Watch What Burns

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  Standing there, she felt Grace’s breathing change, showing she was waking up, but Austin just sang to her. She whispered Grace’s favorite lullaby and felt her become heavier as her breathing dropped into a deeper rhythm. If she could keep Grace like this, it would make it easier to put her to bed when her father came back. It also made it easier for Austin to relax and catch some sleep herself.

  “You’re all clear,” he told her, as he came running back down the stairs to her and Grace. “Get her to bed,” he said, stroking Grace’s hair as she slept against her mother’s chest. “You and her look like you need sleep.”

  “I really do,” Austin remarked, ready to relax in a hot bath and then sink in between the sheets and sleep.

  “I’m not leaving until Ty gets back,” he commented, and laughed as Austin began to glare at him. “It’s the deal. Your mother is fine, but I won’t leave here until Tyler is back. So go and sort her out and get some sleep, Sweetheart.”

  “Thank you, daddy,” Austin replied, giving her father a kiss on the cheek, before taking Grace to bed.

  ***

  “This just seems crazy doesn’t it?” Alice asked as she jumped out of her side of the car. “You having to come and pick me up because Tom’s shift’s been lengthened. It’s stupid.”

  “Well it was either you go on your own and have Tom have a heart attack panicking about you,” Cassie joked, knowing how tense the men were getting over the entire situation at hand. “Or you come with us and all is right in the world.”

  “Yeah, I don’t fancy landing my husband in a hospital bed with a stress induced coronary,” Alice quipped, making her sister-in-laws laugh. “But I can’t wait to sit down. I feel like this baby is already proving who’s boss by taking my energy levels and zapping them out of me.”

  “Remember Aussie got like that?” Sienna asked Cassie, remembering back to Austin’s pregnancy. “I mean she was fine then all of a sudden it would hit her like a freight train.”

  “Oh, I can sympathize,” Alice joked as she got her front door key ready. “And bathroom breaks are killing me. I expect you guys to sort drinks and food out and be waiting with a movie on by the time I’m done.”

  “Done deal,” Cassie nodded her head, willing to grab glasses and plates to put their takeout on.

  The moment the door was open, Alice ran for the bathroom upstairs, while Cassie and Sienna entered the empty house. Going in, Cassie went off to the kitchen, and Sienna went to raid the DVD collection her brother had kept and built up over the years. She laughed at some of his movie choices, but ultimately loved how many memories all of the movies gave her. Hearing a few unfamiliar noises from the kitchen, Sienna stood up in terror. She tried to laugh at her paranoia, blaming the whole Natasha news on her being jumpy, but she couldn’t mistake the horrible gut feeling that sprung to life in her.

  “Cass?” Sienna called out, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, the panic rising in her. “You okay, girl?” she called out to her sister-in-law, but got no response.

  “She’s fine,” came a voice all too familiar to Sienna, and she froze midway between the DVD case and the kitchen doorway. She stood waiting, watching for the person to appear. “Where is she?” Natasha asked coldly, coming into view, a gun aimed directly for her. “Better yet, where are they? It’s time I took claim of what’s mine.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  SIENNA couldn’t immediately answer. Her throat closed up, Cassie’s wellbeing taunted her and her mind began trying to plan her escape. Her eyes flickered to all the doorways, but she felt herself unable to go anywhere. She knew she couldn’t outrun a bullet, Natasha would get her. She was trapped.

  “I asked you a question,” Natasha spat, snapping her out of her thoughts, her voice like venom at Sienna. "Where is she?"

  "Where is who?" Sienna asked, keeping her eyes on Natasha, while watching out of her peripheral for Alice to come downstairs.

  “Don’t play stupid, Sienna. I know you’re not,” Natasha snarled back, her eyes burning into Sienna. “Now where is she?”

  “Like I said, where is who? You need to specify for me. I have a lot of people in my life,” Sienna snapped back. She knew she shouldn’t goad a woman with a gun, but she had to buy herself time. She had to buy Alice time.

  Huffing loudly, Natasha’s eyes darkened their glare upon Sienna. "Your sister!” Her voice becoming tightened with crazed rage. “She's got what's mine! She’s taken it all and it’s time I got it back!"

