Chapter 19 – Darkness Took Over

Roman was packing his bag to go back on the road after spending his days off with MacKenzie; hours of claiming her heart, mind, body and soul again helped spin his mood completely around. His Dom side had really come out and Kenzie took it like a champ. He could see her confidence was returning tenfold. His one worry was he would scare her away with his Dominant side in the bedroom, but he could tell she enjoyed being his true submissive; as much as she enjoyed when he just made love to her. Rule #2: A good dominant always knows what his Submissive needs and puts their needs before their own.

Roman was pulled from his thoughts as he watched MacKenzie walked into his room; she was already packed up and ready to go. They still had two days before they had to get back on the road. She had the cutest smirk on her face as she walked over. "You look like the cat that ate the canary girl. What's up with you?" He questioned as he flipped his suitcase closed, zipped it and locked it.

MacKenzie had been licked, sucked, kissed, touched, caressed, fingered, sexed, fucked and made love too so many times over the last couple of days she felt as though she was going to pass out; honestly she could die exceedingly happy right now. "Well now that you are in much better spirits, tomorrow I'm going to fly out to Connecticut and check to make sure my apartment is still in one piece, throw out any rotten food, clean the dust off of everything and get my rent paid. You think you can survive without me for about 20 hours or less big man?"

Roman smirked as he stepped towards her. "I can always survive without you beautiful; I just don't want to." He tipped her chin with his index knuckle as he leaned down and kissed her lips softly. "Did you call and get a flight yet? You can use my miles if you want to."

MacKenzie smiled softly as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she pushed up on her toes to each him. "No I got it, but thank you. I'm flying out tomorrow at 8."

Roman's hands slid down her body as he lifted her and felt her legs wrap around his waist. "Good I have just enough time to ravage you a few more times before I have to take you to the airport in the morning."

MacKenzie squeaked as she was suddenly tossed on the bed and Roman pounced on her.

'Come to your place or I'll burn it to the ground'

Her blue eyes read the text over and over as she sat on the plane ride from Pensacola, Florida to Stamford Connecticut.

'My place? I live in an apartment building; you can't burn the whole thing down.'

She remembered answering every text that came through. Why she was answering them and not telling him to go to hell was beyond her.

'I can damn sure try and whoever dies while this place goes down in a blaze is going to be on YOU for the rest of your life, because YOU could've prevented it.'

MacKenzie shook her head as she sighed softly. She had a smart mouth when she wanted and since Roman was building her confidence that Jeff had stolen from her, she finally got fed up with his bullshit text messages.

"Look you didn't want me anymore and now that I'm with Roman I've seen what being with a real man is like. You can have any woman in the world. So just move on with your life Jeff and just leave me alone. I want a real chance at happiness and love and after getting Roman and his friends arrested for that fake assault on you; I wasn't sure he was going to stick around, but thank God he managed to not let you chase him away. Please…just stop. Just let me life my life. The life you didn't want to live with me."

The words from the text messages kept pouring over her mind; over and over and over. Even the night before as she and Roman lay naked in each other's arms. She was meant to be sleeping, but she couldn't not with the last text message she'd received from Jeff.

"You want to play hard bitch, fine. We'll play hard. If you even think of calling the firm or the police I'll know it. I uploaded a virus into your laptop and your cell phone. And just for shits and giggles I did the same with Roman's as well; in case you got cute and tried to use his. I'm monitoring everything electronic you are touching. Curious where your boyfriend is right now? Hit the balloon icon on your cells home page that you haven't noticed and see where he is."

MacKenzie was brought to her knees as a LIVE feed was brought up on her phone of Roman sitting in his back yard by the pool near the hedges a gun pointed at the back of his head.

"I can get to him anytime I want to MacKenzie. I could've gotten to him before now but I figured why waste it when I can use it to my advantage. By the way I didn't know you were into that whole slap and tickle dominant life. Color me shocked when I checked the live feed from his own gym camera and he had you strung up and begging like a bitch in heat."

