For Every Piece of My Heart

I shook my head to push out the memories, then slowly turned away. I had a long day ahead of me, and even though building anger from that event and everything else would help me push through, I was much better off without the reminders of my own stupidity. I walked slowly back to the bedroom, then opened the windows. It was already dawn, and I sighed.

I went around to the duffel bag I had put together just a night before. It contained the only clothes I had, and I grabbed it, then pulled a pair of pants and a loose shirt out. I couldn't afford to be late to catch the car.

The small card Jonas had unwillingly given me was sitting on top of the duffel. I carried it, my chest

Puebla, Mexico.

Of course. He was living beautifully after killing my father. I closed my eyes, then pushed the card back in and closed it. I immediately changed my clothes, then after one last look at the dumpster I had lived in ever since I had to leave home, I turned away, facing the revenge I knew I had to take.

Jonas was waiting by the time I reached the rendezvous point. He gave me a small cheeky smile, and I immediately returned it. He leaned away from the car and took in a sharp breath.

"Let's have breakfast?"

I nodded. "Marie cooked or..."

"You know her," he laughed at the mention of his long-time girlfriend. I had met her so many times, and she was genuine, pretty, and between them was a solid relationship. I sometimes wondered if I wasn't too far gone in my hatred of the world to find something as beautiful as that.

I doubt the cops and Karma would let me find love after I do kill Vector. After I kill the man I had, at that point in time, envisioned something as beautiful as that with.

I closed my eyes as I dropped the bag in the back seat, then got in the front, my chest heaving with fresh memories.

I could vividly see Vector on that balcony, his hand curled under my face, his thumb running along my chin. He had the smallest smile, and now that I look back, I knew I had been naive to think I could be... more. He hadn't even lied to me.

His fingers slowly traced up to my cheek then down to my shoulders. I swallowed, my fists clenching.

"What do you want?" My voice had been sultry, low, submissive.

He gave a small smirk. "What do I want?"

I nodded as his eyes met mine, and his fingers dropped to my neck. Suddenly, his hand wrapped around my neck, and he pulled me further, my body willingly going to him.

"You don't talk that way to me, cupcake. I am the one who gives. I take whatever I want. Not what you give me."

I swallowed hard, then nodded as his thumb caressed my neck, his eyes dropping to watch his finger play around my skin.

He took a moment before his eyes lifted, and he pulled me even further, his head lowering a little. My breath held in my throat as he leaned to me, his hand dropping to pull my waist to him, like he owned every single part of me. Crazy that I had just met him, but his proximity, his scent. Everything set me gloriously alight.

I felt those fires erupt inside me as he finally let his lips touch mine. My hand grabbed onto his suit so I don't melt into a puddle and fall on my knees right in front of him.

My body trembled as he parted my lips, his hand tightening around my waist.

"Vector," I said, letting out the moan that had crawled up to my throat the very second he touched me.

Suddenly, he pulled away, and it took me a few seconds to realize he was gone. My eyes opened my chest, heaving with the breathlessness. My body hardly belonged to me as much as it did to him, and I swallowed.

"Vec..."

"Beg for it," he whispered, then leaned to me. "Between you and I, you said there was no shame. Now beg me to give you more."

My eyes closed, and my lips parted. "Please. Vector. Please give me more."

He chuckled. "Louder."

"Please."

"My name?"

I swallowed. "Vector. Please, Vector..."

He broke into a smile, his finger running down my shoulders, before finding my bare back once again. I immediately arched to him, my eyes reaching for his.

"Lie to me, Vector. All night."

His eyes were dark and intense, and without a word, he cupped the nape of my neck again, then leaned in to possess my lips once more. This time, I leapt right into the taste he offered, my body needily, desperately calling his name.

He gave me more like I wanted, his legs walking forward, pulling me back. But at this point, even if he wanted to push me off the balcony. I would gladly oblige.

My back hit the balcony railing, and I gasped, my fingers lacing into his hair, my lips parting wider for him. My body trembled as he sought to possess every part of me, his hand dropping to my waist, then to my legs.

He pulled my leg out of the slit, then raised it to an angle to him, like it gave him more space to kiss me.

I leaned back, his other hand on my back, keeping me stable as his kisses started to wander below my neck.

I never imagined being taken right on a balcony that overlooked the grand city of Puebla, Mexico.

"Vector?" Came a hoarse, new voice. Vector stopped and raised his eyes to me. I was breathless, my chest rising and falling, my knees threatening to give way. Slowly, he moved, shielding me with his body.

"What is it?"

