Chapter 7

9:01pm

Annie pulled up outside of her house at Cicero on a Thursday night. She was giddy as she walked up her porch, smiling from ear to ear in searched for her keys.

Happiness and excitement was bursting out of her petit self. She just wanted the entire neighbourhood to know that she's ecstatic.

She had just gotten back from Indiana after visiting her parents and was about to surprise her husband with her presence by coming back a day-ish early.

That's right! She's the surprise.

"Honey! I'm-"

Her jolly bluster and smile quickly died down at the sight of the coffee table.

Two wine glasses sat innocently and one just had to have a lipstick stain on it.

It was red, something she didn't wear.

"Oh no you didn't..."

It wasn't much of a sadness or betrayal that she was feeling right now, it was rage. Pure rage. Maybe that emotion - the tears, the hurt - would come at a later stage. All she wanted to do was to rip her husband's and that skank's head right out of their worthless bodies.

A loud squeaky echo resonated around the house and she just knew what that was and where they had to be.

"You bastard!" she screamed and raced to their bedroom. Taking the steps to their room two at a time.

Their bedroom!

How could he?!

She should've listened to her father to not marry a garbage like him. He was right, her dad's always right but she didn't want to believe it listen to him since Richard was her high school sweetheart.

She loves him. She even gave up a scholarship to Berkeley for him, to marry him.

She never should've married him.

She should've gone to California and pursue her bachelor in journalism.

He's a scumbag who has been living off of her since day one. But she was too in love to see that or even care. She could support the both of them and she was okay with that.

She had enabled him and this behaviour for too long.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed as she burst into the room. A .22 calibre revolver in her hand, aiming at the both of them.

The whore that was riding her husband shirked and quickly jumped off of him and tried to cover herself up under the sheets.

"You two, out!"

She quickly complied, scrambling, in search for clothes. "I have a son! Please don't shoot!"

"You too, Richard!"

But he just laid there in complete and utter shock. "You, you're home early, sweetheart."

"I knew it!" she said, waving the gun at them. "I knew it you, lying cheating bastard! I fucking knew it! You just couldn't keep it in your pants, could you?! Even for a day and a half! You just had to go scavenging for hookers like her!"

"Darling-"

"Shut it! Shut it! Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't pull the trigger on both of you!"

The skank was now working to pull up her itty bitty skirt up her thighs and Annie can't help but stare at her perfectly toned legs.

She's jealous of her. She's jealous of this whore because she has a body to die for while hers was of a teenage boy.

9:06pm

"I have baby. He-he's just 4 weeks old. Please. I'll go. I'll just go and you won't see me again. Ok?" she begged.

Taking a good look at her terrified expression, she broke into a hysteric laughter. Life just had to do this to her, she can't kill her, she couldn't kill her even if she wanted to, and leave her son an orphan.

And on that thought, no one would've thought she have had a baby merely four weeks prior. No flabs, no stretch marks, except for what she can now conclude to be a healing scar from her c-section.

This chick really wasn't lying. She did have a baby and her reasoning was a convincing one.

"Get out!"

She bundled up the rest of her things and sprinted to the door.

"Wait! Did my dear husband paid for what you're worth?" she spat and stared into her horrified forest green eyes.

"Of course he didn't. How much?"

That was the begin of their unconventional friendship.

•

•

6:52pm

The apartment was awfully silent when she walked in. Even the entire building wasn't in any utterance tonight. It was a peace that was never really heard of in the Lindsay household which in all honesty was certainly now terribly terrifying.

As scheduled and as she had observed, Noah ought to be screaming on top of his little lungs to bespoke the entire inhibitors in the building that he's ready for bed and maybe even to the point of aggravating his asthma in the process.

But that wasn't the case tonight.

"Erin?"

She feared that she had gone away to work and work was no where she should be right now. She ought to stay at home and recuperate, not give lap dances or twirl around a pole.

"Erin, Noah! Guys, I'm home!" Annie tossed her set of keys onto the coffee table and began to slowly manoeuvre across the tornado of a mess that Erin calls home. Picking up Noah's story books and toys and anything that was out of place as she goes.

When Erin had called her two nights ago to pick her up a few blocks from the club she worked at, she absolutely wasn't expecting to see her face all messed up.

She had insisted that she didn't need to go down to the ER to get checked when Annie tried to persuade her that she did.

