Never Ending

~31~

"Do you expect me to turn a blind eye when they beat the woman I love into a pulp?" My mouth falls shut. I don't know what to say. For a few minutes, I stand there with nothing to say. Carter takes it as a good sign and walks towards me.

"That's what's wrong with you." I shove him away from me. He stumbles but recovers just in time. "Today, you'll say you love me, but give it a few hours you'll be acting like a stranger. Why do you even save me Carter? Huh?"

"Because I love you." He answers, his voice raised.

"That's not enough." I reply suddenly out of breath. I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart.

"What do you want from me then?"

"I don't know, to say it like you mean it. To stay when I am facing hard times. To make this love thing consistent, don't confuse me, Calix." I feel drained as the last word leaves my mouth.

His eyes soften. He closes the distance between us and holds me to his chest. "I promise if you promise to not keep anything from me." He says softly into my ear.

"I promise" I reply with my voice merely a gasp.

We stand like that for a long time. I want to tell him so many things, to kiss him and tell him I am sorry, but I let my body say it for me. He holds my hand through the entire drive back to the penthouse. We kiss in the elevator only pausing to open the door. The first articles of clothing get lost somewhere between the front door and the bedroom.

We pull apart, each of us processing what is going on. He looks at me, asking for permission and I nod. He doesn't hesitate further. He pulls me with him onto the bed. The last articles of clothing fall to the flow as he comes down onto me.

I wake up the next morning, a silly smile playing on my face. I look to my side and find Carter still fast asleep. His eyebrows lightly brush the bags under his eyes. He looks so serene in sleep, none of that intensity is there. He looks almost angelic. I brush my lips lightly on his cheekbones. He stirs in his sleep. I draw a trail on his face with my lips; nose, cheeks, eyes. His eyes open as I am kissing his jawline. His hand grasps my bare waist between the sheets and he hoists me onto him. He catches my lips between his and we go down for another round.

I leave the house late in the afternoon to meet Violetta. I take a cab to her house. She opens the door for me. I notice instantly that the atmosphere has changed. There is an uncharacteristic tension in the air. Violetta looks like she has aged five years in only a couple of months since I last saw her. "Are you okay?" I ask with worry.

She averts her gaze. "Yes. I am fine."

"Violetta, you know me better than that. Something is not right." She sighs but doesn't answer. "Is it about my father?" I take her silence as my answer. "Did he approach you?" she nods. "What did he want?"

"He wanted to shut me up. With money."

"Did you take it?" Dread fills me at the prospect. My father can give any amount possible to get what he wants.

"No." Hope blooms in me. I heave a sigh of relief.

"Great." She looks so worn out, it pains me to ask her for more information but I have no choice.

"Actually, there is another reason he came here." She says. She looks at me with deep regret. "There are things I did not tell you when we last met. About your mother." I sit up in my chair, waiting. Her gaze falls to the floor as she says "Your father was involved in her death." To hear the words said shocks me. It sounds so real, I have been saying it for years but never from someone else's mouth. "When your mother called me that night. She was with your father."

She doesn't speak for a while, "what happened?" I notice tears falling to the floor below her.

"She told me she was being threatened by your father. That he was threatening to take you and August if she doesn't stop filing for divorce." Hot tears wells up in my eyes. "She said she was tired of being beaten at home and that she wanted to report him to the police. As she was speaking to me, I heard your father coming into the room. Somehow she left the phone on. I heard an altercation. I heard a scream and the sound of glass shattering. Then I heard her storm out of the house, next thing I know, she was in a car, crying and screaming. I heard her scream something like 'they are after me' before I started hearing car tires screeching on the asphalt. Her car collided with another car but she continued driving. she screamed to someone outside the car saying, 'let me go, Von' she was talking to him. He answered her saying 'don't make me do this'. Then there was a final collision and then your mother screamed and I heard everything shatter and the line went dead."

I am crying by the time she is done. How could he do that? I realize, I probably never wanted it to be true. I never thought my father could do this. And it hurts to be right, so much.

"I know about your case with your father. I want to help you." She gets up and leaves the room. She returns with a packet of tissues and a flash drive. I pick a tissue and wipe my eyes. "Thank the heavens I recorded that conversation that day. Now you have the evidence to make him pay for her death." I take the flash drive gingerly. It feels like the end of the life I used to know.

To find out that your father killed your mother with his own hands, is a life changing moment, one I wish on no one else. I hug violetta as I am leaving. There is nothing left but to submit the evidence and let the law do its part.

At the next hearing. The evidence is played in front of the court. It leaves some dumbfounded and many develop apathy towards my father and his legal team. Good enough he isn't there to experience it himself. The trial is adjourned for a time when Von will be present so as to pass a sentence. I leave the courtroom with a small smile playing on my lips. I am finally gaining traction and finally, I can see my mother getting justice.

My phone rings as I am sitting in a cab heading home. I pick it up without checking the caller ID.

"Tara." a familiar voice reaches me. She is crying.

My heart sinks immediately "Mere, what happened?"

"She is gone." a sob catches in her throat. I hear her sob on the other end. "She is gone, Tara."