Beginning of Forever (Heaven Hill #7) (25 page)

“Are you done changing her yet?” Stephanie yelled towards Addie’s bedroom.

Mandy quickly put on a fresh diaper, trying to calm the child down. She didn’t necessarily like diapers any longer, and she could sense that something wasn’t right. It was causing her to squirm, and she began to whine, very close to pitching a fit. “We’ll be out in just a second.” She thought fast. “I had to change her clothes too.”

Putting a new pair of pants on Addie, she proceeded to turn the lamp on beside the window, hoping that it would beckon Drew to this room. As she left and shut the door, she prayed that this would work, that they would get out of the mess they had found themselves in. Hopefully Drew would be smart enough to know that since she’d been in there with Addie, it could be a way he and Dalton could come through.

“Set her down and sit with the other two over here on the couch.” Stephanie motioned with the gun, refusing to take her hand off of it.

“There’s no reason to keep them involved in this,” Meredith told the other woman. “I’m what you’re after.”

A smarmy smile covered Stephanie’s face as she gazed at Meredith’s round stomach. Her eyes were bright. “No, Addalynn is what I’m after; you’re just in my way.”

Meredith knew she had to keep her talking. If she could keep her talking, then maybe they all had a chance to make it out of this alive. It was obvious the woman was on something, the way she kept looking around and the nervous ticks she was exhibiting. How did they work that to their advantage? “We looked for relatives. We looked for almost a year, and no one came forward. Where were you?”

Stephanie laughed, but it didn’t reach her throat. “My sister wasn’t the only one with a problem. That’s why I need Addalynn—she has the family gene—addiction runs rampant in our family. She needs to be around people who can deal with that, people who can show her how to live in society when you aren’t perfect.”

The words didn’t make sense even to Mandy. To get Stephanie’s attention off Meredith, she spoke. “Then why shouldn’t she be around people who can? Neither Mer nor her husband are addicted to anything. Wouldn’t it make sense that she be completely out of that environment to begin with?”

“Shut up,” Stephanie yelled at her.

“Why? Because I’m making sense?” Mandy taunted her more.

“Because you know nothing about this situation.”

“But I do.” Mandy got up from the couch and went to get in Stephanie’s face. She’d pissed her off, coming into Tyler and Meredith’s home and threatening to wreck everything that the two of them had worked so hard for. There were not two other people in the world who deserved to be happy more than they did, and Mandy was old enough to know that she wouldn’t stand for it to happen now. “I know that Addie loves her family, she knows who her mom and dad are, and she knows the people that love her. They are good people who put family first. They sure as hell aren’t a crack whore like you.”

*

Outside the house, Dalton and Drew were trying to get inside, along with Tyler and Liam, who had turned around immediately and come home. They’d taken care of two guys who had set up shop at the beginning of the driveway, and now they were working to get into Addie’s bedroom.

“My daughter is going to get herself killed,” Liam worried as he jimmied the lock he’d placed on the window himself during Tyler’s remodel and loosened the frame so that he could break the seal.

“If this lady doesn’t kill her, I’m going to,” Dalton said, running an agitated hand through his hair. “For scaring the shit out of me.”

“When we get in here,” Tyler’s voice was quietly venomous. It had been a very long time since he’d let the darkness envelope him, but as soon as he’d heard the message from Drew, the darkness had done just that. “This bitch is mine, and when we get done, you’re giving me that free shot.” Tyler glanced at Liam. Meredith was never in danger, his ass.

‡
Chapter Thirty

“Y
ou need to shut your mouth,” Stephanie told Mandy, holding the gun tighter in her hand. “Or you’re going to find out what else I’m good at.”

Mandy knew she was playing with fire and honestly didn’t know how far she should try and play the game. From behind her, she heard Addie’s room door open and took the chance to look. Standing there like an oasis in the middle of the desert were her dad, Tyler, Drew, and Dalton, and they were all pointing guns at Stephanie.

“Get out of the way, Mandy,” Tyler commanded as he walked towards where they stood with his gun drawn.

Meredith watched her husband, worried. She hadn’t seen the look in his eyes in a long time. She hated that he had been pushed to this point, hated that either of them were in this situation. How many times in their lives would they have to defend themselves? How many times would they have to fight for one another?

“Get in the bedroom,” he ordered the women. “You don’t need to be out here for this. Grab Addie and go.”

