“Mia is nothing to do with this. Nothing at all, leave her out of it.”
“If she wasn’t anything to do with this, then she wouldn’t be here, would she?”
“You have your support and I have mine.”
“Oh, so she’s here to look after you, is she? To protect you from me?”
“Where is Alex, Hayley? I’m not getting into a fight.”
“Once I call Bryan out here, I need the money quick. The man is desperate. I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“Why are with you someone like that, Hayley? It makes no sense.”
She cackles again. As she do
es I find the energy to peel myself off the dusty ground and I discretely try to clean myself off. This is so fucking embarrassing. I can’t believe the mess I’m in. I thought I was doing okay in the crisis, I assumed that I had been helping Noah today, now I’m not so sure.
“Oh, you want me back now, Noah? You fed up of the red haired boring bitch. You want to get our family back together and live a happy ever after? We can’t do that, can we? It didn’t work.”
“I wouldn’t let you back in my life even if you wanted to, we are done, Hayley. I just want to know what you’re doing with the man who gets you into this mess. I might not love you anymore but I don’t want to see you making all of these foolish mistakes. This isn’t you at all. Can’t you see that?”
Bang.
This time the gun shot was real and it shattered all the way through my head. Not literally, just the sound. I darted my eyes everywhere but Noah wasn’t hurt. Nor was Hayley. She looked more shocked than anything else.
“I am not having anyone fucking speaking about me like I’m a dickhead.”
Uh oh. The man I presume is Bryan comes into view and he isn’t messing around. He’s got a giant scar across his cheek like he’s been involved in some serious fights in his life. That’s probably what’s got him into this mess. He’s in some kind of criminal gang or something which is why he needs this cash.
“I’m sorry, mate, I don’t even know who you are, I just want my son back.”
“Your son is back there.” Noah takes a step towards where Bryan has just pointed, but he halts when Bryan fires off another warning shot. “Oh no, I’m the one with all the power here. Don’t you forget that.”
“Alright sure, I’ve remembered.” Noah is back to being pissed off. “I have the money so can we just do this?”
“I need to count it out first. I want to make sure every penny is there.” His eyes make their way up my body. I fold my arms across my chest to keep myself covered up. “Then I think we should have some fun.”
I don’t like the way he says ‘fun’. It makes me very uncomfortable. My body physically freaks out at the thought of him coming anywhere near me. I will fight like fucking hell to keep him away.
Noah glances backwards at me, worry completely consuming him. I can see he thinks that I shouldn’t have gotten out the car. I can’t help but agree with him. That was really stupid of me.
I try not to look behind me to see if the police are here yet because I don’t want to give them a clue, but they really need to hurry up. Surely, the gun shots are enough of a crime. They can take them down with that.
But no. Apparently not. Bryan makes a painful show of counting out the money in front of us which seems to take forever. Even Hayley gets fidgety and up until this point she’s kept her cool. It’s almost as if she can sense something bad about to come her way. I wonder if Noah’s eyes are piercing into her as he tries to work out what’s become of the woman that he once loved. I remember giving the same look to Wesley when I caught him in a bed with someone else. Of course, that wasn’t as bad as this, but still pretty crazy.
“Okay, I think we can safely say that all the money is here.” Bryan gives everyone a sinister smile. “That’s good news. Hayley was right to trust you, I wasn’t too sure myself, but here it is. The cash. Lucky you can spare it, hey?” He laughs and I’m sure I can see Noah seething. I squeeze my hands together praying that he doesn’t go and do something stupid right now just when this could all be over. “I suppose I should get you the kid.”
Panic courses through me, I wonder if this is all going to come to an end without the police turning up which I think is so important. I don’t want these people to get away with it. But as the scared looking boy comes into view I know that this is what’s really important, this boy getting his father back.
“Daddy!” His eyes light up and he races towards his father. “Daddy, I miss you.”
Noah murmurs into Alex’s ears, comforting him. His shoulders shake, probably with tears. I watch Hayley to see if there’s any kind of reaction from her but she’s blank. I don’t think that she has a maternal bone in her body. How she even managed to have a child is beyond me. I’m sad for Alex.
“You have to go now,” Noah commands. “Take that money and leave, like you promised.”
“Go? Who the hell promised you that?” Bryan laughs. “I’m the king of this city. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Hayley said you wanted a fresh start, to go somewhere else.”