Chapter 17

Mermaid pictured Michael, Lori and Joshua downstairs in Shawn's presence and unimaginable fear momentarily crippled her. She looked at Holly's blank stare and quickly rushed into action, heading to the suitcase to get some clothes to wear.

"Mermaid, you can't go," Holly said, fully awake now as she climbed out of bed and started dressing up.

Mermaid thought about the family. She was going to do everything in her power to protect them, even if it meant going back with Shawn. "I have to. I have no choice," she said absently as she put on her boots.

"You always have a choice."

"Not in this case."

The moment she was done, she opened the door, withdrew the key from the lock and walked out, locking Holly inside the bedroom.

She told herself she was protecting Holly from herself, but most importantly, from Shawn's wrath as she headed down the stairs.

She had no idea what she was going to do. Her only priority at that moment was to keep Shawn as far away from the Mackenzie's as possible. She'd relax, try and figure something out once the family was out of danger.

When she got to the living room, she recognized his deep voice as he spoke to Lori and Joshua and a feeling of unease crept up inside her.

"Mermaid, good morning," Lori said as she got to her feet.

Shawn got up from his seat and turned to face her. It felt like a scene out of a movie because he seemed to turn in slow motion until their gazes met and momentarily locked.

"Good morning." Even as she said that, she could feel her voice tremble.

"This gentleman says he knows you," Joshua intervened.

Even then, their gazes were still locked.

"Yes, I do. These kind folk tell me you have amnesia," he said, but from the way he was looking at her, from the way she was looking at him, it was painfully obvious that she recognized him.

"What did you say your name was again?" Joshua asked him.

He cleared his throat, as though to lay emphasis on the fact that these people had so easily trusted him. "I'm Shawn Dupree."

"How do you know her? Are you a relative? Her father, perhaps?" It was Michael who asked this.

Shawn as though offended, hardened his face and said, "No, I'm not her father. Allison here, is my wife."

Whether they were stunned by him saying her name, or stating he was her husband, Mermaid didn't know.

"I came to take her home." He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Hello, darling," he whispered in her ear, and she tensed up.

"Allison, nice name," Michael said in what appeared to be disappointment.

"You're her husband?" Joshua appeared still in shock by that part.

"Yes, sir," Shawn affectionately placed his arm around her waist.

"Mermaid, do you recognize him?" Lori appeared to be apprehensive about the whole idea.

"Yes, I do," she said, surprising everyone because they were not aware she had recovered her memory.

"Sir, would you mind telling us how she ended up on the shore?" Michael said.

Mermaid felt his grip on her waist tighten. "We were on a cruise and there was a storm, she must have had a little too much wine and fallen overboard."

"Is that what happened, Mermaid?" Lori asked.

Mermaid had to get Shawn out of there. "Yes, it's what happened. I had too much wine and fell overboard." She said, agreeing with his version of the story.

"Well, I'd love to stay longer and get to know you all but I have an important meeting in an hour's time so if you kind folk don't mind, I'd like to take my wife home."

No one had any verbal objections but none of them seemed pleased with Shawn or the way he was hurrying the situation.

"Yes, I think I should go with him." The sooner she got out of the Mackenzie ranch the better.

"Mermaid, are you sure?" Lori asked.

Mermaid thought Lori's motherly instincts were on top gear that morning. To calm her, she flew into her arms and hugged her, holding on a bit longer than she should have because she knew that was probably the last time she'd ever see her again.

"Joshua, thank you so much for your hospitality." She hugged him. "Michael," She didn't know what to say to him because he was looking at her with such a sad expression across his face.

She gave him a quick light hug and then looked upstairs, knowing Holly was going crazy trying to open that door.

"We should get going," she said before Holly succeeded to break down the door.

"It was nice meeting you all," Shawn said as he followed after her. "My darling wife, I have to say, I was beginning to miss you."

She scoffed at his words as she walked faster and stopped when she saw Owen standing beside a black range rover.

"Did you really have amnesia or were you faking it?" Shawn asked as they walked past Holly's cottage.

