it three times," I growled. Every word was a promise.

There was no life without Cassandra. No life worth living. She was my light. My guide in the darkness that was my soul. I couldn't be here without her. I wouldn't be. I looked up at the stars, and I begged. Tears fell out of my eyes as I asked the universe to save her. She was my second chance, and we hadn't had enough time.

Please. Don't take her from me. I'll give you anything. I'll give my own life. If you want a life, take mine.

The universe answered my prayer. Janette turned away from Cassandra and walked toward me. Cassandra stood and went to tackle her, but Janette held the gun up toward my face. Her eyes never left Cassandra.

Her voice was wet with blood, "We could have done this the easy way, Cassandra, but you refuse to listen. You refuse to obey. It seems there is no other way to break you than to take the thing you love the most. I've realized that as long as he is living, you will too. He is your lifeline in every way that counts. He is the key to killing the parts of you I was never able to reach. If he dies, so do you."

"No. I will behave. I will. I promise. Don't do this, mother. I will cooperate. I am sorry," Cassandra's broken voice made me ill. I couldn't take it. It was the ultimate torture.

If this were to be my end, I would die having looked at the love of my life one more time. She was so beautiful. Her soul was the epitome of light, no matter how much she believed the opposite. My eyes looked at every part of her. Her blazing green eyes, and the dip of her waist. The brown hair that always had the softest curls. I wished to feel her skin one more time against me. I wished to dance with her and to kiss her.

In another life, I would have done more. Taken her around the world and asked her to marry me again underneath her favorite night sky. There were so many things in my life that I would change, except her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me. She challenged me and drove me crazy, and I loved her with every single grain of my soul. I was hers.

"Cassandra. Look at me," my words were soft, as they were often when I spoke to her.

Her green eyes met mine, and I smiled at her as I said, "I love you. Thank you for marrying me and making me the luckiest man who could have ever lived. It's going to be okay. Never stop fighting, my love. I'll meet you in the stars."

She laughed through her crying and whispered that she loved me. Pleas continued leaving her mouth. Janette turned around and faced me.

I closed my eyes and painted the image of my wife in my mind laughing and badgering me about something. I had loved. I had been given the chance to be loved. Even if tonight would be my last night, I would die knowing that I had someone to call mine.

The last thing I heard was a gunshot and Cassandra's violent scream.