  “You’re fucking delusional,” Sienna snickered at Natasha, even allowing herself to laugh at the insanity this woman before her was displaying. “You’re just desperate for everything that you screwed up. Natasha, how you are now is down to you.”

  “No, Austin made me like this!” Natasha shouted, her face literally screwing up in disgust at the thought. “Tyler was always all over her. It made me sick. I took my opportunity to get what I wanted when I had the chance, and I was so happy to see her leave.”

  Sienna laughed bitterly. “You were happy to see her leave, and happy to see Tyler left a broken man?”

  “That broken man loved me!” Natasha retorted heated, her eyes watered. “He loved me.”

  “He thought he did. He was covering for the love he still felt for Austin. You have to see that,” Sienna pleaded, trying to break through to Natasha. “If he loved you he wouldn’t have taken Austin back, he would have been there by your side!”

  “He loves me,” Natasha whispered at Sienna, trying to believe the words.

  “Natasha.” Sienna took a gentler approach. “You need proper help. You need to realize that this life you’re holding onto is only killing you slowly. You’re meant for something else.”

  “That’s not true,” Natasha shook the gun at Sienna, her eyes watering heavily. She was a pathetic mess right now and her heart was pumping out the rawest of beats.

  “It is,” Sienna countered back, taking a small step forward. “Look at what you’ve become. These aren’t the actions of someone in love. Hell, they’re not even the actions of someone wanting someone to love them.”

  “It’ll make him notice me,” Natasha retorted, her weakened state dissolving. “It’ll get Austin out of the picture.”

  “You do know that if you do anything to Austin, Tyler will never forgive you, right?” Sienna asked Natasha, watching her digest her comments. “Hell, if you do anything to any of us, he will never forgive you.” Her eyes flashed to the kitchen doorway, begging for Cassie to be there, wielding something that would knock Natasha out and stop this nightmare from unraveling further.

  It never happened, the only hope she got was one that sent her heart nose-diving into her stomach. Sienna heard a creak and prayed Natasha hadn’t. She watched her enemy and saw the woman before her still looking enraged and tortured all at once. Her eyes looked right and she saw Alice, and Sienna knew that Tom would be devastated if anything happened to Alice. She couldn’t bear to see Tom experience what had torn their sister a part years and years ago.

  Closing her eyes, Sienna sent a silent prayer and then acted. “Alice, don’t come in here!” Sienna cried out as she saw Alice. “Run! Just leave!”

  Natasha snapped out of her distracted mood and looked to see Alice running past the archway to the room. She shot the gun, two pops of the barrel resonated out, but when Natasha went to look, the door was wide open, and Alice was gone.

  “You’re going to regret that,” Natasha spoke with malice and fired the gun. She growled as Sienna dove out of the way and made for her own getaway. However, Natasha wasn’t going to give up that easily. She wasn’t going to stop now that she had started. She needed what was hers, and she needed to prove to herself that her father’s death wasn’t all for nothing. “You’re not fast enough, Sienna.”

  Even with the enemy behind her, Sienna made haste to get back to her feet and she didn’t stop to look and find out exactly where Natasha was. She just needed to get into another room, get to Cassie, and get out.
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  Natasha didn’t want to play around anymore. She had wasted enough time. Watching Sienna, she knew she had to take a shot and hit any viable body part. She remembered, from watching her father at the shooting range, how he always took a shot for the leg to immobilize an assailant. Now she was glad she had listened to her father. Taking a shot for Sienna’s thigh, she watched as the feisty blonde howled in pain, falling to the floor gripping her leg. She stalked over, readying the gun on her prey.

  “Please,” Sienna begged. “Please, Natasha.”

  Frozen in the moment, Natasha remembered her father’s pleas before she guiltlessly caved his head in with the stand of a lamp. There was no room for remorse or ebbs of regret and guilt. “There are no second chances. I guess I’ll have to find her myself.” Natasha approached her, shadowing her weakening form, the blood pooling deliciously around her already. She began to raise the gun slowly, cocked it ready for its final shot. “I’ll let your dead body be the warning message.”

