Page 36 of Coming Home

There is still talking and yelling, and I am not sure how much longer I can remain upright. Ray slapped me when I spoke, but I had to tell Shaun not to give any ransom money. I don’t really know what is happening, but I can tell he is under duress, and I don’t want that to result in something awful for him or his business. Not because of me. Not because of my family. I don’t want that on my conscience.

It is my fault he is caught up in all this. It is my family who are evil. Ray is the one who is hurting Stephen and I, and the one who is doing business on the wrong side of the law. He killed my family. He killed his own brother. How could he do that? Our family was close; I thought we had a lot of love for each other. The more I think about it, the more I just cannot comprehend how he could do that.

I miss my family. My dad and his hugs, my mom and her laugh, and Jimmy and his stories. I miss them every hour of every day. My heart will never heal from the trauma of losing them.

Perhaps my time is now? Perhaps it is my time to join them and be a full family again, wherever they are. It would be easy. I just have to give myself over to the darkness. Should I just let go? Let the blackness consume me? Give up, fall down, and go without a fight? I am sure Ray is keen to pull the trigger, so perhaps I should just let him? Part of me wishes that he would just do it already, but part of me belongs to Shaun, and the pull to be with him is strong. I want to be with him.

Thinking back to my family, I wonder where it all went wrong. Through everything I have learned over the past year, I now understand that Ray is a greedy, jealous man. While my father wasn’t one of Boston’s most successful businessmen, he certainly did well for himself in Australia, and business was growing immensely at the time of his death, with expansion plans into China and Europe. Our family was one filled with love and commitment. Was Ray jealous of us, of his own brother? His comment about my mother earlier made me think perhaps he was? My parents were in love and were very loving toward each other. I always dreamed that I would have a marriage just like theirs. My mother knew the business just as well as my father, and together they made a great team. While my father was the head of the business, my mother was the heart, always there to guide him and was always consulted on larger deals and business ventures.

Uncle Ray, on the other hand, kept Aunt Emily at arm’s-length. She wasn’t involved in the business and had no interest in it. Her interests were in keeping up appearances, lunching with the other business owner wives, and shopping, taking overseas holidays and enjoying the finer things in life. Her and my mother were like chalk and cheese. Could Ray really be jealous of the love his brother had? Did he want my mother to himself, and when he couldn’t get her, he used illegal activities to raise the money he needed to get his revenge? To kill them?

It all seemed far-fetched, but when I really think about it and connect the dots, it makes sense. Love can make you do crazy things as I was just starting to understand. Through all this craziness, I was falling for Shaun—body, mind and soul. How is it possible that the man I stole glimpses of on the plane on my way to the other side of the world could end up being the love of my life? Love was the feeling I had when I thought of him. I wasn’t sure if I would live to see tomorrow, but I am sure of my feelings, and my heart is full. If I die today, I will die happy. Ray has done a lot of abhorrent and evil things but putting me in front of Shaun wasn’t one of them. In a way, he brought us together.

I look slowly around the room, and even though my vision is still blurry, I can see lots of men, guns raised, all standing to attention, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. I can hear noise, people yelling and shouting, but I am losing energy and blood. A lot of blood. I feel it dripping like a tap from my face onto the floor below. My balance wavers, and I would be swaying if Ray wasn’t holding me so tightly into his body. The cold butt of the gun at my temple jerks me awake as Ray re-positions me in front of his body, like I am his shield. His grip tightens even more, and his voice is loud in my ear. He is sweating and spit is flying from his mouth as he yells.

He disgusts me. He is the epitome of ugly. He is ugly on the inside and the outside. He is vile.

I am fading in and out of consciousness, and I can’t understand what he is saying, but I know he is getting frustrated as his body is rigid, and his grip is constricting. It is stemming the blood flow to my hand, making my hand throb in pain. Things are not going the way he planned, and he is getting frustrated.

I think back to Stephen locked in the room down the hall. Beaten and bloody from his own father’s fists. How can a father do that to their own son? Stephen was the only one there for me since my parents died, and now I know that I am the only one here for him. If he is to survive this, then I need to survive as well.

