Page 106 of Revealing Mark
Their love was tied in every look they shared. It left me with no doubt they were deeply in love on a level a lot of people wouldn’t be able to understand.
“But Grant wasn’t done. The cops believed my mother’s untimely death had shaken his mental health. He only wanted one thing and that was to end my life.” She sighed, like going back to the past was bringing her nothing but more pain.
“We decided the best thing was to get a bodyguard to protect her,” Damien continued. “My parents wanted someone young enough to pass for another student.”
“Mark,” I murmured, linking that fact in.
Things were starting to make more sense.
“One day Grant snuck into the school with some weapons and began to shoot up the school, looking for Haven,” Chris added, his exuberant personality waning. “He found me in my art room and took me hostage to get Haven to come to him.”
I couldn’t imagine the horrors they had been through. I shot a look at Mark but he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“Mark told me to get out of the school and he would find Chris. I made it out to the entrance of the school but…” She took a shaky breath. “Grant called me and told me he had Chris, and I couldn’t leave him.” The fear lived again in her emotional eyes.
“I hadn’t been at school that day but when the cops called my mom, I went straight to the school.” Damien took a few moments to continue. “I had to watch her go back inside. I lost it, but while the cops were distracted, I managed to get inside the school. Then I went looking for Haven. I wasn’t going to let her die.” His eyes were downcast.
I swallowed, experiencing the emotions build up between them. I knew what Mark did for a living but hearing an actual account of one of those jobs shook me more than I had ever expected it to.
Then Damien looked at Mark like it was his turn to speak.
“I thought I had gotten Haven out safe and I went back in to get Chris out, but I was planning my next move in the classroom beside it when I saw Haven walk past to the room where Grant was holding Chris hostage.”
I could tell from his account that these people hadn’t just been clients but something more. They had all survived the incident, for they were all safely seated by me, but I knew the horror of that memory was still to come.
I reached out to touch his hand. He looked down to where our hands were connected.
“Then a shot went off.” He looked at Haven and she moved her shoulder like she remembered it.
“He shot me to incapacitate me so I could watch him kill my friend.”
“I knew if I didn’t do something quickly, then he would slaughter them all,” Mark explained. “I climbed outside through the window of the classroom I was in and I got a clear shot of Grant through the window beside it.”
Her eyes drifted to Chris. “Chris struggled against him but a shot went off.”
“I had been shot in the stomach,” Chris explained. “It was the worst pain I’d ever experienced.”
“I didn’t even think, I stormed straight into the room without considering anything,” Damien spoke, his voice thick with emotion.
I couldn’t imagine what they had all gone through. My eyes drifted from one to the other as they talked.
“I shot Grant in the shoulder and he dropped the gun.” Mark spoke this time. I was seeing a hero in him. Not many people could run into danger to save others when your instinct was to survive. It took a courage most people didn’t have.
What I failed to understand was what in this whole story was the part that would make me look at Mark differently. Everything I had heard until now only made me love him more. Was I missing something?
“I checked Haven’s wound first but when Damien couldn’t stop Chris’s bleeding, I took over from him.” He sounded distant, like he was still living that moment again.
“The whole time, Grant was threatening to find me no matter what to exact his revenge.” Haven linked her hands. “He said it would never end and he would never stop until I was dead.”
“He meant it, if he ever got out he would come after her again,” Damien added matter-of-factly.
The room quieted. Mark sat down again, turning to face me. I searched his features.
“He had abused her for years, the emotional scars worse than the physical ones,” he said. “I’d seen the photos of what he had done to her. I knew he wasn’t just issuing empty threats, he meant to follow through with them. She would always be looking over her shoulder, wondering if he was going to come for her.”
This time his eyes met mine, his gaze unwavering with the surety of the past.
“I made the decision and it was mine alone.” He paused. “I shot him, one bullet to the head.”