  As she prepared for the shot, someone sounded the horn of their car, making Natasha jump and her eyes widened as she looked out onto the street, even though the car only passed by, she knew she was losing precious time.

  Taking her opportunity, Sienna fought for freedom. “You do realize help is coming,” Sienna ground out, her hand on her leg, trying to beg the pain to disappear. “Alice will have the entire police department coming for you, Natasha. You stand no chance anymore. You’ll be back in jail before you know it, but if you run now, you can get away.”

  It wasn’t that she wanted Natasha to flee, but it was a matter of life and death. If Natasha remained here, then there was a strong chance that Sienna wouldn’t see another day.

  Apparently Natasha noted that factor too. “You got lucky,” Natasha snarled, backing away, looking for the perfect exit. “You’re still the warning message.”

  Then, just as she had appeared, Natasha disappeared from sight.

  Sienna gave in, falling against the floor in defeat. Every part of her was numb after being nearly killed execution style. Getting onto all fours, she tried to get to Cassie, but the pain in her thigh was too enormous. When she looked down, her hand automatically snapping to the gunshot wound to her flesh, she saw the crimson seeping out from between her fingers and knew she wasn’t going to last long. The blood loss was already having an effect; it was beginning to grip her in a tight chokehold.

  She opened her mouth, ready to call out to Cassie, but found herself starved of a voice. It was just a mere whisper that only sounded in her ears and proved how weak she was becoming.

  Falling to the floor, she had a perfect view of the hallway that led to the front door, but no energy to get her to her goal. She had no idea if Alice was okay, or Cassie, who was so close. She knew her bag and phone were close, but had no way to get to it. Her body was just slowly giving up and she knew it. The blood loss was winning, slowly weakening her body with each new beat of her heart.

  Feeling a tear run down her face, Sienna prayed this moment wasn’t going to be her last.

  Chapter Nineteen

  TYLER tiptoed into the house when he arrived home. The entire house was still and dark, bar the television in the living room, and all he wanted was to find his wife sleeping soundly. By the time he arrived at the station, Robert had apparently sent a text message and said he would be back in a day or two. Even though the message didn’t entirely ease Tyler, he had to let it go and focus on the important things here - his family’s safety. After looking into the report of Natasha’s appearance, he was upset to know it was a false sighting and his efforts were futile.

  He had missed out on tucking his daughter into her bed, missed a calming shower with his wife, and missed cuddling down between cold sheets with her, sharing nothing but the moment and body heat.

  Hearing heavy snoring, Tyler stepped into the living room and saw Nicolas passed out on the couch. “Hey, Nic,” he called out, approaching his father-in-law. “Nicolas, man.” He hit him against his bicep, making him jolt awake. “Whoa, it’s just me.”

  “Shit, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” he said sitting upright.

  “It’s alright, seems Austin finally got some sleep too,” Tyler remarked, noticing how quiet the rest of the house was around them.

  “Aus did come down, but she was so wiped out I sent her to bed and just got settled for the night,” Nicolas commented, remembering how Austin had offered to sit and watch TV with him until Tyler came home. “Right, I’m going to head back home before Jane worries.”

  “I think she went to bed already,” Tyler quipped as Nicolas laced his shoes and then headed for the door. “You okay going back?

  “Me?” Nicolas asked incredulously. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later,” Nicolas waved off Tyler’s concern and then left the house, walking at a hastened speed.

  Tyler locked the front door, and decided to just go to bed. Leaving the darkness behind, he headed upstairs, using only Grace’s nightlight to guide his way. He peered in between the gap of her door and the frame and smiled at seeing her sleeping soundly. With that sight, he went to his and Austin’s room. He found the bedside table light on, but Austin was fast asleep.

  Going to the en suite bathroom, he brushed his teeth before changing into tracksuit bottoms, stripping his t-shirt off, and leaving the room to go back to his wife.

  “You spend longer in front of the mirror than me most nights,” Austin spoke up, her voice muffled a little by the pillow. She opened one eye to look at him, smirking, and she then twisted in the bed. “Everything okay?”

