“Mommy,” Grace whimpered out. She began crying at the sight of her mother. “Let me go to my mommy.”
“Gracie,” Austin started to say, unsure if she should move in closer or not. “You need to be brave for daddy and me. We’re here now, baby.”
“Leave her alone,” Natasha spat out, gripping onto Grace harder, squeezing her small form against hers, not caring for Grace’s painful squirming.
Austin stood up straighter, looking directly at Natasha. “You don’t need to point a gun at her,” Austin whimpered upon her words. “She’s just a child. Don’t hurt her, Natasha.”
Natasha’s face suddenly morphed, an evil smile lacing itself upon her lips. “Fine,” she literally drooled, removed the gun from Grace’s head, and lifted it. “I’ll pick a new target.” She then let the gun settle on Tyler, her shot ready to hit his head square on.
“No,” Austin gasped in horror. She knew that Natasha held the utmost control. This was her game and Austin hadn’t truly felt like a pawn in it until this moment. “You don’t have to do this. It doesn’t have to end like this.”
Tyler could see Austin struggling with herself. He watched her look to him in terror, begging for his assistance, and he gave her a gentle head nod, telling her he had this covered. After all Natasha was after him, he was about to give her everything in him to change the outcome of this.
“Natasha, you don’t need to do anything stupid,” Tyler began to bargain with her. “What is shooting anyone going to get you? You’re already in so much trouble, am I really worth the risk?”
“Yes,” Natasha whispered, her eyes saddening as they came to lie on him. “You are, Ty. You were worth it all.”
“Was it worth knowing you broke my heart?” Tyler asked her, not caring that Austin would have to hear this. “Was it worth it that I loathe the thought of you because of what you did to my entire life? Are you happy knowing that, Natasha? Will that help you live better now; knowing that the man you so passionately love despises you?” His face became tightened with the aggression he was feeling and he couldn’t hold back any longer. “You did all of this for nothing.”
“It’s not for nothing. I bonded with Grace, she knows who I am now.” Natasha knew she was running out of golden opportunities, and she knew she was going to soon be clutching at straws in order to win this. “This is all on her!” She threw her unarmed hand towards Austin. “She’s always been the problem, and you are in love with a coward, Tyler. Do you know how little she fought for her precious daughter?”
“Don’t believe her!” Austin defended herself fiercely. “I was trying to save her, but Natasha knew what I was going to do. She caught me unawares. Gracie had come out, she called to me. I promise you, Tyler, I didn’t willingly let her take our daughter! I would never be able to live with myself if I hadn’t put up a fight!”
“Aus, don’t worry. I know you fought. Your injuries scream that,” Tyler soothed her, trying to make her gain control of her spiraling emotions. “She’s trying to play us against one another.” He looked up to Natasha who was staring at him, the look in her eyes was dead, but her face was solemn. “It’s not going to work.”
“What’s it going to take for you to hear me out? What do I have to do for you to give me a chance?” Natasha threw the questions his way, hoping for the right answers.
“By letting my daughter go,” Tyler stated simplistically. “That’s it. You let my daughter go to her mother and I will hear you out. Then you’ll hear me out entirely.”
“Then we can be together?” Natasha asked hopeful.
“Yes,” Tyler lied, trying to keep a brave face on. “If that’s what you want.”
“She leaves,” Natasha began, paused, and looked from Tyler to Austin. “She leaves, but Austin stays. We’re not done.”
Tyler could only nod.
Natasha released her grasp, caught up in the joyful sound of Tyler relenting more and more to her wishes. She pushed Grace away, not caring about anything for that moment. Tyler was granting her one of her wishes, she could deal with the other part of it later. For now, she had him where she wanted him.
Austin caught her daughter; she kissed her cheek and just held her tightly. She then watched Natasha standing devastated, her gun still aimed at Tyler. She pulled away, cupping Grace’s face between both of her hands.
“Uncle Tom is going to take you outside okay?” she asked and watched Grace begin to shake her head ferociously, unwilling to leave her mother’s side and her father’s sight. “Daddy and I will be out, but there are people who have been looking for you as much as me and daddy. I need you to be brave and wait outside, okay?”
