“How could I let this happen?” he asked his mother, almost begging her for an answer to why this was happening. His hands clawed around her back, gripping the back of her shirt.
Not allowing this to continue, she released him enough to sit him down in one of the seats in Austin’s room, and immediately crouched down before him. “You listen here,” she started sternly, unable to allow him to continue this game of heavy blame. “Neither of you let this happen. If that was the case, we would all be to blame here. We all knew the bounty that Natasha had given, and we took precautions. We changed our entire life and three people we love got hurt quite badly in an attempt to protect Gracie. Austin fought tooth and nail to stop Natasha, but Natasha had the upper hand. As a mother I know my weaknesses. They’re you and your sister.” She watched Tyler take that acknowledgement hard. “A parent’s biggest weakness is their child, and Austin is no different. All Natasha needed was a split second for Austin to be distracted to take command.”
“I should have been there, mom,” he whimpered pathetically at the thought. “Except I was sleeping. I was fucking sleeping!” he bellowed shooting up, his hands going to his face in utter horror at the result of his actions.
“Tyler?” Austin rasped out, immediately seeking him out in the room. She had awoken to his breakdown, only fully coming to the moment her husband yelled.
Rushing to her side, Tyler took her hand, focusing solely on her and not his meltdown prior to her waking up. His anger dissolved to the back of his mind, his breakdown forgotten, as Austin stole his attention. “You’re awake,” he whispered, his eyes watering all over as he ran his hand down the side of her bruised face.
“It wasn’t a dream was it?” Austin asked quietly as she woke up and reality set in heavily. She looked up at her husband, saw his tearful gaze, and broke down. “Why couldn’t it have been an awful dream?”
“I don’t know,” Tyler replied, his voice a mere whisper in comparison to his usual tone. “I wish I could have told you it was, Aus, but it’s not. I wish I could do something to make it stop.” He felt himself choke up over the matter and he was unable to form words.
Austin looked to everyone, and then back to her husband. “When can I go home?” she asked Tyler suddenly. “The house needs cleaning up for when Grace gets home. I need to make sure everything’s perfect.” She pushed up weakly, hissing at the smarting racing throughout her body.
“No,” Tyler breathed out, his voice almost hidden. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes at his wife’s latest desperation. “You can’t leave just yet. Aus, you need to rest.”
“What if Grace comes home and we’re not there?” she asked him, looking around. “Mom, please, tell him I need to get home.” She watched her mother remain unmoved and sought out her sister. “Sienna?”
“Sorry, Aussie,” Sienna apologized sadly.
“Please,” she looked back at Tyler. “Please, Ty, you need to let me go home. I need to be there.”
Tyler shook his head, reaching out to settle her back down. “You need to get better, Austin. The doctor won’t discharge you for a couple of days. Gracie will be brought to us the moment she is found.”
“But I need to find her. She’ll be expecting us, Tyler!” Austin fretted, wishing for an easy escape. She wasn’t listening, and she didn’t care about her current health. She needed to fight for getting her daughter home. “I need to show her that I am a good mother. That I would do anything for her. I need to find her, Ty.”
Tyler felt his heart cease a beat as Austin said that to him. “Oh, baby, you’re the best mother Gracie could ever have. She knows she is beyond loved by you. We know how you fought for her. Your injuries are testament of that.”
“What if she comes home and we’re not there?” Austin asked, searching for the answer to the mental scenario that kept coming to mind.
“That won’t happen,” Tyler fought back. “Our fathers are trying to find her. Your brothers too,” he admitted to her. He was letting her know that their families were striving to get their little Grace back. “Right now, we’re all trying to focus on everyone. You need to heal, as does your sister. Then once you’re home the real fight can happen. We will get Grace back.”
“We’re all staying under one roof,” Jane spoke up, keeping herself stern and controlled so as not to fall to pieces. “We need each other until Gracie comes home. We needed to be here, Aus. We needed to see you.” She stepped in, taking to her daughter’s side. “I hate that you’re back here because of that damn woman again.” She felt her eyes water. “If I ever see that woman I won’t be able to hold back.”
