Come for Me

by Ford, Mia

  Okay, so I’m going against what I just said to Tommy, but it is what it is. I will sacrifice myself for Jayden because he’s done so much for me.

  “Stop it, Bryan. Stop it right now. I don’t want you to do this.”

  Then, I turn a corner into a room and I see them both. The man that I’m married to and the man that I love. I haven’t ever seen so much blood in my life and it makes me feel sick.

  Shit… this is it.

  28

  Jayden

  Savannah? I can see her, but she looks like an angel. My vision is blurred so she seems not quite real. All I want to do is to reach out and touch her but the weight of the man is still pinned down on top of me. I can’t move even if I want to. I’m stuck. This feels like hell because she’s just out of reach.

  “Bryan,” the vision of her screams, but to the wrong person. “Stop this now. End this.”

  I feel his grip on me slacken as Bryan finds his real target. I half saw Tommy run from the room a while back, he staggered, barely able to keep on his feet, and now I realize why. Unless this is a vision, then he saved Savannah from whatever room she’s locked in, and now she’s here. I’m glad to see that she’s safe, but I don’t like her being in the firing line. I’ve wound Bryan up now, he’s spitting with rage, temper erupts from him and I can see that’s about to be aimed at her. I don’t want that, I would much rather it be at me. Even if I’m beaten.

  “No,” I grunt out, but my voice is much too quiet to get his attention. “Stop, Bryan, no.”

  “Well, well, well,” he sneers at Savannah. “So, you managed to get out then. What did you do? Ditch the boy? Or did you send him off with that other piece of shit who came in here too? You trust him more than me.”

  “I would trust anyone more than you.” Savannah speaks much too calmly. “You’re horrible.”

  Bryan moves away from me and towards Savannah, which sparks ice cold panic through me. I need to move fast, to save her, but I can hardly shift me at all. Every part of my body aches like living hell. I’ve been through a lot in my time, I’ve experienced all sorts of things, but this is horrible. I hate every part of it.

  “I am the one who’s kept this family going,” Bryan argues. “Without me, you’d have nothing.”

  “If I didn’t have you, I would have everything. You have destroyed me. Well, you’ve tried to anyway, but here I am, still standing. I’m still going, fighting against everything that you’ve tried to do to me. How weak are you?”

  I roll onto my front as they continue to argue, using every ounce of strength inside of me to get up onto my knees. My knees have been brutalized, so it’s sheer agony to do so, but I fight through it. If Savannah can be this strong then so can I. No amount of body pain can get in the way of me helping her.

  “I am not weak. I control this whole city. Using your father and his weakness I’ve taken myself to the top. I used to be nothing, a nobody, no one thought I would amount to anything, but with a bit of cunning I’ve turned myself into a force to be reckoned with. No one can take that away from me.”

  His inflated ego bursts through the roof, I can practically feel his swollen head filling the room. How he can think that he’s so important is beyond me. I know he’s got a lot of people under his thumb but that’s all bought and paid for. This, what he’s doing right now, will be his fatal mistake. He’s got cocky, pushed too hard and too far, he’s tipped everything over the edge and now his whole world will come crumbling down. He cannot honestly believe that he’s going to come out of this okay. He would have to be absolutely mental.

  “I am going to take this away from you,” Savannah growls. “I have my son back now, so I won’t be scared of you anymore. You tried to push me down by making me think that I’m insane, but I know the truth now and soon everyone else will too. Your reign of terror is over, Bryan, why don’t you give it up while you’re ahead?”

  I climb up onto my feet, using every ounce of strength I have to push myself into a standing position. My legs wobbly, I feel a bit like there’s an earthquake shaking away under my feet, but I do it. I can see Bryan looming over Savannah, standing so close to her that he has her pinned against the wall. This is probably an intimidation tactic that he’s used a number of times in their marriage, only this time she doesn’t look scared. I wonder how that makes him feel, he must sense the world that he’s created slipping away from him. He’s losing it…

  The only problem with that is there’s nothing more dangerous than a man who has nothing else to lose.

