54. Picking up the broken pieces

Blood oozed from the wound in thick and crimson rivulets. Renata Ortega's widened gaze remaining trained on her son's form. Utter shock and disbelief rendering her body frozen. He...shot her. He just shot her. His own mother.

Several seconds passed like that. Wrapped up in grave silence. Until Derek's tormented gaze met hers, staring up at her with nothing but rage, hurt and desperation as he roughly uttered,

"Go."

She blinked. Failing to process what he'd just told her.

"I said fucking go before I fucking kill you myself, Renata!" He loudly roared at her, firmly holding down under his hulking body their restlessly thrashing son.

"Let me go! Let me fucking end her!" Julian grunted from beneath him, her body startling at the sound of his tangible anger.

She winced, slapping a hand over her injured shoulder. And with one last look at her former love and son she turned and ran away, disappearing past the salon's wide open doors.

**

Lydia's body was still shaking so violently, even though the room's temperature was quite warm. She could still feel those small tears trailing down her cheeks, her body tormented by sobs and hiccups that kept wracking throughout her as she watched the scene before her, unblinking.

Det. Hale took a firm hold of Julian's arm, helping him get up to his feet. Their gazes instantly met and she couldn't help but let out a small and tortured whimper, so shaken by what just happened. She only wanted to run and nestle herself in between his arms, but she knew that that wasn't possible. Not anymore. She was very much aware that he hated her now. He definitely must've, seeing as she was the very reason why he'd almost killed his own mother tonight. The very reason why all this happened. Why he was publicly humiliated by those two horrible males tonight, the reason why he was constantly getting into trouble these days. It was all her. Her fault. And it pained her so much. It hurt her very soul, knowing that she did all that to him.

Mike was right. She was stupid and useless. Just a nuisance.

She watched between tears how det. Hale immediately took a firm hold of Julian's jaw, forcing him to avert his gaze to him as he roughly instructed,

"Go before anyone else sees you here,"

He roamed into his dress pants' pockets, producing a set of keys before he slammed them against his chest, forcing him to take them.

"Go and take a fucking breather. Smash some windows, I don't fucking care what you do, but don't you fucking dare follow her. If I find out that you did I'll fucking throw you in a cell myself, you hear me?" He growled in his face, lightly shaking him.

Julian only nodded in reply, his tortured gaze flitting in her direction for one last time before he turned and ran away.

She continued to stand there, trembling like a deer caught in the headlights as that violent state of shock was still refusing to let her go, passingly noticing that Lucy was still there, on the wooden platform, holding a still unconscious Connie in between her arms as she softly cried.

She was about to approach her when her own mother suddenly stepped into her line of vision, blatant disgust marring her features as she spat out at her,

"Don't even bother coming back home,"

Lydia's eyes rounded with fear and hopelessness, slapping her hands over her mouth to muffle those louder sobs as she could only stare back at her mother with utter disbelief.

She was...kicking her out?

"No child of mine would ever dare embarrass me like this," the woman continued with disdain, making her cry even harder.

"You have dragged our name through the mud and for what, just so that you could whore yourself out to that filthy criminal?"

She violently flinched at her mother's cruel words and tone, watching as det. Hale suddenly approached them at the sound of that.

"You better watch your words, lady. That's my son you are talking about," he warned with a pointed finger, earning the woman's cold and disgusted look. She didn't utter anything in reply though, her gaze averting back to her daughter as she bluntly informed her,

"I will send your belongings to Connie's. Consider this a last act of goodwill from our part,"

And with that she turned and left, leaving Lydia to stand there all alone as she continued to cry her heart out. She was devastated. There was nowhere she could go now, no one she could run to for help. She had no real friends, no boyfriend and now her parents had also kicked her out of the house. She felt so utterly alone and deserted. What was she going to do now? Where could she go? She had no money, no car, no nothing. And she was all alone now. She was on her own now, and she had no idea what she was going to do next.

Those hot tears kept falling, and she casually noticed det. Hale carefully approaching her, a concerned look displaying on his features as he let his gaze roam over hers.

He then shrugged his suit jacket off of his broad shoulders and draped it over hers, the garment engulfing her much smaller frame almost completely.

"Thank you," she timidly whispered with a sniffle, earning herself a small and rather saddened smile in return.

Soon, the spacious salon was filled with police officers and paramedics milling about and det. Hale approached her again, gently touching the small of her back as he whispered to her,

"Stick with me. Just nod to everything I say and we'll be out of here in no time, okay?"

She obediently did just that and right after, two police officers approached them, proceeding to question them.

She remained silent as det. Hale started to tell them a completely different story, one where Julian had left much earlier than he actually did and he was the one who'd shot those two fires, saying that there was a dangerous suspect lurking in the area and he was only trying to scare them away, hence the droplets of blood staining the lush carpet just a few steps away from where they stood. The police officers blindly ate up everything that he said, the girl lastly realizing that they actually knew each other as right after questioning them they started to relaxedly converse like old friends.

They tried to ask her some questions at some point, but det. Hale immediately intervened, explaining to them that she was still too shaken by the whole ordeal and he would personally escort her to the precinct to give her statement once she was feeling better. They accepted that without any complaints and soon, the spacious salon was emptying once again, the girl running to the main entrance of the building as she watched the paramedics cart Connie away, along with her crying daughter.

She stepped outside after them, watching as they climbed Connie into an ambulance, quickly followed by a visibly shaken Lucy. The ambulance then drove away but she remained standing on those steps, broken and desolated as she stared off into the distance.