“She seriously has taken on the wrong family,” Sienna near enough groaned out. Her fiery nature was sending her into attack mode. Regardless of her injuries, she was prepared to do whatever it took to see her niece back. “Plus, Michael isn’t needed back. He’s here to help.”
“Aus, you know I will do anything to get Grace back and Natasha locked away.” Michael broke into the moment, finally speaking up. “And I will personally throw away the key.”
“I hope she doesn’t make it to another cell,” Tyler muttered, a venomous tone spewing from his throat. “That’s too good for her.”
Austin couldn’t help but agree. Her heart singing at the idea of her getting thrown back behind bars; she hated being forced to feel this, but she was at her wits end. However, the moment changed dramatically when Tyler’s phone began to ring out, Austin’s heart began to pound. Her gut told her this wasn’t good. Sitting up, she hissed in pain and didn’t realize how much damage was done until now. The morphine and anesthesia had numbed her well, but now every part of her was trying to fight against the pain in her heart. All the pains were trying to eclipse one another.
“Who is it?” Austin asked, begging for a bearer of good news.
“It’s a blocked number,” Tyler stated looking down at his phone. Without another conscious thought, he answered it, pushing to place the conversation onto speaker. “Hello?” he asked warily, his tone cautious. He kept to Austin’s side, unable to be away from her.
“Daddy?” Grace answered back, as if not believing it was really him. “Mommy?” Grace’s voice resonated throughout the room. “I’m scared. Where are you?”
“We’re here, baby,” Austin immediately gasped, wishing she could reach for her daughter instead of trying to weakly grasp for the phone.
“We’ll be coming for you soon,” Tyler vowed, knowing his promise would be fulfilled before too much time lapsed.
“That’s all you’re getting,” Natasha’s voice spoke after, ending Grace’s moment to issue her family with clarity and some semblance of sanity that she was alive. “I’ll be calling soon.”
As the call shut off, Austin broke down into Tyler’s arms.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“TELL me you’ve got something good,” Tyler asked as he stormed into the precinct later that day. He wasn’t taking any prisoners and he wasn’t about to be denied knowing information on his daughter’s disappearance. The department was his for Christ sake! He should be able to run whatever investigation was going on. He knew ethically that searching for his own daughter violated multiple rules, but he couldn’t just sit back and not do a job he knew he was capable of doing. He had to be a part of finding her. He had to be his daughter’s hero, and he had to be the one that reunited mother and daughter.
“Tyler,” Nicolas stood up, James following suit quickly. “Why are you here?”
“Yeah,” James quickly agreed, his brow furrowing. “Why aren’t you at the hospital with Austin? Is everything okay? Are they all okay?”
“They’re fine,” he waved them off. “And I’m here because that bitch called me and my wife and let us speak to our daughter before cutting us off. She tortured us with not even a minute of talk time with our baby girl before denying us anymore,” Tyler announced, his voice so tense the veins in his neck were beginning to stand out. He watched his father and father-in-laws face alter. Their e
xpressions began hardening, their eyes darkening with feverous hatred as the news was delivered to them. “And if you want me out of here, then you will have to forcibly remove me.”
“I wouldn’t chance it,” Tom stepped in, stopping slightly in front of Tyler as if in a protective manner. “Austin is resting at the hospital with mom, Tanya and Sienna. We couldn’t stay away anymore. We need to help.”
“Yeah, it’s not easy sitting by and waiting for people to save Gracie,” Dean argued, feeling strongly about her. “There has to be something we can do.”
“Right now, we don’t have a lot,” James released the intent from the room. The hope and fight dying from the room almost instantaneously as the morale lowered even more.
“Should you be here?” Steven asked as he approached the newest gang in the station. “Your wife and sister-in-law were just shot, let alone your own sister hospitalized. Is this wise?”
