Page 115 of Break

I followed the lawyer to her home and had planned to talk some sense into her, explain my side, but she has a bunch of kids and a husband. There was never a good chance, so I figured I’d just refuse to sign.

Thinking of kids, I look back down at my wife, running my eyes over her stomach. Using the knife, I slice up the center of her shirt and spread it open. She’s already put on an extra few pounds, so a little baby weight shouldn’t be too much of a change. A smile grows on my face at that thought. A baby will fix what’s broken between us. She’ll be too busy taking care of my son to worry about looking for other men to fuck. There’s no way she would abandon meandmy child.

My eyes shoot over to the window when I hear a soft scrap and thump outside on the front stoop. Narrowing them, I stare at the door, concentrating on the sound. There’s been a whole fucking hoard of raccoons that won’t go the fuck away. When I hear the noise again, I shove off Mina and walk back over to the table where the gun is lying.

I’ll kill those motherfuckers.Nothing but rodents and a waste of space.

I hunch down violently when the front door crashes open, slamming into the wall. The noise tears through my head when just moments ago, I was enjoying the blissful silence.

Voices are screaming at me from all directions. They’re in the door, next to the window, coming at me from the other side of the room.

“Danny, drop the gun!”

“Put your hands up!”

“On the ground!”

“MINA!”

The last voice is one I recognize. I don’t turn away from the guns that are pointed at my chest, but my eyes slide over to where Max is running through the room like he has no fucking care that I’m here.

I sneer when he drops to his knees next to her, cradling her head and checking her over. “Worried you lost your chance for more pussy,friend?” I bite out.

Panic fills me when he ignores me, still trying to urge her awake. I don’t want him to touch her. He has norightto be touching my wife!

“STOP FUCKING TOUCHING HER!” I scream, my chest heaving with barely controlled rage.

“There you are, sweet girl,” he says softly. My eyes drop to Mina and she’s wincing, blinking her eyes open. “You okay if I move you?”

“She’s not going anywhere. I told you not to fucking touch her, you worthless sack of shit.Mina!Stay where you are, baby. I’ve got you in a minute. You’re okay now.” I try to cajole her, wanting her to look at me, but she doesn’t.

A film of red covers my eyes when she only looks up athimlike he’s a fucking God.

“Danny, I need you to put the gun down. Drop it to your side, and then wait for us to move to you.” It’s the Captain talking to me, stepping closer with his gun still trained in the center of my chest.

I look around and see close to a dozen officers, including Vincent, who looks like he’s never met me before in his life. There’s no understanding written there. No sorrow that Mina left me and forced me to resort to this. It’s like he’s staring at a stranger; a stranger he’s pointing a gun at.

Looking back at where Mina is lying, I see Ethan now, helping her up into Max’s arms. Stars dance across my vision as they take her away from me. She’s always running away. Never staying to fix what she broke.

I can’t move as they walk her out of the room, and just before she disappears through the door, her eyes fall to mine.

There’s no way out for me.

“This is all your fault,” I whisper.

Without taking my eyes off the woman who betrayed me, I take a small amount of pleasure when her eyes widen as I pull the trigger.

Chapter 50

Little Dove

Max

One hour and forty-seven minutes.

That’s all it took for Officer Andrew Harrow to break and admit what he’s done.

Cooper was able to have him back in the room within thirty minutes of us realizing that Mina was gone, adding an extra half an hour to her current two-hour ticking time bomb.

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