All Chapters of To Mend A Broken Heart : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1: In the Wrong Place, With the Wrong Knife

Dana’s POV“I swear… I didn’t do it! I just walked into the room now!” I said aloud, trying to regain balance in my voice.“Put the weapon down.”“I said, put the f**king weapon down!”I look at my right hand. The room reeked of it—copper and iron, thick and metallic, mixing with the stale scent of spilled wine and the sour tang of overturned takeout on the carpet. The overhead light buzzed faintly, casting a cold, yellow glare over everything. Jade lay crumpled on the floor by the coffee table, her silk blouse torn at the shoulder and soaked dark with blood. Her skin was pale, almost waxy under the harsh light, lips parted like she’d tried to say something and never finished. Her eyes were half-lidded, glassy, staring at nothing. A smear of red trailed from her fingers across the hardwood, ending at the knife I was holding. Knife. Blood—wet and tacky—coated my fingers and ran in a thin line down my wrist, still warm against my skin. Jade’s on the floor. “New York Police De

Chapter 2: The Three Years They Stole From Me

Dana’s POV“Dana.” Her voice is thin through the receiver and cracked, like it’s been sitting unused too long. “Baby.” I swallow hard. “Mom.” The Rikers visitation room smells like bleach and burnt coffee and the cheap soap they make us use. Rows of booths made out of glass line the wall with metal stools bolted to the floor, and phones with cords too short to reach your lap. My mom, Ruth Sosa, sits on the other side. She looks older than three years should make anyone. Hair grayer at the temples. Coat too big, like she bought it at a thrift store and it still swallows her. Her hands visibly tremble around the handset. I sit and pick up the phone. The plastic is warm from whoever used it before me. She touches the glass with her palm first, I place mine afterwards to match hers. For a second neither of us speaks like there was nothing to say. Like always… Then she does. “Dana, I’m sorry. I tried to keep it–” “Keep what, Mom?” I cut her off before she could continue

Chapter 3: Freed From the Devil I Know

Dana’s POV“Hey, Ms. Sosa!” The female correction officer’s voice came sharply. “Somebody bailed your ass out. Let’s go.”It was just a regular day after visiting hours. I was in my cell, still turning over what my mom had told me, when her baton clicked against the bars.The news hit me. I definitely wasn’t expecting anything like this anytime soon.“Ms. Dana Sosa, you made bail.”“What?”“Bail was posted an hour ago. You're being released. Let’s go.”I didn’t move. What kind of person walks into a prison on a Monday afternoon and decides to bail out a total stranger? I scoffed.“By who, if I may ask?” The female correction officer finally glanced up, her expression flat. “I don’t know. But all I know is that they’re waiting in the lobby. They asked to meet you before you leave.” “I don’t know anyone with that kind of money.” “Not my problem. You want to be out or not?” I looked around to see if I was the one she was talking to or if there was someone else. “You can refuse

Chapter 4: My Ex’s Enemy

Dana’s POV“What the hell are you doing here?”He didn’t answer. He pushed a black folder across the metal table. “Sit.”As I made to move back to the door, three armed men came out from the shadows. They were obviously his men. “I’m fine standing.”“Suit yourself. But the bail clock’s ticking. Once you’re logged as released, my offer expires.”“Offer?”I stepped forward. I didn’t sit. “You think Mateo sent me here and I know that he's the reason you are behind bars. Either way, you want out of Rikers and I want him to suffer. Let’s use each other.”I laughed, brought out the chair that was offered to me before and sat down. “You want to use me to get back at Mateo?”Now we are talking business. “I want to watch his face when he sees you.” He leaned back. “Two million dollars says you’re curious enough to hear how.”Two million to get me bailed?Is that how high Mateo placed my bail?“You bailed me out.”“Yes.”“Why?”“Because my father cut my inheritance three years ago. Mateo advi

Chapter 5: Hello, Heartbreaker

Dana’s POVI was at the door, ready to leave, but then remembered that we weren't done.“Regret already?” he says. I looked at Remy dead in the eyes before dropping back into the chair across from him.“No.” I slide the signed contract back. “Terms are set. You get your proof of life on Jade by tonight, or I walk.”His mouth twitches. Not quite a smile. “You’ll get it.” One of the armed men opens the door. The hallway light cuts across Remy’s face. For a second he looks like Mateo. He has the same jaw, but different eyes. They were colder. “Driver’s waiting,” Remy says. “Monday. 8 AM. Tovar Group. Don’t be late.” I stood up sharply. “I won’t.”I waited for a few seconds before walking out into the hallway. The hallway is still empty. The female CO is gone. A different guard, male, bored, buzzes me through three more doors without a word. Then I’m outside. Air hits me.Real air.It’s October in New York. It bites. A black SUV idles at the curb, tinted windows and its engine runn