Like water rushing down a waterfall, my senses pick up, and out of instinct, the self-defense I was taught by the Australian Federal Police automatically kicks in. The anger and venom I felt earlier today is building back in my body, and I feel fearless, strong, and ready to avenge my family.

While the men are still yelling, Ray is preoccupied and not worrying about me, so I stomp my heel hard on Ray’s foot at the same time I thrust my head back and head-butt his nose, so perfectly that I hear it break. He loses his grip, and I drop to the floor. I hear Shaun yell my name, and I try to scramble toward his voice before I hear loud bangs and feel pain in my head.

Then everything goes black.

43

Shaun

“SCARLETT!” I yell as I see her fall to the ground. She tries to get up to crawl to me. TO ME. Her body is broken and bloody, and through it all, she is still trying to get to me. What the fuck did I do to deserve this woman?

I start to run toward her, but I make it two steps before Ray hits her on the head with the butt of his gun and Scarlett slumps motionless on the floor below him, her head slamming again into the concrete floor—hard, causing more blood to flow out of her. With all her injuries, she is losing blood rapidly, and without thinking I start running to her as gun fire flies through the air around me.

I want to kill Ray, but I want her to survive more. I suddenly stop short as Ray steps in front of her and points the gun toward my head. There are about two meters that separate us, not enough for me to make a getaway and not enough for him to miss. Taking a bullet point blank is looking highly likely for me but dying to save the woman I love is a hell of a way to go.

As Scarlett lies bleeding out on the floor, and with a gun aimed right at my head, the tale of Romeo and Juliet comes to mind. Two star-crossed lovers with Romeo killing himself because he would rather be with Juliet in death than go on living without her. All due to their feuding families.

I understand his pain now. In the same situation, I am not sure I could choose differently. I want Scarlett. I need Scarlett. She is it for me. Losing my father was heartbreaking, but if I lose Scarlett, it will be the end of me, of that I have no doubt.

“Time’s up, Shaun, it is over!” Ray yells as his finger locks onto the trigger. A loud bang close to my head has me falling to the floor. I look up, to see Ray has fallen headfirst into a pool of his own blood with a bullet lodged perfectly in the middle of his head. Looking behind me, I see my own Romeo with a smoking gun. He has just helped me rewrite my own love story and given me the chance to be with Scarlett in life, not in death.

Acknowledging Romeo with a brisk nod, I jump up quickly to make the rest of the way to Scarlett, mentally making a note that he needs a massive fucking pay rise and a holiday with his family after this is done. My knees scrape against the cement floor as I position myself next to her, my pants now wet from her blood and my hands roaming her face to look for any signs of life.

She is surrounded by blood. I don’t want to move her, not sure of what injuries she has as I try to stem the blood flow, but it is coming from too many places on her body to stop it. There is noise all around me, but all I can think about is how much blood is around her body. It’s too much. Way too much.

Her face is a mess, her eyes swollen, cuts and abrasions cover her cheeks and forehead, and she lies motionless. She is almost unrecognizable. Romeo joins me and feels for a pulse. “It is weak, but it is there,” he says. I hear sirens in the distance, I am willing them with everything I have left to drive faster.

“Stay with me, Princess,” I whisper in her ear. Holding her hand, I run my thumb over her knuckles and her palm like I would to keep her calm. It gives me comfort to know that in times of stress, my caress would ease her, and I hope it is working now even though she is not conscious.

“Stay with me, Princess, I got you,” I continue to whisper to her, trying to push my energy into her to keep her holding on.

“Goddammit, where are the paramedics?” She has to be safe; I need her alive. I fucking love this woman, and I have only just found her, I am not losing her. The pool of blood continues to increase in size as we wait. Both Romeo and I are frantically trying to stem it, but it is coming from too many places.

There are men and bodies and blood everywhere, but I don’t see Stephen. Our team has apprehended or killed everyone, and I can’t see him anywhere. Knowing that Scarlett will want Stephen close to her, I know we need to find him.

“Romeo, get the team to search the warehouse. Stephen must be here somewhere and may need medical attention.” He nods and jumps up, and within seconds I see the team run through the premise.

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