"Does it matter?" she asked, inwardly saying goodbye to the life she'd lived with Holly.

"I guess not, as long as you didn't say anything to the police about the little incident you witnessed."

When she was about to answer him, she heard Holly calling after her and stopped. She turned around to find the whole family outside watching them now.

She didn't know what she was going to say to Holly but it had to be something that would convince her to let go.

"Well, well, well, and who is this?" Shawn asked as Holly ran towards them.

"Wait for me in the car," she said as she met Holly halfway.

"You can't go with him, Mermaid. He'll kill you."

Mermaid wondered how she'd gotten out of the bedroom, but didn't ponder on it too long. "If I stay, he'll kill us all." Holly needed to understand the seriousness of the situation.

"I can't let you go. I can't lose you too." The desperation in her voice was painfully evident, and as much as Mermaid wanted to console her, as much as she wanted to take Holly in her arms and promise that everything would be okay, she couldn't. The inevitable had happened.

"Do you love me?" she asked now, trying to fight away the tears stirred up by the moment.

"More than anything else in my life," Holly said, taking Mermaid's hand in hers.

"Then you have to let me go."

Holly shook her head at the statement. "Don't ask me to do that. You know I can't."

"You have to. Listen to me." Without caring if anyone was watching now, she took Holly's face in her hands and said, "I told you, he always finds me. I never tried to fight him before because I never had something to fight for. Right now, you're my reason. I will fight tooth and nail to keep you and everyone else safe. I promise you."

It was a difficult promise to make, considering she didn't know how everything was going to play out but for Holly, she was willing to do anything. "I'll come back to you." She wrapped her arms around Holly.

"You can't follow me. No one can save me. You must let me go." Holly was holding her so tight, Mermaid never wanted to leave her embrace. "You have to tell them everything. Tell them how much they mean to me. Tell them I'm sorry I put them in danger." Leaving the people she loved behind was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do.

"You're going to be okay." She pulled away now, knowing Shawn was growing impatient. "I have to go," she said, but Holly was still holding onto her hand. "I love you."

She managed to completely pull away, even when Holly held on to her hand, and headed towards Shawn and Owen. She couldn't bring herself to look back because she doubted she'd have the strength to keep walking away from Holly.

The moment had come and as she'd promised, she was going to keep Shawn away from the family. She'd fight tooth and nail to make sure he never got anywhere close to anyone of them.

She was no longer Allison Davidson, the girl who had been afraid to stand up to her father, or Allison Dupree, the woman Shawn had tortured, humiliated, and abused.

She was Mermaid, the woman who had been rescued by an amazing family, the woman who had come to love without even trying, the woman who could laugh unrestrained, and find beauty in the smallest of things, and the woman who had promised someone she loved that she'd fight. She'd fight until there was no more breath left in her.

She got in the car, and watched Holly through the rearview mirror as Owen drove away. She prayed she'd one day see her again.

*

As soon as Holly finished telling her family everything, the last person she'd expected to walk in through her front door came in.

"Nick, what're you doing here?" It was Michael who asked, as Holly was still in shock.

It had all happened so fast. One moment they'd been planning their escape, the next, Mermaid had been leaving with Shawn.

"Where is Allison?" Nick demanded, alerting the whole family by the use of Mermaid's real name.

"How do you know her real name?" Holly asked as awareness came over her.

"The moment I lost contact with my team, I knew she was going to be in trouble," he said as he dialed a number on his phone, reporting that Mermaid had gone missing.

"What in God's name is going on?" Lori asked.

He looked at Holly, almost remorsefully. "I was working undercover. I had to get close to her. She saw something she wasn't supposed to see that night that almost got her killed," he said.

"Shawn, her husband, took her with him," Joshua said.

"Can you describe the car they were using?"

"A black range rover," Holly quickly said, deciding Mermaid's safety took first priority.

"I have to go," Nick said immediately after informing his team to watch out for the car over his phone.

"I'm coming with you," Holly said.

