“What guarantee do I have that you’ll continue to behave once I let Beth go?” Matt challenged her. “You have my word, Matt. That used to mean something. I was your wife; my word should still be enough.” Matt laughed at Tana as if she were telling a joke, and that seemed to piss her off some.
“There you are, honey. I knew that you’d show your true colors sooner or later. That anger right there is what’s going to get you into trouble.” Tana plastered a smile back onto her face, and he knew that she had put her defenses back up. “Okay, so we’ll do this the hard way, Matt. What do you want from us?” Tana pointed between herself and Beth. Their daughter reached for Tana, and he slapped her arms down, causing her to cry out in pain.
“Please, Matt, don’t hurt her. Just let me hold her—she’s scared.” Matt shook his head, heaving out an angry breath.
“Not a chance. She stays in her chair, and you stay in yours.” Matt motioned between the two of them with his gun.
“Fine, then tell me what I can do to move this along. What do you want?” Matt needed to consider her words carefully. What he wanted was to take his willful wife out of the equation; that way, he could move on and find someone new. But divorce would be too easy for her—it was too neat and tidy. He wanted to mess her up a little. Hell, he wanted to kill the bitch, but if he did that in front of Beth, he’d never turn her to his side. She would blame him for her mother’s death for the rest of her life.
“What I want is for us to take a little ride, honey. I’m going to lock Beth in her room, and then you and I are going to take a drive.” Tana’s tears fell freely down her face, but he wasn’t going to fall for her theatrics. “I’ll come back to find you later, Beth. Mommy and I just need to have a conversation, and then you and I are going to go on a trip. Would you like that?” Beth looked up at him, and confusion clouded her features.
“Will Sarah and Mommy come with us on the trip?” Matt shook his head. “No, honey. We’ll try to pick up Sarah before we leave, but Mommy is going to stay here.” Tana sobbed again, and he told them both to stand. It was time to get the show on the road. He didn’t want to take the chance that Tana was followed; he wanted to get her out of there and find a quiet place off the beaten path to take care of his wife.
“I want you both to head upstairs and don’t make any sudden moves, honey. I won’t hesitate to shoot you both.” Tana took Beth’s hand and walked towards the stairs. When they all reached the bottom of the steps, the kitchen back door flew open, and Matt saw two hulking figures rush into the small room. He knew that his only hope for escape was to get his hands on Beth. She would be easy to manipulate and light enough to move quickly.
“Don’t do it, Matt,” the Sheriff yelled, pointing his gun at Matt’s chest. The hulk standing next to the cop looked just like the guy Tana was with earlier.
“You? I shot you. How are you here?” Matt asked, stalling.
“You shot my brother, asshole,” the Hulk spoke.
“Please, Matt, just let us go, and I won’t press charges,” Tana pleaded.
“No, bitch. You don’t get to walk out of here again. Neither of you does.” Matt spun around to face Tana and Beth and pointed the gun at his daughter. Then everything happened so quickly—he wasn’t sure how he ended up on the floor, but he knew that he had been shot. He looked up to find Tana standing over him, holding her side, blood covering her hands.
“See you soon, honey,” he whispered just before he drew his last breath.
“Tana, no!” Tag rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms before she hit the floor.
“Is Beth okay?” She looked over to her daughter as Sawyer knelt in front of her, checking her out. “She’s good, Tana.” He pulled out his cell and called for backup and an ambulance.
“Torren?” She looked at Tag—he was so like his brother. “Is he safe?” Tag nodded, and Tana breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that she had been shot, but it didn’t hurt anymore; she just felt numb all over. “I’m so cold,” she cried. “Why am I so cold?” Tag gently laid her on the floor and took off his jacket to cover her. He took off his T-shirt to press against her stomach where she had been shot, applying pressure. She groaned in pain at the contact.
“Sorry, Tana. I need to get this bleeding under control.” Tana didn’t miss the worried glance Tag gave to Sawyer.
“Where is that ambulance, man?” he barked.
“Tag,” Tana coughed, sending pain spiraling through her body. “Tell Torren that I’m sorry. I only broke up with him to get here to Beth.” She reached up and took her daughter’s hand into hers. “My girls are my life, and I would do anything to keep them safe. I’m sorry that I had to break your brother’s heart to do that. Torren is worth sticking around for.” Tana coughed again and roiled in pain.
“You can tell him yourself, Tana. The ambulance is here, and they are going to fix you right up,” Tag said. “Be a good girl, Beth, and take care of Sarah,” Tana whispered, and she squeezed her daughter’s little hand. Tana’s world started to go dark just as the emergency team rushed into her house. Her one regret was leaving her daughters without a mother or father to lovethem and watch them grow up. She thought about Torren and the sadness that she saw in his eyes every time he spoke of his mother’s death and his father’s betrayal, and she wondered if her girls would grow up feeling the same way about her. She saw Torren’s beautiful face just as the darkness consumed her, and she felt inexplicable sadness that she would never see him or touch him again. Tana longed for one last chance to tell him that she loved him and to see the way his face lit up from just those three little words.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Torren woke to find Tag sitting in a very uncomfortable chair next to his hospital bed. “Hey man, what are you doing here?” Torren’s voice sounded hoarse even to his ears. “Don’t you have a new baby boy to take care of?” Tag stood, poured Torren a glass of water, and helped him take a sip. Torren’s side hurt like a son of a bitch, and he was slowly starting to remember everything that happened that day. He tried to sit up a little, but pain shot down his body, and he decided against it.
“Take it easy, man. You just had surgery, you’ll rip your stitches out.” Tag shook his head, disapprovingly at him. Torren couldn’t help his smile. Tag was always the one taking care of him, never the other way around.
“You know, you’re going to make a pretty fucking great dad.” Torren took the cup from Tag and drank the rest of the water.
“Well, I’ve had a hell of a lot of practice, taking care of your crazy ass all these years.” Tag gently cupped Torren’s shoulder, and he knew that his brother had something on his mind.
“What’s up, man? You look like shit,” Torren teased.
“Well, my wife was just in labor for almost a day, and then you went and got yourself shot.” Torren nodded, waiting for Tag to continue.
“There’s more, isn’t there. Just spill it, I can take it,” Torren promised.
Tag shook his head. “I’m not sure you can, Tor. It’s about Tana, and I don’t know if you’re ready to hear what I’m about to tell you. It’s bad, man.” Torren closed his eyes, remembering the way she broke up with him in the hallway of the hospital just before they wheeled him into surgery. “Matt got to her, didn’t he? She went after Beth, and that fucker hurt her.” Torren could feel his blood boiling, and he wanted to get out of that fucking bed and go to find her and the girls.