Chapter 6: First Day In Hell

Dana’s POV“Miss me?”The words slip out before my brain catches up, and I almost groan. Way to start day one in hell with a loaded grenade.Mateo doesn’t answer right away. He just stands there in the hallway, shocked, like I slap him with a memory he pays good money to bury.His eyes do the things they used to do. The thing that used to make me feel like I am the only person in a room of a hundred.Mateo walks in like he owns the air, suit tailored to kill, charcoal fabric hugging him like it knows better than to wrinkle. His collar is undone one notch, just enough to make me hate that I notice the line of his throat.Gosh.He smells like cedar and control, the kind of scent that sticks to my memory even when I try to scrub him out. Those gray eyes… They tempt me. They dissect me until I feel naked and furious about it.And God help me, the worst part is I still remember exactly how it feels to be the only person he looks at like that.“It’s all a pretense,” I mutter to myself, r

Chapter 7: Stay

Mateo POVI slam the door to my office and it actually echoes. Stupid. I don’t slam my doors on a normal. And I try not to throw things or lose control. But right now my hands are shaking and it’s not from the board meeting. It’s from her. Dana. Dana Sosa. Sitting outside my office like she never left. Like three years didn’t happen. Like she didn’t walk out of my life leaving an intimate photo of her with my business rival, Ryan Fox in my inbox as proof of her not being faithful. “Did you miss me?” I hear it again. I want to break something. I want to call security and have her escorted out. I want to hear her say it was all a lie. Mostly I want to know why I can’t stop looking at her.I grab my phone from the desk.“Remy. My office. Now.”He’s here in four minutes. He always moves fast when it’s about fucking with me. The door opens and he doesn’t even knock. “Evening, brother,” he says. Acting nonchalant. “You look like you swallowed glass.”“Did you think this would be

Chapter 8: Coffee Only

Dana POVI practically woke up around midnight last night and found out that I was still in my office.I woke up with a crick in my neck and the smell of cedar and cologne.Mateo’s jacket.It was draped over me, heavy and warm. I sit up fast, heart kicking. The office… infact the entire building is empty, lights dimmed to night mode. My laptop’s still open, screen glowing on the files scattered on my desk.I quickly tugged the jacket off like a reflex action. Maybe it was out of disgust and folded it.Before leaving the office to my apartment. “This morning is definitely going to be stressful.” I say, rubbing the back of my neck.Mateo has already made it worse by calling an emergency four o’clock executive alignment meeting. I really don't know how he expects everyone to adjusts their schedules because of him. So dumb.I arrive at three fifty eight with my tablet balanced against my hip and my notes arranged in color coded sections. Red for risks, blue for numbers, black for legal

Chapter 9: Shut The Fuck Up

Dana’s POVRyan Fox.The name sure did hit my bloodstream like ice and fire at the same time.He turns his head fully now. He's wearing a navy suit, his broad shoulders accentuated. His hair is slicked back, just the way he likes it, with the only difference being that there’s now silver at his temples. His gaze drops from up to down… in shock. With his s eyes widened.“Dana?”“Ryan,” I say, trying to keep my cool. But inside, my pulse is hammering against my ribs.He steps forward. The elevator doors slide shut behind me. The soft *ding* sounds final. The space between us shrinks from five feet to three.A close look at him will reveal that there’s a scar above his left eyebrow.“You cut your hair?” he says, smirking. Which makes his left eyebrow arch. He is still approaching me while I involuntarily move back… towards the elevator wall.A soft reminder. I don’t know but I find my hands moving up to feel the nape of my hair, before I remove it.Ryan noticed in three seconds.“Yeah,

Chapter 10: Ghosts in the Server

Dana POVMy bedroom smells like old laundry and of some cheap lavender spray. I’m in my pink pajamas that don’t fit right anymore… not in the way you think. It's actually too big. I have slept in it too many nights in a row. It's frayed at the hem, from where I do yank at them when I can’t sleep. My duvet is twisted around my legs like I’ve been fighting it and my hair’s a mess. My eyes feel like sandpaper.Eish. With my phone in hand, my mind is contemplating on if i should call the one contact I haven’t called in a very long time. Eli Morales. He is an IT contractor. And one of Remy’s guys, but he doesn’t know I’m part of Remy’s problem. I just hit the call button before I can overthink it. The sound of my ringtone feels too loud in my quiet apartment. “Eli?” I say when he picks up, with my voice as low as possible. “It’s Dana Sosa, Remy’s friend.”“Dana?” From his end… I can probably sense tiredness in his voice. It sounds like he’s been awake since yesterday. “Yeah. I got th

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP