Broken

[TelephotoMarigold]

KitKat1992 - thats ok! Hope Uni gets easier! - Tele

Saraz - James wife hasn't been mentioned by name! She doesn't come form Summer Bay!! - Tele

Scotcaz22 - you still out there?? - Tele

Hope you all enjoy this chapter

Chapter 130

Ella looked up in shock at the person walking into the nursery.

“What is the matter? You didn’t think he could do this alone did you? All this time you had a spy inside your house and you didn’t know.” Martha murmured.

“You bitch.” Ella gasped out standing up and walking over to the cot. She placed her daughter down carefully before turning and looking at the other woman. “You had Marcus spy on us? You used a little innocent boy? So the cancer was faked?”

Martha smiled looking smug.

“Knew what buttons to press.” She said softly.

“You want to know something else.” Ella said slowly keeping all emotion out of her voice.

“Oh do tell.” Martha drawled.

Ella spun around and walked across the nursery and over to Martha slapping her hard around her face.

“I’m really pissed off.” Ella said.

Martha cried out and lifted her hand to slap Ella back when she felt a hit to her stomach bur before she had time to react to that, Ella had swung her leg around sweeping out Martha’s legs from underneath her. She watched as the woman collapsed on her back to the wooden boards of the nursery floor.

“Bitch.” Martha ground out trying to get upright.

“I suggest you stay down.” Ella said breathing heavily. “I’ve owed you that slap for the longest time.”

“Bravo.” William said from the doorway. He was clapping his hands in time to a slow beat. “Looks like they were right about you Mrs Roman Harris. Did you know there is an army file on you?”

Ella sucked in a breath and looked at the odious man. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at them both as William walked over to Martha and helped her up.

“Did you not wonder how we could rig the park i8n the city and start the Diner fire here in Summer Bay at the same time?” William asked her.

“I had such fun watching you at Christmas. You were so happy with Roman that I had to do something to throw you off balance.” Martha said slowly. “So I texted William and by co-incidence one of your brats was ill.”

“You should have left him then.” William smiled at Ella as he spoke. “Would have save you this.” He added gesturing around the nursery.

Ella looked at the pair of them before she moved over to the cot and stood in front of it.

“So you’ve been so clever.” She murmured addressing Martha. “But you will never get Roman.”

“I don’t want him.”

“That isn’t what you were saying not so long ago.” Ella said quietly. “Telling me he was the love of your life and how you had never got over him.”

She saw William’s eyes flicker as he absorbed the information and tried not to let her triumph show on her face.

“Don’t be so ridiculous.” Martha snapped. “Jack was the love of my life. Roman was merely someone I slept with.”

“Didn’t stop you trying to split us up on so many occasions.” Ella snapped, pretending to get mad at the other woman.

Martha shook her head before looking at William.

“We should go.” She told him.

“Go? But this is so interesting.” William murmured shooting a look at Martha before looking back at Ella.

“Did she tell you that she was pregnant with his child?” Ella muttered glaring at Martha.

“William.” Martha cried out.

“You didn’t tell me that little fact.” He said slowly glancing at her.

Ella nodded hiding her satisfaction. Rule number one, throw the enemy off guard – done.

“Because it wasn’t important.” Martha dismissed.

“It wasn’t important to mention that you were going to have his child?” Ella remarked. “Would have thought that was something to mention.”

William looked at the two women before striding over to Ella.

“Do you want to know what we have planned now?” he asked.

“Unless it’s dinner, probably not.” Ella muttered. “And I should point out that the babies will need feeding soon.”

“Someone will be in later.” William dismissed the babies with a nonchalant wave of his hand and Ella could feel her blood boiling at his dismissal of her beautiful children. She blessed that Fleur had been ill and escaped him and made a promise to August to give her extra love to make up for it.

“No, now we are going to give your Roman a little call and tell him the ransom we want for you.” William said with a savage smile. ”Perhaps you’d like to talk to him yourself?”

Ella shook her head.

“Not to be part of your sick games.” She said slowly.

Martha glanced at her before she looked at William.

“Why don’t you tell her what the ransom is?” she suggested to him.

William smiled at Ella giving her his cold evil smile.

“You wouldn’t give me one child to get your baby back but what about your husband? Would he give me Meggy to get you and the two babies back?” William asked her.

Ella gave a little gasp.

“Meggy isn’t Gardy’s child.” She bit out. “How deluded are you?”

Martha smiled a triumphant little smile as she looked Ella up and down.

“Do you deny she was born 9 months after the attack?” she asked her.

“Of course I don’t. But hey, Gardy could barely get it up as opposed to making love to my husband twice.” Ella snapped out. “The truth is Meggy was already growing inside me when Gardy kidnapped me.”

“Can you prove that?” William asked.

Ella lifted her chin defiantly and looked at the pair of them.

“We did a DNA test when she was born.” Ella admitted.

“Not the only baby you did a DNA test on.” William commented looking her in the eye.

Ella forced herself not to react and met his gaze.

“Looks like you manage to get around.” Martha added.

“I can count the men I’ve been with on one hand but you’d need a calculator.” Ella shot back hiding a grin as her point got across.

