“Baby, listen to me,” Shane shouted in my ear as I shook in place.
“Is that the man you’re fucking?” my stepfather asked. “Put him on speaker phone.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Jenn ordered.
There was a pause on the other end of the phone and then Shane asked, “He’s there, isn’t he?”
“He wants me to put you on speaker,” I finally choked out, my attention riveted to the gun at Jenn’s temple.
“Where is Max?” Shane barked out.
“Chapel—”
Heller pulled the hammer back on his revolver and raised a brow. “Put him on speaker phone.”
“Baby, listen to me, whatever you do, don’t leave with him. He won’t shoot you in a public place.”
“Where are you?” I whispered, ignoring Heller. If I put Shane on speaker, he couldn’t answer me.
“Sage, if you don’t listen to daddy and put him on speaker phone, I’m gonna put a bullet in your friend’s pretty little head,” Heller hissed.
Fear and resentment bubbled up from a place so dark, so deep, I couldn’t stop it. I shrieked, “You were never my father, you bastard! You were a warden who used fear and your fists to keep us in line!”
Color returned to his face at my outburst. This was the man I knew from my nightmares. One look told me he wanted to put his fist in my face for disrespecting him.
“Enough!” Heller roared. “You destroyed my life. I have nothing left because of you. It’s time to accept your punishment.”
“Don’t fuckin’ move!” Shane shouted.
“He has a gun to Jenn’s head. I have no choice,” I whispered.
Heller yanked back Jenn’s head and shoved the gun under her chin. “You will come with me willingly or I’ll shoot her first . . . then you. Your choice.”
Jenn closed her eyes and muttered, “What is it with crackpots pointing guns at me?”
Shane must have put me on speakerphone because Jack bellowed in my ear, “Because you never stay put!”
I could hear sirens in the background, so I knew they were coming. But I couldn’t risk Jenn’s life. This was my problem, and she had two young boys to raise.
“I’m hanging up now. I have to go with him or Jenn is—”
“What did I say?” Shane barked out.
“I can’t. The risk is too high.”
“I swear to God, we will be there in time. Just stall him and don’t leave.”
I ignored him. I had to. He didn’t know Heller like I did. He would lash out within moments if I didn’t comply. “If I don’t get a chance to tell you this, Shane, I want you to know I fell in love with you the moment you stepped off that plane. Your soul is so beautiful—”
“Sage, don’t—”
His voice held fear and anger equally, but I interrupted him.
“Please don’t blame yourself, Shane,” I cried out. “None of this is your fault. Please don’t shut down again. Live your life for Emma Jane, for me.”
He roared, “Listen to me!” but I hung up and stepped forward.
“Let’s go, daddy dearest,” I sneered.
“Sage, don’t do this,” Jenn begged.
Triumph morphed Heller’s face from a wild animal’s to that of the smug bastard I remembered from childhood. He raised the gun from Jenn’s throat and slammed it down on her temple before I could stop him. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped to the floor in a puddle of limbs. When I moved to help her, crying out in distress, Heller reached out, grabbed me by the neck with his forearm, and pinned me to his chest.
“You’re gonna come with me quietly or I’ll shoot the first person I see,” he ordered.
Taking a deep breath to control my emotions, I wiped my face clean of tears. I couldn’t risk anyone asking if I was all right. I believed he would do whatever it took to exact his punishment.
“We’re gonna walk out the front door,” he sneered. “Just a father comforting his daughter as he walks her to the car.”
I nodded I understood.
When he opened the waiting room door, I gasped. On the floor behind the reception desk were a security guard and an elderly woman. I was stunned no one had seen them and sounded the alarm, then I realized one of the downsides to a county hospital at night was they didn’t have a large staff.
The surgical waiting room was on the ground floor near the front. All that lay between us and the front of the hospital was a short walk down a long hall. I was out of options. No one could save me now.
“Almost there,” Heller whispered as we rounded a corner. He had his arm draped around my shoulders, snuggling me up close to him to hide the blood on his shirt and his gun shoved into my side.