She had insisted that it was just a client who had gotten too rough with her, that she was alright, that it came with the job.

So, she decided not push her on that topic but as her best friend, she knows there was something she wasn't telling her.

7:01pm

"Seriously! God! What the fuck's wrong with her! Drinking with Noah around?" she blustered under her breath when she saw the almost empty Smirnoff bottle sitting oh-so innocently on the kitchen counter, and hurried to vacate the rest of the content down the kitchen sink before tossing it into the trash.

She loves Erin but sometimes, no, most of the time, she can really be a pain in the ass with her stubbornness. She's such a hardhead that she doesn't think before she act.

She's a doer.

She doesn't think.

She just does.

Shaking her head in disappointment, apparently Erin has her hiding spots. Now, she's going to make it her life's mission to find them all.

That's what addict does, they hide.

"Erin!"

She's going to give her a piece of her mind and one hell of a long lecture.

"Erin!"

The door to the bedroom was ajar, so she quickly marched towards it and pushed it open to see the sheer horror of Noah in the process of sticking his finger into an electrical outlet.

7:05pm

"OH MY GOD! NOAH! NO!" she screamed and ran towards the clueless infant like a headless banshee.

The shout, itself, startled Noah indefinitely, who had jumped and almost fallen backwards. She can see the absolute fright in his light blue eyes as they widen like saucers.

"No, no, no, no, no, Noah Kristoff Lindsay! No!" she picked him off the ground and not a millisecond later, she watched in slow motion as his lower lip began to quiver, his eyes scrunched shut and his face contorted into a cry. The tears that she had been waiting for tonight was finally here.

"Bad Noah." she said and lightly smacked his hands in the hopes of teaching him a lesson. "Bad. No."

"We don't stick our fingers in there, mister." she pointed to the outlet and he again let out another piercing loud cry when she hit his hands.

Knowing that the human body is an excellent conductor for electricity, she thank God for allowing her to get there just in time before anything severe were to happen.

Since electricity aims for quick and simple path to the ground and the fact that about 70 percent of a human body is made up of water, it's extremely easy for electricity to course through the body in a matter of seconds.

Where the hell is she?

How can she leave an eleven month old infant all alone at home and unattended?

She could've at least called if she had left.

"Jesus, Noah. You scared me." Annie gently cradled him close to her chest and rocked him and whispered sweet coos to make him stop crying.

"Where's your ma, huh?" she sighed as she rocked the ever crying child, "I wish you could just talk already."

7:18pm

It's wasn't until a faint sound coming from the bathroom right across caught her attention that she froze.

"Don't tell me your ma's in there, lil No-No."

"Erin?" she hurried to knock on the bathroom door and glanced briefly at the fussing baby before pressing her ear to the flimsy door.

When she heard nothing but groaning, she knew something wasn't right.

God! Don't let her be doing some bullshit in there!

"Erin, I'm coming in." she said, concerned and twisted the knob, thankful for it to be unlocked.

Chaos.

That was the only word that could describe whatever she was witnessing.

Pure chaos.

Cursing at what she had always dreaded to see, not only was she rendered speechless, Noah was too since he had now decided to stop fussing and just stare at his mother.

"Erin, what the..?!" her nose crinkled in distaste at the foul odour of bile, mixed in with what had to be burnt tin foil, plastic and chemicals.

She was painfully on her knees by a puddle of her own hurl, clutching tightly onto her stomach as she continued to violently heave onto the floor. Annie can only imagine the agony she's in right now, considering the fact that she has some pretty nasty bruised, possibly cracked, ribs.

"Oh shit. What did you do?!"

She have had a feeling that Erin was out doing what she knows best to get a fix and was high with a strange somewhere but this, she wasn't expecting for her to be shooting dope with her son just next door.

"Erin! Hey! Look at me. What did you take?" she questioned, kneeling in front of her shivering friend after putting Noah into his crib in the bedroom next door.

"What'd you take?"

She didn't, she couldn't say anything else but verbalise incoherent slurs of incantations through all the fluids.

"What'd you take?"

Although she doesn't know the first thing about illicit drugs, all she knows was that cocaine, which have always been Erin's choice of poison since it gave her 'energy' as she called it, wouldn't make one this sick.

She was scared, concerned too and she absolutely didn't know what to do.

"I'm calling an ambulance." she was about to stand up to get her phone but was roughly yanked back down by the arm and was faced with her agitated demeanour.

