Chapter Eighty
Emily
Flashing lights and blaring sirens break through the screaming in my head. Jake’s here. I twist to face Chad before he can pounce in either direction. “Let Mackenzie and Grace go.”
“I assume that the baby you’re dragging around is Grace.” When I nod, he braces his hands on his hips and eyes me up and down. “Now, why would I do that?”
“Because….” I swallow hard over the lie. “You’re not a bad guy.” Grace wails and kicks her feet against the blanket. “You’ve had a hard life, and I’m sure that shaped who you became. Your father couldn’t have been an easy man to live with.”
“Who I became?” He arches an eyebrow and strides toward me, stealing the air from the room.
“Yes.” I give him a slight nod of my head as if I’m commiserating with him rather than about to shit my pants. “Your father was a violent man. I’m sure he punished you when you didn’t do what he demanded.”
“You have no idea.” He raises the sleeve on one arm, exposing pucker marks. “He enjoyed putting out his cigarettes on my arm if I talked out of turn.”
Mackenzie’s face is ashen as she stands watching Chad move away from her, putting all his attention onto the baby and me. I shift my body in front of my arm, dangling the carrier behind me. My fingernails dig into the heel of my palm from the tightness of my grip on the handle.
“I’m sorry.” And I am.
I’m sure that the pressure and hate that spilled out of his father and into him is the reason he’s a narcissistic bully. And I feel empathy for him. But those feelings don’t extend to forgiveness of the hurt he’s caused others.
As an adult, he had the choice whether to control his anger or take it out on other people. He chose the wrong path.
He scoffs, “You don’t feel anything for me. I see it in your eyes.”
That’s not true. I feel a lot of things toward him. Pity. Disgust. Fear. “Let Grace go. She’s an innocent baby.”
“Which I can use against your asshole boyfriend.” He stomps forward. “He’s going to let me walk right out the front door, get into my car, and disappear.”
“He’s not going to let you do that.” I shudder as he nears. Eyes full of menace. Fists clenching at his sides.
“Emily, are you and Grace in there?” Jake’s voice is muffled from the other side of the door.
“Yes, we’re fine.” I let the ‘for now’ hang in the air between us.
Chad pops his neck from side to side as if he’s prepping for a fight.
“Is Mackenzie there with you?”
“Yes, she’s here,” I answer.
Out of the corner of my eye, I search for Mackenzie. Or she was in here. One second, she was standing in the hallway, and the next, she’s gone. Good for her. At least one of us is going to get out of here. Maybe she can give Jake advice on how to take Chad down.
“Good. Come on out.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Chad reaches to the back of his waistband and pulls out a gun.
“Fuck.” My response is low and dripping in fear that’s taking root deep inside of me. We were in a shitty position to start with. Now, it’s only gotten worse. If Chad doesn’t walk out of here as a free man, he’s going to take us all out with him.
“I can’t,” I say loud enough for Jake to hear, but the quiver in my voice makes it crack. “Chad doesn’t want us to leave.”
I’ve got to do something. My head spins with ideas.
Kick his shins and run. He’s going to shoot me and use Grace as a shield.
Headbutt him and run. He’s going to shoot me and use Grace as a shield.
Run. He’s going to shoot me and use Grace as a shield.
Somehow, every possibility returns to the same thing.
I’m shot, and Grace ends up with Chad on the run.
Over my dead body. I straighten my spine.
“Yes, Sweetheart, he is going to let me walk out of here.” He grasps the carrier handle and tugs. “And this stupid, worthless baby is going to save my ass.”
“No!” I scream and yank with every inch of strength I have, causing him to lurch toward me. One benefit of being an EMT is the strength required to hoist patients on and off gurneys without hurting them. It’s given me decent muscle tone.
“Bitch,” Chad growls between clenched teeth while settling back onto his feet. The gun waved toward the ceiling and back to the floor. Thank God he didn’t accidently press the trigger. “Give her to me.”
Mackenzie darts out of the kitchen and snatches the carrier before Chad can secure it from me. “Get the fuck back, Asshole.”
“Chad Whitlock, open up! You’re surrounded!” Jake’s voice is clear and commanding. Despite the severity of the situation, he’s somehow in control, which gives me the strength to face what’s going to come next. I can do this. “Come on out with your hands in the air!”
“That’s not going to happen!” Chad’s head is slightly turned toward the front door as he twists his hand sideways, running his finger over the trigger. “I’ve got your bitch in here with a gun pointed at her head.”
Mackenzie’s eyes blaze with anger as she faces her stepbrother while taking a step backward, linoleum cracking under her tennis shoes.
“I’ve had enough of your shit to last a lifetime.
You’ve made your own bed. Now, you’ve got to lie in it.
It’s not Emily’s fault. It’s not Jake’s fault.