"This is official police business. I can't get a civilian involved."

"Nick, Mermaid told me everything. She told me what she saw. The only reason she left with Shawn was because she was afraid for us. He's going to hurt her and I can't let that happen. She means everything to me."

"I can't let you get hurt."

His persistence infuriated her. "You came here under the false pretense of wanting me back when the whole time you were working undercover. You came and dropped this huge bomb on my family just so you could get close to Mermaid. Now the one thing I ask for, the one thing I beg for, you won't give me?" Her tone had gone up a bit, expressing her distress.

"Holly," he tried.

"No."

He looked at the rest of the family, almost as though he was expecting them to back him up. When no one objected, he exhaled and said, "Okay, come on."

She followed after him.

"Do you know where he took her?"

He looked remorseful as he quickly sped down the road. "We were keeping an eye on Owen while some of our guys posed as workers at your ranch and monitored Allison. Owen must have known he was being watched because my men were murdered right before he showed up at the ranch with Shawn."

Holly was just beginning to understand just how dangerous these two men were and it scared her because she couldn't bring herself to imagine what they planned on doing to Mermaid. "Do you think Shawn is going to kill Mermaid?"

"He's a bad man, Holly. He's capable of anything."

Holly shuddered at his words.

"She should've gone to the police the moment she remembered. Shawn and Owen would be behind bars right now."

"She didn't remember everything until last night. She was packing her things to leave. If I had not gone to see her, she would've been far gone by now."

"How did they find her?"

"Mermaid said she saw the guy you call Owen at a supermarket almost a week ago. She said he recognized her but appeared too in shock. I think that was why it took him time to get in his car and follow us."

"He probably read your number plates and found out your car was registered in the Mackenzie name. Seeing as its one of the most popular names in Reedsdale, it wasn't hard for him to find her from there."

Nervously playing with her fingers, she asked, "Do you know where they could be taking her?"

"Owen was staying in a motel a bit far off from town. They must be aware they were under surveillance so they're going to lay low. Hopefully the car description narrows down the search. Reedsdale PD is co-operating with the investigation, but the patrol cars have not seen them yet."

She continued growing anxious.

"She's going to be okay," he said as though he noticed.

"Shawn is a monster."

"We won't let him do anything to her."

She wanted to believe him so badly but her heart's uncontrollable pace coupled up with the tumult of everything Mermaid had told her only made it worse. "You don't even know where to find him. She could be at the bottom of the sea right now."

Nick looked at her and picked up his radio. He spoke into it then stepped on the gas. "His boat is not at the marina," he said.

It had started at the sea and it was probably going to end there for one of them. Holly hoped it was not Mermaid because if anything happened to her... She took a deep breath, barely able to finish the thought. It was too frightening to start thinking that way.

*

"What's wrong, Shawn? You look as though you're scared."

There were some drops of sweat over his forehead and he appeared unusually anxious as he yelled orders to Owen and the rest of his men.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me?" he asked when they were alone at the deck of the small boat.

"You always had the tendency of blaming your screw-ups on me. Be a man and own up to your faults for once." She was as shocked as he was to hear herself talk to him like that.

"You want me to own up to my faults?" he asked in an intimidating tone and manner that slightly scared her. "Then you should probably know that your father didn't die of a heart attack." His remorseless confession startled her.

"What?" She heard herself ask.

"I needed some money. I needed his money. The only way to get it was through your inheritance. Owen smothered him with a pillow while he was sleeping. He never saw it coming."

It served him right that his so called best friend was responsible for his death, but Mermaid couldn't help feeling sorry for him. After having known unrestrained love from the Mackenzie's, she couldn't really name the emotion she'd felt for her father because it projected on what he'd felt for her, and she doubted it was love.

"He thought you were his best friend."

Shawn walked over to her and took a seat beside her. "I was, but he was too avaricious, that old son of a gun. I'd rather have him killed than ask him for money," he said bitterly.

"Did you kill that guy in the cruise because you wanted his money too?" she asked.