7:29pm

"No! He's gonna take Noah! The police are gonna take Noah away from me!"

Looking at the bloody and disgusting paraphernalia laying around and the state that she's currently in, police taking Noah away from her should be the least of her worries. She ought to be focusing on getting clean. Noah would be much safer without her and tonight couldn't have been more of an example.

"Ok." she decided otherwise, she knows how difficult it would be for both Erin and Noah. She would be devastated. She know Erin wouldn't be able to handle it. "But you first have to tell me what you took."

Annie watched as Erin's glazed and bloodshot eyes blinked up at her, beads of sweat pouring down her face, "I don't know...I bought it off some guy at the club the other day...It could be H too. I don't know. He said I'd be so high that I'd feel like I was flying."

And she did, for a while she did felt as though she was high up in the sky and soaring through the fluffy clouds. But now, not so much.

Right now, she felt like her chest was running away from her body.

She doesn't get how Erin cheats death every single time. A combination of cocaine, heroin and not to mention alcohol is a lethal combination.

"You don't know what fucking crap you shot into your vein!"

She promised.

She had promised she'd stop this nonsense about a gazillion times and she doesn't know why she even believed her every time she makes such promises.

She should've known to never trust a word that comes out of a junkie's mouth.

"I said I don't, didn't I!" Erin spat, fanning herself with her hands since it was just so unbearably hot.

"God! God! God!" Annie ran her fingers through her hair, tying it up with an elastic hair band and paced back and forth around the small bathroom.

She's so mad at Erin. She's so mad at her right now.

How could she do this? To her son?

Everything should be about that little boy, every aspect of her life should be to better his, not about the nightlife and definitely not scoring her next fix.

She's furious.

But mostly, she's mad at herself for choosing to ignore the deeming signs. From the clear physical signs - track marks, flu-like symptom, hyperactivity - to the little details, she've known all this time but didn't want it to be true.

"I'm so mad at you right now."

Annie doesn't know why she keeps putting up with Erin's destructive behaviour. She should've just left months ago when she first found out about her drug use, then she wouldn't be involved in something so complicated and illegal and she wouldn't have to feel like throwing up every morning because of the intolerable tension that is worrying sick about Erin.

She doesn't really have any law binding commitment or obligation to Erin but may be it has to do with the fact that she's her best friend and in the year they've gotten to know one another, she've grown to love her. A lot. Sometimes she thinks she loves her a lot more than she should. A lot more than Erin could reciprocate.

And every night she walks out of that door, she's in fear for her since she's literally playing Russian roulette with her life.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" she hid the tears that fell down her cheeks, only realising then that her hands were shaking.

Though she understands that she has had a troubled upbringing, she don't quite understand one's choice to slowly bungle their insides when they clearly know it's a death wish.

That's exactly what she's doing.

"I don't know what to do with you, Erin. I can't..."

She had even tried to get her a job with her at the hospital as a nurse assistant but that opportunity was shot down because of her record. She even went as far as to suggest that she'd support the three of them but Erin was right; who was she kidding?

She makes just enough to support one person and that was herself. Besides Erin has made it very clear on numerous occasions that she'd like to make her own money and provide for her and her son all by herself and she'd make that possible even if it means selling her body. Either way she has way too many debts that needs to be paid back to her stepfather and mother.

Annie's year worth of paycheque wouldn't cover her liabilities for another five years or more.

"I-I I'm all out...I need your help, Annie..."

Erin must be so utterly desperate to be asking her to get her 'juice'. She must be so out of her mind to even think that she would do such a thing.

"You're crazy if you think for one second that I'd go shake hands with your drug dealer...Get up!" she ordered and reached down to pull her to her feet. Holding her steady by the shoulders when she almost fell back down when her knees gave way.

"Wh-where we going?"

"You...are going cold turkey."

"What?" she yanked herself out of Annie's grasp, "No! No, I'm not!" she stammered, trying to focus on her friend's face who seemed to be spinning in circles.

"Yes. You. Are." she grabbed ahold of Erin once again and pulled her arms to her back, pushing her across the tiles, almost skidding on the vomit, as she continued to jerk and thrash along the way.

"Ow! Ow! Annie! Annie! You're hurting me! My ribs!"

For someone who was almost beaten to a pulp, she still has quite the strength to resist.

"You have my word! I'll stop but I just need it one last time! Just once, Annie! Please!"

She's not falling for that act again.

