“Mamaaa!” DJ’s cries broke through the air as he fought, kicking, and screaming as he was dragged toward an awaiting vehicle.
“No!” Lauren shouted. She sprinted across the yard, fighting, and clawing for the man to release her son. “Let go of my fuckingson!” She was pulling at DJ’s feet as the man flung him like a rag doll.
“Ma! Help me! Mama!”
Lauren wasn’t a fighter but the one thing that would always bring the lioness out of a woman was a threat to her cub. She swung on the man repeatedly, her hand connecting to the back of his head and the side of his face. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, praying one of her neighbors intervened.
“He’s trying to take my son! Help! Somebody help me!”
The man backhanded her so hard Lauren’s vision went white, but she didn’t let go of her son. When her neighbor across the street came out, the man released DJ. She saw the spark from the gun and heard the blast in her ear, but she didn’t feel anything. Shock absorbed all her pain as she scrambled for her child.
“Ma! Ma! Help me!”
“Pleaseeeeee nooooo!”
DJ was stuffed into the back seat of the tinted car as Lauren used all her might to pull at the man. She reached inside the car and the man wrestled with her, flinging her, but she didn’t stop... couldn’t stop. If they got away with her baby, she knew she would never see him again. Her neighbor came outside with a shotgun, running across the street and firing into the air. Lauren grabbed her son’s shirt, ripping the collar as she snatched him from the car and throwing her body over DJ, shielding him, bleeding all over him. She felt another gunshot to her back and then choked as blood came from her mouth. The last thing she heard was the screeching of the tires as they burned rubber against the pavement and the sound of DJ screaming for her before her eyes closed.
Charlie sat in the condo alone. Her heart hadn’t beaten right since she had gotten his phone call. She had tried to call him repeatedly for hours, but the phone just rang. Charlie had never been so unsettled. It was 2 o’clock in the morning. She couldn’t sleep. She wouldn’t sleep until she heard from him because something just felt wrong. Off.
Please be okay, Demi, baby, please just come home,she thought. She was desperate. If he would just call her so she could hear his voice. The silence was maddening. The silence made her make stories up in her head. The ringing of her doorbell made her scramble to her feet. She pulled it open, hope filling her, only for her entire body to deflate when she saw Stassi standing before her.
“What are you doing here?” Charlie asked. “It’s late and Demi isn’t home and...”
“Something’s happening, Charlie. I have to tell you something about Demi,” Stassi said.
Charlie frowned but stepped to the side, letting her sister in.
“He’s not even here. Don’t come over here with this bullshit about...”
“Demi’s married, Charlie. His wife and son were attacked tonight. There is some kind of street war going on right now. He told Day to have me come get you. You can’t stay here,” Stassi said. “It’s not safe.”
The words hit Charlie so hard she stumbled backward. “He’s what?” she asked. “He’s not married. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
Her eyes filled with tears as Stassi nodded, her eyes matching Charlie’s sorrow.
“He is, boo,” Stassi said. “His wife’s name is Lauren.”
All of Charlie’s air left her lungs as her fingers bawled on the fabric of her shirt, gripping her stomach to stop the grief from ripping through her.
“How do you know... what you mean.... how do you know this? Bitches talk all the time. I would know if he was married,” Charlie said, reasoning with herself, running every single day since she’d met him back in her mind.
“My new job is with his wife. Her name’s Lauren Sky I saw Demi come into her office a few days ago,” Stassi admitted. Hiroshima. The bomb that went off inside her body was worse than Hiroshima. It leveled everything.
“You knew he was married and you...” Charlie shook her head in disbelief as she stared at Stassi like she was a stranger.
“I’m sorry, Charlie, I didn’t know how to tell you!” Stassi defended.
“And you work with her! You smile in my face and you’re out here kiki’ing with his wife?!” Charlie shouted. “You’re my sister!”
“I wanted to tell you!” Stassi screamed.
“Where is he?” Charlie shouted.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to...”
“Where the fuck is he, Stassi?!” Charlie shouted. Stassi struggled. Charlie saw her, weighing her options in her mind until finally fessing up.
“They’re at the hospital. Beaumont in Troy,” Stassi said in a low tone. Charlie grabbed her purse. This was a mistake. It had to be. No way was Demi married. No way. It wasn’t possible. Not after the things he did to her...the things he said.