"He betrayed me and after I shot him I found a wire on his corpse. That damn bastard was an undercover cop."

So justice was finally catching up with him. If she was just getting to know this side of him now, she figured he must have been a criminal for longer than she'd known him.

"If you thought I was dead, why was Owen still in Reedsdale?" This, she asked out of pure curiosity.

"I told him to stay and follow up on the case of the dead cop because I didn't want them to trace it back to me. Then one day, guess who he sees?" He started laughing now.

"He thought you were a ghost. But when I came back and found out he was under surveillance, I knew something was off. Apparently they were waiting for you to recover your memory so that you could tell them what you had seen, but as fate would have it, I got to you first." He sounded so proud of himself.

"Mermaid, is that what those people called you? You must have nine lives because I can't understand how you managed to make it to shore with a gunshot wound."

She couldn't explain it either.

"So now that we've had time to catch up, would you mind telling me how those people found you."

She didn't want to talk about the Mackenzie's because he would know how much they meant to her.

"What is that?" he asked, reaching close to touch her face. "Do you care about these people?"

He knew her better than she gave him credit for. "Leave them out of this. They have nothing to do with what is going on between you and me," she said with a tone of warning in her voice.

"Hmm, I have enough problems with you as it is anyway," he said, and got up.

"Do you honestly think you're going to get away with this?" she asked him now, a little braver than she remembered being.

"I've gotten away with a lot of things, Allie. This is just another obstacle I have to overcome. Unfortunately for you, I can't say the same." He was pacing as he said this. How did the wind fail to flip him over?

"So you're going to kill me, again?"

He stopped, and smiled at her before he nodded. "This time you won't be so lucky because I'm going to do it myself." He retrieved his revolver and Mermaid's heart stopped.

He aimed it between her eyes and tilted his head as though trying to read her expression before Owen interrupted.

"Sir, we're being followed," he said.

Mermaid thought that was the first time she'd ever heard the large man speak.

"Who's following us? No one saw us leave the marina," he said in what sounded like a bit of panic.

He put away his revolver, and looked up from the deck to see for himself. Mermaid took a deep breath and started looking for something, anything that she could use as a weapon. Before she could find anything, Shawn took a seat beside her.

"Running out of options, Shawn?" The question appeared to anger him more than the situation.

He walked over to her and brutally grabbed her arm with one hand, while he aimed his revolver at her head with the other. "You're going to help me get away," he said.

"There is no getting away, Shawn. Everyone knows who you are now," she said, ignoring the pain reverberating from his firm grip.

"Then if this is the end of me, I can assure you it'll be the end of both of us."

She heard open gun fire, and was afraid to think that he may have been right. She didn't want to die. She wasn't ready to give up her new family. She wasn't ready to give up Holly. But something told her this wasn't up to her.

She'd made it this far. Maybe the reason why she'd survived was to see Shawn's fall. She'd never seen him so nervous, and as strange as the moment may have been, she was relieved.

It was time he paid for the pain he'd caused her over the years, time he paid for killing her father, and time he paid for his other crimes. And maybe, it was time she finally said goodbye.

She'd lived and known an infinite love for family, friendship and Holly. Those were the things she'd never known as Allie. If she was to die that day, then she'd die knowing she'd lived.

So maybe she shouldn't have been afraid, maybe she should've been glad. Even as she thought this, she was sad because of what she was saying goodbye to.

The gunfire stopped and Mermaid could now hear how loudly her heart was pounding in her chest. The boat was rocking to the waves created by the speedboats she was hearing outside.

When everything went silent, Shawn dragged her up the deck. The boat was surrounded by police on speedboats and, Shawn's men were dead.

Mermaid saw Owen bleeding from a bullet in his neck and knew it was finally over. From the furthest her gaze could reach, all she saw was water. There was no place to run.

The trembling of Shawn's arm around her neck told her that his end had come. She should've been afraid, seeing as the barrel of his revolver was aimed at her head, but she wanted it to end even if it meant ending with her.