But that big and warm hand gingerly touching her shoulder had her blinking those small tears away, curiously peering up at det. Hale as he stood by her side.

"Come on, kid. Looks like you're crashing at my place tonight,"

**

He patiently waited for her to gather all her things from the Athenaeum's changing area and soon after that, they were riding into a taxi, seeing as he'd given the keys to his car to Julian.

They sat in silence side by side for the entire ride, the male stealthily throwing her worried glances from time to time.

He didn't say anything though and soon, the cab was already pulling over in front of a nice-looking victorian house.

Lydia pushed the cab door open and stepped out, blushing a little as she heard Julian's father converse with the taxi driver about the payment. She was already feeling so embarrassed. She had no money, no means to repay him. But she wasn't in the position where she could refuse this kindness either, seeing as she had nowhere else to go.

So she grabbed her duffel bag from the trunk and then stood there, on the sidewalk, head hanging low with shame as she waited for him to lead the way.

"Come on, kid," he said as he approached her, gently touching her arm with the palm of his hand before he started to walk towards the front door.

She quietly followed him like a lost little duckling, his much-too-large suit jacket still hanging over her slender shoulders, making her look like a kid that had stolen her father's clothing. Her high heels audibly clacked over the stone path as she walked, and then over the wooden deck, the girl only now realizing how bad her feet were actually aching. Her body was now slowly coming down from that seizing shock and she was slowly, but surely starting to feel the after-effects.

Det. Hale unlocked and then pushed the door open, stepping inside and she followed, casually gazing around. His home looked so nice and inviting, in spite of those few objects and clothes haphazardly scattered around. And actually lived in, unlike her- her parents'.

There were so many pictures scattered on the walls, pictures of him and Julian at different ages, and also several pictures of a couple who appeared to share his features. Det. Hale's parents. Julian's grandparents. There were few pictures of other people as well, people that she assumed to be his family. And they all looked so...happy, she couldn't help but notice. They had genuine smiles on their faces. And they appeared to be doing fun stuff in those moments when the pictures had been taken. Having a barbecue, playing in the pool, opening Christmas presents. Things that she'd actually never gotten to do with her parents whilst growing up, seeing as they were always away whenever it mattered. Always busy with their hectic schedules. Always at work. Always travelling. She could consider herself lucky that they'd even attended few of her recitals throughout the years.

"You can take those nasty things off if you like," det. Hale suggested and she blinked, quickly realizing that he was talking about her high-heels as he was already pointing to her feet.

She didn't wait to be told a second time, hastily shrugging them off. She couldn't stop that audible sigh that escaped her as soon as her bare feet touched the plushy cream-coloured carpet that appeared to be covering most of the floor in his house, consciously placing the painful contraptions aside next to a shoe cabinet. She then rushed to follow him through the house, barely having the chance to look around as he went straight for the stairs.

The wooden steps creaked a little under his impressive weight, the girl dutifully following him as they climbed to the first and only floor of the house, walking down the narrow corridor before he proceeded to open a door for her.

She timidly walked inside after an uncertain glance up at him, evident surprise gripping at her as she looked around. The bedroom looked like a boy's room. A teenage boy's, to be more specific.

There was a double bed pushed up against the opposite wall with dark-coloured bedding and two similar-shaded nightstands, a desk to her right that sat in front of a window, the desk filled with various figurines, comic magazines and random doodles scattered around a sleek black PC monitor. A large dresser that sat against the wall to the left, right next to a door that probably led to the bedroom's en-suite.

"This was Julian's bedroom," she suddenly heard det. Hale say, startling her out of her brief inspection.

"It still is, actually. He crashes here from time to time, whenever it suits him," She watched him say with a shrug, the girl giving out but a small and meek nod.

"You can take whatever you need from here, I'm sure he won't mind," he offered her a candid smile and she only nodded again in return, her throat though lodging up again as she couldn't help but reminisce that look in his eyes after his mother had greeted her.

Mind? She was willing to bet that he didn't even want to see her anymore. And that thought actually hurt her so much that she couldn't stop those few tears that immediately started to run down her face again, her chin dipping as she fought to contain herself and stop crying. She was such a mess and this kind man had already done so much for her. She didn't want to make him feel any more uncomfortable with her incessant and childish crying.

"Hey, it's okay, sweetheart," he gently said, carefully approaching her before he gave her an uneasy smile and a rather awkward pat on the shoulder. She couldn't help but cry even harder at the sound of that term of endearment. The very same that Julian had used so many times before.

"You're safe here, I promise. And you can stay for as long as you need," he rushed to add, the girl only squeaking out a small "thank you" in return.

She continued to meekly sniffle and sob like that for another few moments, the poor male growing more and more uncomfortable as he obviously had no idea how to comfort her. He'd raised a boy after all, and boys usually didn't need any consolation. Not to mention that he'd never even been married before, hence his lack of knowledge in this certain area. What could he do? He was too afraid to even touch her, seeing as she appeared to be so small and frail. And he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable either. So he settled on making his hasty exit instead, eager to get away from there as fast as possible.

"Right. I'll leave you to it then," he said, offering her another tight-lipped smile.

"You can change or whatever you wanna do, I'll go and prepare dinner in the meantime, if you'd like something to eat before going to bed, of course," he uneasily suggested and she quickly nodded, squeaking out another tortured "thank you".