“Yeah and my daughter’s out there somewhere with a mad woman,” Tyler snapped, adding to the list. He wasn’t taking kindly to beating around the bush. Sighing, Tyler weakened again, allowing his aggression to simmer down as he noted Steven’s sudden apologetic face. “Wise or not, I need to help.”
“Well, we have few leads,” Steven started to say, not killing all signs of hope.
Tyler ran a hand over the back of his neck and tried to just allow himself to revert back into his role as an officer. “I had a few suspicions. Right now, one of them is the second person that visited Natasha in prison. I want to know why Robert never went when he’s always been so hell bent on making our life a misery and worshipping the ground his daughter walked on even though she’s the guilty one.”
“I thought the same thing,” Steven admitted, leaving the group to head to his desk. Reaching over the computer monitor, he grabbed a pen drive and turned back to them. Holding up the shiny piece of metal, he smirked. “I contacted the prison and wanted a run-down of Natasha’s visitors. I found it weird that only her mother went. However, the list we got was altered. I’ve got the real list now. I found it odd that someone else saw her, but not her father. So I requested the file and CCTV of whenever Christopher Pearson went. I had a reason to be more than a little suspicious of the surname used.”
“Pearson,” Tyler muttered under his breath, feeling stupid for not checking the list properly. He had only asked if Robert was on it. He hadn’t looked into it deeper when the prison had told him he wasn’t.
“I haven’t had chance to see the footage. Let’s watch this to see if we’re onto something,” Steven cut in, hoping his speculation was completely irrational and the coincidences were exactly what they were - coincidental. Pulling a seat up to the desk, he sat down and allowed them to all surround him. Pushing the pen drive into the USB port of the main computer of the station, he waited for the folder to appear so he could open it and consequently open the video the prison had sent to him.
The moment the CCTV footage started, Tyler tensed up. He watched as the man before him on the screen signed in, got searched by one of the prison guards before proceeding into a large room to see Natasha.
Even before he made a beeline towards Natasha, Tyler knew the game was up. “That’s Robert,” Tyler pointed out, his finger pointing out the man on the screen and he quickly slammed his fist against the table top, making everyone around him jump back in fright. “That bastard played us!”
Everyone stood up, their attention narrowing on the angry chief before them.
“He’s a clever man I’ll give him that, he’s been going to see Natasha under a pseudonym. He’s been wearing a hat and fake facial hair to fool people. He’s been hiding something by keeping his head down from the cameras, but the way he looked at Natasha gave him up. He’s still the same fucking doting father he was when Natasha was first on trial.” Tyler felt livid; he felt his veins burn as his blood pumped heavily through his system. “I bet you any money he has her safely tucked away at his place.”
“You don’t think he would play it so dangerously?” Dean asked, his brow furrowing at the thought of his niece being held captive so close to home. The thought was unthinkable and unforgivable all in one.
“It depends if he really is the strong father figure to her still, or if her crimes are weighing on him enough to give him a conscience,” Michael implemented his thoughts on the situation. The rational side of his brain was working wonders for him right now.
Standing up, Tyler didn’t tell them what he was doing until he was walking away. “You know what? I’m going over there!” He continued to race towards the doorway. “I’m going over there and he’ll fucking regret ever meeting me!” Tyler spoke coarsely. He didn’t wait on anyone to react; he didn’t need to be stopped or encouraged.
He looked to his left then to his right, and saw Tom and Dean manning either side of him.
“Did you really think we’d let you go alone?” Michael asked knowingly as he stepped in stride beside Dean.
“I guess not,” Tyler alleged, a short laughter bursting into his tone. He was more than grateful for the support that came with being in the family he was. It didn’t matter if he married into it, everyone was so tightly knit the free fall wasn’t scary because there was the reassurance of being caught.
“What exactly is your plan after we arrive?” Tom asked as he went for the door behind the driver’s side of Tyler’s SUV. “Or is that yet to be determined?”
