There’s a flash of fury in Aiden’s eyes, and you can tell it’s taking every ounce of self-control to hold back his rage. He doesn’t like not being in control either. “You’re sick. You’d do this to your own sons? Just for an election? You’re not fit to be a father, never mind govern a whole state.”
Andrew tenses and Harvey suddenly stands up from the table.
This is it; I feel it. I need to do something. Now.
I stand up from my crouching spot and whip open the screen door, taking everyone by surprise. Aiden uses the distraction to his advantage and shoves Jason and Jackson away, telling them to run in the opposite direction. He watches as they run down the hallway and out the front door in nothing but their pajamas and socks. I hope they keep running, far away from this house, until they get somewhere safe.
“Say hi for the world, Andrew Kessler!” I gesture to the phone in my hand. “Remember me? I’ve been recording this conversation this whole time.”
Andrew’s calm face cracks for just a second before he collects himself. “You’re always getting involved in stuff that doesn’t pertain to you. You don’t even know what’s coming for you.”
I ignore his threat and inch closer to Aiden. Andrew raises an eyebrow at the phone in my hand. “Dumb girl. I’ll just kill you and delete the video.”
He steps closer to me, gun raised, when I step back and yell “It’s live!” I raise the phone higher, as if it’s a shield between the two of us. Thank the powers that be that Charlotte downloaded S-Live Time on my phone the other day and that she’s still logged in to her account. “You can’t just kill me and delete the video. It’s live, there’s an audience, and once I stop recording, the live video is saved to my profile, where it can be watched over and over by whoever wants to see it. News channels, judges, juries. Anyone.”
He pauses for a second and looks over at Harvey, as if they’re trying to decide if I’m bluffing or not. That hesitance is all Aiden needs. As if he’s been playing professional football his whole life, he tackles Andrew to the floor.
I don’t see where the gun goes, but I hear sirens in the distance.
Harvey moves to grab Aiden off of his father, and I see red. I don’t even know what I do with the phone in my hand, but as soon as I see Harvey moving in on Aiden, I literally jump onto Harvey’s back and wrap my limbs around him like a koala bear.
He instantly straightens, and I focus all my energy on my arms, which are tightly wrapped around his neck, and try to squeeze tighter.
All those feelings of fear and helplessness come rushing back to me. This man aimed a gun at me. This man shot at me. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Aiden. And I’ll be damned if I let this man keep fucking up my life.
Harvey’s spinning around, trying to get me to let go of him, but I just cling to him even more. My rage and fear and hatred fuels me, driving my exhausted limbs to hold on, to win this fight. I am taking back control. We’re in the living room now; somehow Harvey’s walked us away from wherever Aiden and Andrew are. He grabs my arms, and in a sudden movement, runs backward into the wall, slamming me into it. All of the air is knocked out of my lungs and my head feels like it’s been split open, but I tell my arms to squeeze tighter around Harvey’s neck, tell my legs to keep hanging on, tell myself to just keep hanging on.
I’ve faced Tony and won. Twice. I will win this fight too. For Jason, for Jackson, for Aiden, and for myself.
A booming gunshot goes off, then another one, and panic sets in.
“Aiden?!” I’m screaming. I have no idea what’s going on, where Aiden is, who shot that gun.
He has to be okay. He has to be okay.
Harvey uses that moment of sheer panic to slam me into the wall again, and there’s a sting of fire in every single vertebra in my spine.
My grip loosens and Harvey throws me off of him. My head is pounding and my entire body hurts, but I look around for Aiden, barely registering Harvey behind me trying to catch his breath.
Where is he?!
That frantic feeling is clawing its way through me, choking me. I race into the hallway just as a sea of blue charges in.
The pounding in my head is just getting worse. My lungs aren’t working properly. Where is Aiden?!
Then I see him. He and Andrew are both being forced roughly into handcuffs. Andrew’s nose is crooked and there’s blood all over his face and shirt. There’s blood on Aiden but he looks okay. No bullet wounds.
I can barely take a second to allow myself to feel relieved because then I realize that they’re handcuffing Aiden.
“No, not him!” I force out, ignoring the officers talking to me, focused just on the ones trying to arrest Aiden. My head is pounding and the adrenaline surging through my veins is the only thing keeping me standing.
“My name is Amelia Collins, I made the nine-one-one call. This is his house.” I point at Aiden.
After some back and forth, Aiden is released, and I basically tackle him. His solid arms wrap around me and relief floods through me.
His hands tangle in my hair, and he pulls me close until our lips meet. It’s quick and frantic, like it’s our first and last kiss all wrapped up into one.
“Are you okay?” He pulls away so his eyes can roam my body.
“I’m fine, are you? The gunshots . . . ?”
“I’m fine. We were fighting over the gun, the shots went through the wall.”
I’m so overcome with joy and relief that I don’t know what to do with myself. All I can do is pull him back down to me and kiss him; kiss him with everything I have, because we came so close to losing it all.
He pulls away and leans his forehead against mine. “Why can’t you just stay out of it when I tell you to? I couldn’t have lived with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“I’ll always be there for you. Nothing happened; we’re all okay,” I gently reassure him, and as if to emphasize my point, an officer leads Jason and Jackson back into the house.
They run up to us and wrap their arms around Aiden, and I’m surprised when they include me in the hug too. I didn’t think I’d ever see Aiden close to tears, but here he is, hugging his little brothers just as fiercely and protectively as they’re holding on to him.
“You guys are so brave,” he says to them with force behind his words. “I’m so proud of you. Everything’s all right.”
“Amelia?” Jason tugs on my shirt, and in this moment, I’m reminded of just how young he is. He looks vulnerable and unsure of himself, but still has every bit of that mischievous Parker attitude. “You’re the coolest badass ever.”
Despite everything, I laugh. Aiden wraps an arm around me and kisses my head. “That’s why I love her.”
I feel like laughing or crying or holding on to him and never letting go. Aiden’s okay. I’m okay. The twins are okay.
We’re safe.
We’re together.
We’re happy.