  “B… Bryan,” I stammer, spitting out blood as I do. “Bryan, s… stop this.”

  He ignores me. Savannah is right. I’m nothing to him, just an inconvenience. I’m a bug under his shoe that he probably thinks he’s got rid of already. His primal urges to fight and kill are aimed solely at Savannah. I stagger to get closer to them, wondering how Bryan doesn’t seem to be in quite as much distress as me. I beat the living shit out him just as much as he did me. How come I’m so much worse off than him? He’s inhuman.

  “I should have put you out of your misery a long time ago, you miserable bitch. I hate you.”

  The door swings open and I see Mr. Donald peering his head through. Immediately I cringe. Sure, the whole situation might not have been as in control as I would’ve liked, but with him here, we’re stuffed.

  “Mr. Donald, go,” I croak, but he doesn’t listen either. His eyes are fixed on Bryan and he’s looking at him with pure hatred. Now I have two unhinged men to worry about and the woman that I love. This is hell.

  “Dad, where’s Peter?” Savannah screams. “What are you doing here? Where is my son?”

  “He’s fine, don’t worry.” He turns his attention to Bryan. “I have found a way to get your money.”

  “You’re lying.” Bryan shakes his head. To be honest, I think in his mind this has gone way beyond money now. This is more about respect and what he perceives to be correct. “It’s too late now. You don’t have it.”

  “I’ve just got off the phone to an investor who will pay me…”

  “That could take forever. Unless you have a bundle of cash right now then I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Bryan, I don’t think you’re listening to me. I have been trying to sort this the whole time. I’ve been working on ways to get you the cash, I know you think that I haven’t which is why you’ve done all of this with my family to teach me a lesson, but I have been. I am working on getting you what you deserve.”

  Mr. Donald’s tactic is good and I’m sure at one point it would have worked, but now we’re unfortunately beyond that. Bryan’s face contorts in what looks like agony while he processes his words.

  “I am not an idiot.” He shakes his head rapidly. “I won’t hear it. You’re tricking me.”

  “Then keep me here. Set Savannah free. She isn’t a part of this. Peter is gone now anyway so that isn’t useful anymore. Just take me and keep me here while I sort out the money for you. That’s what you want.”

  “If I set Savannah free, she will go straight to the cops and I’ll…”

  “No, I won’t,” she interjects coldly, shaking her head. “I have my son back, I don’t care about anything else. What happens between you and my father is your business. I have no intention of getting involved. My dad created this mess, he practically sold me to you like I’m a commodity rather than a human being, you two can kill each other for all I care. Once I get out of here, I’m leaving, none of you will ever see me again.”

  She’s so cold and calm that I almost believe her myself. Her words are spoken with such a clarity that I think there must be something true in what she says. Enough to turn Bryan’s head anyway.

  “Right, so I let you go and I keep your father here until he pays me…”

  “Exactly, then you can go back to your old life as if none of this has happened. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To go back to being the man on top? You know this could easily go south if you don’t. There isn’t much hope of you w
alking out of this without losing something if we don’t all just part ways now.”

  “Back to normal… hmm, I suppose that could work. I do want to keep the respect…”

  I almost think that Savannah might be getting through to him, I can see Bryan finally digging himself out of a hole inside his mind, I almost relax and clam the hell down as it feels like this might all be done. Yes, Mr. Donald might end up trapped, but Bryan will keep him alive while he waits for the money, giving us plenty of time to set him free… that will be the easiest way for us all to escape this without crumbling…

  But then we hear cop sirens in the distance, the police finally turning up at the wrong moment. I cringe as I see Bryan harden again. His whole body demeanor changes and he yanks something from his pocket.

  “I didn’t want to use this,” he shrieks while waving a gun wildly around. “I didn’t want to kill anyone. But you keep proving over and over again that you cannot be trusted.”