Tyler shrugged, opening his door ready to jump in. “Right now, I just want to see that bastard and get the truth out of him. After that, I’m unsure.” He wasn’t lying. Tyler hadn’t thought much passed getting an explanation out of Robert.
No one spoke as they started off on their mission. They just wanted to be one step closer to getting Grace back where she belonged. The shrill of Dean’s cell rang out, and Tyler strained to concentrate on the short distance to Robert’s house. However, as he listened to Dean speak, he knew not to expect a miracle or good news.
“What the hell?” Dean asked, completely consumed by the phone call. “Again?” he continued to ask and raised a hand to his forehead. “Was that necessary?” he questioned in disbelief. “Yeah, I’ll let them all know and get him back to the hospital as soon as possible.” He closed the phone and felt the need to swallow deeply against the lump in his throat.
“Who was that?” Tyler asked. His hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly, he was more than aware of who was on the phone, and he was feeling angst building at what the call was regarding.
“My mom,” Dean stated and twisted in his seat. “They had to sedate Austin. Apparently Natasha let Grace call again and she lost it. It was the last resort.”
“Fuck!” Tyler swore releasing the wheel long enough to slam his hands back against it. He flipped the indicator and pulled over to the side of the road, gradually pulling to a halt. Sitting emotionlessly, Tyler just allowed his gaze to stare forward. He didn’t move, only breathing shallowly as he sat unresponsive.
Looking over his shoulder first, Dean decided to cut the tension apart as it built up around them in the car. “Ty?” Dean asked as he reached out to Tyler. The moment he made direct contact Tyler jumped in his seat, turning to look at his brother-in-law. “You going to let me drive, man? I don’t think it’s wise for you to carry on.”
“Is she okay?” Tyler asked, his eyes boring into Dean. Not answering the question even slightly.
Dean merely nodded. “She’s just unsettled. We all knew that, but Natasha is now starting to play a dangerous game with Austin. Once we’re done here, we’ll go to her and you can help her the way you know how.”
“I can only help her by getting Gracie back.” Turning back to face the road, Tyler hit the indicator to pull back out onto the road. “Which is what we’re going to do now,” he ground out and continued the journey towards Robert’s home.
“Tyler, are you sure you don’t want one of us to drive?” Michael asked, leaning forward from his seat.
“I’m positive,” Ty
ler retorted firmly and didn’t speak another word after that. His mind appeared to be working solely on getting his hands around Robert’s neck. He didn’t want to feel such putrid hatred to someone, but most of the Truman family seemed to swirl the same dark desire within him.
Michael looked to Tom and just took a moment to relax back into his seat. He pulled his cell out and sent a text to get Sienna’s insight on the incident at the hospital. He was terrified what response he would get back, but his best friend was hurting and as a direct result, he was hurting too. He couldn’t just ignore Austin’s need for as much support as possible.
He didn’t get a response as he felt the car veer from the road and towards a house. Gulping, he looked to Tom and saw how tense he was. None of them had a good feeling about this, and he wasn’t sure if it was due to Tyler’s next sequence of actions, or Robert’s true deed in this game Natasha was dangerously playing with them all.
The moment the car was parked, Tyler appeared to be galvanized by his thoughts, focusing on making it into the house. It wasn’t until he really looked to the house he noticed the door slightly ajar. Nonetheless, the disturbance didn’t stop him. It had to be a sure sign that Robert was definitely home. As he stalked his way up the pathway towards Robert’s house, Tyler felt his blood pulsate through every part of him. He was driven, ready to gain answers. If he was lucky, he would even find Natasha pathetically hiding out.
“Tyler!” Dean shouted, rushing after him. “Think this through.”
“Leave him,” Michael stated, reaching out to pull Dean back. “There’s no stopping him now.”
Tyler was grateful for Michael, and felt even more empowered to get some answers out of Robert. He was propelled further forward, compelled to seek out some home truths. The scream that stopped his feet made his blood run cold; his entire body began to recoil and lose all the angst. Tyler realized he was now terrified at what was awaiting him in the house.
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