“I’m going to get the cops,” he breathed into the phone. “Try and find out where you are.”
“No cops, Dad. He’ll kill me!” I screamed out. “No cops. Just get the money.”
“I can’t just let them—”
“Noooooo!” I screamed and hung up the phone. I turned to Jared with a panicked look. “He said he’s going to call the cops.”
“You said he wouldn’t do that. You said he would just pay so he could get you back.” Jared’s eyes looked wild.
“That’s what I thought.”
“What are we going to do?” He looked at me in fright and I grabbed the phone again.
“I have to call my mom.” I grimaced. “I have to call her and trust her to help me.”
“Fuck.” Jared sat back down on the ground with his head in his hands. “It’s over.”
I didn’t answer him, because I felt the same way as well. What had I done? What had seemed like a way out now seemed like it had only made the situation worse. The penalty for kidnapping was going to be a whole lot worse than it would be for stealing a car.
***
“My mom said not to call him or answer his calls again.” I looked at Jared. “She’s going to bring them to us.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s going to tell them the address here. She’ll say this is where the dropoff is supposed to happen. She’s going to call the police from a neighboring town and have them waiting outside while everything goes down. She knows the chief of police in Sawyerville and so she has told him what’s going on. She trusts him and knows he won’t interfere with anything. I sure hope it all goes well. All we need is for my dad to bring the money and give it to you and let you and Logan go.” I shivered again. “I’m cold.”
“Come here.” Jared called me over, and I picked up the gun and went and sat next to him. I put the gun down and then huddled next to him. He put his arms around me and I wrapped my arms around him so we could stay warm. I closed my eyes, and we must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew we were lying flat on the ground and I could hear his heartbeat against my ears. I cuddled into him to stay warm, and then I heard the footsteps. Everything seemed to happen so quickly, and I was even able to jump up before Logan and my father burst into the room with Vincent and Marty behind them.
“Logan!” I cried out as I saw his distraught face. Jared and I sprang apart and Logan looked back and forth at us furiously.
“What the f**k is going on?” My dad charged towards us and Jared grabbed me.
“Stay back!” he shouted and grabbed the gun on the ground. “Stay back or I’ll f**king shoot.”
“What are you doing, Jared?” Logan screamed furiously and I tried to make eye contact with him so that he could see that everything was okay.
“You f**king Martellis, I should have—” My dad ran forward and pushed Jared back into the wall, he stumbled back and dropped the gun, and my dad and Logan both jumped to the ground to get it. Everything seemed to happen in a blur but before I knew it, a shot had been fired and I was screaming. I looked to the ground to see who had been shot, and my screaming intensified as I saw Logan just lying there. My father stood up with a shocked look on his face, and I gave him the most venomous look. I ran to Logan and fell to the ground, kissing his cheek. “Please, Logan. Please be okay!” I screamed at him, but he didn’t answer me. And then I saw the blood seeping out of his body onto the ground and the next thing I knew, I had fainted. It all seemed like a bittersweet poetic justice. After all that I had done, I still hadn’t been able to save my darling Logan.
***
I woke up in a hospital room. There were white lights all around me, and I could see my mom whispering to a nurse in the corner. I tried to stretch but my limbs screamed out in pain, and I tried not to moan.
“Where’s Logan?” I cried out, and my mom looked over at me with a pained expression before walking over to me slowly.
“How are you feeling, Maddie?” Her eyes flashed in sympathy and my stomach dropped.
“Where is Logan?” I screamed out in fear.
“He’s in the ER.” She grabbed my hand. “I don’t know what—”
“I need to go and see him, he needs me,” I started crying. “How could Dad have shot him? You told me that everything would be okay.”
“I’m so sorry, Maddie.”
“It’s all my fault, if I would have just left him alone,” I mumbled. “This is all my fault. If he dies, oh my God, what am I going to do if he dies?”
“Maddie, none of this is your fault.” She sighed. “Your father is a bad man. I’m so sorry, Maddie. I never should have let things go this far. I knew when you told me that you were falling for Logan that something bad would happen. I had hoped that we could talk to your dad, that hopefully his love of you would change him. Make him a better person. He’s a very evil man, Maddie.”
“But you love him.” I looked at her in confusion.
“I was blinded by love, and it cost me everything. That is why Logan’s mom left him. She saw him for who he was, and she tried to warn me. But I was so jealous I didn’t want to hear it, so I pretended that she was the enemy.” She shook her head. “Look at what I did. I ruined so many lives. I’m not sure how I can ever make any of this right.”
“Oh, Mom.” I cried into her shoulder as she hugged me. “I don’t understand but I’m sorry. I still love you. Where is Dad?” I looked into her eyes, worried. I was scared that he was at this moment trying to think of a way to ensure he ruined the Martellis’ lives even more than he already had.
