Chapter 53
NOW
Late August
Sunday
‘Dad—’ Ryan gasped, a few steps away from me.
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t think.
‘Get away from her,’ Martin said to Denise, and she hurried across to the other side of the room.
‘Put the shotgun down, Dad,’ Ryan urged, edging towards him slightly.
‘No,’ Martin snapped, and Ryan froze.
‘She knows too much,’ Martin continued, his gaze locked on me.
Ryan shook his head. ‘You can’t do this.’
Martin shook his head. ‘Your mum did what she had to do, and now so am I.’
‘The police are already on their way, Dad,’ Ryan said. ‘It’s over.’
‘I won’t let your mum go to prison for protecting this family,’ Martin said, his voice steady and firm.
‘Kirsty never did anything to us. It was all Charlotte.’
‘It doesn’t matter. If we let her go, she’ll tell the police everything.’
My heart thudded heavily.
How could it have come to this?
‘You can’t seriously be thinking of killing her,’ Ryan said, his voice full of disbelief.
‘They already triggered the alarm,’ Martin said. ‘We called the police. They’ll believe us.’
‘Believe us? What are you saying?’
‘They broke in, attacked your mother,’ Martin said. ‘I stopped them.’
‘Dad—’ The disbelief in Ryan’s voice had shifted to desperation now.
Bile rose in my throat.
This couldn’t be it. There had to be something I could do.
My gaze darted about the room, searching for something. Anything.
A slight movement on the floor behind Martin caught my attention.
Ben.
Had he moved? I stared at him, but he lay still. Had I been mistaken?
‘They already think she killed Charlotte,’ Martin said. ‘They know she was obsessed with you. And now she’s broken in, too. They’ll believe we were in danger. That I just did what I had to…’
He tightened his grip on the shotgun.
‘No!’ Ryan yelled as he leapt at me, slamming me backward into the wall.
In the same instant, movement caught my eye over his shoulder.
The gun fired.
Denise screamed.
For a second, everything blurred.
‘Ben!’ I screamed, shoving Ryan off me. He’d launched at Martin just as Ryan had pushed me out of the way. Ben was now sprawled across Martin on the floor.
I raced forwards without thinking.
‘The gun!’ Ben yelled.
I grabbed it, tugging it free from Martin’s grasp.
‘Let him go!’ Denise screamed, as she charged towards us. But Ryan caught her, pulling her backwards as she kicked and screamed.
Police sirens resounded above the chaos.
‘There’s still time,’ Denise pleaded with Ryan. ‘Grab the gun. Finish what your dad started—’
‘It is finished, Mum,’ Ryan said sadly. ‘It’s over.’