Pretty Little Pieces: Once Upon a Heartbreak

By Sonya Jesus

I have everything my father thinks I want, except a life.

 

When you're the youngest daughter of a police chief and your mom was murdered by some wacko, there's not much freedom.

Hell, there's not much of anything.

No epic love stories, no embarrassing moments, no spark, no flutters, or grand gestures.

Only rules I desperately want to break.

 

And I want to break them all with Derrick Prince.

 

But belonging to his world means sacrificing pieces of myself.

And staying quiet isn't so easy when it becomes a matter of life or death.  

 

This Little Mermaid contemporary Young Adult retelling is full of suspense and sweet coming-of-age first moments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sonya Jesus
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201496500

Book preview

Prologue

Three years ago.

Murder Rocks Middleton County

The Middleton Gazette

Gruesomely murdered in their Middleton County home, the Smethers family fell victim to a police investigation gone wrong.

Convicted felon, Stanley Jackson, pled guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the early morning hours of April 9 th after verbally confessing to the planning and execution of local police officer, Robert Robbie Smethers, his wife, and his three children after weeks of stalking the Smethers family via social media. Unlike the family, the shocking murder of Athena Merchant was impulsive and unplanned.

Jackson, age 28, is facing the death penalty after disturbing the quiet area of Middleton County. The convicted felon admitted to being familiar with the family’s habits and even using Vivian Smethers’ profession and her children’s vlogs to exact his revenge on Robbie Smethers.

Vivian, age 39, was a fashion saleswoman who used social media to sell her clothing. She had over 15,000 members in her group from numerous parts of the country, and every other day she’d go on and sell various types of clothing articles, then send them to the purchasers. Jackson admitted to joining her group in the guise of looking for something for his girlfriend. He ordered, paid for it with his own credit card, and she sent the package with her return address, inadvertently supplying him with her home address.

In addition, he followed the eldest daughter’s vlog, which has now been taken down by authorities, in order to get the layout of the house. They invited me in, without even knowing it, he bragged to police. I knew what time they ate, what they wore to bed, when they took a shit, and even when they humped.

He then went on to admit that he waited for the wife to go into the basement, where she did her sales. When he got the notification, he snuck in through the back door of the Smethers’ home and hid in the laundry room until the family was ready for bed. In her live stream, Vivian mentioned that her husband was working late and that she had a little extra time to go through old merchandise, which prolonged her session.

Meanwhile, he snuck upstairs, where the two younger children, ages 7 and 9, were asleep and strangled them. He then sat on the bed and watched the eldest daughter, age 16, start her live session on social media and waited for her to pick out the next day’s outfit. When she signed off, he remained in the children’s room until he heard the shower head run for a few minutes. It was then that he entered the shared bathroom.

He’s recorded to have said, I watched her through the shower curtain for a good three minutes, admiring her, before I threw the curtain back, held my hand over her mouth, and told her to fill the bathtub. Then I drowned her.

He then returned to the room, grabbed his phone, and went to the kitchen, where he waited while the mother of the now deceased three made her sales and closed out her night. At approximately 9:15 p.m., she came upstairs to make herself tea and found Jackson waiting for her.

He said he took his time with the MILF, suggesting his intentions were more volatile. He ordered her to strip in the kitchen and lie down on the kitchen table for him to examine her. He rubbed small areas of her naked body with oil before lighting them on fire, burning her flesh and extinguishing it repeatedly. She passed out a few times, he admitted on record just before he confessed to violating her, in extensive detail, with the use of a wooden spoon.

He was ambushed by Vivian’s close friend, Athena Merchant, who had recently purchased a dress for a family function the following day, and let herself in through the back door. She unsuspectedly headed for the basement, then for some reason decided to enter the kitchen.

Jackson showed remorse for the first time when he said, I took no joy in killing her. She wasn’t part of my plan. He also said she fought him and tried to scream, but he managed to grab her from behind and slit her throat with the Smethers’ kitchen knife.

Robbie, who had come home at around midnight, went straight upstairs, where Jackson lay in waiting. I broke that fucker down to tears. I took away the four people in his life… the ones who mattered the most, and I explained how I did it. He slipped on the woman’s blood as he rushed for her. Then I made him watch the video of what I did to his wife.

Authorities say Jackson showed no remorse when admitting to Officer Smethers’ death. To the contrary, he looked them dead in the eyes and said, He didn’t fight back. He begged to join them.

When asked for a motive, Jackson simply stated, He got what was coming to him. This, the extent of his planning, and his browser history propelled an investigation into Officer Smethers’ current and prior cases.

Officer Trent