'Til Death Pt 2
Bella Jewel
Published by Bella Jewel, 2015.
Table of Contents
Title Page
~*TIL DEATH PART 2*~
’TIL DEATH PT 2 | Copyright © 2015 Bella Jewel
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DEDICATION | This one is for all the beauties who have had their hearts destroyed by a beast. Just remember, there’s always a rainbow, even on the darkest days.
PROLOGUE | MARCUS | THEN
KATIA | THEN
CHAPTER ONE | KATIA
CHAPTER TWO | KATIA
CHAPTER THREE | MARCUS | THEN
KATIA | NOW
CHAPTER FOUR | KATIA
CHAPTER FIVE | MARCUS | THEN
KATIA
CHAPTER SIX | KATIA
CHAPTER SEVEN | MARCUS | THEN
KATIA
CHAPTER EIGHT | KATIA
CHAPTER NINE | KATIA
CHAPTER TEN | MARCUS | THEN
KATIA | NOW
CHAPTER ELEVEN | MARCUS | THEN
NOW | KATIA
CHAPTER TWELVE | KATIA
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | MARCUS
KATIA | Two weeks later
CHAPTER FOURTEEN | MARCUS
KATIA
CHAPTER FIFTEEN | MARCUS
KATIA
CHAPTER SIXTEEN | KATIA
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | KATIA
MARCUS
KATIA
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | KATIA
KATIA
CHAPTER NINETEEN | KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY | MARCUS
MARCUS
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | MARCUS
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | KATIA
MARCUS
KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | KATIA
MARCUS
MARCUS
KATIA
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | KATIA
EPILOGUE | KATIA
Thank you so much for battling it out with Katia and Marcus, they’ve been a hard couple to love, let alone write. I’d love if you could leave a review, it makes the world of difference for us and your opinion means the world to me, good or bad. Thank you so much. | If you’re interested to know more about JC, you’ll be happy to know he’s getting a book. Up next, however, will be Pippa and Tyke from the Jokers’ Wrath Series, and his book will follow theirs. | Haven’t read the Jokers’ Wrath? What are you waiting for? You can get Precarious, Book 1, Melancholy, Book 2 & Anguish, Book 3 on amazon, barnes and noble, kobo and iTunes now!
~*TIL DEATH PART 2*~
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’TIL DEATH PT 2
Copyright © 2015 Bella Jewel
’Til Death Pt 2 is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this book either are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. Please do not take offence to the content, as it is FICTION.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A massive thanks to all the blogs on my tours. You’re amazing for taking the time to share and review for me; you’ll never know how much that means to me.
A SUPER special thanks to Kylie from Give Me Books for the AMAZING work she has done for me. I freaking adore you.
A massive thanks to the gorgeous LM CREATIONS for these covers. I love them like you wouldn’t believe; you’re amazing and the BEST to work with.
A super huge thanks to JUSTIN KEETON for being gorgeous enough to nail this cover; you’re an amazing model. A mega thanks to photographer GOLDEN from FURIOUSFOTOG for creating this gorgeous piece of artwork by taking the photo of Justin.
To Lauren, my crazy, awesome editor. You do such a great job. I couldn’t do it without you. I adore you, lovely.
To my girls, Belle Aurora and Sali. For always reading and helping me create the best work I can. For always talking to me and making me smile. I love you two, my besties.
And of course, to my admin, MJ, for ALWAYS keeping my page running beautifully. I couldn’t do it without you, girly.
And, last but certainly not least, to my loyal readers. You make this real for me; never stop giving such love and passion. You make our journey so amazing.
COVER DESIGN BY LM CREATIONS – Like her page here - LM Creations
PHOTOGRAPH BY GOLDEN CZERMAK – FURIOUSFOTOG – Like his page here - Furious Fotog
MODEL – JUSTIN KEETON – Like his page here - Juston Keeton
DEDICATION
This one is for all the beauties who have had their hearts destroyed by a beast. Just remember, there’s always a rainbow, even on the darkest days.
PROLOGUE
MARCUS
THEN
Agony.
It lives deep inside me. Every ragged breath I take is consumed by that one broken emotion. Time does nothing. It fixes nothing. It heals nothing. I never expected to feel love in my life, so it came upon me like a hurricane, swooping in and tearing my world to pieces.
Now I struggle to put it back together.
There simply is no glue strong enough to hold me in one piece.
“Marcus?”
Voices.
They all blend into a blur of nothingness. I no longer distinguish them, no longer care whom they belong to. I’m a man who ruined his own life, and there’s only one voice I want to hear. It’s also a voice I know I’ll never hear again. I destroyed a soul. I created my own nightmare. There is no forgiveness for that.
“Marcus?”
I lift my head, seeing Ulio standing in the doorway. He looks over me and shakes his head sadly. “Jesus, have you showered?”