It was that text message that made her sit up and realize Jeff wasn't playing with a full deck anymore and she needed to start taking him a little more serious because now he was rocking back and forth between reality and fantasy. When the plane finally landed in Stamford, she really couldn't stall anymore as she got herself a rental and drove about as slowly as she could to her apartment.

Why are you stalling Kenzie?

I know you touched down in Stamford 30 minutes ago and it doesn't take that long to get your luggage and drive to this place.

I swear to God MacKenzie if you don't walk through this apartment door, I'm burning this bitch to the ground and then I'll sick my boys on your beloved Roman.

If you need some more encouragement go ahead and tap on that balloon because I bet you don't realize just how close I am to telling my boy to put a bullet in the back of his head right now.

MacKenzie read the messages Jeff had been sending her since her plane touched down. She chewed her bottom lip as she sat in front of her apartment building and tapped the balloon on her cell. She knew Jeff wasn't lying. Of course he wasn't he was never one to lie about anything. She watched as the LIVE feed popped up and saw Roman was at his parents.

It would be easy Kenzie. You know it would be so easy for my boy to let his trigger finger slip and take out Roman's parents first.

Quick and Silent.

They would never hear it coming; never know something happened until they matriarchs of Reigns Family were lying in pools of their own blood because their baby boy got hooked up with a girlfriend who has an ex-boyfriend who knows the law like the back of his hand. No evidence. No guilt parties. No proof. No trial.

MacKenzie swallowed hard as she unhooked her seat belt and headed for the front doors of her apartment building.

Roman's gut was all over the place at his folks. He attempted some kind of lunch, but he had a bad feeling about MacKenzie; it had been a couple of hours since she'd flown home to get some things done. He had tried calling her a couple of times and had been sent to voicemail. And on his fourth attempt he decided to call the person he knew could get to MacKenzie faster than anyone.

"Detective McLaughlin specking…" The slightly Irish accent stated answering the phone.

"Detective Mike McLaughlin, we haven't spoken before but you've been helping my girlfriend MacKenzie Brewman with her ex-boyfriend/stalker issue." Roman stated.

"Mr. Reigns, MacKenzie has told me a great deal about you. You seem to make her very happy." Mike's chuckle matched Roman's over the phone.

"You ran a back ground check on me for her didn't you?" Roman asked with piqued curiosity.

"No, I ran a back ground check on you for me. I didn't want her getting stuck in a similar situation further down the line. She's a friend of the family and has been for a long time." Mike stated honestly. "So, Mr. Reigns what can I do for you?"

"My girlfriend who trouble seems to follow wherever she goes came to me yesterday out of the blue and said she was spending out last day off at her apartment cleaning, paying rent and what not. I've tried calling her four times and I've been sent to voicemail four times. If she was on the plane still well it would be the longest damn plane ride and the call would go to voicemail automatically. She's avoiding my calls or whoever has control of her cell is." Roman laid it all out on the line. "I'm about 3 seconds from getting in a taxi to her apartment after I just got off the redeye to Connecticut." Roman admitted verbally.

"You think Jeff is up to something or MacKenzie?" Mike asked.

"Both." Roman sighed heavily. "I didn't even realize but, MacKenzie usually wire transfers her rent; as long as we've been together she's never once hand delivered a bill or rent to or from her apartment. Everything is done on her laptop. Which means my beautiful girlfriend was probably coerced into coming home and also lied to me about it or was forced to lie. The real question is; where do I meet up with you because I know if I walk in that apartment and her ex is there doing something he shouldn't with her I will kill him and as much as I'd love to get him out of her life forever, I'm not willing to go to prison and be without her forever."

The ache in Roman's gut was taking over and he could just tell it was going to be all bad when they got there.

MacKenzie could feel herself shaking in her sneakers. She stood in front of the open door to her apartment; she saw no one or nothing as every light in the apartment was on, the curtains were pulled back and there wasn't a speck of darkness in the room. She stepped into the apartment and the apartment door slammed shut.

MacKenzie spun around and came face to face with Jeff. "So I'm here, what could you possibly want from me?" She asked as she stood there trying to look at him defiantly.