  “Sure is,” Tyler replied, sitting onto the edge of the bed. “Your dad was asleep, but he just left to get back home.”

  “Think he’ll be okay out there?” Austin fretted momentarily. “With Natasha being seen?”

  “It wasn’t her,” Tyler commented, looking over his shoulder at his wife. “Is everyone else okay?”

  “As far as I know they are. Sienna texted me,” Austin yawned, sitting up. “Tom’s working late at the hospital, so they’re down at his and Alice’s place for the night with Cassie.”

  “I think they’ve gone to sleep,” Tyler joked with her. “The place was dark, but Sienna’s car is there.”

  “Strange,” Austin twisted on the spot, reaching to grab her iPhone from the bedside table. “She texted me only ten minutes ago. I must have been dozing; I swear that was sent a while back.”

  “You’re exhausted, baby,” he told her and climbed onto the bed. He crawled up his side, only stopping when he could push her against the mattress and his hands were placed either side of her body. “And clearly you just can’t sleep with me in the bed or with me out of it.” He leaned down, bestowing a heavy kiss to her lips, telling her how much he ached for her right now. He felt her arm snake around the back of his neck, pulling him in more. He pulled away minimally, his face hovering above his wife’s as he looked down at her. “Someone in need of a release?”

  “Always,” she purred back at him, her eyes becoming hooded with lust.

  “I like the practicing we’re getting in for baby number two,” he murmured at her, dotting kisses onto her lips delicately.

  Austin giggled at that comment, but then deepened the kiss. Just as her husband’s hand began to play with the hem of her panties, she heard a noise that stopped her libido in its tracks. “Is that the door?” Austin said, pushing her husband away suddenly.

  “Don’t be silly,” Tyler shook off her mild worry, and tried to rekindle the lust she had seemingly lost.

  “No, no,” Austin repeated, pushing up on him again. “Someone’s banging on the front door, Ty. How can you not hear that?”

  It was then Tyler heard the panic screaming.

  Sitting up away from his wife, he listened and then he heard, along with screaming of his and Austin’s name, the multiple hits upon the glass panes and wood of their front door. Getting up, he grabbed his t-shirt, throwing it on as he ran for the door, pulling it open to find his daughter
crying out for them too.

  “It sounds like Alice,” Austin commented, tying her robe around her body. “Go, I’ll get Grace,” Austin coerced him, not willing to let Grace cry out anymore. “Tyler,” she called, suddenly stopping.

  “Yeah?” he asked from the top of the stairs.

  “Please be careful,” she said, and disappeared into Grace’s room, cooing her daughter’s name as she went.

  Tyler smiled at his wife concern, and headed down to the door. The closer he got the more familiar Alice’s voice rang out, and the sound of it sent chills across his skin. Throwing the door open, he found a distraught Alice at the door, and he knew, from living with Austin’s pregnancy, that this could end badly.

  “What the hell, Alice?” he was barely able to ask as she caught her breath and began to plead with him.

  “Help, Tyler, please help,” she begged him; grabbing onto him the moment the door opened.

  Tyler fought her grasp, holding her away from him, trying to get her to gain some composure so he could find out what was wrong and what kind of help she needed. Right now, he was drawing blanks on what could have turned from a girls’ night in to this. “Alice, calm down!”

  “It’s Si-Sienna,” Alice cried, her voice catching on her. “I don’t know about Cassie! Please, Tyler, help.”

  “What about them?” Tyler asked her, his hands slowly tightening around her arms as his panic rose. “What about them, Alice? What’s happened to my sister and Sienna?”

  “Natasha has them!” Alice suddenly broke down into pieces. “Sienna made me run, Natasha didn’t follow, but I heard gunshots.” She sobbed harder then, her breathing stolen as she collapsed. “I’m so sorry,” she moaned brokenly.

  Tyler took in a deep breath, looking up to see Austin frozen in the doorway. He swallowed his fear and took on command of the moment. He held onto Alice, leading her towards the door. He thanked Austin for holding the door open while he took Alice into the living room and placed her into the arm chair. When he heard the door close, he knew Austin would be in soon to sit and help Alice.