Page 88 of Moonlight & Matrimony
“NO! Rylin. You have to stay with me. Breathe for me, Bug.”
“IVY!” Luca’s voice calls from somewhere behind me, but my ears are ringing and I can’t tell where it’s coming from. Austin is getting closer, and my vision is blurring. It’s taking everything in me to keep moving, clinging to Rylin like our lives depend on it — because they do.
A gunshot rings out over the sound of rushing water as we reach the other side of the creek, my shoes lost to the current as my bare feet hit the stony bank. I glance down at my daughter; she looks like she’s asleep and she’s still breathing, barely. I’m clinging to the hope that she’s succumbing to fear and nothing more. Another gunshot rings out as I trip over a root, collapsing to my knees as the darkness once again consumes me.
Luca
After hanging up with Ivy, I rush to the truck, not stopping to explain anything as I leave a stunned Paige behind on the porch. Securing my phone to the dashboard with Ivy’s location tracker open on the screen, I follow the directions to a tee until the blinking green dot showing her location disappears entirely.
“FUCK FUCK FUCK!” I shout, slamming my hands against the steering wheel. I continue down the path she was driving, hoping to find my girls safely parked on the side of the road, but something ominous is twisting in my gut. The terror in her voice replays in my mind as I cling to the hope that Austin left them alone, and Ivy’s phone simply died, but I know better.
I never should have left them alone.
I should’ve seen this coming.
I couldn’t fucking protect them.
I failed.
The night is eerily silent as I approach the last place Ivy’s phone was active. The acrid stench of gasoline and smoke fills the air when I inch towards the overpass. My heart is in my throat as I pull off to the side of the road, scanning the scene in the creek bed below. The barrier is smashed, debris scattered along the highway, but it’s the wreckage in the creek that has my blood running cold. Ivy’s car is overturned, half-submerged in the shallow water, and next to it is Austin’s twisted heap of metal, a fire blazing amongst the remains.
Adrenaline kicks in, pushing me forward as I scramble down the muddy embankment, slipping on the wet grass and rocks. I call out their names, my voice hoarse. But there’s no answer, only the sound of rushing water and burning metal — then I hear it, Rylin’s small whimpers, followed by Ivy’s urgent voice. Relief mixed with panic floods my body, propelling me forward. Where the fuck are they?
I round the wreckage, spotting them further up the creek. Ivy clutches a limp Rylin in her arms, her eyes wide with terror. And then I seehim,bloodied and barely standing, gripping a gun aimed directly at their backs.
There’s no time to think. I launch myself at him, tackling him into the creek as the gun goes off, the deafening sound reverberating through the air. Austin thrashes under me, hitting my shoulder with the butt of the gun. He’s fighting like he has nothing left to lose, and I know I can’t let fear take hold. I just keep thinking of Ivy and Rylin, the terror in Ivy’s eyes and Rylin’s limp body just a few yards up the creek, and it fuels my rage, giving me a strength I didn’t know I had. We stumble in thewater, fists flying, both of us slipping and sinking in the muddy creek bed.
Somehow, I manage to wrestle the gun from his hand as another shot rings out, sending it skidding across the rocks on the bank of the creek. But he doesn’t stop fighting, his hands going for my throat as sirens ring out from the highway above. I fight back with everything I have, throwing him off me and getting to my feet, my chest heaving as I stand between him and the woman I love, and the daughter I never knew I needed.
“Ivy! Go! Get out of here!” I shout, not taking my attention off Austin. “It’s too late for that, fucker,” he says. A menacing smile spreads over his face as he looks over my shoulder at something behind me, but I know I can’t let myself look.My girls.
I take several steps backward, anger pulsing in my veins. “It’s over, Austin.”
Austin staggers to his feet, fury radiating off him in waves, fists clenched at his side. He’s weak, blood streaming down his face, his movements sluggish.
“Do you really think you can win this?” I shout, forcing a smirk even though I’m dying on the inside. “Look at you — you can barely stand.”
He tries to steady himself, but there’s a flicker of doubt on his face. “You don’t know shit!” he snarls.
I take another slow step back, not breaking eye contact, and I can see the gun just out of reach.
“I know you had this beautiful life at your fucking fingertips and you threw it all away. Those girls are everything to me. You never fucking deserved them. But I guess I should be thanking you. If you hadn’t been such a piece of shit, she wouldn’t be spending her nights in my bed,” I taunt, keeping him distracted as I inch backwards.
His eyes are downright murderous as I continue my speech, nearing the place where the gun sits on the bank of the creek.He’s too agitated by my words to realize what I'm doing as I deliver one final blow. “You’re a pathetic fucking coward,” I spit. The insult hits its mark, and he charges at me with a roar as I drop, my hand closing around the gun. In one fluid motion, I bring it up, the weight of it heavy in my hand as I turn to face him.
He freezes, recognition washing over him.
“Fuck you,” I growl, my voice cold and unwavering as I pull the trigger, putting an end to Ivy’s years of suffering once and for all. The shot rings out, echoing through the creek, and Austin’s body crumples to the ground. I stand there, breathless, the gun still raised, my hands shaking as I watch him fall.
Chapter 24
Ivy
? Everything I didn’t Say - Ella Henderson
“Where the fuck is she? Where’s my wife?”
Luca’s voice is a quiet hum beneath the relentless beeping and whooshing sounds reverberating throughout the unfamiliar space. I try to open my eyes but it feels as though they’ve been sealed shut, and my throat burns with an intensity unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
