Page 28 of Timeless Pages

"The fuck I am," I spat. I struggled against Detective Greene’s iron grip to no avail.

The door behind us slammed open, and I looked over my shoulder to see Nova and Brandy running toward me like two angry angels. "Let her go!" Nova yelled.

"Daniel?" Brandy said into the phone, I hadn't noticed she held to her ear. "That detective has Isa and is dragging her into the bowels of the mall. Nova and I are following them. No, we are absolutely not going to wait for the authorities."

Greene didn't seem concerned that they were following us, which made me nervous. We were in trouble, and I was about to find out just how much. Greene shoved me through another door and into a room. Seconds later, I heard the door slam open as Nova and Brandy followed us into the room.

"Help is on the way, buster," Brandy said, "So you may as well let her go before you make this worse for yourself." Brandy squeaked, and I heard something shatter. When I turned around, my heart fell into my stomach at the sight of my father pointing a gun at them.

"Why the fuck are they here?" he growled.

"They saw me grab Isabella and followed me.

I told you we shouldn't do this here, but you insisted.

Let's just get this over with so we can get out of here," Detective Greene replied.

He walked over to a tripod with a video camera on it and hit a button.

"Now, Isabella, you're going to make a statement.

This time, it's going to be the truth. None of this bullshit about Morris attacking you.

Tell the fucking truth. You went batshit crazy and attacked him first."

I shook my head. This wasn't what this was about.

Yet again, Detective Greene had bought into Father's bullshit.

"I can't do that, Detective Greene. I can't give you a story that you think will fix all your problems with the station because they've all seen the footage.

They saw what happened. You made your bed, and now you'll have to sleep in it.

My father is an evil man. He hurt me and tried to kill me.

You backed the wrong horse, and instead of realizing that and putting distance between you and him, you doubled down and turned into his lackey. "

"I am not a lackey!" Detective Greene raged.

"Yes, you are," Father sighed. "Sit," he ordered Brandy and Nova.

He approached me, gun out, and pressed it to my temple briefly before dragging it down my face.

"The truth is, Detective Greene, my daughter has been the bane of my existence since she was born.” Father moved to stand in front of me, and I braced for the backhand I knew was coming.

The crack as his hand made contact with my cheek echoed around the room, followed quickly by gasps from Brandy and Nova.

"Hey!" Detective Greene shouted in surprise. "We agreed not to hurt her. If you can't do that, then I'm letting them go."

"You agreed, I didn't," Father replied. "I needed you to get close to Isabella.

Now that you've served your purpose, I don't need you anymore.

" Before anyone could predict what he was going to do, Father pointed the gun at Greene and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in his forehead.

All three of us screamed as Greene's body crumbled to the floor.

"Shut up!" Father roared. His angry eyes met mine as his hand wrapped around my throat. You're going to watch me kill your friends, and then you and I are going to take a little trip. If you do as you're told, I'll make your death quick. But if you don't, I'll never let you die."

Either way, I was fucked, so when he released me and swung his gun toward my friends, I reacted the only way I could. I lunged for him, hoping to knock him off balance enough that it would give Nova and Brandy time to run. As I did, the gun went off, thankfully missing Nova by inches.

"Run!" I screamed.

"You fucking bitch!"

I shoved him again, darting into his space and then back out of reach before he could grab me by the hair.

I did it again, and again, praying that they had listened to me and were running for help.

That I'd be able to make it out of here alive as well.

When Father looked past me, I knew that they hadn't, and he was still focused on plan A.

"God dammit, run!" I yelled over my shoulder as Father started moving the gun in their direction again.

"We aren't fucking leaving you, Isa," Brandy yelled back.

If we survived this, I would have to talk to them about bullets and stupidity.

I heard their footsteps as they moved closer to us and panicked.

A closer target meant a bigger target. I lunged for Father’s arm, struggling to get control of the gun, and in a last-ditch effort, I bit his hand hard enough to taste blood.

I didn't have time to be grossed out about that, however, because Father screamed and dropped the gun, and I couldn't let him get it back.

Just as I kicked it out of reach, the door behind us exploded, and the room was filled with people shouting.

"Get down!"

"Everyone, get on the ground!"

"Nobody move!"

I dropped to the ground and scrambled backwards as the room filled with men in uniforms holding guns. The cavalry had arrived! I watched them tackle Father to the ground and handcuff him. It was over. Daniel ran into the room with two other men I didn't recognize.

"Brandy!" he shouted when he saw her. The three of them surrounded her as Daniel's lips crushed hers in an obviously desperate kiss.

She may call what they have a situationship, but watching them, I could see that those men were way beyond casual.

There was a brief scuffle at the door before Nova's men pushed through like a storm.

They made a beeline for Nova without even scanning the room, as if they instinctively knew where she was.

My eyes went back to the door, expecting to see my men next, but they didn't come.

That was fine. Maybe they hadn't been told what was happening.

I refused to let the intrusive voice in my head convince me it was because they didn't care.

I knew that they did. I went to stand up, and my hand brushed against cold metal.

I looked down and saw Father's gun. I stared at it silently before I found myself picking it up and standing.

Everything fell away as I focused on Father, standing there defenseless in handcuffs.

All of the abuse he ever showed me flashed in my mind like a choppy slide show.

My emotions swirled and grew with each memory.

He hurt me. I was an innocent child, and he hurt me.

He didn't deserve to breathe another second.

Slowly, I raised the gun, leveling it at the center of his chest. I was aware of the people in the room shouting in my peripheral, but my whole focus was on my Father, and his on me.

"Go ahead, little girl," he taunted. "Do it. Pull the trigger. Be responsible for killing both of your parents. Complete the mission the devil sent you here for."

Warmth surrounded me as a hard chest pressed to my back and gentle hands slid from my shoulders, down my arms, to envelope my hands holding the gun. "He isn't worth it, Little Bell," he whispered. "Let it go."

Nate. Always Nate.

For a brief second, I stubbornly refused to let the gun go, but as I stared into Father's gleeful eyes, I realized that this was his final move.

His last chance to break me. To show me and the world the monster he thought I was.

I wouldn't give him a second's satisfaction of thinking he had won.

I loosened my hold on the gun, allowing Nate to slide it from my hands and hand it to Evan.

I hadn't realized that he and Dom were standing on either side of me until then.

Once the gun left my hands, so did its hold on me, and the rest of the world rushed back into focus like a freight train.

I started shaking uncontrollably and realized for the first time that tears were streaming down my face. I turned in Nate's arms as Evan handed off the gun to one of the officers and sobbed into his chest.

It was over, and they were here.