"If you get any closer, I'll kill her," he threatened the cops aiming their guns at him.

"Shawn, it's over. Let her go."

The familiar voice had Mermaid turning in his tight grip to see who had spoken.

"Stop moving," Shawn hissed.

At the angle she was standing, she saw Nick. At first she was a little surprised, then it all made sense when she remembered the way he'd always looked at her at the ranch.

"I'm going to sail away and no one is going to follow me because I will put a bullet in her head." It was smart play for him to negotiate his way out using her as a hostage, but Mermaid wasn't going to let him get away.

"Shawn, no one is going to try anything. Just don't hurt her," Nick said, warning his fellow colleagues.

Shawn started moving backwards with his grip still firmly around Mermaid's neck. He was practically strangling her as he dragged her along with him but her gaze stayed fixed on Nick, and his eyes were telling her to trust him.

She tried to, until she saw Holly shielded behind him and shock and fear claimed her. "Shawn, I won't try anything. I'll navigate the boat and get us out of here. Just don't hurt anyone," she said, when a few minutes ago she would've summoned Nick to shoot him.

Now, she imagined a stray bullet from Shawn easily finding its way to Holly. He may have been just one man, but something could always go wrong.

"Get us out of here," he commanded when she had her hands over the wheel. The police cleared their way, letting them pass.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked her when they were some safe distance away.

"I'm not helping you. I'm helping myself." Her response seemed to anger him.

"Soon as we're out of sight, I'm done with you," he said.

The sound of a speedboat following them had her turning to find two boats following behind them.

"Those bastards, do they want me to kill you?"

"They probably know you're bluffing. If you kill me, they'll kill you. They know you need me."

"Shut up!" He yelled. "Go faster!" He ordered.

She tried, but the cops pursuing them on speedboats were quickly gaining on them.

"Get out of the way." He took the wheel, aggressively  pushing her aside.

"Mermaid, hold on."

She heard Holly's voice and saw Nick following after her. What was she doing racing after them?

"Get out of here!" she yelled back.

"Isn't that the woman from the ranch? Is she a cop too?" Shawn asked, briefly diverting his attention to Holly who continued to follow them.

Mermaid failed to respond.

"Tell them to get out of here."

"Go back, Holly!" She could hardly hear herself over the rattling of the engine. When Nick gained speed and got closer to the boat, Mermaid tried to distract Shawn by taking the wheel, trying to turn the boat.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he backhanded her, tossing her on the floor. She was relieved to see Nick had managed to jump on the boat.

When Shawn saw him, he let go of the wheel and turned to shoot at him but Nick dodged the bullet, jumping aside. He almost fell overboard. With Shawn distracted, Mermaid slowed down the boat and could see Holly getting closer.

"What are you doing? Keep sailing!" Shawn yelled, pointing the gun back at her.

She did as told while her gaze stayed on Holly. "Nick, you idiot, how could you bring her here?" she asked in annoyance motioning for Holly to sail away.

Shawn fired his gun again and Mermaid saw him aiming it at Nick, who was now holding onto the boat while his body dangled on the side, roughly dragging in the fury of the sea.

With Shawn distracted, Mermaid let go of the wheel while the boat kept on moving and scanned around for something to use against him. There was nothing hard and solid except for Owen's gun.

While the other men had fallen overboard, Owen was still lying there, dead in a pool of his own blood. Mermaid took his gun to find it had no bullets. She saw Shawn getting closer to Nick and knew he'd pull the trigger and kill him.

She unsteadily made her way over to Shawn as the breeze and the waves mercilessly slapped her with icy cold water. She slipped, but managed to maintain her balance. When she got close enough, she used the butt of the gun and knocked him on the head.

He fell unconscious from the blow, and she dropped the gun when she saw him bleeding. Thinking he was dead, she reached for Nick and helped him climb overboard. She was damp from the water flying along with the breeze, and her adrenaline had kicked in.