“Come wit me, Mommy,” she pushed her mother and looked to her father. “Daddy too. I want to go home now.”
“Baby, we’ll be right out, but Uncle Tom is going to look after you,” Austin told her, and went to take her daughter’s hand in order to lead her to her uncle.
“Stay where you are,” Natasha ordered, stopping the pair. “She can walk to him on her own.”
Austin looked down into the wide-eyed stare of her daughter. She said nothing but ushered her to run to Tom. Once she was in his arms, she turned away, unable to see the miserable expression on her daughter’s face as he ran from the building. She was glad he didn’t pick a fight and refuse to leave. She wanted Grace outside and finally safe. She needed that piece of knowledge, knowing that her daughter was safely with her family.
“You got your wish,” Austin began to say.
“Not really,” Natasha sneered at Austin and laughed bitterly. “I wanted her and Tyler. I only let her go for him. I didn’t do that to please you or settle your mind, Austin. I could care less about you.”
“Seeing Tyler torn up by this all is you caring?” Austin asked, barking on an incredulous laugh. “If you wanted him and Grace, why did you send her to me? Regardless of what he asked for, you still could have made her go to him and I would have left you with Tyler. Why would you give me my daughter if you don’t care?”
“Because the little brat cried for you most, Austin, it shut her up the moment she saw you. Sure, she wanted her father, but I suppose seeing you hurt had a profound effect on that child,” Natasha spoke, but shook her head and narrowed her gaze to Tyler. “Plus, I want you to love me. Grace staying here was part of my plan, but I will do anything for you, Tyler. He was always a part of my plan. I had her already. She would have been with him soon and we would have been happy, but again, it got spoiled.”
“By me,” Tyler breathed out, taking away Natasha’s opportunity to attack Austin more. He stepped forward, broaching a sensitive subject. “I was never willingly a counterpart to your plan, Natasha. You were forcing not just Gracie into whatever life you have made up in your head, but me as well. How is that fair? If you loved me, why would you do this to me? Why would you destroy the things that I love most?”
“No, she destroyed it!” Natasha convicted Austin with another strong point of her hand. “I had to get your attention off her!”
“You always had my attention!” he snarled at her, his anger getting the better of him. “In school, I used to look out for you. As did Austin. We were both always here, but you changed. That night before I found Aussie gone, you changed into someone much colder and you never came back. Even in the aftermath of everything you were always getting my attention. You fed off my grief and I allowed your attention to attempt to fill the void I had in me. You and I, Natasha, we’re toxic. It’s not love. It’s not even affection.”
“That’s not true,” Natasha cried at him, the tears falling down her face. She wiped them away quickly, unable to show this kind of weakness.
“Yes, it is,” Tyler fought back, unable to let her change his mind. “You were, no, no, you still are all about possession. I’m not. I love limitlessly and without conditions. I don’t force it upon people, it just happens. You, you see what you want, and you’ll do whatever to get it. Even if it means tearing peoples’ lives apart in the pr
ocess. You’re toxic, Natasha, and everything you touch falls apart.”
“I’m not toxic! I loved you! I grew up loving you, but you were always so wrapped up in Austin! I wanted it to be me you looked at like I was the most precious thing you had been given. I wanted you to see forever with me. I wanted you to notice me!” Natasha cried out at him, striving for someone to understand why she acted how she did. “I wanted it to be me you loved.”
“How can you expect me to forgive and forget all of this now?” Tyler asked. He knew that fake forgiveness would get them over this. If he allowed Natasha to think for one second that he wanted her, then that would buy them time to subdue her. However, he felt that he needed to clear the air, make Natasha see how he had suffered at her hands for years. “I want to know how you can love me but still cause me so much pain? I want to know how you thought that was fair to do to me!”