“Why are you here?” I mutter, tilting my head back and swallowing the amber liquid in my glass. It burns, but it’s a feeling I’ve come to love. A feeling that sends fire deep into my soul until I can no longer feel.
“I’m here to tell you I put the money you requested in Katia’s bank account. It bounced.”
My entire body jerks and I lift my head, hating the way my heart lurches at the very mention of her name.
“What?” I rasp.
“It bounced. The account is closed.”
“What the fuck do you mean it bounced?” I roar, standing and swiping all the items off my desk. They crash onto the floor around me, my glass joining them. It creates a wet patch on the floor before soaking through the papers scattered around it. I don’t care. It could all burn and it wouldn’t matter.
“It means she closed her accounts. She’s gone. She’s packed up her mother, her life, and she’s gone.”
“Then find her!” I bellow.
“What for?” he barks. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
My fists clench and unclench.
He’s right. I know he’s fucking right. I said those things to her that day, those horrible fuckin’ things to make her leave and never come back. I set her free. I gave her a chance at life without me. Now . . . fucking now . . . it hurts so fucking bad I can’t get it out. Desperation has become my new best friend.
“She’s got nothing,” I rasp. “Do you fucking understand? Nothing. Putting that money in her bank account was a way of making sure she lived easily after what . . .”
“What you did? After you fucked her life?”
I shoot him a glare so deadly he flinches.
He narrows his eyes, dropping his voice into a gentle yet low hiss. “You made choices here, Marcus. You fucked up. She’s gone. There’s nothing more you can do. Move on.”
“Find her,” I mutter. “I need to know she’s okay.”
“No.”
I jerk, and growl, “Excuse me?”
“I said, no. I’m done. It’s been a month. She’s gone. She’s not coming back. You need to pick yourself up and move on. It’s what you wanted. It’s why you sent her away, hating you. If you don’t, I’ll find someone else to work with.”
“Is that a threat?”
He turns, walking to the door. “No, it’s a fucking promise. Pull yourself together.”
Pull myself together.
How am I supposed to pull myself together when my glue is fucking gone?
~*~*~*~
KATIA
THEN
There is no worse feeling in the world than pain. Not pain from a wound, or an injury, but pain from having your heart broken. Pain is something you can’t describe until it delves into your soul and imbeds itself. You think you understand, you even watch others go through it, wondering at times why the hell they can’t just ‘get over it’.
But until you’ve been there, you’ll never understand pain.
Never.
Take your worst nightmare and multiply it by a hundred. You know that feeling that crushes your chest, taking your breath away? Double it. What about when your skin crawls, and every one of your limbs is numb, beyond shaking? Triple it. Then there’s your heart. Irreparable. Broken. Ruined. Damaged.
Shattered.
That’s what happened to my heart the day Marcus Tandem broke it. I could say that was where it ended, but it didn’t. I’m still bitter; I swim in hurt until it clouds my mind, and the person I was becomes a distant memory. She is no longer. There is nothing but a gaping, aching hole in my chest. He broke me. He took my life in his hands and he wrung it until it bled onto the ground, leaving nothing but an empty shell.
My life will never be the same again, and it’s him who will pay for that.
One day.
One day, when I find a way to breathe again.
CHAPTER ONE
KATIA
“Order up!”
I drag my feet, my worn shoes scraping across the bland wooden floor. I glance at the customers that pass me, their eyes no more than empty sockets in my broken mind. They mean nothing to me. I don’t see anything, feel anything, hear anything. My soul is a bottomless pit. My body moves only because it has to.
Time heals nothing.
I’m as bitter as the day I was when I walked out on the man I thought I loved.
He never chased me.
He never called.
He never divorced me.
He just let me go.
That almost makes me angrier than the fact that I fell in love with a man who was nothing more than a cold-hearted monster, out to keep his business. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what your past is—you make a choice to completely destroy a human being for your own satisfaction, your soul will go to the depths of the earth and deeper, and you, my friend, will burn.
“I’m coming,” I call out mindlessly.
I lift the tray from the counter and collect glasses as I head to the kitchen to fetch more orders. You’d think I could get a better job, but when you move to a town where nobody knows you and you’re forced to start again, your qualifications mean shit. Especially when your old boss has nothing but bad things to say about you; Robert that is. To say he holds a grudge would be an understatement.
Besides, I had to leave, which meant I had to start again. The past no longer matters.
To take care of Mom, I have to work long hours. We live in a tiny apartment I can barely afford. She stays at home most days without care. She hates it. She’s depressed. She knows she can’t help and that bothers her. She deserves more than this. She deserves someone to look after her, and I can’t give her that.
She’s grateful; I know she is.
But it doesn’t change facts.
“Pick up your feet, Katia,” my boss barks, shoving a plate with a huge burger across the counter to me. “Move.”
I lift it, turning and taking it to the customer’s table. The woman waiting for it scowls up at me. “I’ve been waiting half an hour!” she snaps.
