Fortitude (Heart of Stone) Read Online Free PDF Page B

that, and she still comforted me.
    “Just you and me now girl.” I swiped the dust from the
window ledge as I peered into the moonlit garden, “Right up to the end.”
     
    I walked up the stairs, smiling at the third step that
still creaked and then stood in the doorway to the bedroom.
     
    He sat up and pulled me up so I was kneeling in front
of him. “You are so beautiful, Ava” he told me. Unease surged through me as I
saw his sad painful expression.
    “From your soft curls” he stroked his fingers through
my hair. “To your smooth pale skin.” He trailed a finger across my shoulder
blade. “To your delicious breasts,” he brushed his thumb over the swell of
them. “To your striking green eyes.” He kissed each of my eyes. “To your
remarkable heart,” he leant forward and kissed my heart and then sat back and
cupped my face.
    “That is why I’m setting you free, Ava.”
     
    I fell to my knees, the shadow of my husband ripping open
my soul and crushing it to dust beneath it. However much pain he had caused me,
I had repaid tenfold. All he had ever done was love me too much, as I him.
    And now it was time to end the pain I gave him. It was
time to let him go.
    “That is why I’m setting you free, Mason.”
     

Chapter Seven
Destruction
Mason
 
    I shivered as the chill enveloped me then pulled the
covers up under my chin and turned to seek warmth from my wife.
    “Aww,” I moaned when I found she’d already risen. The sun
was barely up and Ava was already organised. I grabbed her pillow and pulled it
against me, inhaling her sweet scent. Something tickled my nose and I
eventually opened my eyes, squinting at the light as it burnt my retinas.
    I moved my head back to look at the white paper sticking
in my cheek. The harsh whiteness of the envelope slapped at me when I realised
what it was. I didn’t need to open it to know what it said.
    My heart rate was threatening to propel my blood though
my pores as nausea swirled in my stomach, my gut bubbling as a huge surge of
acid blistered the lining.
    “No.”
    I shot off the bed, staring at the envelope as though it
would physically hurt me. My fingernails dug into my palm as I twisted my
hands, not knowing what to do with them. I’d rather chop them off than let them
open the thing sat on my bed mocking me.
     
    I turned and yanked open the curtains, cursing as the sun
hit my face, its warmth taunting the chill that had seeped into my bones. “No.”
I repeated. It was all I was able to say, other words had formed and disintegrated,
the acid in my stomach gobbling them up as they slid back down my throat. “No.”
    My back slid down the wall when my legs eventually gave
way. I drew my knees up and hugged them, forcing comfort from them. If I curled
so far into myself then maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit. Maybe, if
I wished hard enough I could turn back time and stay awake all night, watching
her and readying myself to stop her leaving.
    Maybe, fucking maybe. That was all I had, maybe… maybe,
fucking maybe.
     
    I needed to hit. I needed oblivion. I needed my fucking
wife.
     
    Gritting my teeth, I reached out and snatched the letter
from the bed. It seemed to literally burn the skin on my fingers as I stared at
it, her elegant scrawl saying my name, her unique scent evaporating off it in
waves and making my heart wrench.
    I closed my eyes when I opened it, like it would prevent
the words from hitting me full force.
     I placed it on the floor beside me as I crawled across
the room and dug into my jacket pocket, pulling the small bag from inside the
lining of the pocket. Dipping my finger in and coating it with just enough to
steady my nerves, I spread it over my teeth and waited for the slight tingle to
hit my brain. I had promised myself no more but I needed it just this once,
just to give me the strength to deal with this.
     
    The slight calm took over and I crept towards the item
waiting to laugh at me. I pulled the paper from the