“We should leave her with her brats.” Martha said with an acid note to her voice.

William looked at Martha before shooting another poisonous look at Ella. He glanced at the babies before he walked out of the room. Martha followed him making sure the door was locked behind her. Ella groaned and sank down to the floor. She knew that Roman wouldn’t give up Meggy to get them back, or would he?

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 131

Roman looked at his phone and read the text. He groaned and glanced at Jacko.

“From the Mrs?” Jacko asked quietly easing over to stand next to the other man.

“Nope.” Roman said quickly. He showed Jacko his phone and frowned when the other man grinned at him. “And how is this funny?” he asked quickly.

“Number one, you obviously don’t know how alike your Meggy is to your Mrs. A couple of hours with her and he’d be begging you to take her back.” Jacko said softly.

“Is there a second thing Sgt?” Roman drawled.

“Oh yeah, your face when you confess to Ella that you considered the swap for like two seconds and well the bruises you’ll have later.”

Mike moved over to them crouching low.

“Any reason we’ve seemed to have halted here?” he asked easing up and checking around before crouching back low.

“New text.” Jacko told him.

Roman glared at Jacko before he passed his phone to Mike, watching as his son giggled before handing his phone back.

“God, that would be good.” Mike murmured.

Roman rolled his eyes.

“How would it be good?” he was forced to ask.

“Meggy?” Mike said. “Seriously? Like you haven’t lived with the spawn of Satan and half sister to Nicole?”

Roman growled.

“That is my daughter you are talking about.” He muttered feeling a need to defend her.

“Who you called troublemaker at the age of what? Three?” Mike shot back.

“Years?” Jacko asked.

“No, Days.” Roman and Mike said at the same time making Jacko chuckle once more.

“Jinx.” Mike called quietly.

“If you gentlemen are finished.” Came a voice in their earpieces.

“Sorry.” All three of them said together. They looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

“I’m running a raid with a bunch of freaking comedians.” Pete complained to James.

“Now you know how Hardcore felt when he used to team up with us.” James shot back.

Roman tilted his head as he listened to the dialogue taking place over the street in the parked nondescript van before grinning at Mike. He found a strange sense of deja vu running through him and looked over at Jacko.

“Feeling it too.” Jacko said quietly.

“What?” Mike asked. “Oh, my Dad.” He murmured with a nod. “I think if he were here he’d knock you on your arse for getting Mum kidnapped, again.”

“Mike.” Roman said easing up slightly.

“What?” Mike murmured.

“You’re grounded.” Roman told him moving forward towards the house.

Jacko grinned at the expression on Mike’s face before he moved forward himself.

“Ok guys thermal images show two people in room one, the lounge. One person and either two babies or a couple of sleeping cats in room three.” Pete said grinning at James as they heard Roman swear.

“So we in place?” Roman asked quietly.

“Roger.” Jacko said.

“Roger.” Mike echoed.

“Know the plan?” Pete asked them.

“We go in, secure William and rescue the Princess.” Jacko murmured.

“Calling Ella a princess?” Pete queried over a burst of static.

Jacko flushed at the teasing.

“You think we should call her something else?” he asked.

“Good call.” Pete muttered.

“Gentlemen.” Roman bit out. He checked the gun in his hands hating the familiar feel of the smooth metal under his fingertips. He could smell the oil that had been used to clean the gun remembering the smell from long ago. The safety was still on and he felt a twitch in his fingers urging him to click it off. Looking up he saw Mike watching him and nodded at the other man.

“Flash bangs ready.” Mike called out.

Roman glanced at them before putting the blue tooth earpiece in and dialling Ella’s number. It went to voicemail and he left a message before redialling.

“No response.” He said softly watching as Mike and Jacko nodded. “We go on a count of three, confirm.”

“Confirm.”

“Confirm.” Mike echoed.

“Calling Charlie.” James said.

Roman nodded.

“1,2.3.” he called rasing fingers as he counted.

Jacko and Mike stood up and smashed the front window throwing in the two small grenades that emitted a high flash and loud bang designed to confuse and misdirect the enemy. At the same time they went off Roman crashed through the front door. Jacko and then Mike quickly followed him. He heard a high pitched scream and followed the noise remembering the lay out of the house from the plans the website provided. Left, pause and scan before opening the door, pause and scan. He adjusted his eyes to the smoked out room blinking to clear his vision. He saw the outline of a woman crouching down low and frowned knowing that it wasn’t Ella. Striding forward he reached out and caught hold of her arm yanking her to her feet.

“Martha.” He gasped out.

He glanced back at Jacko behind him and nodded.

Jacko took the lead, with him and Mike sweeping the rest of the room.

“Clear.” Jacko called.

“If you are looking for William you are too late.” Martha told them.

Roman looked at Jacko.

“Too late?” he asked.

“He ran out of here the moment those things went off. Knew you were coming.” Martha stuttered.

“Pete James.” Roman murmured.

“Copy.” Pete said. “Thermal shows you and the Princess.”

“Roger.” Roman confirmed the transmission. He glanced at Martha before handing her over to Jacko and moving down the hallway to the room he knew was the nursery. He checked the door before lifting his foot and kicking it in.