"Listen to me, Erin." she stopped to spin her around so she was facing her, "Listen to me, you..." she begged, cupping her soaked cheeks, "One way or the other, you're done. The fun, it's all over. Today...now, you have three options. Option one; I can try to help. Ask the nurses at the hospital what to do and stuff. Option two; you check into a rehab centre and not the one week, two weeks, three weeks kind, you're fucking staying until they say you can leave. Or option three; I walk out that door. You're never gonna see me again...and you're free to do whatever you want with your life...and in the process fuck up Noah's."

"Annie...you can't..."

Shaking her head, she was adamant to not make a decision. Her addiction - something that she've always known - or her family. She can't make that choice. All three options sounded so scary and so horrible, especially the third one. She can't lose her best friend and she doesn't want to ruin her son's life like her mother did hers.

"It's your choice to make, not mine. But if I were you, I'd think about that beautiful little boy across the hall...All he wants is his mother happy and healthy. He doesn't want anything else but you. Can't you see that?"

"I promise I'll stop, Annie. I'm begging you, don't do this. I swear this'll be the last."

She's not falling for that lie again.

Junkie.

Annie nodded. That was really all she needed to hear. Although she was disappointed, there wasn't much she could do when a person turns down help that was given out of love. Erin have made her decision and she chose her ol' friend, her addiction.

"Goodbye, Erin." she smiled sadly at her before heading for the door.

It was hard for her to even think about walking out of Erin's life, let alone say it but she did and she's staying true to it.

She's leaving forever.

"Annie, no. Don't leave! Wait!"

It was the crash, the low, the down that had finally caught up to her and slapped her right across the face with a tonne of bricks.

The decision, she had made a wrong one. She needs Annie like a human needs a heart to live.

"I choose you." she said and quickly as her body prevailed got into the freezing cold shower. "See, I choose you. Please stay. You and Noah are all I have." she chattered through the cold.

Turning around, she watched as the water began to wash away at her beautiful friend, cleansing her. It was the start of a new beginning.

The water smoothed away her matted, vomit laced hair, cleared all the blood, sweat and tears off her face as a sense of calm washed over her.

"Please stay, Annie." she couldn't fight the tears anymore as they slid down her hollow cheeks and she sank to the tiled floor. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, sobbing her heart out into her knees.

"I choose you and Noah."

During this whole binge she hadn't, not once, even thought of the ramifications of her actions and how it could have a detrimental effect on her child.

"I'm a horrible mother, Annie. I just wanna be good. I try...but I...just can't..."

Motherhood definitely isn't easy. Nothing can prepare a mother for motherhood. Not even her own mother can train her to be a better mom. Each mother goes through her own set of personal experiences. Each mother learns the rope while on the job, never before. And through those experiences and mishaps, learn to better themselves.

"I give him everything...He has everything a child needs - food, clothes, toys, shoes, books, his medicine. Huh! His asthma, do you know how much that cost a month?"

Asthma is expensive and she was in total oblivion to the cost up until they handed her the medical slip, his prescription and told her that she had to buy his medicine on a monthly basis and that he might need them for the rest of his life.

She didn't really thought how much it would cost her annually and for years to come until they got home that day and actually did the calculations.

And she's still not doing a good job as a mother.

She stared as Erin cried into her hands. She was shaking violently and Annie knew she had to be in icicles by now. "You're not a horrible mom, ok. C'mon." she quickly turned the shower off and grabbed a towel off the rack, glancing out the door briefly to look at Noah who now had his arms and little legs waving in the air, giggling.

"Erin." she said, kneeling down and wrapped the towel around her. The sweatshirt she wore was soaking wet and her skin was like a corpse. "You're not a horrible mother, ok? You're just a mother. You're trying your hardest."

Nodding, "Yes, I am."

No ones else loves or cares for her, not even her own mother. She's the only one who would give her what she needs - love.

"Erin...Don't do it for me or for Noah. Do it for yourself. You have to have the want and the will and all the right reasons to actually stay clean."

"I've tried." Erin said looking away from the tile wall and over at Annie. "I've tried so hard but I can't."

Sighing, she don't get it. She could just try harder. Simple as that. "Life is so precious and you're throwing away yours for...for what? A moment of false happiness. It doesn't last forever and it makes you feel like shit at the end. So why keep doing it?" she sat on the edge of the shower and reached over to brush the wet strands of hair off of her forehead.

