30 | what we leave behind

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I promise, if you guys can impress me with 100+ comments in this most awaited chapter, I'll post the next chapter very soon!

who's up for the challenge?

C A R T E R

almost five years ago:

Today is the happiest day of my life. It is the day she becomes exclusively mine.

Grinning widely at the mirror, I twist the bowtie around my neck. I am alone in the dressing room for the groom. Melody and Shaun left me on my own after helping me with the tidbits. Our entire family is busy helping Amaya get ready for the wedding which makes a lot of sense considering she has been waiting for this day forever.

For me, I am just happy that after today, I would get to call her mine both affectionately and on paper. I am elated like anything and have the gut feeling that nothing could go wrong. Not today.

My phone lights up on the dressing table. I swipe it open to find a text from Amaya.

Amaya:

I know the groom doesn't get to see the bride before the wedding but I still wanted to share this for your approval

Underneath the text is a picture attached of her in the luscious wedding gown as her back faces the camera. The light from the window makes her shimmer as the dress clings to her beautiful curves. Even without seeing her face, I know that she looks like she is the most beautiful woman on earth today.

And she is my bride. That fills me with more pride.

Me:

Looking gorgeous, babe. I can't wait to see you in person.

Amaya:

Me too. <3

Love you!

Me:

Love you too!

I put the phone down and take a look in the mirror, spotting the cuff links I am still missing. I head to my backpack and start scrounging through it.

"Cufflinks...cuff links...where art thou?" I hum to myself, feeling stupid but I guess that's what happiness can make you do at times.

This has been the best morning of my life. I woke up with her in my arms, knowing that today was the last day we woke up as girlfriend and boyfriend. From tomorrow, we will greet the morning as husband and wife. Finally.

I am so focused on my task that I don't hear the click of the gun at all. It is when the cold barrel is pressed to my neck, my movements come to a cease.

I feel his presence before he speaks.

"Raise your hands above your head and turn around," he orders in a roguish voice. "Very slowly now. You don't want me to kill you."

Chills run down my spine when I recognize the man who carries that tone. I do as he says, cold sweat forming on my forehead as I turn to face him with my hands raised over my head.

Four years of prison didn't change him the least bit. Except for his grown beard and hair, he still looks the same. The same Mark who was Panther's right-hand man.

He is dressed in a three-piece suit. I don't know where he got the clothes from but they are shorter than his size. They cling to parts of him almost uncomfortably.

"You got out?" I ask, unable to believe that he is actually here again.

"Surprised, are you?" he chuckles, placing the barrel against my forehead. "I thought you'd have forgotten about me. Glad to see I left a long impression."

"Mark, what do you want? Why are you here?"

"Can't you guess that? I'm here for revenge, Carter. Obviously!"

He laughs as if he just made a grand joke. My palms are sweating as my eyes stay on the trigger he is not letting go.

"Mark, you don't have to do this. You're free now. Don't do something that will send you back there."

"I don't fucking care if I go back there!" he yells, eyes wild with rage. With each word, he taps the gun against my forehead. "You of all people should avoid telling me what I should do. You bastard! You killed the only family I had. You killed the only one who took care of me. You left me with nothing. I'm all alone now! I don't care if I go back to that damn prison or get hanged. I won't leave without taking my revenge."

"What revenge? What are you talking about?" I inquire in confusion. "You know I didn't intend to reveal about the club. Fuck! I was sent to rehab for it. Why would I do that willingly? It was collateral damage!"

"I ain't talking about the club, kid," he seethes. "I'm talking about the fact that you killed my brother."

Brother? What the fuck is he talking of?

For as long as I knew him, he had been alone. He never even told us his surname.

"What brother?"

"Your girl's stepdad," he says. "Panther Gonzales was my brother."

My ears ring with the confession. I am immediately taken back to that basement, to the place where I last saw Panther, to the place where Amaya killed him.

Everyone thinks it was me. I have managed to keep Amaya safe from judgment. She is not a killer in people's eyes. I am. Even to Mark, I am the one who killed Panther. I am the one who killed his brother. He needs revenge from me.

"Mark...I...it wasn't my fault..." I take a step back from him but the gun is still pressed to my forehead. "Panther would have killed us."

"Nonsense!" he rages. "My brother never killed anyone. He was a sociopath but he never killed people. He only threatened them."

"You saw my injuries at the trial. Where do you think I got that from?"

"What do I know? Street fights possibly? Or did you forget that there was a time you were as much a monster as Panther was?"

"Mark...please...put the gun down."