It’s your own. You drove your stupid car with expired tags. ”
Pink tinges his cheeks as she backs up another step. “Shut your fucking bitch ass mouth,” he spits out while alternating between pointing the gun at me and then on to Mackenzie.
My mouth dries as the barrel shifts to Grace’s baby carrier.
Do something. I scan the room for anything to defend us with but there aren’t many options. Empty packages of chips. Discarded beer cans. Stubbed out cigarettes in a glass ashtray. I linger on the ashtray. It holds some promise as it’s probably 6”x6” of cut glass.
The only problem is that Chad is between me and the coffee table. And while he’s pissed that Mackenzie is talking back to him, he has a gun. With his finger on the trigger. Trained on Grace.
Tears fill my eyes. I’ve got to do something. Fast.
Mackenzie’s thigh bounces off one of the mismatched kitchen chairs. “I’m not done. When your father finds out you used his money to get out of jail, he’s going to lose his mind.”
“It’s fine.” A flash of fear hits the edges of Chad’s eyes. He’s terrified of his father. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. I’d be terrified of him, too. Especially if I stole his money. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay it back before he gets out.”
“Right.” Mackenzie positions Grace behind her as I did when I was facing Chad, as she continues to put distance between them.
The movement causes Chad to swing the gun at Mackenzie’s head. Here’s my chance. I slide sideways toward the coffee table.
“How’re you going to do that from a jail cell?”
Chad swings the hand holding the gun toward me, stopping me in my tracks. As if we’re in a dance, Mackenzie takes the opportunity to duck around the edge of the open doorway.
“Stop right there!” Chad bellows in frustration as if he can’t believe we’re not doing exactly what he told us to do. I’m sure being the son of one of the most ruthless men around has made him accustomed to people doing his bidding. But not this time. This time, neither one of us is backing down.
The closed door to what I assume is Chad’s bedroom slowly opens. Fuck. That’s what we need. Another person to back Chad up. Right now, with Mackenzie in the kitchen, he can’t shoot us all at once.
My heart drops to the floor. It’s Jake. He raises his finger to his lips. What? How? Somehow, my heart launches back into my chest and thuds like a drum at a football game before the whistle blows.
Bang. Bang. Bang. It feels like my ribs are going to break.
The bare mattress is stained and shifted half off the box springs. Jake must’ve come through the bedroom window. What and how don’t matter. He’s here.
In one hand, he holds his police issued Glock pointed at the back of Chad’s head. He drops his finger from his mouth and wraps his hand around his other hand, steadying the gun to fire.
I school my features as Mackenzie raises her chin. If I had to guess, she’s also noticed Jake is slinking through the bedroom doorway and entering the living room.
“After I use the three of you as collateral, I’m going to get off, Scott-free, and make my money right here like I always do.
Every fucking day.” He stalks toward her.
“And you’re going to lie on your ass and spread your legs for my boys.
Like you always do.” He sneers at her as if she disgusts him.
Rage fills Mackenzie’s eyes. “No, I’m not. I’m leaving.”
“Bullshit.”
As Jake creeps along the wall, reducing the distance between us, Ramirez slides through the door, taking the opposite wall.
Chad grabs Mackenzie by the throat. The second his hand encircles her, I launch from my position, grabbing the ashtray and slinging it at Chad’s head.
Right on target. He screams, spins around while still gripping Mackenzie’s neck in his meaty paw. As she stumbles on her feet, she trips over the carrier and lands on her knees with a crack while somehow managing to keep the car seat from slamming into the linoleum.
Tears instantly fill her eyes, but she doesn’t make a sound as if she’s used to being tossed around the room during Chad’s fits of rage. She squeezes her eyes shut and sucks down a ragged breath.
“You fucking cunt!” Blood drips down from the middle of Chad’s head like a faucet left running to fill the sink with dishwater. The blood vessels in his neck pound with his heartbeat. He’s going to have a stroke if he isn’t careful.
I wrinkle my nose as I contemplate telling him to calm down. But somehow, I don’t think that’s going to help the situation.
“Drop the fucking gun!” Jake stares down the gun barrel with cold determination in his eyes.
“Fuck you.” The blood lands on his long-sleeved T-shirt. His eyes drop to a screaming Grace.
“No.” I jump forward, but before I can get to them, Mackenzie bullrushes Chad’s legs.
“You’ll not touch one hair on my baby’s head, you worthless piece of shit.” And with years of anger and betrayal fueling her, she knocks him off his feet and onto his ass.
Chad lands on his back like a bloated whale washed up on the shore, with his head bouncing off the floor and dazed eyes seemingly unable to focus on anything as he turns his head from side to side.
Everything happens at once. Ramirez jams his foot onto Chad’s wrist, making him drop the weapon before kicking it behind him as Jake stands over Chad with the gun still pointing at his head.
“You have the right to remain silent.” Jake frees one of his hands to retrieve his cuffs. “Your days of abusing people in this town are over.”