Pieces Of Heaven (Heaven & Hell #2)(41)

If had known that it would be my last meal in that house I would have savored it. I would have cherished it. If I had known that my life would change in the next twenty-four hours I would have held on tight and never let go.





Chapter Thirty-Eight


Marissa


I heard him come in and I'm assuming he's eating. Knowing he was coming, I never fully fell asleep. My stomach is riddled with butterflies, eager to see him again.

I hear him walk to the front door, locking it. Coming upstairs, he checks Lori's room then makes his way into my room.

I'm sitting up in bed, reading a book I long stopped caring about.

He leans into the doorframe while he takes me in. "Hey, there. I thought you would be sleeping," he says. His face looks tired. His body tense, the vein in his neck ticking.

"Gotta say I love seeing you in bed, babe, but not a fan of seeing some other man's flowers in your room," he says, his jaw now ticking.

I look over at the vase of white roses that I have been collecting for the past two weeks. Every day after work, I would get one. I would bring it home and watch it blossom.

"You can cut the act, Mick, I know it was you," I say, sitting up smiling at him.

He looks at me, his eyebrows pinching together. "What are you talking about?"

"You," I say, getting out of bed and going to the vase. "You put one in my car every day." I lean down to smell them. "Every single day I would get off work and one would be waiting for me. I looked around to see you, but I could never catch you." I walk to him smiling, wrapping my hands around his waist. "You're a sly one, Mr. Moro. And a romantic," I whisper the last one.

"It wasn't me," he tells me, and my hands fall from his waist.

I look over at them, my neck starting to get hot and my body cold until I start to shake. "What do you mean it wasn't you?" I almost fall, but he catches me.

"Babe, I never left them. I saw you once I drove by the diner. Saw you get in the car, take one out, and smell it and smile. Broke my fucking heart. I thought you were dating." He walks over to them. Grabbing the vase, he looks like he's ready to pitch it against the wall.

"There was someone in the house," I whisper to him. His body turns around almost like lightning speed. "One night I dreamed you, not just one night every night, but this one night I could swear you were here. You touched my cheek, you kissed my lips. I opened my eyes, and there was someone standing in my doorway, but when I went to open the lights, there was no one there." I start to tremble. "The door, downstairs, it wasn't locked. I thought it was just my imagination. Oh my God." My knees give out. I fall on the carpet, my heart beating so fast I think it's going to come out of my chest.

Lori walks into the room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What's all the noise about?" She sees me on the floor on my knees and she is suddenly awake. "What happened?" she asks, falling down next to me.

"Someone was in the house," Mick says to her, going to look outside for God knows what. He pulls out his phone, texting or calling someone. I have no idea. My eyes are fixated on the roses that are sitting on my bureau.



       
         
       
        

"Pack a bag. We are leaving," he says while he grabs a bag from my closet. He turns to Lori. "I need you to go into your room and bring stuff you need for the next couple of days."

She nods at him and runs in her room, opening all her lights and the lights in the closet.

I watch Mick run around my room, throwing stuff into a bag. "Babe, you need to get up and get dressed."

But I don't have time because before I know it, we hear Lori yelling from her room.

Mick gets there before I do, with his gun drawn. She's sitting on her bed, the drawer open next to her bed holding all her bras and underwear. All have been shredded. She holds them up in her hands. "Drop it, Lori, don't touch anything."

Her hands shake while she dumps the things back in her drawer. Mick picks up his phone and calls Jackson. "We have a break-in at Lori and Marissa's." That is the only thing he says and then calls someone else. "I'm at Lori and Marissa's. Someone is fucking with them." I hear him say okay four times and then hangs up. Then he calls one more person. "This is Detective Moro. I have a PC 664/459 at the address One Four Seven Grand Road. No suspect on the scene."

I look at Lori whose hands are shaking, and tears are running down her face. "Who would do that do us?" she asks me, and I have no idea what to answer her, so I just hold her while she cries.

