It was a night of heartache.  The red Porche parked out front of Cassie’s apartment remained in its place all night.  Inside the apartment looked as though the police had ransacked the place.  Pillows tossed along the floor, small tables and chairs flipped onto their sides, broken trinkets, glass, and scattered beer cans remain on the rug in front of the blood-stained sofa.

 

The letter to Damon crumbled on the floor, where the contents of the envelopes were placed on the kitchen counter.  The photo of Damon and Cassie lay across a pillow that Damon had slept upon earlier that evening.

 

There was an unsettling aura inside that apartment; two unfamiliar strangers, bonded by the love of the same girl.  Damon, still in shock of the night’s events, still looks to Vanity as if he is standing face to face with the love of his life, Cassie. 

 

He sits on the edge of the sofa, gazing upon her through her bedroom door.  Vanity appears to be asleep as she lays across the bed with her back turned to the door.  Her eyes were open, filled with tears.  She could no longer hide the pain, the sorrow she felt for Cassie, and she could not allow herself to be vulnerable in the face of Damon.

 

There was an awkward silence inside that room; neither of the two knowing what to do, how to react with each other.  It was something that needed to be done, but how?

 

“Cass..” Damon whispered as he stepped to the bedroom door.  Vanity just sighed; she did not want to respond. 

 

As Damon closes the bedroom door softly, he finds himself walking back towards the sofa, sits down lowering his head into the bloodied palms of his hands and begins to tune out the world around him.

 

The door to Cassie’s apartment swings open with brute force as Colton stands glaring at the monstrosity before him.  Without hesitation he shouts.

 

“CASSIE!!”

 

Startled by the events, Damon jumps up from the sofa, turning in Colton’s direction.  From that moment, Damon’s blood-stained hands were the center of Colton’s attention. 

 

“YOU SON OF A BITCH…What did you do to her?”

 

Without a second’s pass, Colton lunges out over the back of the sofa towards Damon, sending both their bodies through the wooden coffee table that was placed in the front of it.    The two roll around exchanging punches as this gets the attention of Vanity and she quickly jumps from the bed, sprinting into the living room.

 

“COLTON…NO!!!”

 

The two, ignorant of Vanity’s presence, continue to scuffle along the floor.  Vanity looks around to find something to break the commotion.  She reaches for the broken leg of the wooden table, holding it in a swinging position, she closes her eyes and connects the piece of wood to the back of Colton.  Immediately she drops the wooden leg, bending down to check on him as he yells out.

 

“What the fuck...?”  He turns to see his sister kneeling beside him.

 

“Are you out of your damn mind, Cas..”  Colton shoves himself off the top of Damon and stands to his feet.

 

“Colton, No, it’s not what you think.” She reaches for his arm as he quickly snatches it from her grip.

 

“No? Then by all means, explain this before someone ends up dead, Vanity!”  He glares over at Damon, who is relatively slow getting up on his feet.

 

“She’s right, Colt..”  He is quickly cut off by Colton.

 

“YOU, shut the fuck up, I asked my sister.”

 

Both Damon and Vanity looked at Colton, his face was red with anger.  Neither of the two could figure out the reason for Colton’s unwelcome visit.  Colton looks around the place.  This had been the first time he’d been to his sister’s apartment since Vanity’s accident.  He begins to scope things out, walking around and comes across the infamous hole in Cassie’s wall. 

 

He steps closer, now looking at the empty vault that hid behind the drywall.

 

“What is this?  He looked to Vanity.

 

“Colton, please..you are going to want to sit down for this.”  Vanity looked up to him, her eyes were still as red as they had been for most of the day.  She walks to the sofa, bending over to flip it as both Colton and Damon push her to the side.  Vanity takes a seat, and immediately both men maneuver over to her side.  Colton glares at Damon as he takes the seat next to his sister, leaving Damon to move to a chair nearby.

 

“Ok, what is going on here, I’m out with Lily finally trying to have an overdue conversation with her and stress-free time.  Which thankfully happened. However, during that conversation, I get a call from an unknown number, which I later find out to be you, Cas..”  Vanity looks to Damon, and both shrug their shoulders.

 

“Colton, I did..”  Colton looks to her and continues to finish.

