The Reaper's Poison

Epiloque

Catalina's POV

My feet hit the ground running as I grabbed my keys and threw on my shoes.  The night air hit me in the face as the front door swung open and woke Rose who was on the couch fast asleep.  My phone was to my ear as I dialed his number over and over again, where would he have gone?  The pedal was floored as I made my way to the clubhouse. Jess has known him his entire life, he would know what to do.

As I was running in, he was running down the stairs with his phone to his ear. Fumbling, he desperately tried to get both legs into his sweats as his eyes locked with mine. "Get in the car." I nodded as I turned around and made my way back out the door. His phone went straight to voicemail as I tried once more to reach him. This fucking letter wasn't going to be the way this ended, not with his baby inside of me.

Jess threw himself into the driver seat and slammed the car into reverse before swerving off down the road. "What the fuck happened?" He screamed as his eyes desperately searched the road.

"Some men broke in, they had Rose and I. Nothing happened! I found this note." I hiccuped through my sobs as I searched Jess' face.

"He said goodbye to me." The whisper fell over the cabin of the car.

"Where would be go?" The shaking in my body was uncontrollable as I placed my hand on my stomach. He didn't even know. What if I was too late? What if we didn't get there in time? What if we couldn't find him...

"Jess, I'm pregnant." I heaved as my eyes tried to find his. Like a deer caught in headlights, he turned to look towards me. Without saying another word, the dial on the accelerator moved higher. "How do you know where he'll go?"

"A part of him died on that bridge with his brother. It's where The Reaper was born, it was the reason The Reaper was born. He'll want to finish it there. He'll make sure everything's come full circle before he's done." His knuckles had turned ghostly white as they gripped the wheel.

"He's gonna kill himself where his brother and family was murdered?" My fingers racked through my tangled locks as I tried to wrap my head around what was happening.

"He told me once that he had wished it had been him instead. That he wished he had taken his brothers place." More tears spilled down my cheeks as I pictured it. His face while he was trapped in that car. The panic that his brother had gone through with his family. I shook the image out of my head as I saw the road become curvy in front of us. "Where almost there. Prepare yourself, Catalina."

Air wasn't filling my lungs. I couldn't exhale. The inly thing that I could think about doing was throwing up. How could I stop him, would me being there be enough. I saw the bridge first, before I saw the black outline sitting in the side of it. Jess slammed on his breaks once we were at the entrance and I jumped out. My feet slipped on ice as I tried to catch my balance and I saw the gun to his temple.

"Stop!" My voice carried as I rushed towards him. He didn't look at me and for a moment I knew it was over. I knew that he was gonna pu the trigger. "I'm pregnant!" Well this wasn't how I had imagined telling him we were having a baby... The first thing I saw was the hesitation. It was a split second where it felt like the entire world had come to a standstill. A tear rolled down his cheek before he closed his eyes and steadied his hand.

"Are you gonna leave her alone in this?" Jess seethed from behind me. I hadn't heard him get out of the car, but I could feel his heat fuming a couple feet behind. "You're taking the easiest fucking way out and leaving her all alone to deal with the shit that's gonna follow?" I couldn't speak, couldn't tell him to stop yelling.

"They will never stop." His voice carried softly over to us. "They will never stop hunting her unless I'm gone."

"You're a fucking pussy." If I hadn't glanced back to look at him I would have thought that he had melted all the snow around him with his fury.

"Please, I need you." I hiccuped to him. "Robbie please, I love you. Don't do this. Don't leave me, don't leave your baby." I begged as I took a few steps closer to him. He hadn't lowered the gun yet.

It had all happened so fast. I didn't see it coming, didn't know what was happening. Jess had taken over the situation. I'd never seen him more that fast in my entire life. He had Robbie by the hoodie and ripped the gun out of his hands as it fumbled into the river. With a hard yank, Robbie was back on solid ground. He was laying in his back in the middle of the road with Jess's foot pressure into the center of his chest.

"You're a fucking asshole. What makes you think that you get to play fucking god? You don't get to take the easy way out because you're tired. You don't get to leave me behind. You don't get to make your mother lose her final child. You don't get to abandon Cat when she needs you the most and make the baby fatherless before it's even a baby. How could you fucking say goodbye to me with a text message, you're my fucking brother!"

I watched gasping as I tried to comprehend the conversation. My body was shaking now that the gun was away from his face and I felt that
for the most part he was safe.

"Just let me go, trust me. There's no safe outcome when I'm still in the picture." Tears we're streaming down all three of our faces as I watched Jess stand over the man I was in love with.

My heart dropped to my feet when Jess spoke. "You wanna did so bad? Fine, but you don't get to play god." He grabbed his gun from his waist line and aimed it at Robbie's face. It happened so quickly, I didn't have time to lung until it was too late. The scream ripped through my throat as Jess pulled the trigger.