She turned to find Shawn aiming his gun at her, but before he could pull the trigger, Nick kicked his arm and knocked the gun from his hand. Shawn retaliated by punching him on the face.

"Mermaid, get over here."

She followed Holly's voice and wondered if she should stay, and help Nick or go, and save herself.

"Go!" Nick ordered as he fought Shawn, punching him hard in the stomach. He was met with a right hook across the cheek as Mermaid unsteadily walked over to where Holly had slowed the speedboat to the pace of their boat.

"Hurry!" she yelled.

"Allison!"

She turned at Shawn's voice and found Nick lying on the floor. Shawn was bruised, battered and bleeding. It gave Mermaid great satisfaction to see him so defeated even though he was on his knees pointing his gun at her.

Then, almost as though in slow motion, he moved his aim from her and pointed the gun at Holly. She saw Nick reach for the gun at his ankle, but knew by the time he managed to shoot Shawn, it'd be too late.

Without thinking, she used herself as a shield at the same time Shawn fired his gun. He was the first to hit the floor. Mermaid watched his haunted gaze as his limp body fell down, and then saw Nick holding the gun he'd just fired.

With her hand covering the right side of her stomach, she looked at Holly, and was relieved when she found she was okay because it meant that it was all finally over.

Nick went to stop the boat after checking for Shawn's pulse to determine he was dead, and Mermaid closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a wave of weakness slowly began to overcome her.

She looked at Holly who had stopped her speedboat and was now getting on Shawn's boat. It's over, she thought, watching as Holly came running over to her. As the boat came to a stop, she released the railing at the same time she let go of her stomach to reveal she'd been shot.

"Mermaid!"

Holly's voice came as a deep slow baritone, accompanied by fear, and desperation as Mermaid weakly lost her balance and fell overboard.

Death, she came to learn, was cruel. It had given her a chance to reclaim her life, only to instantly and unfairly whisk her away from everything she'd come to love and cherish.

Death was not a savior in disguise. It was a monster, and everything she'd thought she knew about it was all wrong. For as she stared into the eyes of the woman she'd given her life for, she cried because she was leaving so much behind.

The moment the cold water embraced her, darkness overcame her. The sorrow of how things had tragically worked out engulfed her. She'd known the world from a different perspective, and she'd lived fully, and completely. She'd been happy, and at the end, she realized that was what was important.

*

Holly jumped into the sea after Mermaid as the water swallowed her whole, taking her under. She frantically searched for Mermaid, taking a breath and going under until she thought she'd drown.

It was when she swam under the boat that she saw Mermaid's blood and delved deeper into the sea until she saw the source of the blood. She wrapped her arm around Mermaid's waist, and as quickly as she could, she swam back up, pulling Mermaid along with her.

Nick threw her a lifesaver and she tightly held onto it as he pulled them towards the boat. He pulled Mermaid over, and quickly started administering first aid as Holly got on after her.

After clearing the airway, Holly watched as he performed mouth to mouth resuscitation because Mermaid couldn't breathe.

Holly saw her whole world slipping right from her hands and her sight became blurry. She hopelessly watched in desperation, inwardly praying that this wasn't how it was going to end.

"Press your hands over the wound to stop the bleeding," Nick said.

Mermaid coughed out a gush of water, showing sign of life as Holly did as instructed.

Nick went to start the boat, and navigated it back to shore as he spoke on the radio, explaining what had happened. He sailed past the policemen who were just getting there but Holly was lost in the tragic trance of the last few minutes.

Shawn had been aiming the gun at her and then Mermaid had jumped right in front of her before he'd fired a shot. Mermaid had taken a bullet for her. She'd saved Holly's life.

When Shawn had started sailing off with Mermaid as his hostage, Holly had been afraid of what would happen. On impulse, she'd kicked a policeman off a speedboat and gotten on, chasing after them.

Nick had been chasing after her in an attempt to stop her, but he'd not succeeded. If she'd listened to him, if she'd stopped, maybe Mermaid wouldn't have been lying there in a bleeding coma.

*

Thank You for reading. I appreciate you.