 

“All I could hear was the sound of a man’s voice screaming your name and the words, I’m going to fuckin kill him, come next.”

 

Vanity lowers her head, the phone must have connected to Colton’s number, amongst all the movement and commotion earlier that evening.

 

“Care to explain Vanity?”

 

Damon stands from his chair, he bends down, picking up the crumbled letter from Cassie and hands it to Colton.

 

“This should explain things.”  Colton’s hand does not extend out to Damon’s, there was nothing he wanted from him, he turned his head to Vanity. 

 

“Someone just fucking tell me what is going on, I don’t need a handwritten explanation.”  Damon then hands the letter to Vanity, as she looks at Colton with the sadden eyes.

 

“Colton, you are going to need to read this.  This is what Cassie has been trying to get me to do.  This was the reason for the hole in the wall.  This is something, neither of us can explain.”

 

Colton reluctantly took the letter, he noticed who it was addressed to, and snapped his attention to Damon.

 

“What is this?  Why was my sister writing to you?”

 

Damon sat back down at the edge of the chair.

 

“Colton, a lot will be explained, if you just read the letter.”  Colton looks to Vanity, as she nods her head.

 

“It’s true, Colton.”  He turns his head and begins to read the letter. 

 

 He has a puzzled look on his face and then a look of anger. " You were leaving? Just going to leave and say nothing. At least I fucking came and told you face to face. I see what you must have thought of me back then."

Vanity looks to Colton puzzled, “I don't know what you want me to say here, Colton.  I did not know about any of this.  We may share the same body Colton, but it wasn't until these last couple of weeks, that I've been able to sense Cassie.  I knew absolutely nothing about any of this.”  She turns to Damon.  "I know this is a bit much for you to handle."  She turns back to Colton.  "So, wait a second here, what are you trying to say?

Colton just glares daggers at her. He keeps reading for a bit. Reading, his empty hand balls into a fist, his breathing is getting harder and faster. " Of course, your fucking dick head old man did this. You and your fucking family just live off others. You all think you are better than everyone else."  As Colton reads on, he gets to the rape and beating of Cassie. He jumps from the chair, glaring to Damon as wild animal and crashes into chair that Damon is sitting in. He starts to rain punches down anywhere he can connect with them.   Vanity jumps from the sofa, trying to get a grip of Colton's arm.  In the process, Colton swings, sending Vanity backwards to the floor.  The two continue and Vanity now screams.  "STOP IT!.. for Fucks Sake. Chill out."  The two continue, Colton's rage, not only has him blinded to his surroundings, but neither of the two seem to be listening.  She's fed up, nothing sensible was working.  She looks around, nothing in sight would be sufficient to tear apart this dog fight.  She jumps on the back of Colton, wrapping her arms around his neck and forcefully pulling back on his head.  This allows Damon to roll out from under him and stand slowly to his feet.

“Colton, Chill out, I am on your side!  You are not the only mother fucker that loved your sister!  My Father's hand is all over this I know, but so will his death.  You had better stand in line if you think you will get to him before me.”

 

Colton stands up with Vanity still wrapped around his neck.  He flips her over onto the chair and points to her "You sit there." He looks at Damon. "Fuck you! I will take care of this myself. He does this to my sister and then what he did to your sister. That bastard has taken too much from me already. You just need to stay the hell out of my way."

 

He picks up the letter and keeps reading it. He gets to the end of the letter. His head snaps towards Damon. He slowly turns to look at Vanity. Tears start to fall, and he does not even try to fight it. He walks over to her while still sitting on the chair. Colton gets on his knees in front of her and grabs her. He places his head on her lap and whispers to her.

“I know it’s you that’s here, and I know that you take care of her, but if you can talk to her please tell her this is all my fault. I am so sorry for all of this. I wish I would have died that night. That way maybe she would not have had this happen. She could just be happy with her son. I am so sorry Cassie."

 

He looks up to Vanity and stares into her eyes. "I am so sorry Vanity, it is all my fault."

 

Vanity sits still for a moment, she looks down, unable to speak.  Her head slowly lifts and her eyes gaze into Damon's.  A tear begins to form as she seems paralyzed in thought.  Slowly she leans down, her arms cradling Colton's head; a finger brushes his tears from his eyes and she brings her lips to his ear.