Jeff stepped away from the wall as he walked over and stood in front of his ex-girlfriend. She looked him in the eyes as she stood up straight. This wasn't the same girl he cut out of his life. She was confident and beautiful and holding herself like the woman he'd fallen in love with those years ago. He would never deny the fact that yes he did fall in love with MacKenzie and he also wouldn't deny the fact that he tore her down. But somewhere in the back of his mind he knew if she was strong enough to take all of his shit then she would forever be the woman of his dreams.

Jeff smirked as he began walking around her. "I don't remember you looking quite this good Kenz."

"The name is MacKenzie; only friends and family can use a nick name and you're clearly neither." MacKenzie stated matter of factly with her hands on her hips.

Jeff chuckled as he continued to circle her. "You got that fiery attitude back that you lost. Clearly that big wrestling bastard has helped pulled you back to your confident self. Of course watching him dominate your cute ass while you bow down and submit to him was even more interesting. I didn't even know you like it like that."

"Actually I never knew what it was until I met Roman. He's a Dominant when it comes to sex and he found his true submissive in me. I enjoy making him happy and he enjoys making me happy. The dom/sub relationship is what you make it. I'm not some dirty little maid who does everything while he sits in the living room drinking beer and watching sports. I don't kneel on the ground and kiss his feet. He is my dominant boyfriend and I'm his submissive girlfriend. It's cut and dry and I'm happier than I've ever been in life. He makes me feel like a real woman. He makes me feel loved with just a look or a touch. I'm in love with him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him." MacKenzie explained and admitted all at once.

"Why does it sound like you're just figuring out your in love with him? You didn't know until today?" Jeff asked as he picked up one of her curls and held it to his nose and inhaled the scent. "If he makes you so God damn happy shouldn't you have known that before now?"

MacKenzie sighed softly. Jeff would be the one to pick up on her sudden epiphany. "Sometimes you don't know you're in love with someone until it's staring you in the face. For the longest time after you broke up with me and then put me in the hospital. I hated you. I hated everything about you and just the thought of you made me want to get amnesia just to forget who you were and what you'd done to me. And then I met Roman. And he gave me everything back that you took from me. I have never felt more loved and alive. I had to go through all the bad shit to get to the good stuff. He's my good stuff and everything about him makes me love him that much more and makes me want to hold onto him that much tighter. No matter what you have done to him or us or what you could do. It doesn't matter. You are insignificant to us right now. You're not even a blip on our radar." She stated truthfully.

Jeff smirked as his eyes darkened. "Well I'm curious as to what exactly you'd submit to for me. Because if that big mother fucker can get you to beg him to fuck you and suck his dick like a bitch in heat than I'm wondering what I can get you to do to me…for me." He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.

MacKenzie felt her stomach turn. "If you think for a second I'm going to help you get your rocks off you are outside of your mind." A second later she gasped when he held a knife to her throat. She felt the sharp tip dig into the side of her throat oh so gently. The burn from the cut it left behind woke up her nerve endings.

MacKenzie held up her hands. "Okay…Okay…" She relented; her breath was shaky. He was too close to her with that knife and at this point knew what was at stake.

"See there's that nice little obedient submissive bitch I knew was inside of you." Jeff hissed out as he gripped her shoulder and started forcing MacKenzie down and watched through snarling eyes as she sunk down to her knees in front of him. "Now be a good little whore that I know you are and suck my dick."

MacKenzie could feel her stomach rolling. She was going to puke on him in a second. Instead she doubled up her fist and punched him in the balls and watched as he hit his knees as he yelled out grabbed his crotch. "AHHHHHHH YOU FUCKIN BITCH! YOU STUPID FUCKIN BITCH!"

MacKenzie jumped up and ran for her bedroom as she slammed the door and locked it as she threw her closet door open and dug in the bottom trying to find her little safe. Her head snapped up as she could hear Jeff kicking and banging against her bedroom door. It wouldn't take much more before it gave way to his weight and strength.

"YOU STUPID BITCH OPEN THIS FUCKIN DOOR. I SWEAR YOU AND YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND ARE DEAD. DO YOU HEAR ME MACKENZIE YOU ARE BOTH FUCKIN DEAD!"

