Chapter Twenty Six: Shattered Pieces

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I must've cried so much that eventually my body was drained of tears. So I laid on my side, staring out the window across the room as the darkened sky turned to a light indigo.

Donovan stepped out of the room for a while after I had stopped crying but twenty minutes later he returned with a bottle of cold water and a white washcloth.

"Hold this to your face." He wet the cloth with the water and held it out to me. I sat up and pressed it under my eyes for a few minutes. I probably looked like a tomato with my swollen face and flushed cheeks but I didn't care because there was so much more happening in my mind.

"C'mon Rosemary." Donovan opened the bedroom door and looked at me to follow him. I didn't feel the need to question him so I stood up slowly from my place and walked out of the room. Maybe he would take me out of my misery by putting me in another basement. That way I could be left alone to wallow in my thoughts.

Donovan came behind me and led me through the apartment and into a private elevator that brought us to the front of the building. The streets of New York were desolate and quiet at this time before the sunrise but the cool breeze was refreashing considering my current state of mental suffocation.

The doorman handed Donovan a set of keys and guided us toward a black Tesla parked in the front. Donovan opened the door for me then slid behind the wheel.

We drove for almost an hour out of the city and through suburban land in silence. I didn't want to speak, I just wanted to process my life. Not that Donovan expected me to say anything because for the first time since I'd met him, he was seeing a deeper side of my life that I'd essentially invited him into. It was hard not to though. Greene had known everything and continued to torture me because he knew I'd do anything to be released from his hold. Donovan on the other hand, hurt me in the beginning but was the one who returned my life back. It was difficult to understand.

Donovan stopped the car but I didn't get out of my daze until my passenger door opened and he helped me out. The sky had lightened gradually so I had a better view of the place around me. I stared up at Donovan in awe as he draped a jacket over my shoulders.

"They're this way." He nodded to the left and walked me away from the car until we stopped by two granite headstones.

I took a deep breath and looked down at them for who knows how long. Re reading the text on my parents headstone allowed their names to sink in and also the date of their passing: June 14, 1997. I needed this as a form of closure. It wasn't going to answer all of my questions but it was a start.

For them to have received a formal burial meant that someone had to plan it which meant I probably had family out there somewhere. But only time would tell and for right now I was content with this so that it wasn't too overwhelming.

I let out a heavy sigh and nodded, looking up at Donovan again who had stood in silence the entire time. A part of me wanted to ask him how he'd tracked down my parents in such a short period of time. But the other part of me knew the answer already.  His business made things like this work by whatever means.

"I'm ready to leave." I finally said after we had possibly stood there for thirty minutes.

Donovan furrowed his brows and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." He asked no further questions as we walked back to the car.

It would take me a while to be at peace with the reality of my life and the shattered pieces it was in. But I was okay with being patient to figure that out and put the pieces together.

However, I wasn't okay with why Donovan seemed to care so much. He'd stayed with me and let me cry within the last few hours. Why? I was his captive, then his object to protect, and now what? All of a sudden he cared about my actual life outside of Lush and his crime syndicate. I didn't want to believe that he cared about me as an individual because once I got close to anyone they betrayed and hurt me. That was why I survived this situation, because I hadn't gotten close to anyone except Hannah and it was safer that way.

My gentle feelings quickly turned to frustration and anger as we drove away from the cemetery. I had to say something to Donovan before I reached my boiling point. Most importantly, now that I felt a bit of closure about my family, I had to say something to Donovan to get closure from him before he threw me aside like the rest of the men in my life had.

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