billies pov.

the paper immediately drops from my head, and i run out the door. i go into the closet in the hall, and grab my other gun. i run down the stairs and jah is staring at me.

"he has ava." i yell, "let's go." i say.

he immediately follows me outside, and we go into my car.

i'm speeding through the late night traffic, swerving through cars and running red lights.

when i pull up to her house, i stick my gun in my waist band. me and jah run up to her door, opening it. not caring about anything. when i run in, i see marina and adryana, taking off their shoes, the must've just got home.

adryana looks at me. "what's wrong? where's ava?" she says, with a concerned look.

i immediately run upstairs, and i go in every room. no ava. i go into a room, and i knew it was hers based off the pictures of her and marina everywhere.

i look on her bed, and there's another note.

'too late'

i crinkle up the paper, and immediately punch the wall. "FUCK." i scream.

i run downstairs, marina and adryana staring at me.

"what is wrong billie? she texted us and said she got picked up by you." says adryana, looking more worried.

i was so angry. "she's not."

i proceed to quickly tell her about mario, keyvon, and the whole gang situation.

adryana covers her mouth, with tears flowing down her face. "k-keyvon? long dreads?" she whispers.

i nod. does she know him?

adryana starts instantly sobbing, and marina looks around frantically. "she's her ex. he tried to kill her. t-the scar." adryana says in between sobs, pointing to her left breast, referring to ava's scar.

everything around me stops, it felt like a dream. the whole time, the person ava was petrified of, was the one playing me. the one i was looking for, was right in front of me. he was the one who hurt ava. made her the way she was. beat her. caused her anxiety, her cutting.

my whole body was on fire, i was gonna fucking kill him. i didn't care where he was, whenever i found him, and i would find him, i will kill him. then and there.

i snap out my thoughts, from a buzz on my phone. it's from a unknown number.

unknown: 1 attachment.

it was a picture of ava, in my room. crying, with a gun to her temple. oh my god.

i immediately go over to adryana, and i grab her face, pulling it to mine.

"he will not hurt her." i say, lifting up my shirt, revealing my gun. "i promise you, i will kill him." i whisper.

her eyes widen as she sees my gun, her tears still flowing down her face.

i turn to go leave, and marina pulls my arm. "he's dangerous billie." she whispers, with concern on her face.

marina grabs adryana as she cries, holding her. i wasn't just doing this for ava, it was for them too. ava was everything to them.

i look at jah. "stay with them." i say. he nods immediately. he had a gun, so i knew he would protect them in case they came back.

i run out, and go back to my car. i speed my way back to the house.

when i get there, i run inside. it was quiet, scary quiet. i immediately go upstairs, and open my door.

and there she was.

mario was on the bed, smirking at me. ava was on the floor, and keyvon had his arm wrapped around her neck, with a gun pointing to her temple.

"b-billie." ava cries out. my whole body was stiff, i put my hand over the gun in my pants. i couldn't retaliate, he'd kill her.

"long time no see, huh billie?" mario says.

"fuck you." i spit out through my teeth.

she shakes his head. "now that's not the tone you wanna use right now." he says, standing up, walking towards ava.

"get the fuck away from her." i yell.

he laughs. "you know, i was surprised to hear that you was messing around with my boys old flame. i didn't even believe it at first. i started watching you both, and now i see."

my eyes watch his every move, with my jaw clenched. "i was gonna take your brother, but this one was easy." he laughs, crouching down to ava, stroking her cheek. she looked terrified, tears flowing down her cheek.

"stop fucking touching her." i spat, walking towards him. keyvon pushes the gun harder against her, she yells in pain.

i stop, and mario stands up. "you took a lot from me billie. i was gonna stop at manny, make it even. but i saw that this one was your prized possession." he teases, touching her hair.

"what the fuck do you want from me?" i say, angrily. "you killed manny. one of my best fucking friends. we are even." i spat.

he laughs, shaking his head. "you killed my brother, billie. i always come back harder." he says.

he starts walking out the door, looking at me as he's starting to close it. "do what you gotta do keyvon." he says, looking at him, then back at me, with a smirk. he then closes the door.

this was mario, he never did the dirty work. he had someone do it for him.

i turn to keyvon. "you fucking played me." i say, with anger.

i look at ava, she's crying hysterically. she's shaking. "baby." i whisper.

keyvon glares at me. "don't fucking call her that. she's mine. always will be." he spats.

"so you're gonna fucking kill her?" i yell. he disgusted me in every way. i would've killed him right there if he didn't have a gun to ava's head right now.

"i tried before, maybe i'll be successful this time. she tried to kill me. she didn't love me." he spats.

ava cries harder and harder. she was turning blue. i had to think quick.

"kill me instead." i whisper. i couldn't see ava in pain any longer, i would do anything for her to be safe. i would die for her.

he looks at me confused for a moment, then smirks. and throws ava off to the side.