  We all put our hands up in surrender while we watch the mad-man with his weapon. I just hope and pray that the cops get here before any bullets can leave that chamber. There’s a chance that we might all live yet.

  “But who should I kill?” Bryan points the gun at us all in turn loving the power this gives him over us. He’s all about the power, without it, it’s clear that he has nothing. “The man who’s fucking my wife, showing me no respect, the man who won’t pay me, showing me no respect, or the woman who promised to be with me forever, showing no respect? Hmm, there are so many reasons why all of you deserve it.”

  He taps his chin in mock thought. Mr. Donald takes a step forward. “If you have to kill someone, it’s me…”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Bryan commands. “I am sick of hearing things from you. I don’t want you to die because I want money from you. I also don’t want to kill this asshole…” He waves the gun in my direction. “Because I don’t really know him. There’s only one person I want to put out of her misery and it’s this slut.”

  “No!” I move quickly, finding some magic inner strength to get closer to Savannah. “No, don’t kill her.”

  I stand in her way, blocking him from her but he just laughs. “Get out of the way, you idiot. She isn’t worth it. You don’t know about her like I do. If you did, you would want her dead soon. Let me kill her, then all of this can be done. After all, she’s the one who betrayed me over and over again….”

  He holds the gun and points it just behind me. I narrow my eyes and watch him. I don’t think he’ll do it, I’m sure he won’t actually pull the trigger, but I need to be certain. He’s wavering, the cops are getting nearer, we only need to hold on for a few more seconds. Hope builds, I’m certain that we’re going to be alright…

  Bang!

  29

  Savannah

  I lace my fingers through his, hating how cold he feels. It isn’t right, none of this is right, it isn’t fair. I want to scream out with frustration, to yell and thrash, to cry out in sheer agony with every passing moment.

  Come back to me, Jayden, I cry out inside my mind. I need you, I want you back with me.

  “Hey.” Pippa’s soft voice calls out behind him. “Is everything alright in here?”

  I turn to look at her with tears behind my eyes. “It’s been four days, Pippa. He hasn’t woken up for four whole days. What did the doctor say about that? He said it was bad, right? That every day he isn’t awake is bad.” I stare desperately down at the lifeless man on the bed below me. “What if he never wakes up, Pippa? I’m scared.”

  She wraps her arm around me and tries her best to comfort me. We’ve been in the same position ever since I got out the hospital bed myself, begging for Jayden to come back around again. “The doctor said that the bullet didn’t hit him anywhere major. I think that’s the main thing to take from him, isn’t it? Jayden got lucky.”

  “He didn’t get lucky. Look at him. He’s in this bed because of me. He shouldn’t be here.”

  “Jayden is here because he made the choice to save you from Bryan. Nothing to do with you.”

  But Pippa didn’t see it, she cannot understand what it was like watching Bryan shoot Jayden seconds before the police took him down. My whole life shattered and fell apart at that moment, I felt the man I love ricochet from the bullet and slide to the ground in even more blood covering him. I fell with him, sobbing as I felt his life ebbing away. I wasn’t sure what was going on around me, all the chaos just melted into nothing. It was only me and him. I clung to Jayden begging him not to die on me until the paramedics took him away.

  I thought then that I’d lost him, I assumed that heartbreak was coming for me again. I guessed in that moment that I wouldn’t ever be able to have it all and that absolutely broke me. I don’t remember even being brought here, not until I woke up in a room that was crazy white with my father and son by my side.

  “Where is Peter?” I suddenly blurt out. “He isn’t alone with Dad, is he?” I still can’t trust, even now.

  “Nah, Tommy is with them too. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that. They are getting some lunch in the canteen now. Then I might take Peter back to mine for a while, let him go to sleep for a while.”

