Page 150 of The Fractured

Anger and devastation tore through my insides like fire, hot and sickening. I was blinded by fury.

Someone had to pay.

Someone had to die.

I was always too fucking late.

The shots echoed loudly through the basement until the last bullet struck.

There was a loudcrack,and the entire structure splintered with a spider-web-like fracture. Then it shattered, firing a million shards of glass in every direction. It spilled onto the floor like a giant crystal wave and scattered to my boots.

After the last piece bounced to a stop with a softclink, the basement fell into complete silence.

I stood still, chest heaving.

What have I done?

Chapter 51

Lily

The week that followed didn’t seem real.

I managed to make the arrangements for a cremation and a small ceremony. After everything Dean had done for me, it was the least I could do.

He had completely closed most people out except for Seb, Kira, and me, but even then, he had barely spoken a word or slept since Saturday.

Everything happened on that Saturday.

What he did at Castello di Vetrowascareless, but I refused to reprimand him when he was doing it to himself already.

The worry about retaliation lingered in the corners of my mind. An entire week had gone by, and there wasn’t a single indication that the Gimello triplets would want revenge for what happened in their club. And that made me nervous. Why hadn’t they reacted yet?

There was a moment on Monday night, as I approached my bedroom window to close the blinds before bed, when I spotted something in the dark one-way street below. A figure, but it was hard to tell when it was hidden in the shadows.

I called Dad about it, and he came to check himself, but found nothing.

Maybe I imagined it. I was emotionally drained, so maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. As a precaution, and under strict orders from my father, we stayed inside the apartment. Not that we had much motivation to step outside. The world was a little darker without Sofia in it.

I didn’t even want to think about the arrests that would happen in the following week.

I think the one thing that gave us a brief pause was Bella, Sofia’s tiny but resilient dog. She wore a small, blue cast on her front leg and needed regular treatment for a small burn on her ear, but she provided a sliver of happiness and comfort when it was hard to find.

At first, Dean wanted nothing to do with her. It wasn’t done out of hate but simply because it hurt. Bella was a reminder, yet it was Dean who said he would keep her when his old neighbors asked if they could take her.

As I got ready for the funeral this afternoon, smoothing out the creases in my black, knee-length dress while keeping my emotions in check, Dean sat on the couch with Bella in his lap. He tickled her tummy with a vague stare in his tired eyes and a shadow of a smile on his lips. He wore an all-black suit and had a pair of sunglasses on hand. Both were brand new since most of what he owned, apart from anything he left in my room, was destroyed in the fire.

I watched the time, counting down the seconds until eventually it was time to go. Saying the words felt like the hardest thing to do.

“Dean?” I approached him, hesitant to say the rest. I didn’t want to disrupt this rare moment of peace. “It’s time.”

I didn’t know that Sofia’s favorite color was purple or that she loved lavender. They were details about her I would’ve learned in the future if she were still alive. Instead, I heard about it from Dean as we organized the initial preparations for her funeral.

Touches of lavender and purple decorated the coffin, the seats, and the interior of the small crematorium chapel. Everyone in attendance was asked to wear something purple amongst their black attire. Kira had woven friendship bracelets for this reason, in all shades of purple, and gave one to anyone who arrived without a purple item. Dean wore one too and didn’t take his eyes off it as the funeral commenced, keeping his head bowed in the front row as the celebrant addressed the room.

What broke my heart the most was that he was the only family member there amongst a sea of friends.

In a way, Sofia had rebuilt her own large family, surrounding herself with love and happiness after what she went through.