Chapter 1 | A Broken Promise

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CHAPTER 1 A BROKEN PROMISE They sat together on the beach, the fall off from the waves meeting their feet. She rests her head against his shoulder; her arms wrapped tightly around his arm as together in the distance they watch the sunset in the west. A moment he wishes would never end. Alone, just him and her in a tropical paradise. All the problems in some other place far, far away from here, from them. She’d be safe here. They could live happily ever after here. Raise a family together and grow old together, die together. Just live a perfect life. He turns, tilting his head as he left a kiss on the top of her head, as his hand ran over the engagement ring he had placed on her finger only a few days prior. Her head shifts and she looks up with her beautiful green eyes, and a smile that brought a feeling of happiness to him, a joy he had never felt in his life. He had only known her for half a year, but she had become the love of his life. She was different than anybody he had ever met. She was beautiful and kind and was the type of women that just made him want to live, live for more. Be the best man he possibly could be. “What are you thinking about?” She said removing one of her arms from his and touching his face gently. He smiles, “you.” “And exactly what are you thinking about?” She asks gazing into his eyes as if she was trying to search into his soul. “How you are the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and how in the hell did I get ever got so lucky to meet you.” She blushes at his words and wraps herself around him and gave him the tightest hug, a hug like it very well could have been the last hug she had ever given him. “I’ll never let anything happen to you; you are my everything. You know that right? I do anything for you.” He tightens his arms around her, kissing the back of her neck. Her grip on him loosens. “I wish those words true,” she said with much sorrow in her words. “What?” “Ryan. You said you never let anything happen to me, but, but you killed me.” He moves back startled by her words, pushing her away so that he could see her, but everything had changed. The world was burning around them. Those green eyes were dark and empty, and she didn’t smile anymore. Her lips were cold; her body had gone pale she was nothing more than just a corpse. He fell back onto his elbows, as his eyes search over her body which had become full of bullet holes, blood draining from every opening. “No.” She rises to her feet, her entire body shaking as she slowly points towards him, holding something in her hand that he couldn’t make out as he began to back away from; this, whoever it was, but he knew it wasn’t her, it couldn’t be her. His María. She stalks towards him. He kept backing up, too in shock just to stand up and run as in this moment he felt only fear as the back of his head hit a wall. She stood over him, and he could see what she held in her hand. It was a gun, maybe the same weapon that had taken her life from him. “YOU KILLED ME!” BOOM! BOOM! "WAKE UP!" He sat up in bed as sweat drips from his body. His heart pounds at an uncomfortable rate as he tries to catch his breath. It was only a dream, but every time it felt so real to him, did she, Maria think he had killed her? She must have known he’d never hurt her; he would have never done anything to jeopardize her life. Maria was his life, his reason to live. She knew that. Spyder had killed her; he was the one that interferes and started the events that had led to her unfortunate death. It was him. The thought of Spyder brought anger to him as he whips the blankets off and spun in his bed and placed his feet on the floor. He grabs two pills off his nightstand and popped them into his mouth before grabbing a glass that was a quarter full of vodka. He slammed it back as the door to his condo flew open. “Go figure. So what, don’t know how to answer your door now. I’ve been knocking for over five minutes.” Alyssa said walking in with a bag full of groceries in her arms as she kicks the door shut behind her. He places the glass down as she drops the bag of groceries on the table. She walks over and grabs the glass off his nightstand. “It’s water.” He said watching her as she brought the glass to her nose and took in the scent. She hates that smell, a reminder of her mother. “Ryan.” She responds with much disappointment in her voice. She walks over to the sink and dumps what remains in the glass down the drain and places the glass in the sink. She opens the blinds letting in a little bit of light into the small loft condo. She had found Ryan after everything that had happened in Japan, and Mexico. She had always found him when he was hurt. She was his