Page 136 of Finding Fate

“What then?”

“Um…”

“Mom.” she demanded in suspicion. Her mother knew something, and she wasn’t sharing. Bridgette hesitated again, but before Annie could press her any further, a glint from the floor caught her eye. “Oh, no.”

“What is it?”

“Look down by your foot.”

Bridgette glanced at the floor and groaned as well. She bent to pick up what they both knew was even worse than seeing the dresser torn apart.

“Can we panic now?” Annie asked sarcastically when her mother held up the ring Izzy had thrown to the floor.

“Okay, now we can panic.”

“Good. I’m calling Tucker.” “He needs to see what he’s done.”

“I’m going to call Chuck and Stef.”

“Tell Stefano to bring Jet with him, please,” she said as her fingers slid over her passcode to unlock her phone. She may not know what their friends were going through, but she did know what her sister needed. It didn’t matter now that she told Jet she wouldn’t butt in. She wasn’t going to stand aside anymore while Tucker broke what was left of her sister’s heart.

* * *

Tucker lay across his bed, face down on the comforter in his favorite pair of basketball shorts. His back, although a lot better at this point, was still a little bruised, and his ribs not yet healed.

He had heard his family come in earlier, and his mother had popped her head in his room to say goodnight. He held back the scoff that had threatened to escape at the concept of goodnight. There was no such thing anymore.

Sleep, when he got it, was anything but restful. All he ever saw when he closed his eyes now was Izzy lying at the bottom of those stairs, bleeding. Her pale, broken body lying bandaged in the hospital. The wild, agonized expression on her face while she thrashed about on the bed, calling for their baby. The withdrawn, hollow shell that used to be the girl he loved.

If it wasn’t that, it was his daughter. Izzy had never gotten the chance to see her, and for that, he was grateful. The only time he’d held her had nearly broken him. She had looked like them, her tiny, broken body resting in his hands.

Any one of those images would jolt him back awake if they hadn’t prevented him from sleeping in the first place. Putting Destiny in the ground had been hard enough, even with his parents’ advice, but he couldn’t stand to see Izzy so broken, had been too ashamed to look into her eyes, afraid of what he might see.

It was best if he stayed away, even if he was dying to be with her. He’d put her through enough. She didn’t need to see his pain, the pain that he had inflicted on the both of them.

It was all he could feel now, but he didn’t fight it. He knew he deserved every piercing stab to his heart. When he was lucky enough to avoid the horrific, torturing images, there was never relief. The open space in his mind just allowed room for thoughts of their lost child to surface.

How cruel was fate to let him love his child just in time for her to be taken away? The fact that she had never been given the chance to live made it even crueler. She had deserved her chance at life. But it honestly didn’t matter. In reality, she was gone, her mother destroyed.

Tucker lay there in the dark, contemplating this when his phone lit up. He almost ignored it, but then realized that it wasn’t normal for someone to call so late. He stretched an arm out and grabbed his cell from the table by his bed.

“Annie?”he wondered, swiping the screen to answer the call. “Hello?”

“YOU NEED TO GET YOUR BUTT OVER TO MY HOUSE NOW!”

“Annie, it’s almost two in the morning. I’m not coming over there.” “Your sister doesn’t want to see me anyway.”

“I’M NOT PLAYING, TUCKER! GET OVER HERE!”

“Why?!”

“I’M NOT GETTING INTO IT OVER THE PHONE! JUST COME OVER!”

“Arrrrgh!”she could be so frustrating. “Fine!” he snapped, throwing the phone down on his bed. He threw on some warmer clothes and his sneakers before shoving his phone in his pocket to sneak out of his room.

He wondered if his parents would hear him leaving. He hoped so. Then, they could put their foot down, and he could go back to his room and ignore Annie. Sometimes, he really hated the twins’ temper, when Izzy’s wasn’t driving him wild...

But he stopped that thought quick. Izzy’s fire was obsolete now.

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