“I’m terribly sorry.”
If my voice sounded like I meant that, she’d probably have accepted it, but my guess is she heard that I truly didn’t give a fuck and so she continued, “Excuse me?”
Great; she needs me to repeat myself. I turn and glance at my boss, who is glaring at me. If it weren’t for the fact that I needed this job, I’d tell this bitch right where to go. Instead, I force a smile and say in my best cheerful voice, “I’m so sorry, can I get you a drink on the house?”
She nods. “I’d expect so.”
“And what can I get you, ma’am?”
“Diet soda.”
“Coming right up.”
I turn, stare up at the ceiling for calm, then I fetch her a soda. Then I finish up the rest of my long, draining day. By the time I reach the outside of my apartment, my feet are aching to the point where I can barely stand. That’s what happens when you work twelve-hour shifts in shitty, cheap shoes. Closing my eyes and wiping the day from my face, I plant on a cheerful smile and open the door.
What greets me is the reason I breathe.
Black hair, just like his. Big, brown eyes. His, too. A thick mop of dark hair curled on her beautiful head. Devastating. Beautiful. The light of my life. She’s sitting on the floor playing with the only toy she owns, a tiny doll that she spends most of her time sucking. The neighbors, Betty and Andy, take her while I’m working and bring her back to Mom just before I can return.
“Hello princess.” I smile, the only true smile I give.
She looks up at me, and even to this day she takes my breath away. She’s exactly like him. There’s a beauty about our daughter that he’ll never know. She was born beautiful and she remains beautiful. She’s nearing twelve months old, meaning it’s been a little less than two years since I walked away from him.
But I came away with something he will never know.
And she’s perfect.
She’s one of the happiest, bubbliest babies I’ve ever encountered. She’s always got a big smile for me, or Mom. It pains me that we’re all she has. I was always the girl who firmly believed every father should know his child. I preached it; I made it known to anyone who kept her children away. I didn’t understand. I had no fucking idea of the fierce love you have for a child, and the lengths you’d go to, to protect them.
I’d die for Penny. Die for her.
“Hi sweetheart.” My mom smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “How was work?”
I scoop Penny up, heading over and kissing her cheek. “Fine.”
She frowns. “I don’t like it, not at all. I wish there was something I could do. You look exhausted and—”
I reach out and cup her cheek. “Mom, it’s fine.”
“Why don’t you call your father and—”
“No,” I say suddenly. “We made the choice to move here, and start again, so that’s what we’re doing. Things will get better, Mom. It takes time.”
She stares at me. “We’ve had time . . .”
“Mom . . .”
“Katia, please. If we went back, he could help . . .” she whispers.
I turn to her, keeping the fake smile on my face. “Mom, I said it’s fine.”
“Penny deserves—”
“Don’t,” I warn. “Don’t you dare tell me she deserves better . . . that she deserves him. No one deserves a god d
amned monster, Mom.”
Her eyes grow sad, well, sadder. “I just want you to be happy; this isn’t fair. I’m sitting in this chair and you’re working so hard.”
“Mom, I’m doing okay. Things will get better.”
I run my fingers down Penny’s cheek and she looks up at me, smiling. She only has two teeth, but they’re two damned cute teeth. She’s so much like him. I wonder if that’s somewhat of a curse for those who are broken with their ex-lover’s child. They never look like us. Always like them. It’s as though we’re given a constant reminder.
“How was she today?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Andy said she was grizzly. Has she been sleeping?”
I shake my head, bouncing Penny on my hip. “No, I think she’s coming down with something.”
“She has had a runny nose.”
I head into the tiny kitchen. It’s barely big enough to move around freely in, but I somehow manage to create meals in it. I open the small fridge and pull out the peanut butter sandwich I made this morning. I take a bite. Penny reaches for it. “No, baby girl, you could be allergic.” I put her down and get her something more baby friendly, then I pad to my room to kick off my shoes.
There’s a bundle of mail on the bed. I reach down, flicking through it. I come across a pile of bills and my chest clenches. As I open them, I add them up in my head. Three weeks worth of wages, at least. That would be if we didn’t take money to live. We’re falling behind, and right now I don’t have any idea how I’m going to fix that.
How did I go from having it all to having nothing?
Sure, I worked hard at my old job to survive, but this? I’d thought it would be easier. When we moved towns, I figured I could just get a job and we would be fine. Then I found out I was pregnant. There were also no jobs in my field here, being that we no longer live in a city, so jobs in my line of work are scarce. Any savings I had quickly went into bills and debts, as well as care for my mother so I could work.
Soon, I found myself waitressing out of desperation, too proud to go back to him. Nothing could ever lead me back there. I gave up everything. Getting to know my father. My brothers. The whole lot. I just walked out. Candy and Dusty are the only people who know where I am, and they swore they’d never tell.