“I felt like it was my only option. Once I had done it, once I had pushed Austin and she left, I knew the baby was dead so I just lied. I thought it was a little lie, what harm would it do?” Natasha asked rhetorically, shrugging her shoulders. “I didn’t think she would come back after realizing she couldn’t cope anymore! I didn’t think she would wheedle her way back into everyone’s lives and yours as well! I finally had you loving me, Ty, and I knew I would do absolutely anything to keep you. I thought if I were to tell you I was pregnant then we’d be complete. We kept having sex, I just thought if I got pregnant it wouldn’t matter. We’d still have each other and you’d still love me over her, but it never happened like that. She got under your skin! I only knew to copy her and say I had a miscarriage. I did it all for you, Tyler!”
“You built our entire relationship upon lies,” Tyler stated coldly, unable to remember their life together now it was soiled by lies and deceit.
Natasha looked wild as he said that, she shook her head vehemently. “But they’re out in the open now. I have nothing left to hide! I’m a bad person, I admit that, but I wouldn’t be if you just loved me.” She heaved upon her ragged breathing, desolation creeping over her at how desperate she had become. “You would still love me if she wasn’t here. She ruined my life, she keeps on ruining it!”
“Natasha,” Austin broached the woman slowly. “I’m sorry for all of that. I really am, but Tyler wasn’t the only guy you were able to get. He wasn’t the only man that could ever love you. He wasn’t your only option, but you made him it. You made him try to love you when you knew it wasn’t possible. Natasha, you have to see that. It isn’t anyone’s fault; it’s just how we came to be. Please, just don’t do anything stupid. Don’t do anything else that you’ll live to regret.” Austin tried to find the words to placate Natasha, but she had never been this close to someone she would class as evil or crazy. She was only able to try and be compassionate and empathize with the woman before her. “I’m sorry he chose me, and I’m sorry I made my life with him, but that was our destiny. Whatever happened we were meant to be together. It was just meant to be, and I’m sorry you felt like you lost everything. That was never my intention, Natasha. Please let us help you.”
“It’s too late for that,” Natasha told them, her teeth now clenched together as she spat her words at them. She didn’t care for anything. She was now tired from this fight, and she only saw one solution to it all. “If I can’t have him,” Natasha began to ground the words out. She looked straight down the barrel of the gun at Tyler as he stood frozen to his spot, “No one can.”
“No.” Austin stepped out as Natasha trained the gun onto Tyler again. She knew what was going to come of this if she didn’t step up and try to buy them time. “Natasha, you don’t want to do that.” With her heart pumping fiercely in her throat, Austin was thrown into a world of potential terror. “If you do that, you’ll have to live without him. You’ll lose him for sure if you shoot him.”
“I’ve had to live without him for years!” Natasha shouted, taking the gun from its target - Tyler - and put the back of her hand to her head.
“I had to do that too!” Austin bellowed back, shocking herself that she found the voice she needed. “I lived without him, too. Don’t make it so we both have to live without him now.” She could see the inner battle Natasha was plunged into, she knew she was becoming vulnerable with her rapidly deteriorating mental state. “Kill me,” Austin suddenly choked out. She stepped forward. She had tears streaming down her face as she prepared herself to take tribute in ending this.
“Aus,” Tyler sobbed as he heard her step up to the mark. “Please.”
“Austin,” Michael tried to step in and prevent Austin doing something stupid.
Austin shook her head, shaking their concern away. “You want me gone, so kill me. Just leave my family be, Natasha. You wanted me dead so do that. Just let my husband live, Natasha. Grace deserves her father more than she deserves me.”
“No!” Natasha screamed at Austin. “Stop the fucking heroics! If I kill you, I still won’t have Tyler because he’ll be in love with your memory forever more! If you die, he dies. I know how this goes. But, if he can live with me, and you be alive, I can do that. I would do that. I would live with that.”
“We can do that,” Tyler goaded the situation, turning Natasha’s attention away from Austin for a moment.
