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“What are you doing, Ashlyn? That’s the better question. Why are you living a lie?” Henry asked her, completely unbothered by any of it. He was calm, like he hadn’t just killed somebody’s husband. Somebody’s dad.
Ashlyn tried to get Henry talking. I think she was trying to distract him. But it wasn’t working. He was just getting more pissed.
“Step away from him, and I’ll explain everything, my pet.” Henry motioned to Ashlyn with the gun, and Brandon’s hold tightened. “Let go of her.” The gun moved to Brandon, and I was sure Henry was about to shoot him. “It’s his fault. He ruined everything.”
Ashlyn immediately moved away from Brandon toward the couch. “What did he ruin, Henry? I’m so confused.”
“How are you confused?” He waved his gun around, and Lindy’s nails dug into my leg as this psychopath put the gun back to her head.
“What’s he doing here, Ashlyn? He shouldn’t be here.”
“He lives here,” she told him.
“I’m supposed to live here. Not him,” Henry yelled back, and the sinking feeling came back tenfold. How are we getting out of this?
Henry was screaming at her. Spit flew from his lips. “You saw me. You finally saw me. After all these years. Do you have any idea how long I waited for you? Any idea the lengths I’ve gone to so we could be a family?”
I tried making eye contact with Brandon, but his eyes were locked on Ashlyn.
If I couldn’t get him to see me, we were all gonna die.
“I’ve loved you for so long, Ashlyn. Since your very first Nationals when you were fifteen. And you never saw me. Do you remember the way the seats would fill when you practiced during public hours? Do you know how many hours I sat in those stands, waiting for you to notice me? All those hours on the top bleacher, watching your every move. Every routine. Always hoping that would be the day you’d see me. You were so pretty. So graceful. I was there when you won your very first Nationals. I was there at the Olympics when you were robbed of the gold and that spoiled little bitch, Nina, threw a temper tantrum on the ice.”
Henry waved his gun around the room, and the cracks in his calm started showing. This was going downhill fast. “She ruined your chances, Ashlyn. She tainted you. It was all her fault that you were robbed of the gold. There was no way they were going to give it to you after the stunt she pulled. You’d worked so hard for the medal. It wasn’t fair. So she had to go.”
The room became eerily quiet until he pulled back on Lindy’s hair, and she cried out.
I fought everything inside myself to stay calm and focused on Brandon, not on killing this asshole for hurting Lindy and threatening our lives.
I refused to fucking die like that and pushed down my fear.
I forced myself to stay in control as Ashlyn kept Henry talking.
She knew what we needed. Now let’s just hope Brandon was understanding me. “What do you mean, she had to go, Henry? What... what did you do?”
I tuned out Henry’s answer and gave Brandon the slightest nod to see if he’d notice, and his eyes widened. Fuck. He saw it. I made promises to God if we got out of this, I’d do whatever it took to lead a good fucking life. And as this crazy fuck yanked on Lindy’s hair again, he pressed the gun tighter to the back of her head.
Ashlyn saw it and forced her way around Brandon, still arguing with Henry. Keeping his focus on her, instead of Lindy.
Henry lowered his gun, then pointed it at Brandon and Ashlyn.
“We’re supposed to have a life together, Ashlyn. I was even going to forgive you for her.”
I just had to wait for my time.
It was coming. I knew it had to be coming. We weren’t dying like this.
Not there. Not that day.
“We still can, Henry. You and me. Just let Madeline, Easton, and Brandon go, then I’ll go anywhere you want. As far away as you want.” Ashlyn took a tentative step closer, and Henry moved.
I remember thinking—That’s it, Ashlyn. Get him to move.
“Anywhere, Henry. We can start our lives together anywhere. But you’ve got to let them go.”
Henry swung the gun toward Brandon. “He’ll never let you go.”
That was it. That was my chance. Thank fuck, Brandon was used to reading silent signals on the football field and knew innately what I was thinking.
