Page 24 of Cruel Savior

Oh my God, I couldn't even destroy my phone so as to not listen to his voice while I tried to stop a panic attack. Hate. Hate. Hate. This was total bullshit. As if that wasn't enough, the front door popped open and a familiar pair of boots appeared in my narrowed vision.

"Amanda? Are you still listening? I did what I thought was best and at the time that meant getting him out of your life."

"Dad. Stop talking. Just stop talking and hang up. You've done enough damage. Goodbye." It was difficult to push words out in between wheezes, but I was determined to make him stop.

"What difference does it make anyway? Whether you had an abortion or a miscarriage the result is the same. The problem was gone. That's all he needed to know."

"Dad!" I screamed, scrambling for the phone. Axel, however, beat me to it, his boot stomping down what was left of my phone, turning it into a mangled mess, effectively silencing my father.

Finally. I slumped against the wall and pulled my legs up into my chest. It was too much. All of it. I sure as hell hoped this was rock bottom because I couldn't take a single thing more.

Not. A. Single. Thing.

"Mandy."

I don't know why now, but that one word from him broke the fucking dam. Tears streamed down my face, into my mouth, down my neck. For years, I'd waited for this. A woman who couldn't cry for the death of her unborn child, or the loss of the only man she loved had to be broken beyond repair. And when the tears didn't come during the weeks of torture at the hands of Frank Mazzeo and his business partner Marco, I'd given in to the notion that I was beyond savingorredemption. I would never be normal.

I wasn't sure what difference it made at this point, but apparently Axel had heard my father's words. I felt his arms wrap around me and I slapped them away.

"No!" I screamed in between wails. "Don't touch me." He said something, but his words were beyond my hearing. I was consumed with a lifetime of sorrow and it had to get out. I didn't want a witness let alone any help. I fought harder, suddenly fueled with pain. My fist connected with something and he cursed.

"Let me—"

"No! Get out!" I flailed and fought, even biting at him when he got too close. "Get out."

"Okay. I'm going. But I'm not leaving. I'll be right outside."

"Go!" I screamed, nothing coherent beyond the feeling of my soul being ripped from my body. The door finally closed behind Axel and I collapsed against it, sliding to the floor. I thought the day I'd lost my baby would be the worst of my life. I'd been wrong...

Chapter Fourteen

Axel

I stoodat my front door only inches from her wails. Over and over, they stabbed into me.

What I’d heard over that phone had nearly stopped my heart. What the hell was going on?

I was going to kill her father for this. With my bare fucking hands so I could watch the life drain from him slowly.

Motherfucker could burn in hell.

“You need to give her time.” JD said from behind me. His knack for being in the wrong place at the right time still unnerved me. Especially when it came to this. I wasn’t sure if talking to him about this would make one damned difference.

“I fucked up.”

“We all do when it comes to people we care about. Why don’t we take a walk?”

I shook my head. “I can’t leave her. She’s falling apart and she won’t let me in.”

“That’s because she wouldn’t want you to witness all of this. She’s an independent woman used to relying on only herself. Seriously son. Give her some space. Your time to talk it out will come soon enough. For now, she needs to deal with this alone. We need to talk anyway. Did you talk to Houston? I need an update.”

“I left him a message. Told him what was going on and what information we were looking for. I guess he’ll call me back—eventually.”

JD nodded. “He’ll call if he has some news. Until then, we need to look at the other possibilities.”

“Sure. But all the files are in there.”

JD smiled. “You think so? You should know better than that.”

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