"It's not that I want to keep doing it, Annie, I have to..."

The worse part of using is using. It isn't even a great feeling.

"When you do coke, it just makes you want to do more...for me at least...You just keep doing more and more because you don't want to come down...Coming down from coke is hell...You will spend every penny you have on coke because the minute you start coming down, your brain goes mush. You don't care about anything else or want anything else but coke."

Cocaine is not a means to any end except more cocaine.

Her words, her explanation, she've articulated it so eloquently; she's a addict.

"And do you think that's a good way to live? Why don't you value your life?"

Shrugging, she don't know. She haven't in a very long time. It wasn't like she had any reason to. No one showed her the good in the world or in themselves.

She has no value.

Not since she was fourteen. Not since all the physical, sexual and verbal abuse. Not since she was raped night after night by her stepfather. Not since she had thought she fell in love with him. Not since she began to believe that all she was really worth was for her body and sex. Hence, making a career for herself with the one thing she knows she's good for.

"You have what a lot of women can't and would kill to have and that's to be a mother. You're so lucky, sweetie. Noah, he's your miracle, remember? You told me he saved you. Remember you said that?"

She nodded.

He had.

Noah saved her but he's always the one who have been driving her back to her old ways.

She just wasn't expecting for him to be so difficult.

"I know you're having a hard time cuz you're doing this all by yourself and I know you just want a break but there's no turning back. Once you have a baby, there's no escaping. It's a done deal. You've got Noah. He's yours whether you like it or not, whether you're prepared for this phase of your life or not, whether you enjoy motherhood or not, you are going to be a mother for the rest of your life. Period."

And she couldn't begin to understand her, being responsible for another life, since she's not in her shoes, she's not a mother. But she've begun to understand.

"He's gonna take Noah away from me."

Who?

Noah's dad?

She've never seen him and Erin had never talked about him. The last and only time she asked her about him, she simply shrugged it off and quickly changed the subject.

All this time, she had always thought that Erin didn't even know who Noah's father was. Considering her profession, she can't help but to conclude that for herself.

That explains this - her impulsiveness and recklessness. He, whoever he may be, must have paid her an unwanted visit and threaten to take Noah away.

She freaked out.

"No, sweetie. He can't. You've been with Noah since day one. You're his mother." she explained.

"But-"

"Shh..." she pulled her into a hug, "The court won't do that."

Of course they can.

She've heard stories just like this all the time at the hospital and with Erin's history - drugs, jail time, prostitution - they won't think twice in deeming her an unfit mother.

They could give Noah to his dad or the system. For all she knows, his dad could be as much of a mess as Erin.

They won't understand her like she does. Annie can look pass all her flaws and still see a beautiful woman. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether she's a good mother or not what matter is that she's there for her child - mentally and physically.

Erin nodded and looked into her friend's hazel eyes, "I'm sorry."

She doesn't know what she would've done without her.

Annie's a true angel.

"C'mon, sweetie, let's get you out of these clothes." she helped pull her to her feet and out of the shower as she shivered like a leaf. Leaving for a split second to grab her a change of clothes from the closet.

When she returned she paused at the doorway for a second or two to admire her friend. Though it was an unbearable sight as she was hunched over, her arms wrapped around her frail body. She can practically hear her grinding and chattering her teeth.

She knows she can never be hers.

"Hey." she quickly walked over to her and placed the clean set of clothes on the rack, "Here. Let's get you dressed and into bed. K?"

Reaching down, she helped Erin get out of the soaked clothes and every now and then she would moan at the pain in her torso.

"Sorry, sweetie. We're almost done."

It sickens her that anyone would hurt a harmless woman like her. She wants to hurt the guy that hurt Erin but that's a laughable thought since she, herself, wasn't any bigger. Even the both of them combined wouldn't do them any justice.

"Let's go to bed. You must be exhausted." she wrapped an arm around her trembling shoulders. Whatever she took was certainly now wearing off.

Slowly with each careful step she groaned and cried, she was scared to leave her 'friend'.

Breaking down even further when she saw her baby looking innocently at her, his eyes catching hers as she etched closer.

"Could you..." she motioned for Annie to help get Noah out of his crib so she could hold him even if it's just for a while.

"Of course sweetie."

He was finally being a good boy, awake but not crying just laying happily while he sucked on his fingers. Maybe he was just waiting for his mom to sing him to sleep. "Look lil No-No. Look at your pretty pretty ma."

