Page 118 of Fracture

I double over, leaning heavily on my knees. “Fuck.Fuck.”

Ellis cowers, his whole body trembling now. “Please, she wanted it, OK? She was just some slut in a club, I never meant to-”

The gunshot rings out, and Ellis is flung flat on his back. His right eye is blown out, the optic nerve hanging from his skull, his mouth wide. A stain spreads across the front of his shorts as he loses control of his bladder.

Craig Ellis dies on the floor of his shitty apartment in a pool of blood and piss. A death that this son of a bitch deserves.

My shoulders are heaving and my mind is racing as I head out of the apartment back to my bike. The cops won’t be far away if someone heard that gunshot. I stow the gun in my bike, and roar out of the parking lot, taking the backroads away from Bakersfield to avoid the interstate.

Oswald fucking Perlmann paid three men to film themselves raping Stella, that I know for sure. Which means Gloria probablyhad some part in it. They wanted as much dirt on Stella as they could get. But why hold on to this for so long?

My phone buzzes, and I answer it, heavy breathing sounding in my ear over my AirPods.

“Dylan?” Stella’s voice is barely audible.

“Guera?What’s wrong?”

“Someone’s in the house.”

I gun the engine, speeding down the open road. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the closet,” she whispers. “I can hear them.”

“Baby, stay there, Stay right where you are, I’m on my way.”

“I’m scared.”

“I’m coming, Stella. I’m coming.”Fuck, I’m too far away. “Guera,listen to me, stay on the phone to me and text Levi.”

“His phone is off,” she breathes. “I… Oh my god, Dylan, they’re coming up the stairs.”

Fuck fuck fuck. “I’m coming, fuck, baby just stay there. I’m coming. I’m coming.”

“I love you.” She sobs softly. “I love you so much.”

“Don’t you fucking do that.” The bike tops out at its maximum speed as I tear down the road but I’m still too far away. “Don’t you fucking say goodbye to me right now, baby. You’re OK. I’m coming. I’m coming right now.”

Suddenly she screams, and my blood runs cold.

“Stella!” Helplessness unlike any other runs through my veins, as I hear her scramble and scream. “Stella!”

“Two men!” Her voice sounds in the distance, like she’s dropped the phone. “Six foot! White! I can’t-” Her voice is cut off with a heavy exhale as though someone’s struck her. “I can’t see their faces!”

“Stella! I’m coming!”

I get closer and closer as I listen to her being beaten, as I hear her scream and beg them to stop. Then the phone goes quiet,and I swear to fuck, if they’ve killed her, I’m about to unleash a hell on this world that will make the devil himself not want me.

Please be alive. Please be fucking alive.

CHAPTER 28

LEVI

I can’t stop pacingthe hallway. Dylan is pale as he stares straight ahead, Zee clutching his hand as they sit beside him. But my restless feet won’t let me sit down.

“This is my fault,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “My fucking phone died, I forgot my goddamn charger.” I pound a fist into the wall, the shitty fucking beige walls of the hospital corridor. “I was so close, if I’d made it…”

“Levi, you couldn’t have known,” Zee says gently, gazing up at me with bloodshot eyes. They’ve been crying quietly, trying to stay strong for the two of us. “No one could have seen this coming.”

---