 

"I'm here, brother.  I do not blame you; this has never been your fault.  I am sorry it took me this long to tell you.  But I must go again now, I cannot face Damon.  Please forgive me.  I love you!"

 

She then leans forward, kissing Colton on the cheek as he tries to pull himself up to look her into her eyes.  She is gone.

 

He begins to stand and walk over to the chair and sits down. He takes the letter and smooths it out and hands it to Vanity.

 

 "Where is the sonogram? I want to see my nephew."

 

Cassie's essence has gone as Vanity slowly emerges.  Her hands began to shake, it was the first time Cassie had surfaced in quite some time, it was beginning to take its toll on her mentality.  Cassie's strength was building as no one had ever been able to bring her forth other than the love of her father.  She looks to Damon, as he stands walking to the counter and gets the envelope, he then hands it to Colton.

 

 “Colton, we will never be friends, this I can see.  But this child, MY Child, will always make us some form of family; and speaking of family, you mentioned earlier about my sister, I don't know what you're talking about, I do not have any siblings.

 

Colton stares at the sonogram, with a calm, cold voice. "Family huh? Well, why don't you come over to my folks’ house and explain that to them. On the next topic.  You remember when your wonderful father hired me to watch over the daughter of the mayor?  You remember, right?  Sasha, funny name for a Texas girl. She always wondered why your dear old Dad would hire someone to be bodyguard. I know you know that your Pops controlled the mayor’s office. To show his dominance he got the mayor’s wife pregnant. Why do you ask? Just to show him that he could do whatever he wanted. Sasha, the little mastermind she was, found some pictures that your dad had sent the mayor and she talked to her mom about it. She was named after your grandmother. She wanted to leave; she wanted nothing to do with any of you. We had everything set to fly out that Friday. The same day you two were going to leave.”

 

Colton turned his glare to Vanity, with a roll of his eye.

 

“I found her at the hotel, and she was already gone. That is when I got the call about Cassie. That was the day I lost the love of my life and my sister, and now I find out I also lost my nephew. So, you must know your family is going to burn.”

 

Damon looks confused, he is unsure of what to say, he just looks at Colton for moments trying to soak it all in.  “I remember Sasha, I remember her being with Cassie sometimes.  I had heard the rumors of how she just ODed in a rundown motel on the wrong side of town.  You're sitting here telling me that she’s, my sister?  I think I would have known if she were.  My Father is a lot of things, but he would have never just given up a child he fathered.”  Damon now falls back into the chair.  He sits for a moment and thinks about what Colton just said. 

 

“I have had a son, a mother and now a sister taken from me from that man.  That death you speak of Sasha, I knew he had a hand in.  I had heard too many of his people talk about it behind closed doors.  What I didn't know, was that she was family.  Nothing I can say will ever be enough to amend my father's doings.  But I hope that you can accept the fact that I am sorry for your loss.  We do share a common hatred for that man.  That was my reason for leaving the states for Europe, that was the plan Cassie and I made.  My Father gave me a letter from Cassie, so I thought at the time, that said she had thought things through, and she just could not be a part of my family, that she was scared for her life, so she was ending things by not coming with me.

 

Colton sighs and looks at Damon. "Well, this just sucks. Fuck now we have to work together." Colton stands up and walks over to Vanity and asks for the letter again.  He then turns back to Damon.

"You know after this, I’m going to have to kick your ass again, right?  Too many things have happened to let this thing between us go. Right now, we must burn your father's body and legacy to the ground. We must do this together or it will not work. If you try and go at it on your own, you will just be another name on a tombstone.”

Colton takes out his phone and takes a picture of the letter. He goes through his contact list, he finds Ole Bastard, Uncle G, Crazy Ass Shooter, and Mom. He attaches the letter to the text message. He walks over to Vanity, shows her the text and before she can do anything, he hits send.

 

Vanity's eyes widen to the point of no return, she looks to Damon and then back to Colton.  "You just opened Pandora’s Box and that's something not a single soul on Earth is ready for."

 

Colton flashes a devilish grin, a cross between Hunter and Summer. "They made the first move, and we all know RULES AND BONES WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN!"

 

Damon looks at them both, confused more than ever.  "Pandora's Box, Rules and broken bones?  I thought the mob was bad. "