“About time.” Ella said before she ran over to him and launched herself into his arms.

“God I love you.” Roman groaned kissing her passionately.

Ella pulled back and looked at him narrowing her eyes.

“He got away didn’t he?” she muttered.

Roman heard Pete laughing in his ear and knew the other man had heard Ella’s comment.

“We’ll get him.” Roman said slowly. “Ouch.” He added rubbing at a spot on his ribs.

“Help me with them.” she said pointing to the children. “And did you get my car out of the ditch?”

She moved over to her handbag and picked it up hooking the strap over her shoulder before she handed Roman the babies bag. He looked at it with a moue of distaste before putting the strap over his shoulder and flattening it to his side.

“Jacko says one word.” He promised himself looking at the pink bag with cartoons on next to his black camouflage pants.

Ella gave him a look and he frowned before holstering his gun.

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly.

“This is August.” Ella introduced him to his daughter smiling as he looked down at her with a suitably gooey expression on his face as he lifted her into his arms.

“God.” He said softly holding her tight. “How am I going to tell them apart?” he asked meeting Ella’s gaze.

She smiled at him before picking up Fleur and walking out with her.

“Ella?” Roman asked following her.

Ella grinned at Fleur and chuckled when Fleur smiled back at her.

“Shush, it’s our secret.” She whispered to her baby.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 132

Charlie approached them cautiously.

“Mind telling me what you did Roman?” she asked.

“We came to find Ella.” He murmured with a glance at the others. “We heard suspicious noises coming from inside and believed that she was in imminent danger so we decided to enter the house before you could get here.” He added trying his best to sound innocent. “William got away.” He muttered bluntly a fierce expression crossing his face.

“You have a permit to carry.” She said with a pointed glance at the gun holstered at his side.

“With the kids I have, you bet.” He grinned and flinched when he felt Ella hit the back of his head. “Hey, that’s twice.” He muttered frowning at her.

“We found August.” Ella told Charlie.

Charlie smiled at her.

“So I see.” She murmured looking at the two bundles in their arms. “We need to do a DNA test.”

Ella nodded.

“About that.” She said giving Charlie a happy smile. She lowered Fleur so Charlie could see her face and nudging Roman so that he did likewise.

“Identical?” Charlie asked.

Ella nodded.

“Ok then.” Charlie chuckled giving Roman a look.

“Ok, what is with that look?” he muttered glaring at Ella. “Since they found out they are identical they have all given me a look.”

Ella smiled at him.

“Nothing dear.” Ella said before looking serious once more. “Martha.” She muttered.

“What about Martha?” Charlie asked looking at Roman. She was remembering their past history at that moment and the way Martha had come between them on many occasions.

“She was in league with William.” Roman said softy.

Ella nodded hiding the curiosity that went through her at that moment when she saw the looks that passed between Charlie and her husband. She felt a jolt of jealousy go through her and tried to bank it down focusing instead on her daughter and not the emotion shooting through her.

“Mum.” Mike murmured walking over to them from the van. He was holding a couple of capsules to out the babies in.

“Mike, thanks.” Ella said.

He placed one on the floor before holding the other one so she could place Fleur in there, her daughter protesting slightly. She took the capsule from him and watched as he did the same for their other daughter smiling down at August.

“We should get you to the hospital for a check up.” Mike said continuing to hold on to the capsule.

“I’m fine but yeah, we should get August checked out. Maybe get Rachel over.”

Roman shook his head.

“Sorry. Hospital. Remember that Aden is on holiday.” Roman said earning another frown from Ella. He looked over at the house before glancing back at Ella, shooting a look at Mike.

“Give me the baby and I’ll put them in the car.” Mike said slowly picking up on the vibe that Roman was sending out. He took the two babies and walked away to the car.

“Where is Martha?” Charlie asked.

Roman pointed to the house.

“Jacko is keeping her company.” He told her.

Charlie nodded and turned to speak to her constable before they moved across the road heading for the house.

Roman looked around before he stepped closer to Ella. He grazed his knuckles down her cheek frowning at the mullti-coloured bruises on her face.

“El.” He whispered.

She met his gaze and frowned before knocking his hand away.

“No.” she told him a note of anger in her voice.

“El.” He said again.

“You think I would have let him do that to me?” she gasped out.

“It’s not a case of letting him is it?” Roman asked. “If you ….”

“I don’t need the hospital.” Ella snapped at him.

She turned to move away from him when she felt something hit her in the chest. She looked down and saw scarlet marking her top before her legs gave out and she began to collapse to the hard road.

“Hardcore.” Jacko shouted out running towards them from across the road.

Roman frowned before he felt the tearing of the high velocity bullet enter his body. He looked down puzzled at the growing stain on his top and then felt his legs wobble under the combined weight of him and Ella and tried to force himself to stay upright. The second bullet flung him on to the road next to the crumpled form of his wife. She looked like a fallen doll and a laugh bubbled up through his chest before he coughed. Frowning he looked at the sky above them and then his eyes drifted closed. He heard people running towards them and groaned. Then there was darkness.

The End.

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