22. Chapter Twenty-Two
22
Evan
My hands are shaking as we pull into my parents' driveway, Mia’s eyes darting around the property like she’s going to see Mack appear out of thin air.
I can’t believe it was him all along.
Brent’s name flashes on the screen of my phone for the thousandth time, but I let the call go straight to voicemail. My mother is sitting on the front porch, a book perched on her lap, and she snaps her attention to the car when my tires screech to a stop.
“Evan, honey, what’s wrong?”
Mia jumps out of the car behind me, her wild eyes roaming over every inch of the place, and she sucks in a sharp breath. “Where’s Liam?”
My mother frowns, then hikes a thumb over her shoulder. “He’s in the living room. We made some more cookies, and he’s enjoying them with his grandfather.”
She’s looking between the two of us, noting that something is wrong, and she jumps up from her chair. “What’s going on?”
I shake my head and run a hand over my face. “It’s not great, Mom. We just had to come see Liam for a minute.”
Mia rushes past the two of us, eager to hold our son, and I shake my head.
How could I have let this happen? It’s my fault.
When I first thought about Mack being a potential threat, I should’ve immediately said something instead of keeping it locked inside. I run a hand through my hair and blow out a rough breath, then let out a string of curses.
“Evan, talk to me,” my mother says. “You don’t look so good.”
“They found out who the stalker is,” I say.
My mother gasps and envelopes me in a hug that does nothing to ease the panic flowing inside of me. What if Mack had found Liam and took him?
An alert from my phone chirps, and I slowly pull it out, knowing that Brent must be going crazy since I stopped answering his calls. His name isn’t on the screen, though, aside from the calls I was already aware of.
I stare at the text from Mack, my mind racing. I know I should tell Mia, call the police, do anything but what I'm about to do. But the thought of Mack coming after my family, after Liam, makes my decision for me. I have to end this now. I glance at the house, knowing Mia and Liam are safe inside. "I'm sorry," I whisper before heading to my car.
It’s a single text from an unknown number, telling me to meet them somewhere and not to tell a soul where I’m going.
Mack .
“Look,” I say, then glance up at the house. “Can you make sure Mia’s okay? I just need some air right now.”
My mother doesn’t look convinced, but she can sense the urgency on my face and nods with a frown. “Sure, honey, but come inside soon, okay?”
I nod, even though that’s not my plan, and wait until she’s disappeared through the front door before I make a beeline to my car. Luckily, the car isn’t loud when I start it back up, and I carefully pull out of the driveway.
When I look in the rearview mirror, Mia’s standing on the porch as she watches me disappear from sight.
I’d love nothing more than to turn around and pull her into my arms, but this is my fight, and I’ve got to end it. When I pull out of the driveway, I quickly text the number back and ask where we’re meeting. It only takes a few minutes to get a response back, and I quickly input the address into my GPS.
I’ve got a few hours to figure out what the hell I’m going to do.
***
When I pull up to the cabin, located deep in the woods, my spine stiffens. There’s only a sliver of light shining through a window, and I can see Mack’s silhouette on the inside as he paces back and forth in front of it.
I study the building, noting the roof that’s nearly caving in and the banister on the front porch that looks like it’s been through its fair share of storms. It looks as though one gust of wind could knock this place to the ground, but I still get out of my vehicle slowly.
Mia has called me numerous times, but when I glance at my phone now there’s no service for her calls to come through.
The steps creak under my weight, which doesn’t surprise me, and the front door gets thrown open within seconds.
“Evan,” Mack’s voice echoes around me, sending a chill down my spine. “Nice of you to join me.”
When I look at him, there’s dark circles under his eyes that I’ve never seen before, and it looks as though his clothes are three sizes too big.
What the hell happened to him?
Instead of asking that, I push past him and into the cabin.
There’s a pile of dishes in the sink, flies darting around them, and I wrinkle my nose in disgust. I eye the couch sitting in the center of the room and the dust particles swimming through the dim light that comes from a lamp.
“Why are you doing this?” I finally manage to ask.
Mack chuckles. “Oh, now you’re worried about what I’m doing?” He eases his way around me, then sinks onto one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table.
When I don’t answer, he sighs heavily and narrows his eyes at me. “I was doing well for myself, you know? Before you had to go and ruin it.”
Is he kidding me? He’s the one who was trying to control the band.
“I’m not the only one who fired you,” I point out.
“You were the driving force,” he mutters, his hand slamming down onto the table in front of him. “I had everything!”
“You’re right,” I say gently.
Suddenly, I’m realizing how stupid it was to meet him when he just recently tried to kill me on stage. I need to play this as calmly as possible before he ends up doing something crazy, like actually going through with the crime.
The thought of no longer being around to watch Liam grow up sends a wave of panic through me, but I keep my face neutral as I look at Mack. His button-up is loose around his arms, showing that he’s not taking care of himself anymore, and he pulls at the collar frantically.
“You have it all,” he seethes, his lip curling in disgust. “You don’t deserve any of it, you know?”
I nod while he points angrily at his chest. “I’m the one who got you there!”
God, how could I have thought he wasn’t this crazy?
“What did you ask me to come here for?”
Even though I’m sure I know the answer, I want to make sure.
There’s a glint in Mack’s eyes that makes me shiver, but I shake it off. I can’t let him see the fear, or it will only make things worse. “My last attempt failed, but not this time,” he says as he rises from his place at the table.