I hear a knock at the door and I start to shake, but Mick is gone for two minutes and returns with two guys in uniform. He takes them to my room where he shows them the flowers and then brings them back into Lori's room, showing them the drawer where her things are chopped up.

I hear more people coming up the steps.

Jackson fills the doorway this time. "Hey, Bella is in the car. She can take them to your house. I have Ralph on standby to watch them while we finish here," he says, but we both shake our heads no. The thought of being without him to protect us is something we aren't going to do.

"No, I'm not leaving without you," I say, and Lori nods with me.

He doesn't say anything before we hear stomping coming up the stairs and Chris is there, his hair all disheveled like he was sleeping. His basketball shorts hang low on his waist, and his T-shirt tight on his top. His biceps almost break out of the sleeves. "What happened?" His eyes go straight to Lori, who looks at him with full eyes, in a way I didn't notice before.

"Someone must have broken in and destroyed all of Lori's things," I tell him when he walks toward the drawer to look in.

"Don't," she yells out. He looks up shocked. "Please don't," she whispers, looking down at her hands. 

He looks at her, going to his knees in front of her. "We are going to make you safe again," he tells her, squeezing her hands. "I promise you. If it's the last thing I do it's going to make sure you're safe."

She looks at him and doesn't say anything but stares at him. His hand comes up to wipe off a tear that is falling down her face.

He gets up and goes out the door, jogging down the steps. The only thing we hear is the door slam so hard the windows shake.

It takes them over four hours to process and take pictures of everything. By the time we get in the car and drive over to Mick's house, we are all dead on our feet. Phyllis sent me a text, telling me to take the next shift off. I'm so tired I don't even argue with her.

Once we make it inside his house and he has Lori settled, he comes back into his room, climbing into bed next to me. If I had known that this would be the last night I would get to hold him, I would have held him tighter. Spent more time touching him, spent more time smiling with him.





Chapter Thirty-Nine


Mick


When the words 'There was someone in the house' left her lips it was the second time in my life my blood ran cold. The first was when I watched my mother overdose in my arms.

It was also the second time in my life I vowed revenge. My main goal is to get the person fucking with them. I wasn't going to rest till it was done.

All inventory was taken from the scene, including the fucking white roses. The minute my eyes flew open the next day I knew the end was in sight. I felt it in my gut. My fingertips almost touching it.

I get out of bed, going downstairs to get coffee. There are questions that need answering, and I know yesterday wasn't the right time.

I look in on Lori, who is sleeping curled into a ball in the queen-sized bed I have in the spare room, the white bear in her grips.

When I finally walk back into my bedroom with two coffees in my hands I see that the bed is empty, the bathroom door opening right after.

"Morning," I say, giving her one of the coffee cups.

"Thank you," she grumbles, taking it from me. "What the hell is going on in my life?"

"I have no idea, but we are going to find out. And it's going to be soon," I tell her, watching her eyes close while she nods again. "We need to have a talk."

Her eyes open with fear.

"I understand that this is too much to have in your life. I get it. Trust me, I do." She puts her coffee cup down, hugging her stomach.

"It's not that kind of talk." I look at her. "I need to know what you guys know about Trevor."

She sits on the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, close to her chest. "We met him in therapy. He has no parents. He was born addicted to crack. He says that his grandparents were killed by his parent's dealer, he got the insurance settlement when he turned eighteen, which is why he has a car and an apartment and can afford not to work. He spends most of the time with us. He doesn't give up much, and it's not like we ask him questions. Do you really think it's him?"

"I have no idea, but my gut is pointing in his direction. So I'd be more than happy to cross him off the list. For Lori," I say, crossing my hands over my chest, leaning on the bureau in my room.

Lori walks in, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Marissa opens her arms so she goes into them. Both my girls are in my bed. Dream come true. But not this shit that lingers over them.

"Lori, what do you know about Trevor? Anything, anything you think can help cross him off the list."