Page 48 of Timeless Pages
My eyes went back to the door, expecting to see my men next, but they didn't come. That was fine. Maybe they hadn't been told what was happening. I refused to let the intrusive voice in my head convince me it was because they didn't care. I knew that they did. I went to stand up, and my hand brushed against cold metal. I looked down and saw Father's gun. I stared at it silently before I found myself picking it up and standing.
Everything fell away as I focused on Father, standing there defenseless in handcuffs. All of the abuse he ever showed me flashed in my mind like a choppy slide show. My emotions swirled and grew with each memory. He hurt me. I was an innocent child, and he hurt me. He didn't deserve to breathe another second. Slowly, I raised the gun, leveling it at the center of his chest. I was aware of the people in the room shouting in my peripheral, but my whole focus was on my Father, and his on me.
"Go ahead, little girl," he taunted. "Do it. Pull the trigger. Be responsible for killing both of your parents. Complete the mission the devil sent you here for."
Warmth surrounded me as a hard chest pressed to my back and gentle hands slid from my shoulders, down my arms, to envelope my hands holding the gun. "He isn't worth it, Little Bell," he whispered. "Let it go."
Nate. Always Nate.
For a brief second, I stubbornly refused to let the gun go, but as I stared into Father's gleeful eyes, I realized that this was his final move. His last chance to break me. To show me andthe world the monster he thought I was. I wouldn't give him a second's satisfaction of thinking he had won. I loosened my hold on the gun, allowing Nate to slide it from my hands and hand it to Evan. I hadn't realized that he and Dom were standing on either side of me until then. Once the gun left my hands, so did its hold on me, and the rest of the world rushed back into focus like a freight train.
I started shaking uncontrollably and realized for the first time that tears were streaming down my face. I turned in Nate's arms as Evan handed off the gun to one of the officers and sobbed into his chest.
It was over, and they were here.
Chapter twenty-three
Evan
Ihanded the gun off and turned to Isa. Dom and I crowded against her back, and I leaned my forehead against her head, breathing her in and grounding myself in her scent. She was here and she was safe. We were never letting her out of our sight again. Every fucking damn time we did, something happened to her. When Grant had called to tell us what was happening at the mall, we found ourselves speeding across town again. This time, we weren't just terrified, we were pissed. Daniel had called Grant, but he hadn't called us. Apparently, it was because he was worried that we'd arrive first and make the situation worse. Thankfully, that hadn't sat right with Grant. We'd deal with Daniel later.
An officer stepped beside us with a pair of cuffs in his hand. "Miss, we're going to need to take you down to the station so that we can get this all straightened out."
"The fuck you are!" Dom snapped as I shifted to place myself between Isa and the cop.
I saw Daniel separate himself from Brandy and rush over to us; his demeanor seamlessly shifted from worried lover to lawyer as he slid between us and the cop. "Officer, that won't be necessary. Isa is my client, and if you call the Chief, he can explain the situation. This man has a warrant out for a previous murder attempt on my client. We have two other witnesses who can quickly corroborate the events that transpired here without unnecessary arrests.
"I'm sorry, but I have a dead cop on the floor, and she was holding the gun. She's coming with me," the cop replied.
"That cop was working with the perpetrator and was under investigation for corruption. Trust me, this isn't a road you want to go down. Call your chief before you ruin your career." The cop looked like he was going to argue, but at the last second thought better of it. There was no consequence to checking first, but there would be if he fucked up. He pulled out his phone and stepped away to make the call.
"Once he talks to the Chief, he'll be back to apologize," Daniel assured us. He looked at Isa and slipped out of lawyer mode again. "Are you ok, Isa?"
"Take her," Nate ordered as he gently turned Isa into Dom's arms. As soon as she was safely tucked away with Dom, Nate turned to Daniel and cold-cocked him in the face. To his credit, Daniel only stumbled back slightly before righting himself. "If you ever fucking try to keep something like this from us again, I will destroy you," Nate promised. "We shouldn't have had to find out what was going on from Grant."
"It wasn't like that," Daniel said, rubbing his jaw. "I knew Grant would call you, but it gave the police time to get into position. If I had called you first, you three knuckleheads would have gone running into this room and gotten yourselves killed. You're fucking welcome."
He might have a point, but that wasn't something any of us were willing to admit any time soon. "You still should have called us," I said.
"And yet, I would still do it all again the same way," Daniel replied without remorse.
"Just let it go," Dom said quietly. "We got here, and she is safe. That's all I care about."
The cop returned, and I could tell from his expression that he'd been properly put in his place. "Ma'am, I'd like to apologize for my behavior before. The detective in charge of your case will be in touch with you and your friends for official statements. You're all free to go."
"Smart choice," Daniel replied as he swept his arm out for us to go ahead of him.
Isa was still crying, so Dom picked her up, cradling her tightly to his chest, and left the room. We'd get our girl home, and then we might not ever let her leave again.
I looked up from the book I was reading when Nate came storming into the living room. With a frustrated growl, he grabbed the vase off the table and chucked it against the wall. "Someone else needs to sit with her."
"Still crying?" Dom asked with a sigh. We had been home for hours now, and Isa hadn't stopped crying once. It was taking its toll on us all, and I was starting to become concerned about dehydration.
"I'll take the next shift," I said, putting my book aside and standing.
"Yes, she's still crying," Nate replied, "and I don't know how to make it stop. She won't say anything, just cries. How can we make it better if she won't tell us how?" The powerlessness we all felt was reflected in Nate's voice. We were lost, the love of our life was hurting, and we had no idea how to fix it.
"Maybe it isn't something we can fix," Dom said, staring into his whiskey glass. "Maybe this is just something Isa needs right now. To cry it out."