I watch his movements carefully as he makes his way into the kitchen and wraps his hand around an object before he whips around and points a gun at me.
“Woah!”
Immediately, I throw my hands up in the air and swallow thickly. “Let’s talk about this,” I whisper.
Mack shakes his head, then throws it back with a laugh. “The time for talking is over, Evan. You made sure we wouldn’t be able to do that once you got rid of me and ruined my career.”
There’s a noise in the distance, almost like gravel crunching under tires, but I can’t pull my attention from Mack. His hand is shaking, the gun glittering under the light, and I close my eyes with only one thought.
Please make sure Mia and Liam will be okay.
“Do it, then,” I say while looking him in the eyes.
Mack cocks his head to the side and smirks. “You don’t think I will?”
“I think that you deserve to have your old life back.”
It’s clearly not what’s going to happen, but maybe it’s a good way to get him to lower the gun so I can make a move.
His eye twitches, and he glares, shaking the gun in front of me. “You’re lying!”
“Brent called me tonight, you know?” His eyebrows raise, but he doesn’t say anything. “He doesn’t like our new manager. She doesn’t do things right.”
Clearly, that’s not what he said, but Mack doesn’t know that. As far as he is concerned, I’m the only one who opened that package.
“I don’t believe you,” he mutters, but his shoulders have visibly relaxed.
This is good.
“It’s true,” I say while taking a step toward him. “He wanted me to call you and offer the job back, said that it’s not the same without you.”
For a moment, Mack looks like he’s not going to take the bait, but his shoulders sag with relief and he lowers the weapon at his side with a big smile. “I knew she would be all wrong for you guys, and I’d be more than happy to get you back on track.”
Before he can say anything else, I quickly dart across the room and tackle him onto the ground. He’s still got the gun in his hand, a shot going off, and I suck in a sharp breath. A searing pain rips through my left side, just below my ribs. Warm blood seeps through my shirt, but I grit my teeth and maintain my grip on Mack. The door bursts open, and I hear shouting, but it's growing distant as my vision starts to blur.
“Evan!”
When I glance out the window, there’s red and blue light flashing, but they’re slowly fading into darkness. A pair of hands comes up to me, frantically searching for the space where the bullet hit, and that’s all I remember before the world around me fades away.
***
I peel my eyes open, squinting against the bright lights shining in my eyes, and glance around frantically. The last thing I remember is Mack pulling a gun out on me.
Did he shoot me?
There’s a pain on my side that has me wincing as I try to sit up, and a machine beeps to my left. When I look over, Mia is curled on a small couch with a blanket wrapped around her, and her mouth parted slightly as she sleeps.
Mia?
As I lie here, the reality of what happened sinks in. I almost died. The band, the music, it all seems so far away now. Will I even want to go back to that life after this?
The thought of touring, of being away from Mia and Liam, makes my chest tighten. We have a lot to figure out.
“Mia,” I say gently, and she stirs but doesn’t open her eyes. “Mia.”
She jumps, a hand coming up to her chest as she tries to catch her breath, and her eyes land on me. “Evan!”
Before I can blink, she rushes over to me and wraps her arms around my frame. “You’re awake. Let me get the doctor.”
I don’t have time to object because she’s bolting out of the room like it’s her mission. There’s a soft knock on the door, and I mutter for them to come in, my mother’s head poking through the small gap.
“Evan, honey, thank goodness you’re awake.”
“Mom, what’s going on?”
She cocks her head to the side and frowns. “You don’t remember?”
“Where’s Mack?”
“They arrested him a couple of days ago.”
A couple of days ago?
“Wh—where’s Liam?”
“With your father down in the cafeteria.”
“He’s okay?”
She sighs and shakes her head. “Why on earth would you leave like that? Mia was worried sick, and you’re lucky she managed to get ahold of that Carmen woman.”
“Carmen?”
“The woman had enough sense to track your damn phone,” my mother mutters, then she takes a deep breath and looks at me with glistening eyes. “I was worried about you.”
“I’m okay, mom,” I say gently. “Although my side really hurts.”
The door opens again, and my father walks in with Liam. My son's eyes widen when he sees me, a mix of fear and relief on his face.
"Dad!" he cries, rushing to the bed. My father lifts him carefully so he can see me better.
"Hey, buddy," I say, forcing a smile despite the pain. "I'm okay."
"You scared us," my father says, his voice gruff with emotion. "The band's been calling non-stop. Brent's threatening to camp out in the waiting room if we don't let him visit soon."
I chuckle, then wince at the movement. The love and concern from my family and friends washes over me. I'm lucky, so lucky to have them all.
“The gun fired when you tackled him. That’s what Mia and the officer said.”
"Before I can say anything else, Mia bursts back through the door with a doctor. She rushes to my side, her hand finding mine, fingers intertwining. The warmth of her touch grounds me, reminding me of how close I came to losing all this.
I look at Mia, really look at her. The worry lines around her eyes, the relieved smile on her lips, the strength in her grip—she saved me in more ways than one. A future without her is unthinkable now.
As the doctor begins to speak, a thought is crystal clear in my mind. Life is precious, and I'm done wasting time. When I get out of here, I'm making Mia and Liam a permanent part of my world. No more maybes, no more waiting. The moment I get discharged, I’m shopping for a ring.