Chapter 7

• Alex’s POV
• Night has befallen as I paced back and forth in my room.
• Nothing significant happened after we took care of the injured and transferred the dead to the hospital morgue.
• The town was in complete lockdown with my men patrolling through the town. Preventing anyone from walking the streets or allowing the Walkers; the ones who miraculously survived being shot or killed, from initiating another confrontation.
• We were in a temporary sort of truce. Not that the other clan had much of a choice as we crippled most of their men.
• My blood was boiling as the moment that worthless piece of shit Simon tried to shoot me in the back, kept repeating in my head.
• I cursed myself a thousand times for not ending his wretched life on the spot.
• He should be dead for attempting to kill me so cowardly like that, but the only thing that was on my mind at that instance was to save my brother, I couldn’t think clearly.
• My mom was able to stitch and patch up his wound easily with no problems. She kept his right arm in a sling to prevent unnecessary movements that could rip out his stitches.
• I checked on him a few times and found my sister staying with him as he was resting in his bed the remainder of the day.
• Keeping the town in complete lockdown and not allowing anyone from entering or leaving the town, prevented news about this scandal to reach the local news of Alaska, thank god.
• But I was certain the battle was heard through many nearby towns; including Alcan, where Mel was staying in her father’s house.
• I had to physically restrain myself from calling her. She wanted space and I was willing to give it to her as long as it means that she was coming back to me eventually.
• It still didn’t lessen the sting of her refusal and hesitation to stand by me during my hardest days. What stung more, was that despite knowing that there was a brutal fight taking place here, she didn’t bother to check if I made it out alive or not.
• I let out a heavy sigh for the hundredth time.
• We can’t afford to go into another fight like this, for so many reasons.
• Peaceful compromise was the only way out of this.
• I was willing to accept and negotiate peace now that Patrick was dead, but the other side was a complete chaos.
• Jack Walker had little control over his clan, he clearly wasn’t fit to lead like his brother was. His little brat of a son had no sense of leadership whatsoever, and his lack of concern for his own people’s lives and disregard of any human decency was apparent.
• My thoughts get interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone.
• I went over to the bed where I tossed it a while ago, and looked at the caller’s name.
• Finally!
• It was Melanie at last.
• “Hello” I answered tightly.
• “Hey, are you ok?” she asked in concern.
• I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know whether to show her how mad I am at her and scorn her for not picking up the phone earlier to check on me, or for not sticking by my side from the start, or for blaming me for being forced to fight with the clan that defended my father’s killer.
• In short, I was disappointed in her. I never thought I’d feel this way towards her no matter what transpired between us, but I found myself unable to stop the disappointment and contempt from seeping into my voice as I answered her “Nice of you to finally call and check on me Mel. For a minute it felt like you didn’t care if I lived or died out there”
• Silence stretches between us for a while before she speaks in a heart broken tone.
• “Alex…I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly please”
• “Sure” I said hesitantly.
• “If I asked you to come with me, somewhere far away from here and leave this dangerous life behind you. Will you do it for me? Will you give it all up for a lifetime of happiness, love, and safety by my side?”
• I didn’t like the turn this conversation was taking.
• “Mel….I was honest with you about everything from the second we met. I didn’t hide anything or lie about what me and my family do for a living, and despite all that you promised to stay by my side, you said my life is your life, my town is your town. You know how much this town means to me, how much my family mean to me, I can never turn my back on them and run away from my responsibilities and duties towards them. I have so many people depending on me and I can never let them down. That’s not the way my father raised me”
• “Alex listen, you have no idea how hard this is for me. I love you so much, I need you to know that. But after what happened to your father, I realized that I made a mistake. This life… your life… it’s not for me, your life can never be my life, your town can never be my town. I can’t live every second of my life scared to death that something will happen to you. That you might be taken away from me at any moment. The smuggling, the guns, the blood, the revenge, the constant non stop worry and fear… I don’t want this to become the rest of my life, or yours for that matter. But you will never let go of this, not even for me. That’s why I made my own decision”
• My heart was lurching inside my chest. Is she leaving me? No, she wouldn’t do that. She loves me too much. She would never give up on us that easily, right?
• “What are you saying exactly Mel?” I asked in a small voice while praying in my head. Please say you’re not leaving me, please say you’re not breaking up with me, please.
• “I’m in Fairbanks airport right now with Mia. My plane for London is leaving in half an hour. I’m starting a new life there and there was this tiny small hope inside me that wished you’d leave everything behind and come after me. But unfortunately, it looks like you just made your own decision too”
• I closed my eyes as they started to glisten with tears.
• She was leaving me.
• The pain of that realization hit me worse than a dozen gunshot wounds would.
• I collapsed on the bed as my knees refused to carry me any longer.
• My whole body was shutting down on me.
• I said in agony “So that’s it? Things get difficult and you just pack up and go to another continent Mel? Is that how much you value the love that we have to each other? You don’t even have the guts to speak with me about this in person, you waited till you were at the airport to dump me, with a freaking phone call?”
• I heard her sobbing on the other end as she said in a broken voice “I’m so sorry Alex. I thought our love for each other was stronger too, I really truly believed it was enough to face anything that stands in our way, but turns out I was wrong. Turns out, it probably wasn’t strong enough to begin with. I love you Alex, with all my heart, don’t ever doubt that about me. I love you too much, I’m leaving you, so I don’t have to watch you leave me someday instead because that would hurt me a thousand times more than it's hurting me right now. Take care of yourself”
• She hung up the phone before I could say anything else.
• And what else was there to even say?
• She left me. My angel has left me.
• I envisioned my life with her for the past four months since we met, I envisioned us together in this room, her sleeping in my arms, whispering my name and smiling wildly at me as I showered her with my love. I even envisioned our children, two boys and two girls.
• But all that just evaporated into thin air.
• ‘Our love wasn’t strong enough’ oh my love was strong Mel, it was fucking strong. It was you who backed off and got scared at the first sign of danger.
• I kept tossing in bed for the next few hours, trying to keep myself together despite the tremendous amount of pain my heart was suffering from. It felt like it was bleeding. Her leaving me at the hardest moments of my life felt like she took a knife and literally stabbed my heart multiple times with it.
• I really thought she was my soul mate.
• How will I ever find it in me to love again? To trust someone else with my whole heart again, only for her to leave me too?
• Never again.
• This pain I’m feeling right now can never be felt again.
• This heart was branded with Melanie’s name and her name only.
• Even if mine wasn’t branded on hers.
• I would never be able to give it to someone else again.