"Sir, there..."

"Stay back," Vector said, his voice maintaining the same pitch but a lot less intense. Maybe it was intense, just in a different way.

"There is a problem. You need to come."

I saw his eyes narrow, before he slowly moved back and waved the man away.

"Wait here," he said, his eyes meeting mine. "The night is still young."

I nodded, my hand coming to my chest. With a small one sided smirk, he turned away, leaving me. Everywhere he had touched, even the parts he had left incomplete, the parts he had left for later.... everything was alight in his name.

I waited there, my hand wrapping around me as the time dragged on. My chest heaved, and I looked around, biting down on my lips.

"Excuse me, ma'am."

I turned to the new voice. He was young, and he seemed to be a worker or something like that.

"Yes?"

"Vector has asked me to escort you home."

I blinked in disbelief, my heart sinking. I hadn't realized how much anticipation I had built inside of me till my hopes were dashed.

"He also asked me to give you this."

A single black and gold card was sitting on his palm. On it was a phone number, but not an address. Just a phone number. I accepted it, then followed the boy as he escorted me to a private elevator downstairs.

I sat in the car, my mind wandering around Vector. I thought of how it would be if he never left. If he had gone through with his promise.

I bit down hard on my lip, my fingers caressing the card. I thought of him throughout the ride, unaffected by the sights, the cold, or even the fact that my father was not with me.

It was when I woke up the next morning and dad was not around, nor was there an indication that he had come back last night, that I sobered up from the drunken high that Vector's kisses had put me.

I looked everywhere, waited, and called his phone so many times. I went everywhere we had ever gone together, tried so many times, but soon enough, sunset came, and he still wasn't back.

By that night, only Jonas was around, helping me to look for him. He was dad's adopted son, but he had moved out a while back. He knew more of dad's associates, but they were not picking up, and those who picked immediately hung up at the mention of dad's name. I grew even more nervous, and my brain was unable to come up with an excuse or a solution.

I sat there on the floor, my fingers in my hair, my breaths unstable.

Jonas sighed, then sat next to me.

"You left him back at Vector's party? I thought you said you went together."

I swallowed. "Vector... Vector had..."

I suddenly remembered the card, and I immediately ran to my room. It was placed right next to dad's birthday gift to me, a gold watch. I shakily punched the number and listened as it rang.

My feet tapped on the floor anxiously, and my body trembled. My heart broke with every second, and I prayed to the heavens that he would pick. That he would know where my father was.

At the very last ring, he picked, and there was silence on the other side of the phone.

"Vector?" I said, my voice low, the silence stretching for an eternity.

"Cupcake," he said, and I could almost see his smirk. "To what do I owe the honor?"

I swallowed, my eyes closing as I took a breath of relief. "You remember me?"

"Draped on the balcony rails and moaning my name? My memory is not that bad."

I raked my fingers through my hair. This is not the time to melt for him again. "I..."

"I assume you are looking for your father."

I gasped, then quickly nodded. "Yes. Vector, please, I.... I need to know where he is. He never came back and..."

He chuckled. "You really want to see him?"

The question, even now, a whole year later, still sends a chill down my spine. I never answered it. I don't think I still can.

"Someone will come pick you up." He hung up right after that, and now I thank the heavens every day that I didn't get to thank him.

I stood there for a long while, just thinking, my mind wandering, trying to find answers to his questions. Trying to find meanings to everything.

I didn't have to wait that long before Jonas came and informed me that someone was here. He was the same boy from the other night, and without questions, I and Jonas went with him.

I still regret it. I can't believe that Vector could even talk to me as calmly as he had on the phone, while he was sitting right in front of my dad, torturing him beyong belief, a gun in his hand.

He had even talked about our kisses. Right in front of my father. Right before....

I felt fresh tears choke me again, my fingers struggling to hold on to the fork Jonas had offered me. Jonas had closed my eyes and had pulled me out of there, running blindly.

I never went back home.

One night, he had his daughter all over him, the next, he had his blood all over him. He was the perfect monster.

"Stop thinking so much," Jonas suddenly said, turning to me.

I swallowed, then forced a smile. "Thank you."

"Are you sure of this? Vector is dangerous. You saw how ruthless he is. You know why we left. So he wouldn't find you. You won't be able to leave once he discovers you in his lair."

I nodded, pushing my hair away. "I have nothing to live for."

"Red."

"I will die trying, Jonas. I swear. He has to pay for taking dad away from me like that."

I turned away, ignoring Jonas' sigh. He had to pay for every drop of father's blood. And for every piece of my heart.