Page 1 of Shattered Echoes

1

Prologue

Antonio

"What the fuck, Cassie?"

I spit out the words as I hold the phone to my ear, bile rising in my throat.

I can't believe it. I refuse to believe it. Nicole just called me, outing her friend and shattering my reality into a million pieces. Meanwhile, Cassie, the manipulative witch, is still trying to play me like a damn fiddle. It's like I'm teetering on the edge of a cliff, and I can't find my footing.

"What are you talking about?" her voice oozes with false innocence, like she's some angel wronged by my accusations. But I know better now. I've seen the darkness behind those doe eyes, felt the sting of her venomous tongue.

"You still haven't changed. This is why I lost our baby," she hisses.

The audacity of this bitch!

"Shut the fuck up, Cassie!" The words explode from me, raw and unfiltered. My chest heaves with the weight of my rage, my hands trembling with the effort to hold myself together. "Nicole just called me, and she said there was never any baby."

Silence hangs heavily on the line. I imagine her face contorted in shock, her perfect facade crumbling under the weight of her lies.

How could she do this to me?

My hands are shaking, and my whole body trembles with rage and withdrawal. It's been two days since my last hit, and I'm feeling it. The nausea, the shakes, the goddamn itch crawling under my skin.

"You got me fucked up," I growl, the words clawing their way out of my throat. "I've been so fucked up about everything, thinking it was my fault,” I choke out between sobs. "How could you do this to me? You say you love me, but you're just so toxic. Being with you makes me feel like I don't even want to live."

"Then you shouldn't," she spits. "You should fucking die because you're awful, and you're the worst boyfriend ever."

Each word strikes me like a blow to the gut, leaving me reeling with disbelief and pain.

How could she say such things?

"If I had a baby with you," she continues, her voice laced with malice. "I would get rid of it. Your bloodline deserves to die out. You're selfish, and you don't think about anybody else. Do you think you've changed?" she taunts.

"You've just been trying to copy your brother, but you failed. You're a failure, and you should end things instead."

She hangs up, and I sit there, stunned and broken, as her words echo in my mind. My emotions are a twisted mess, and I feel pain more potent than I can describe.

The darkness in my mind threatens to engulf me, pulling me deeper into its icy grip.

Maybe she's right. Maybe I am better off dead.

2

Antonio

Ilean my head against the tinted window, feeling the cool glass against my temple as the black SUV I am in rolls into Shadow's Bend, my childhood hometown. My brother, Leo, had sent his driver with the car to pick me up from the rehab center that morning and drive me down here. I haven’t been to Shadow’s Bend in over ten years. I’d been too busy with adult life and my tours, content to never look back to this place where I’d spent so much of my childhood. It is…different, less vibrant, and emptier. Almost lifeless on the outskirts. Much like me.

My mind plays through memories of a brighter time as we pass by the old mills scattered around the plains, and the pictures in my mind overlap with the reality, taking me back to a time when things were simpler. All these buildings now look run down and gray. I can’t help but wonder if that's how I look at people now.

My phone rings and snaps me out of my thoughts, so I reach into my pocket to fish it out, looking at the caller ID.

It’s Leo.

I let out a deep sigh and glanced up at the back of the driver's head. I am pretty sure he's notified my brother that we've arrived. I have become someone people have to keep close tabs on now. A recovering junkie who can not be trusted. Irritation stings in my chest, but I answer the call, regardless.

“Antonio?” Leo's voice filters in through the phone.

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