little sister but more filled the role of the bigger sister. Always looking out for him, always there to take care of him when goings got rough in his life. Sometimes though, he had just wished she’d go away and leave him alone and stop worrying about him. Live her life and forget about him because the path he was on, there was no happy ending. The only conclusion to his story would only bring her sadness, and she didn’t deserve that. She was a good person one of the few left in this sick world. “You wouldn’t believe what I heard last night when I was out with Julia.” She said walking back over to the grocery bag she had brought in with her. “Her friend, who is big into wrestling was talking about this new promotion opening up over in New Jersey. I think she said it was called the factory.” She pulls a carton of milk out of the bag and just stares at him. “Never heard of it,” he replied walking towards the bathroom. “No?” “Nope.” He disappears into the bathroom as she turns and opens the fridge and places the milk inside. “Really?” She let out a laugh, “well that’s funny because she said that she had heard that my brother Ryan O’Reilly had signed a deal with this wrestling promotion called the Factory just the other day.” He flushes the toilet and steps back out into the room. He makes eye contact with her only for an instant before looking away and heading over to his dresser. He could feel her eyes on him, burning into the back of his head. She was pissed, but she did have every reason to be pissed. Wrestling wasn’t right for him; it had only ever brought harm his way. His father, his flesh, and blood had tried to kill him. He was left for dead in Japan, and in Mexico, the love of his life was murder, and all three happen because of one thing. Wrestling. She walks over to him, putting herself between him and his dresser and looks him in the eyes. “Tell me she heard wrong; that it isn’t true?” He didn’t say anything, and the silence was enough to tell her the answer she didn’t want to hear. “Why Ryan? You told me you were done with wrestling. You promised me.” “I got bored.” “Bored?” “Yeah bored.” He side-steps around her and walks the rest of the way to his dresser where a white t-shirt hung from the top drawer. He pulls it on over his head and walks towards the table with the groceries and reaches into the bag. “That’s bullshit Ryan, and you know it is.” She storms back over to him, ripping the box of cereal he had just taken from the grocery bag out of his hand. “Tell me why?” He shakes his head. He didn’t want to tell her the truth; he didn’t want her to know why he had decided to return to the ring. That in his mind the wrestling world had become corrupt, and it had to be cleanse, and he had to do it. So, no other poor bastard in this world could ever go through what he had to go through. The wrestling world was sick, and he was the cure and the fact that he had heard that Spyder might have been there. After her death, Spyder himself had fled Mexico and ran to the United States in hiding. He had tried to track him down many times, but it wasn’t an easy task. He never knew who Spyder looked like as he had only ever crossed paths with him at wrestling shows and he had always worn a mask and a body suit. He had heard from an old friend down in Mexico that Spyder was back wrestling and had signed with a brand-new company in the United States; which may have been the Factory. He wasn’t hundred percent sure, but it was a start. “I told you— “ She interrupts him, “yes; you were bored. Bullshit.” He walks away from her again, not wanting to deal with it anymore. “Please Ryan don’t do this,” she said following behind him. “Remember when we were kids looking at mom’s journals, full of her experiences and all the beautiful, jaw-dropping pictures and we said one day, just like she did we would backpack across the world? Let’s do it. Let’s get away from here, let’s— “ “I can’t.” “—have some fun, explore the world as mom did.” “I can’t.” She looks at him full of hurt and disappointment. “Well, you know what? I’m not going to stick around and watch you ruin your life. I won’t be here to pick you up after another person leaves you for death. I just won’t. I’m done, Ryan!” She marches toward the door of his condo and grabs hold of the handle. “María would have wanted you to move on, not become this.” He didn’t watch her leave as she opens the door and slams it behind her. Hopefully, she would stay away, but he knew she wouldn’t. Love did that to people, kept them coming back. It was love that led him down this path, this path of revenge. “She’d have wanted revenge.” He mumbles as he finally looks at the door and saw he was alone. "Make him pay, make them all pay." He feels her hand touch his shoulder. Oh, how he missed her.