He reached out for her.

Erin laughed but was quickly reminded not to when her aching ribs ignited in flames.

"My sweet sweet boy." Reaching out, she enveloped her little man in her arms and kissed his cheeks.

"I don't know if ma can do this. She's a failure. She've failed you a thousand times but...but she'll try again."

8:05pm

Managing to manoeuvre to her bed, she sat down, humming and rocking Noah slowly in her arms until he let out a little gurgling noise indicating that he's about to fall asleep.

Annie came back with a trash can and a jug of water in her hands, everything that she thinks Erin needs for the night.

"Annie, could you take him? I, I need to lie down."

She needed to close her eyes since they were weighing her down.

"Sure." she took the sleeping child in her arms and helped tuck Erin into bed, "Call me if you need anything, k?"

Mumbling, she just curled into a foetal position and closed her eyes. Annie silently stepped out of her bedroom, taking Noah with her.

It's going to be one hell of a long journey filed tears, screaming, cursing, restlessness and even more screaming. Not only was there one baby, she too will be acting like one. She's going to watch her like a hawk and not fall for any of her manipulation.

She looked at Noah in her arms, her heart broke into a billion pieces and the tears she've hid so well this entire night seized to exist.

God! She's so pissed!

She've fallen in love with her.

She definitely have and she hates herself for that.

•

•

10:03pm

Jay was sitting in his car parked outside her apartment. It was place he had been in not too long ago.

Four hours ago to be exact.

After the ambush they had pinged upon Erin, they headed back to the station where they reported her statement to their Sergeant who was nonetheless disappointed since they were practically back with nothing.

He dunked his head against the steering wheel and let out a sigh. He've been sitting in his car for the past hour, gaining the courage to go back up there and do the right thing and that was to apologise. But he knows she wouldn't want to talk to him let alone see him.

So here he was in a dilemma of to go or not to go.

Adam said that he shouldn't since it wasn't like it was obligatory to do so. But to apologise is the ethical and moral thing to do.

He didn't mean to threaten her like that, to take her son away from her, it just sort of vomited out of his mouth.

Sometime, most of the time, he doesn't think before he speaks and that was his weakness.

10:49pm

Though it was quite late already, almost eleven, he just needed to express his sincerest apology.

He had to.

He wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her and in turn that would loop into images of her bruises and her limp and the thought that a man would do such a thing to a woman, maybe the mother of his child, would fire the fuel inside of him. Then he won't be able to contain his anger.

With a deep breath, he knocked on the flimsy door.

Maybe she's asleep.

He'll just try in the morning.

Maybe she looked through the peephole and didn't want to open the door.

He couldn't blame her for that.

But just as he was about to walk away, the door flung open.

"Yea?"

Awkwardly with his mouth hanging open and as he scratched his head, he looked back at the number on the door.

4D

This is her apartment but this wasn't her.

Maybe he got the wrong building.

Who stood in front of him was a beautiful petite brunette, even smaller than Erin, with huge hazel doe eyes. To him, she looked like a squirrel.

She too have been crying. Everyone in this apartment just seemed to be crying all the time.

"Ahh..."

"Block B. Apartment 4D, yea. What do you want?"

"Umm, sorry. Is Erin Lindsay here?" he took a step closer and shoved his hands into her pocket.

Looking into the apartment, it didn't look like a tornado had landed in there anymore. The place was void of all the racketeering it once presented itself.

Noah.

A crib was right next to the couch and there laid the cute little boy who had been giving his mother a hard time. But this time he was asleep and had his thumb in his mouth.

That was the cutest thing he've seen in a long time. And that was coming from someone who have never been too fond of babies.

"She's asleep. You got a message or something?"

Shaking his head, "Yeah, umm, tell Erin I'm extremely sorry. Sincerely. Really sorry."

She frowned. She must not have the faintest idea of why he was apologising.

"Ok...You got a name, mister?"

"Halstead. Jay Halstead."

. . .

"Destiny. To believe that a life is meant for a single purpose, one must also believe in a common fate. Father to daughter, brother to sister, mother to child. Blood ties can be as unyielding as they are eternal. But it is our bonds of choice that truly light the road we travel. Love versus hatred. Loyalty against betrayal. A person's true destiny can only be revealed at the end of his journey, and the story I have to tell is far from over." - Emily Thorne