Glancing back, Meredith saw that Stephanie still hadn’t dropped her weapon. “If you hurt him, I will end you,” she told her, venom in her own eyes. There was no way she was going to let something happen to their family now that they had finally found one another and they were getting everything they always wanted.

When the women were finally in the other room, Tyler smiled at Stephanie. “I eat bitches like you for breakfast. You think you’re gonna come in my house and hurt my family? You’ve got a whole hell of a lot more coming your way.”

“You talk a huge game with a gun in your hand,” she taunted him.

Tyler clicked on the safety and dropped the gun, a smile on his face. “I don’t need a gun to talk any kind of game for me. You put yours down, and we’ll go at it skin on skin. I’m not too good to hit a lady.”

“And I’m not too good to hit a redskin,” she taunted him right back.

He almost flinched. It had been a lifetime since he’d been called that particular name. At one time it wouldn’t have hurt, but now that he had been accepted so readily by the people around him, it did hurt. Shaking it off, he held his hands out to the side. “I’ll give you one free shot, and then I’m gonna kick your ass,” he told her, leaning forward so she could get a good, clean shot.

Stephanie took the opportunity and hit him for all she was worth, wincing when her hand cracked. Her heart sped up when she realized Tyler hadn’t even moved an inch.

With reflexes that hadn’t dulled one bit over the years, he swung back with one hand and let it fly. It felt good to feel her crack beneath his fist. He knew it shouldn’t, he’d never been one to hit a woman, but he’d also never been one to discriminate. Danger was danger, regardless if they were male or female. All he knew was that he’d come into his home and this woman was threatening it.

She did her best to keep up with him, drawing her knee up to kick him in the balls. When he sidestepped her, she tried to go for his feet but then realized he wore heavy black boots.

Tyler was sick of playing with her; he was bigger, strong, smarter, and just plain meaner. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he pulled back against her arms and held her in front of him, keeping her arms taut so she couldn’t break away. “I don’t right know what to fuckin’ do with you at this moment, but I can tell you this, I’d like to put a bullet through the back of your head for coming and fucking with my family.”

Stephanie shivered at those words. “You’d do it with my niece in the other room?”

“No,” his voice was quiet. “I’d take you out back, away from my daughter, away from wife; I’d kneel you down on the ground and put you down execution style. Not even blink an eye at it.”

They all knew he was telling the truth. Tyler did not mess around when it came to Meredith or Addie.

“C’mon, man.” Liam grabbed hold of him as he walked over. “You don’t wanna do this to yourself right here, right now. Let us take care of her.”

“No.” Tyler shook his head. “She threatened my family. I can’t let her go.”

“Please,” they heard Meredith’s soft voice as she barely opened the door. “Don’t do this. Let them take care of it for you. You’ll never be able to look at Addie again and be her hero. This will eat at you, and you’ll never be able to run from it. Come to her with a clear conscience.”

The boys could tell that Meredith was getting through to him, and they didn’t want anything to happen when they made an exchange, so they went over and grabbed both of her arms, dragging her away from the big man. “You’re lucky,” he told her. “I’m not a forgiving man and I’m not an easy man, and you only got a small taste of that tonight. You don’t realize how fucking lucky you are.”

Turning around, he was ready to lay into his wife, even though he knew she spoke the truth, even though he knew she was trying to save him from himself. When he glanced at her, he could see pain in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I think my water broke.” She opened the door fully, exposing Mandy and Charity, along with Addie.

“Her water for real broke,” Mandy affirmed, holding Addie in her arms. “We need to get her to the hospital.”

“It’s too early, Ty,” she cried softly to him as he came forward and swept her into his arms.

“Eight months, you’ll be fine, I promise,” he told her, wondering if he told her the truth. He’d heard of many babies who were born at seven, even six months, who were now fine. Their son would be healthy and he would be fine. He knew this with everything in him. Their son had to be fine, because he knew neither of them could live if he wasn’t.

“You go,” Liam told his friend. “I’ll get this done and meet you there, and I’ll get everybody else up there too. You won’t have to worry about this piece of shit again.”

There weren’t many people in this world that Tyler trusted, and Liam was at the very top of that list. If Liam was going to make sure they never saw Stephanie again, then he believed it with every piece of his soul. He just had to also believe that Meredith and their son were also going to be okay.

*

The waiting area was eerily calm when Liam finally made an appearance, Rooster at his side. Everyone waited as family did, but instead of jubilation, there was an undercurrent of worry.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, as he picked up Tatum from where she slept next to Denise and had a seat.