Page 56 of Vicious Titan

Elliot charges into the room, knocking my dad to the floor, the gun falling from his grip. I scream, scrambling for the weapon but I can’t find it. They’re tumbling on the floor as Elliot gains the upper hand, slamming his fist into my dad’s face. He pulls back, ready to strike again but my dad gets in a hard blow to the gut. Moving out from under Elliot, he towers above him. Cursing, he swings to plunge his fist into Elliot but halts suddenly as a shot blasts through the room, hitting him square in the back. He struggles to remain upright for a moment before succumbing and falling to his side, gargling curses.

There’s a ringing in my ears but I turn my head to the back of the room, seeing my mom with the pistol pointing in my dad’s direction. She remains in that position as he struggles to breathe. I crawl across the floor to my brother. “Asher. He needs help.”

Elliot kneels beside Asher, pressing his palm against one of the many wounds. “They’re already on the way.”

Minutes later, police officers swarm the house, as we scream for them to help. Finally, medics run into the room, first tending to my brother as they quickly haul him away on a gurney. I follow, climbing into the ambulance, unable to remove my eyes from my brother’s chest, watching as it rises and falls with each breath. “Just keep breathing, please.”

We pull up to the hospital and the medics unload him as I follow their swift lead into the building, through one set of automatic doors until I’m suddenly halted. A nurse blocking my path to my brother. I scream, feeling like no one is hearing me. I need to see him. I can’t see him. I need to make sure he’s breathing.

Just breathe, Victoria.Asher’s voice floats through my mind, his bloodied face looking down at me. Stop crying or Dad will see you. He won’t hurt you. I’ll make sure of it.

I shriek, pushing the image of my brother’s baby face, bruised and battered, out of my mind.

“Victoria!”

My eyes open, scanning the room, I see Elliot. He engulfs me, pulling me against him, and I feel his body tremble, or it might be mine. I can’t tell because I’m shaking so badly.

“Just breathe, Victoria,” he whispers. “He’s going to be okay. He has to be.”

My legs give out. I sink to the floor with Elliot beside me. Hauling me onto his lap, he presses his back against the wall.

“I got you, and I swear to you, I’ll never let you go again.”

The words ring through my head, and I hold onto them, to him. I can’t lose the people I love. I’d suffocate before I’d allow them to do so at my expense.

It’s hours before a doctor comes out of the door the nurse wouldn’t let me go behind. He squats down, patting me on the shoulder, asking if I’m Asher Hastings’s sister. I’ve never been so happy to be called that before and pray I’m called it many more times.

“Yes, I’m his sister. Is he okay?”

“Yes, he lost a lot of blood, but he pulled through surgery just fine. It’ll be a while before he’s awake. Where’s your mother?”

“I don’t know.”

“She won’t be here for a while,” Elliot says, as the doctor looks to me.

“My dad?”

The doctor gives me a hesitant look before saying, “He didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”

I remain silent as he walks away, before saying, “I’m not.” I’m crying, but not for him. For what I thought he was, what I wanted him to be. “What does that say about me?”

“That you’re free from him and so is Asher and your mom.”

“But my mom—”

“Nathan said she’s at the house being questioned. He has a lawyer there with her and it’s a clear self-defense case. She was protecting her children, like a mother does.”

She had. She’d stopped him, and now he won’t ever hurt any of us again.

I relax against Elliot, enjoying the comfort he provides. I think we’ve finally faced our biggest challenge, and the only thing that’s hopeless now is letting each other go.