Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

Brynn

"He said he would be right behind us! Where the hell is he?!" Pacing the waiting room, I raged as fear and worry merged into one dark desperate emotion.

"It's probably taking a while to clean up the road." Paige reasoned sitting next to me with Hope asleep in her lap. "I'm sure he'll be here as soon as he can. He might have found something."

She looked up at Will for some assurance that she was telling me the truth but Will didn't confirm her thoughts. He's as worried about his son as I am.

I know Ethan loves his family. Leo and Ethan have always been close. There's nothing those two would do for each other. There's nothing they won't do for Aubrey or Quinn or me. They're family right down to the core.

Remembering everything that happened, remembering all those feelings and memories I have with Ethan, puts a lot of mixed emotions rolling around in my stomach. I love him. Always have. Always will. I love his protective nature despite the fear it induces in me.

I'm not afraid of Ethan. I'm afraid of what he is willing to do, the lengths he will go to to keep us safe. He doesn't think about his own safety. He only thinks about what could and has happened to us.

Feeling the same worry as me, Will tried again to reach Ethan. He stared out the window as the phone rang and rang. When Ethan's voicemail came on, Will cursed under his breath.

"He's not answering his phone." Will growled tossing his phone across the room. "I shouldn't have left him there alone. I should have stayed with my boys."

Will was torn at the site. He was thinking of Aubrey and the baby, and Leo. He knew Ethan was fine, we drove with them to the accident, hadn't we? We were together as we hauled the injured from the cars. I doubt he thought Ethan would leave me alone after all that's happened.

The woman Will loves is next to him, her daughter and grand baby's lives hanging in the balance. Of course Will is going to be here for her. Paige filled a void in the Tuckers world that was empty from the moment they lost their mom. Paige has been a mom to all of us. We need to be here for her.

Paige sat in silence. The tissue in her hands has been shredded and destroyed as Emma hands her another one. She is a wreck. Paige is scared to death of losing Aubrey and the baby. They're all she has left who are blood family to her. Fortunately she has us and now the Bradford's.

When they brought Leo in, they rushed him straight to surgery. He was struggling in the ambulance from what we heard. The paramedics said they couldn't move the metal that was lodged in his abdomen for fear of him bleeding out. The safest thing they could do was wait until they could get him into surgery. Now all we can do is pray and wait.

Beckett has been in a surgical room too as they work to help Aubrey have the baby. At least she woke up on the ride here. She's going to be fine. They are hoping for the same outcome for the baby. Beckett has to be freaking out. I can see him joining Ethan and going dark and doing something stupid.

We didn't get a chance to tell him about Quinn. He has enough on his mind. He doesn't need more. Georgia and Jim are seeing to Quinn and Paige and I have Hope. Nothing is going to happen to this little girl. There's too many people who love her and will protect her.

Georgia is in the room with Quinn now. She has a concussion, a broken wrist, and whiplash. She has one of those big collars around her neck and a gash on her head. But thankfully, she will live. Hope is frightened, upset but doesn't have a scratch on her. They were lucky.

Leo is another story. They've been in surgery for over an hour now. We haven't heard anything from the doctors. We know nothing about his condition. If I could just get word that Leo is okay, I can call Ethan with good news. I might be able to get through to him to come here for Leo. I might save him from that angry red haze he is in.

He's always had a vicious temper. He holds on to his control tightly but once he loses it, there's no telling what he will do. I've seen him beat the crap out of a for coming onto me in high school. I've watched him defend Leo in a bar brawl. And I don't dare second guess what he's going to do to Lindsey if he finds her.

The longer he is out there looking for her the worse it's going to be. That nasty temper is just boiling and churning in him. As the time passes, those heated emotions are going to explode. All the injuries, all the bad things she has done to us, are all piling up one on top of the other.

Lindsey isn't going to be as lucky as the others if Ethan finds her before the police.

That's where he is. I'm not stupid enough to think that he's just helping Charlie investigate the crime scene. Not when I just saw Charlie twenty minutes ago checking on Leo. Not when I know the cars have been towed, the tree was removed and the road is cleared.

He's gone after the person responsible for all of this. He's not coming back until he has found her. He won't stop until he finishes this. Then and only then will Ethan come back to me. And even then I might lose him again if he goes to prison for murder. Even with her death, Lindsey wins.