"billie NO." ava cries out, trying to get up.

he turns to her with the gun. "don't fucking move. you will watch me blow her brains out, and then you will come with me." he yells.

ava puts herself in a ball, and sobs, her eyes not leaving mine. i felt tears welling up in my eyes. i loved her with everything in me.

he looks back at me, and puts the gun back on me. "get on your knees." he spats.

i go down on my knees, and he puts the gun on my temple. my eyes not leaving ava, she was blue, and sobbing. she was having anxiety attack, after anxiety attack. i hated seeing her i put her in this mess.

i gulp. "you must love her if you gonna sacrifice yourself for her huh?" he spats, pushing the gun harder into my head.

i groan. "fuck, yes i fucking love her." i say.

i look at ava, she's frozen. she's looking at my bed.

there's a gun, sticking out from underneath my mattress. i keep one there always. fuck.

"nice knowing you bil." he says.

and then suddenly ava jumps up, running towards the gun, grabbing it. keyvon whips his head to her.

"AVA NO." i scream.

keyvon points the gun at her, and shoots. she screams and ducks, and points the gun to him and shoots, hitting him right below his belly button.

he drops his gun, and falls to his knees. i immediately get up, and run to ava.

she's standing there, with the gun still pointing at him. he's face first on the ground, with blood pouring out his mouth.

she walks over to him, gun still at him. "ava.." i whisper.

and then she shoots him in the head.

and then shoots him again.

and again.

tears flowing from her eyes, i run to her. i come behind her, and i struggle to get the gun out of her hand. she was pulling from me, trying to shoot him again. she was crying, loudly. she was so angry at him for everything he did to her, she wasn't gonna stop.

"ava baby, he's dead. he's dead." i yell, struggling still.

i finally force it out her hands, throwing it to the ground. i was holding her, as she kicked his head in over and over, hysterically crying.

i was holding her back, trying to pull her away. "he tried to fucking kill me. he was gonna kill you." she screams in between sobs, trying to get out of my grip.

i stroke her hair, holding her. "i know baby. i know." i cooed. her body finally gives out, and she just falls into my arms.

we fall onto the floor, and she cries hysterically into my chest.

she killed him. he was gonna kill me, and she killed him. after all the pain he put her through, the cutting, the stabbing, night after night of beatings. he traumatized her. she was not okay. my poor baby.

"i want my mommy." she cries out into my chest. my heart was broken when she said that.

i kiss her hair, with tears in my eyes. "i know baby girl." i whispered. my heart ached for her.

we sat there for a minute, and i just held her. she was a mess. she just killed someone. i did this shit often, but not ava.

i look around my room, and i notice a camera on my desk, facing me and ava. mario is watching. my heart instantly stops.

he will be back. and it won't be me he was after, it'll be ava. he watched her just kill his boy.

i shake ava. "we have to go, ava. now." i say.
she looks up at me, her face was bright and eyes were bloodshot. her makeup was all down her face.

"he was watching. we need to go." i whisper, getting her up.

she stands there, and i grab a bag out the closet, and stuff a bunch of random clothes in there. i grab the gun she used, and stuffed it in there. i had one on me, and in my car, but you never knew what you'd need.

i grab ava's lifeless hand, and look at her. she looked drained again. the same way she looked when she came back from the hospital.

"ava. please trust me. he will come back and he will try to kill you. we need to go, somewhere safe." i whisper.

she hesitates, but then nods. she was so out of it.

i pull her downstairs, and i run out the door. we get into my car, and i take off.

she was silent the entire time, just crying. i wanted to comfort her, but i couldn't until we were somewhere safe.

i drive to her house. when we pull up, i unbuckle her and i go out to her door, pulling her to her house door.

when we walk in, adryana and marina jump up.

"ava!" adryana cries, hugging her.

ava immediately sobs into her arms, and marina joins the hug. i look at jah.

he looks at me. "he's gone. but mario will be back." i whisper.

he looks at me wide eyed. "you?" he says.

and before i can answer, ava sits up.

"i killed him." she says.

adryana and marina look at her, then at me.

adryana covers her mouth with her shaky hand. "y-you didn't." she whispers.

i go up to them. "she did. he was gonna kill her, but i told him to take me instead, and he was-" i started but ava interrupted me.

"so i took a gun, and i killed him." she says, emotionless.

they just go back into holding her, and she sobs.

"we have to go." i say, looking at everyone.

marina looks up at me. "w-what? where?" she says.

i look down, "away." i whisper.

adryana looks up and starts to sob. "she can't leave me." she cries out.

jah stands up. "mario is powerful. she killed his boy, so he will kill her." he says, looking at them.

adryana covers her face with her hands, and sobs. marina hugs ava, sobbing as well.

i snap out of it, and i go to her room. i search for a bag. i find a decent sized one, and go in her closet. i grab random clothes and shoes, stuffing them in the bag. i grab her phone charger, and then head back downstairs.

they were all in the same position, crying.

i felt awful, they were devastated. but ava wouldn't be safe. we had to go, so i could keep her safe.

"we have to go now." i whisper.

they look up to me, and continue to cry. ava looks up at me, with her bloodshot brown eyes. she nods.

"you stay with them jah. i will call you." i say, grabbing ava's wrist, pulling her towards the door.

we are almost out the door, and ava looks back at them. "i love you both so much." she says through her sobs, and then follows me out.

they were crying, like that scream type cry when she closed the door.

we walked to the car, i put all the stuff in, and we left.

as i drove, i had no idea where to go. i couldn't go to my house with fin, i couldn't put him in danger either. i had to go far.

and then it hit me.

ivan's old safe house in new jersey.

and since i was now the boss,

it was mine.