Chapter 36

36

Evenie

M y eyes fluttered open, and I was met with a throbbing pain in my head.

I felt like I’d been hit with a ton of bricks. I groaned as I touched the back of my head. A sticky wetness coated my fingers. Pulling my hand back, I realized that it was blood.

“What the hell…”

“Mommy!”

The sound of Summer’s voice caused me to bolt upright. She sat in the corner, tied to a chair. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at me.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

My head whipped toward the voice. There sat Iona with her legs crossed and a gun pointed in my direction. She smiled at me.

“Did you have a nice nap? I thought you weren’t going to wake up for a second there. That would have taken all the fun out of my plans for you, girl.”

I stood from the bed, and she jumped to her feet.

“Sit down,” she said, pointing the gun at me.

The old Evenie might have been afraid. She might have complied, but the woman I was today had been through too much. I was operating in mama mode, and come hell or high water, I was getting to my child.

“Girl, fuck you. You have my baby tied to a damn chair, and you don’t think I’m going to check on her?”

I made my way over to Summer, hugging and kissing her little face.

“Are you okay, baby?” I asked, cupping her face.

She shook her head no. “She shot Mimi.”

My eyes widened, and my head snapped back. “You shot Pauline! In front of her!”

“It was an accident. She shouldn’t have lunged at me.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Mrs. Pauline, shot? Summer witnessed it? My baby was going to need years of therapy after this. She would have nightmares and so much trauma, and that was something I never wanted for her. She was a kid. She should be running around with her friends and enjoying her childhood, not going to therapy because a deranged lunatic couldn’t seem to let go.

I began untying the ropes that bound Summer to the chair.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Iona demanded.

“You have traumatized my child enough. I’m not letting her see another thing.”

I got the ropes undone just as Iona ran up on us and grabbed me by my hair.

“You are not running things in here!” she yelled, yanking me back.

I threw all my weight on her, knocking her back on the bed.

“Run, Summer! Hide!”

My baby sprinted for the front door of the cabin. She got it open just as Iona managed to throw me off her.

“Summer!” she screamed, scrambling to her feet.

I dove on her, taking her to the floor. The gun flew out of her hand and slid under the bed. Grabbing a hand full of her hair, I slammed her face into the floor. I underestimated the strength of the deranged woman. She acted like that didn’t even faze her. She threw me off her like I was a featherweight and scrambled to her feet. My head was pounding, but I had to fight through it.

I climbed to my feet and made it to the door just in time to close it before Iona could run out.

“You leave her alone!” I screamed. “This is between me and you.”

“No, it’s between all of us. You stole something from me, and I want it back.”

“You really think doing this is going to win you Tyrion back? You’re delusional, Iona. This isn’t going to end well for you, and it’s definitely not going to end the way you want.”

“You don’t know that!”

“What kind of man would ever be with the woman that kidnapped his wife and child? You shot his mother, Iona! You think he’s gonna come in here and forgive you and all will be well? You have to be smoking hot crack if you think this is gonna end in your favor!”

“He was mine!” she yelled, grabbing me by my hair.

We started fighting, going blow for blow. I couldn’t pretend like she wasn’t giving it to me as hard as I was giving it to her. We were tearing each other’s faces up with punches. Somehow, I lost my balance and fell back on the bed with her on top of me. That was just enough time to give her the upper hand. Punch after punch landed to my face as she screamed like a madwoman.

“He was mine, and you took him from me. You ruined everything. Why couldn’t you stay gone!”

The front door of the cabin flew open, and there stood Tyrion with his gun raised. He didn’t hesitate to shoot, hitting Iona in her side. Her eyes widened as she rolled off me and hit the floor with a thud. I scrambled off the bed and ran to my husband’s side.

“Shit, are you okay?” he asked, checking me over.

I nodded. “Where is Summer?”

“In the car.”

“T-Tyrion…” Iona groaned as she got up from the floor with the gun in her hand.

Tyrion pulled me behind him and aimed his gun at her.

“You… you shot me…” she croaked out. “You shot me.”

“You’re lucky that wasn’t a headshot,” he spat. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a fucking bullet between your eyes right now, Iona. You shot my mother! She’s in surgery, fighting for her life. You kidnapped my wife and my daughter. For what!”

“I love you,” she declared. “I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Tyrion. We had a good life together, and it was all over the moment she came back into the picture. Everything became about her! You forgot all about me!”

“I didn’t forget you at all. You just couldn’t let us settle into Evenie being home—”

“Let you settle? It was fuck me the moment you got that phone call.”

“If it was fuck you, you wouldn’t have still been around anywhere near as long as you were. I loved you, Iona. I tried my best to make things work with you, but I couldn’t. I’ve apologized for you getting hurt, but you have taken this shit way too far.”

“No, I haven’t taken it far enough. You don’t get to just leave me. Either you’re gonna be with me, or you don’t get to be with anybody. I will kill you both, and me and Summer will disappear forever.”

I shot out from behind my husband. “You aren’t taking my fucking child!”

“She was my child! Mine. I took care of her while you were stupid enough to get yourself kidnapped the first time. If you hadn’t come back, she would have been calling me mommy right now.”

I grabbed the gun from Tyrion and pointed it at her.

“Bitch, I’m so sick and tired of you and your whole woe is me act. I was taken against my will by a man that just so happens to be your fucking uncle.”

She looked confused.

“Yeah. Leon Kane was your uncle, your father’s brother. Same dad, different mothers.”

Iona laughed. “Then I guess you already know how crazy we can be.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Your crazy has nothing on the lengths a mother will go to, to protect her child. You aren’t getting my baby. You aren’t getting my husband. You aren’t getting anything except exactly what you deserve.”

With no remorse, I pulled the trigger, hitting her right in the neck. She stumbled backward, eyes wide. The gun fell from her hand, and she gripped her neck as blood seeped between her fingers. She looked at me like she couldn’t believe I’d actually shot her as she dropped to the floor with a thud. We watched as her breathing became labored and her body twitched slightly on the floor before going limp.

Tyrion slowly took the gun from my hands. I couldn’t help but cry. I wasn’t sorry that I had to pull that trigger, but I’d never wanted it to come to this. All I wanted was my family back. It didn’t have to end this way.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Tyrion said, turning me to face him. His eyes widened as he looked me over. “Ev… Ev, you’ve been shot!”

I looked down at the blood-stained shirt I wore. I hadn’t even realized I’d been hit. Iona’s gun must have gone off the same time as mine. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even feel it. My eyes widened at the sight of the blood. Suddenly, I could feel everything.

“T-Tyrion!” I gasped as I clung to him. “Don’t let me die! Don’t let me die!”

My body sank to the floor, and his followed me. All I could hear was ringing in my ears as I looked up at my husband. He was on the phone, and his lips were moving, but I couldn’t make out a thing he said.

“Don’t let me die… don’t let me die…”

That was my final plea before everything went black.