"Brynn, I got you a tea." Emma hands me a hot cup and joins me. "He's going to be okay. They all will be. Bradford's don't give up."

"They aren't Bradford's." I whisper, knowing she means well.

"It's not about blood or a last name, Brynn. Family is about what's in here." Tapping her chest, she takes my hand. "This family has a lot of different roots that don't merge; it's what grows from those roots that blends and blooms that shows what you're made of. You, Leo and Ethan, Aubrey, even Cole have inside what makes you a Bradford. Ask Georgia. She'll agree."

"Ethan is going to kill Lindsey." The honest truth came out calmly in a voice I didn't recognize as my own.

"I don't blame him." Emma squeezed my hand in sympathy. "She has tried to hurt everyone he loves. I would want to do the same thing."

"So do I but I don't think I could actually take a life." The admission is the truth. "You didn't see his eyes when I left him standing there on the road. I've never seen him look so cold, so detached."

"I've seen Blake look like that. It frightened me and I'm sure it scared you. Just have faith in him that he will do the right thing." Emma encouraged me. The problem is I don't know what the right thing is. Is it bringing Lindsey into the police custody or is it killing her?

Lindsey

Looking out the window, then down at my phone, I watched my love search for me. Of course he's coming to me. I had no doubt that Ethan would come to his senses. We belong together, after all.

"Mine, mine, mine!" Giggling, I looked across the room and saw the crazy woman staring back.

She looks so familiar, so much like me. But she doesn't take care of herself the way I do. I would never allow my hair to be so disheveled, or my makeup so smeared. Her clothes are tattered and torn, filthy with god knows what.

"Ethan hates you! He's too smart for you!" She lies. I know she lies.

He'll come to me. I know that he's out there right now searching for me. She doesn't know I have cameras set up. I can see everything. Everything all of them have done, I've known about. I'm tracking him as he works his way through the dark to me. He left all of them behind for me. It's so exciting to know it's finally happening.

"I need to get ready for him!" I exclaimed, tossing all the things that had been destroyed into a bag. I don't need them now.

The end is in sight. My excitement is perking up as I heave the bag over my shoulder and take it out back to the big dumpster I had brought out here for this very moment. "Can't have a messy house when company arrives. It's not proper."

"Ethan isn't stupid! He's going to figure it out!" Lindsey yells across the room.

Looking up at the mirror, I saw my reflection. I am not her. She looks crazy. Crazy hair, crazy eyes, horrible makeup. "I have to do my makeup. And my hair. I don't have time to argue with you!" Turning, I rushed into the kitchen and dumped my purse on the table.

The light in here is terrible but it's the best I can do. I need to put myself together. Ethan won't want me like this. It will bother him, anger him that I didn't try to make myself look presentable for him. This is a very important day after all!

"You know, he would never forget our anniversary." Running a brush through my hair, I tore my hair out getting rid of the knots. Cursing under my breath that I hadn't dealt with this nasty family business sooner.

"What anniversary? You were never together!" The reminder only angered me more. How dare she believe that!

"Today is the ten year anniversary of our first time together! Of course Ethan will remember! You really don't know him do you?!" Ignoring the ignorant comments, I focused on my makeup. It all has to be perfect, after all.

"He doesn't love you! He loves Brynn!" There she goes again. Trying to ruin my fun.

"Brynn is dead! I killed her! And the rest of those bad people who were keeping him from me! There's no one else in our way. Except for you." Pulling a knife from the butcher block on the counter, I looked carefully at the blade.

It's not as sharp as I would like. I should sharpen it, but I don't have time. Looking down at the screen on my phone, I watch Ethan pushing his way through the woods. No he's too close to use a gun. The knife is my only choice.

Walking back into the great room, I wave my knife at my reflection across the room. "We're going for a little walk, Lindsey. I don't want to mess up the house now that I've cleaned it up."

Looking around the room, I didn't pay attention to my father's body on the floor, or the puddle of blood spread under his chest. His eyes were still open, staring blindly at nothing. I won't notice the flies buzzing about, or the horrible stench of death that lingers in the air.

"Come along now. We don't want you bleeding all over my nice clean floor. Ethan will be here soon!" I giggled manically at my excitement. Going out the kitchen door I have one last obstacle to remove from my road to Ethan.

After this he belongs to me.

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