MacKenzie could feel goose bumps on her arms and the hair on the back of her neck standing up…it wasn't his words it was the promise behind it. She'd heard him yelling and screaming like that the night he put her in the hospital. If he got through her door the words would be a promise. It would happen he would stop at nothing to kill them both and she knew it.

She let out a heavy breath she didn't realize she was holding as she jerked the small safe out and quickly punched in the code and flipped the lid open and pulled out her compact 9mm and slapped the clip in it. As she clicked the safety off the door gave way to Jeff's temper and she stood up and pointed it at him.

Shaky? Yes she was shaky, but she could still herself long enough to shoot his stupid ass.

"Are you kidding me?" Jeff laughed. "Since when do you carry a gun?"

"Since you beat the piss out of me and left me for dead. I have a permit and believe me I know exactly how to use this. So don't think for a second I don't know what I'm doing because believe me I do." MacKenzie stated; never taking her eyes off him.

"You couldn't…You wouldn't." Jeff taunted.

"I might not be able to but do you really want to test me on the off chance I might not put a bullet in your dick?" MacKenzie re-aligned her gun with Jeff's jean covered crotch. "Because the view from here tells me I can blow your cock off and you'd bleed to death before the ambulance got here."

"YOU FUCKIN LITTLE WHORE!" Jeff screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged at her.

Roman met Mike at the front of MacKenzie's apartment building and they went up to her floor. The second they were outside the apartment they heard two gun shots come from behind the door. They both panicked and threw their shoulders into the door busting it off the hinges effectively.

"KENZIE!" Mike yelled as he drew his own gun.

"MACKENZIE!" Roman shouted as panic skittered down his spine when he didn't see her anywhere.

"Back here."

Roman's head snapped towards the familiar voice of Kenzie as they both took off towards the back bedroom. Roman skidded to a stop as he saw the shredded bedroom door of her room and saw Jeff lying on the ground…definitely dead. His grey eyes skipped to the bed where MacKenzie was sitting with a gun pointed at the floor and her hands shaking.

"Babygirl…" Roman murmured as he stepped into the room as Mike checked Jeff's pulse and started calling for a coroner. Roman squatted down in front of MacKenzie as he watched Mike walk over and take the gun out of her hands. "What happened?"

MacKenzie's tear filled blue eyes looked at Roman. "He fed viruses to our phones, computers to your security system and was watching us, keeping tabs on us. He had his idiot friends stalking you watching you had a gun trained on you. He told me if I didn't meet him here he was going to burn this building down with everyone inside. I couldn't let him do it. I couldn't be held responsible for it. He watched us having sex through your security system and he wanted me to…He wanted me to do to him what I do to you and I couldn't do it."

"It's okay baby." Roman moved to stand up and pulled MacKenzie up into his arms holding her as tight as he could. She was trembling against his body as he held onto her. "I knew something was going on…"

MacKenzie nodded. "I just couldn't say anything he was literally monitoring everything." She pulled back as she felt his thumbs wiping her tears. "Can we go home now?" She asked softly.

Roman nodded. "Absolutely baby." He had a stern lecture for her later, but for now he wanted to get her out of the damn apartment.

MacKenzie backed up a little as she winced from a pain in her side. Roman looked down and saw her wince as he noticed she was holding her side. "MacKenzie…" His eyes widened as he watched her eyes droop and start to roll as she started to fall to the ground Roman caught her and went down to the ground with her. He moved her hand and her black t-shirt had a wet spot. His hand jerked her t-shirt up and he was horrified to see two holes in her that were puking blood.

"Jesus Christ…MIKE! MIKE she's been stabbed. MIKE! CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Roman grabbed for clothing lying around and packed it against the stab wounds as much as he could and was putting pressure against them. He looked up and he could see MacKenzie's eyes closing slowly. "Kenzie…Baby stay with me…Please stay with me baby. Stay with me."

MacKenzie looked up at Roman; black spots filling her eyes. "I love you…" She frowned as silent tears slid down her cheeks.

It was the last thing she said before the darkness took over.