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“Exactly. Austin and I might have lived in that house, but it wasn’t a home like yours. Look at all the pictures on the wall. Your mom must have been real proud of you.”
“She was.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“All the time.”
I wiped my teary cheek on my shoulder, the emotion not performative at all. “He didn’t tell me that once.”
“But you’re so pretty.” His legs started bouncing. “You’re my sister, but you’re pretty. That’s how I found you, on that app, the one with your picture. I sent you a message, but you never answered.”
I felt the ire rolling off Scotty. “I didn’t see your message. The one guy I went on a date with hurt me, so I deleted it. I’m so sorry I didn’t see it.”
“That’s okay, I found you. You left your door unlocked that one time, and I thought you wanted me to come in, but you were in the shower, so I was going to wait, but your cat got out, and I chased him, but he got away, and I left because I didn’t want you to be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. Henry came home safe and sound.”
Gordon moved his head up and down. “I wanted to say sorry so I followed you to that baby party the next day and waited for you, but then I heard two ladies saying mean things about you in the parking lot, so I chased them off the road and made them crash their car.” Oh my God, he was responsible for that, too? He smiled proudly at Scotty. “I protected her, just like you did.”
“Yeah, that was good, Gordon. We both want to protect Paris. Why don’t you let me do that now and untie her so she doesn’t get hurt from those ropes?”
“Not yet.”
Scotty’s knuckles turned white, and I knew I had to do something before things went from bad to worse. My throat was dry, and I swallowed, but what little saliva I had did nothing to help. “Thank you for looking out for me, Gordy. You’re a good brother. I wish I had known about you sooner, so I understand why you’re so upset. He kept me and you and Austin apart.”
“That wasn’t nice.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“No, it wasn’t!” And then he jumped to his feet, a different gun in his other hand. The woman rolled off, her limp arm flying through the air and landing on my foot. I squeezed my eyes shut and heard a gun go off, and everything went from dark to black.
* * *
“There she is,” Scotty’s voice sounded from a distance, and even though a confusing panic started to rise as I awoke, his presence calmed me. “Open those pretty eyes for me, baby.”
I tried, but my head ached. Why did my head hurt so bad? After a few attempts, my lids fluttered, and I blinked as I adjusted to the light.
His handsome face was the only thing I could see, and even though I felt groggy and disoriented, it was impossible not to notice the relief in his eyes. “Where am I?”
“Hospital. You passed out, and we had a hard time getting you to wake up. You’ve got some rope burns on your ankles and wrists and a couple of bruised ribs, but that’s it.”
I was lucky. It could have been so much worse. “What happened?”
“What do you remember?”
“Everything up until somebody got shot.” I gasped and pushed up so I was sitting straighter and touched his arm, his chest, anything I could reach. “Are you okay? Who got shot?”
He swallowed and leaned in. “I’m fine. They both got shot. Gordon hit your dad, and Brody shot Gordon.”
“Oh my God. Are they alive?”
“Brody just grazed Gordon’s arm so he’d drop the gun. But your dad… I’m sorry, sugar, but he didn’t make it.” The monitor started to beep like crazy, and Scotty cupped my face. “Relax. Breathe.”
I grabbed his wrist, needing something to ground me. I couldn’t believe it, and my initial thought was relief, but that was wrong. I didn’t want him to die. I was a horrible person. I’d deal with that later. Right now, I was concerned about the half brother I never knew existed until he kidnapped me yesterday. “Where’s Gordon?”
“Already been treated and released. Now he’s getting booked.”
“God, no…”