He tilts his head, his jaw clenching as he drops the gun from my head slowly. I am locked in place, watching as his face morphs into an expression of amusement. His shoulders shake as he chuckles to himself.

"Bold of you to assume I'm here to kill you, Carter," he says. "I want her."

No. No fucking way.

"Wh...who are you talking about?"

He stalks around me, touching the gun to his chin, tapping with rhythmic movements. Tick. Tick. Tick.

"You killed my only family, Carter. Left me with nowhere to go..." he whispers, chilly breath fanning my neck. "Killing you won't give the same satisfaction as killing her will. So today, when you walk down that aisle, you'll find me there. I'll be right in the congregation, waving at you, watching you as you marry her and right after that, she will be dead in your arms. That's what will give me satisfaction."

I am seeing black across my vision. My skull pounds with his words, rage building in my veins like spitfire. He moves, coming to stand in front of me.

"You can't do that. I'll call the cops and this will be over for you, Mark," I state, gulping down the anger because he is the one with the gun.

"You do that and she will be dead an hour earlier than planned." He grins, tucking the gun in the inside pocket of his suit. "I don't care about the cops, Carter. I don't care about prison. I'll have a place to live there if not anything...but I ain't going without taking my revenge, boy."

"Mark, please..."

The plea makes my voice quaver. His dark eyes meet mine as he places a hand on my shoulder, squeezing as he used to when he mentored me for the fights.

"Enjoy your wedding, boy. Call the cops if you think they can keep you safe but she will die today — right in front of your eyes. I'll have blood for blood, Carter. A family for a family."

With that, he lets go of me and paints a genial smile on his lips. Looking like someone who perfectly belongs to my wedding, he backs out of the room, giving me a wink as he shuts the doors back on his way.

I should call the cops. I should do that because that is the reasonable thing to do but I also know that the moment I call them, he will change the course of his plan as he stated.

He got out of prison. How did I forget what his release date was?

"Fuck!" I trail my fingers through my hair, bewildered by what just happened.

Will he really be there? On the aisle? Can I go ahead with the wedding knowing that he would be there?

What if he goes ahead with his plan? What if he does kill her?

Amaya just got better after completing her therapy session last week. Her PTSD attacks had been abnormally frequent and her grandmother said it was a premonition of something. I think I know now what she meant. That woman has some strange kind of foresight.

I loosen the bowtie around my neck, finding myself sweating all over. My brain is a mess. All I can think of is keeping Amaya safe. All the jovial feelings from before have disappeared into thin air. I should have been more aware. Happiness doesn't last when it comes to me. For four years, I have been the happiest man to ever live. I should have known there was a storm coming.

I pick up my phone and my fingers immediately scroll through current flight schedules. If there is anyone who can help me right now, it is him.

Grandpa Bell has never met me but I am his heir. I will force him to hear me out. I will beg him, plead with him but I don't see any other way. I need someone powerful.

I spot that there is only one flight available to his location in two hours and book it without another thought. I tuck the phone into my pocket, picking up my backpack from the bed. As I am about to step out, I spot a notepad which is kept for emergency purposes.

I recall Amaya's last text to me. She said she loved me. Even the thought of texting her that I am leaving makes me sick. She won't let me go if I tell her the truth.

Hesitantly, I scribble a note for her like a coward.

I'm sorry, baby. I have to go.
-Yours, Carter

Hoping that she finds it, I leave the notepad there, open for anyone to see.

Instead of the door, I walk to the window of the room. I open it and throw my backpack first before jumping down on the ledge. We are only on the first floor so from here, the climb down is easy.

I keep a lookout for Mark as I head out the gates of the venue, leaving behind the woman I love in it with a note that is meant to break her heart.

I keep my tears in check as I take a cab and make the driver first stop at our apartment, from where I grab my passport before heading straight for the airport.

My phone bursts with many texts and calls — all from Amaya — when I am in the cab. I watch each of them ring, read the texts but can't find it in my heart to reply.

Until this shadow that looms over us is gone, I cannot be sure of my return. I can't give her hope. Mark is there because he thinks I killed Panther. If Amaya comes to know that, she will reveal the truth. Everyone will know the secret she, I, and Shaun had been keeping.

She doesn't deserve to be judged in a new light. She is already perfect and has gone through too much from the moment her life collided with mine. She will always sacrifice but I won't let her. When it comes to us, I will be the only one to sacrifice.

By the time I reach the airport, my cheeks are tear-stained and I am surprised to find my heart still in my body, still beating for the woman I left behind.


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