“But that’s not how this is going to happen,” Natasha retorted, shaking her head. “I said I could live with that, but it doesn’t mean I want to. I don’t. Whatever happens, it’ll always be her you love.” She then began to level the gun once more. “So, like I said,” Natasha’s began to say, her face morphing, she no longer looked distraught, or wrapped up in an emotional battle within. She looked confident with her final decision. Suddenly, as her mind finalized the cognitive thought, her shaking hand stilled and the gun sat firmly on its target. “If I don’t have him no one can!”
“No!” Austin screamed out, but it was too late. The moment the gun resonated with a bang, the shot fired, Austin’s legs gave way. There was nothing she could do. She was too far away to save her husband, her words were futile at saving the one man that had protected her and loved her.
As she fell to the floor, she knew part of her life was shattering into millions of pieces and would be forever irreparable.
Chapter Thirty-Two
AUSTIN felt numb. Nothing in her was responding apart from the darkness that was slowly beginning to consume her. She had fallen onto her hands and knees moments earlier, unwilling to look up at her husband’s bleeding body. She couldn’t bear to see it. Why would she want to be maimed with that memory forever more?
“C’mon, man!” she heard her husband’s voice break out. “You had to take a bullet, Mike!”
Slowly, Austin raised her head, she saw commotion happening around her, but it was like everything was in slow motion. She could hear her husband’s voice, but his lips moved out of sync, screaming for help, trying to vain to help the real person that had taken the bullet.
“You’ve taken worse bullets than this,” Tyler scolded Michael as he bled beneath his hands.
“None hurt like this bitch!” Michael groaned back, his pain tolerance dying a horribly embarrassing death before him.
With that, Austin began to crawl. She didn’t care about Natasha as she stood shaking, the gun falling from her hands as she began to fall to the floor in a similar fashion as Austin had. “Wh-what happened?” she stupidly asked as she got to Michael’s side. “I thought it was you again,” Austin whispered as she looked down at Michael’s bleeding shoulder. She watched the blood pulsate out from the wound; the crimson seeping out between Tyler’s firmly placed fingers.
“That’s it,” Michael ground out between clenched jaws. “I take the bullet and you worry over him.”
“Because if I focused on you, I’d beat you!” Austin scolded him, sobbing on the end of her sentence. “How could you? How could you be so stupid?! After everything, and you do this?”
“I just saved your husband and you’re yelling at me?” Michael asked
with a pout, putting his head back with the pain slowly radiating in his shoulder. Out of all of the bullets he had taken, this one hurt the most. “How is that fair, Aussie?”
“It isn’t, but what about Sienna?” Austin asked, unimpressed by Michael’s tactic to saving the day. “How is she going to respond to your fucking heroics?”
“She likes my hero complex,” Michael retorted with a slick smirk on his lips. “She finds it hot.”
Austin scoffed at him. “I’m sure she does.” Looking up, she was more than grateful to see Steve step in, motioning for someone else to come in. She was more relieved when Tom ran in with a medic. Once they were in, it all happen so quickly. She went from being at Michael’s side to being forced away. Tyler telling Tom what it looked like with Michael’s injury.
“Let’s get him out of here and get her in custody,” Tyler commented as he stood up. “You okay with going out while Tom helps Michael and I sort Natasha out?” Tyler asked Austin as he pulled her to her feet, allowing Tom and the medic into the room to tend to Michael.
“Yeah, of course,” Austin replied, looking at Michael fight off the attention to get up. She looked back up to her husband and really allowed her eyes to take in his expression. “Is it finally over?”
“Yeah, it is,” Tyler spoke with a bright smile, finally feeling like everything was going to be alright. He hadn’t wanted to openly admit it, but seeing Natasha a cowering mess on the floor felt like some sort of justice. Knowing she had reached her breaking point and sat broken on the floor made him feel like this was finally over; that they were free of any and all of her control.
However, when his eyes caught movement from behind Austin, he watched as Natasha came to stand again, her face contorted with menacing evil. He watched as the barrel of the gun was now pointed at Austin’s back and he just reacted. He didn’t care for anything else, and as Natasha’s lips curled into the evil grin, he felt his heart stop beating. He watched Natasha cock the gun, and set it quickly, ready to pull the trigger.
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