  “Yeah, of course.” I squeeze Pippa’s hand. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. You’ve all been so great for me. I don’t know where I would be without you. I’d be dead, I’m sure.”

  “You don’t have to worry about that, not at all. We all want to help.”

  I lean my head against her shoulder and weep for a while. I don’t want to be the sort of person to give up hope, but it’s only getting worse and worse. Every second that I’m without Jayden is torture.

  “Can you be sure to bring Peter in before you go though? I want to say goodbye first.”

  I can only let him go at all because I know that Bryan and the cronies that the cops could find are all locked away, awaiting trial. No amount of money would afford them bail after what they did, so they are stuck leaving the world a much safer place to live in. It’s hard to be apart from Peter, but I still want him to feel like I’m not smothering him, so I’m dividing my time between him and Jayden where I can.

  He gets along great with Tommy anyway, and I think he’s enjoying the supervised time with his grandfather, even if I don’t like it. He’s been locked away from everyone for too long now, I have to let him roam free.

  “Of course I will. Then I’ll promise him ice cream so he is willing to leave with me. And just so you know, Jayden is going to be okay. Trust me about that. That guy is a fighter and he would do anything for you. He will fight until the bitter end, until he wakes up again. He won’t let you go a second time.”

  “I really hope you’re right, Pippa, I’m so scared to lose him now. After all this time of being kept apart we were almost together, I almost had the man that I’ve always been in love with. And now Bryan’s taken him away.” I shake my head sadly. “He’s stolen him from me all over again.”

  “He hasn’t taken anything away from you. You’re here, he’s here, no one died. Even Peter is alive, which no one thought possible. I know that it might not seem like it right now, but this is the start of something better.”

  With that, she slides away, off to get my son to bring him to me. I take her words and I churn them around in my stomach trying to digest them because they should feel nice, but they don’t. They don’t feel like the uplift I need. While Jayden is in that bed, everything hangs in the balance.

  “Jayden.” I take his hand once more and try speaking aloud, just in case he can hear me. “I need you to come back to me. I appreciate that your body might need time to recover after everything, but if you could just give me a sign that you’re going to come back to me, I would really appreciate it. A squeeze, a breath, anything.”

  I get nothing and it crushes every inch of me. Disappointment swirls violently throughout my body. I don’t want to have come this far just to lose him now, I, would rather still be locked in Bryan’s cell at his whims.
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  “Mommy!” Peter races into the room and jumps onto my lap. “Is the super hero awake yet?”

  I smile at Peter’s nick name for Jayden, it’s so sweet that he calls him that because he saved us. I just know that it will disappoint him too if he doesn’t pull through. “He isn’t awake yet. Soon, I hope.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame. He could have come for ice cream with us all.”

  I glance up to see Pippa and Tommy standing behind me. Dad is there too, but he’s keeping himself hidden because he’s not too sure how I’ll react. I don’t know either, so it’s probably for the best.

  “You guys have a nice time at the ice cream shop, won’t you?”

  “Are you going to stay here for a while?”

  “Just for a little bit longer, but I’ll be back for bed time. Tommy is coming then.”

  “Yeah, and I’m going to do what I can to wake the super hero up since he’s slept for far too long.”

  Peter chuckles, and that sound is so delicious I just want to bottle it. It’s been so long and I honestly didn’t think I would ever get to hear him again. I love his laughter, it proves that everything is okay. Time may show differently but for now it seems like Peter is alright. He hasn’t been damaged by the whole ordeal. Hide and seek might be a problem in the future but that really isn’t too much of an issue.

  “I love you,” I say, just like I do over and over again while I kiss Peter’s head. I’ve always said it to him before, it isn’t something that I’ve kept hidden, but now that I have him back I can’t stop saying it over and over again. I need my boy to know just how I feel about him. “And I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

  “What is your favorite ice cream flavor, Mommy?”

  “Hmm, chocolate,” I reply.

  “I’ll be sure to get a scoop of chocolate for you.”