“He’s at the police station,” she paused. “In a cell.”
“What?” My eyes popped open. “How come?”
“We’ll discuss it later. For now we should go and see how Logan is. He should be coming out of surgery right about now.”
“Surgery?” I frowned. “How long have I been here?”
“Four hours.” She smiled at me gently. “You hit your head quite hard.”
“Where are Jared and Vincent? Are they okay or—” I couldn’t say the words out loud. Were they in jail as well?
“We’re here.” Jared smiled at me weakly from the door, and they both walked into the room, looking dazed and traumatized.
“Hey.” I sat up and stared at them both with love filling my heart. “How’s Logan?” I chewed my lower lip.
“They haven’t said yet.” Vincent kissed my cheek. “He’ll be okay.”
“He has to be okay.” Jared took the words right out of my mouth.
“I’m so sorry.” I started crying again and they both looked at me in dismay.
“It’s not your fault.” Jared stared at me with passionate eyes. “We know that. It’s not your fault. It’s your evil dad’s.” He looked over at my mom, and his face turned red. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” My mom’s voice was loud and clear. “It was his fault, and I’m sorry for everything. None of this should ever have happened. It has to stop here.” She pulled out her phone and walked towards the door. “I need to make some calls, please excuse me.” She left the room, and I stared at Logan’s brothers in silence. What could I say to them to make it better? It seemed to me that I, or everything that I represented, had ruined their lives.
“Maddie,” Vincent began. “Jared and I want you to know that no matter what happens, you will always be our sister.”
“Oh.” I felt overwhelmed with emotions and looked down at my hands. How could they be so sweet and loving to me? After everything.
“You’re a part of the family now, Maddie.” Jared gave me a warm smile and took my hand. “It’s what Logan would want.”
“I want to go and see him.” I attempted to get out of bed but fell back slightly because I felt woozy. Both Vincent and Jared rushed to my side, and I smiled at them thankfully, my heart filled with warmth and love once again. I just didn’t understand how anyone in River Valley could have judged these boys so unfairly. To know each and every one of them was to love them. They were the most loving and courteous men I had ever met.
“Lean on me.” Vincent smiled at me as he offered his arm. “We can go and see if Logan is out of surgery.”
“Take my other arm.” Jared smiled down at me from the other side, and they both helped me as we walked to the ER.
“I’ll die if anything happens to him,” I whispered. “He has to be okay.”
“He’ll be okay.” Vincent’s voice was confident. “He’s Logan Martelli, he will always be okay.”
I looked over at him, and I saw the strain in his smile, even though his words were positive. He was as worried as I was, and he was trying to convince both of us that our worlds weren’t about to end. We stopped in the ER waiting room, and we all sat there in silence, waiting for someone to come and give us the word.
“Are you a relation of Logan Martelli?” A middle-aged man walked into the ER with a clipboard and we all jumped up.
“Yes, I’m his brother,” Vincent spoke up, and we waited for the doctor to speak. I felt myself going weak and I held onto Jared’s arm tightly. He looked at me with concern, and held onto me with a tighter grip.
“Logan just got out of surgery. I’m afraid that—”
“Oh my God, no!” I screamed, and I felt like my heart was being pulled out of my body. “No, please, God, no.”
“Ma’am, calm down.” The doctor gave me a harried look. “I was just about to say I’m afraid he is still under due to the drugs we gave him. However, his prognosis is good, the bullet only grazed him, so he is very lucky.”
“But he was unconscious, the— the blood,” I mumbled incoherently.
“It is likely he fainted from the shock,” the doctor continued. “He did lose a lot of blood, but we were able to contain it.”
“So he’s going to be okay?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes, he should make a full recovery.” The doctor nodded and then turned away. “He should be up and able to talk in a few hours.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Vincent grinned as the doctor walked out of the room, and I felt him envelop me and Jared. “He’s going to be okay. I’m going to kill him for scaring us like that.”
“Not if I kill him first,” I laughed shakily. All of a sudden, my world seemed like it was going to be okay again. I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders and I felt lightheaded.
“Trust me, guys, I will get him first.” Jared joined in our laughter and I squeezed his hand.
“I’m going to go to his room. I want to be there when he wakes up.” I walked to the door. “Do you guys want to come?” I watched them exchange a look, and Jared shook his head.
“You go. We’ll be here. Come and get us when he’s up.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at them both lovingly and went to go and find Logan’s room. I walked into the room slowly and walked to Logan’s bed with my heart in my mouth. I stared down at his handsome face, and I leaned down to kiss his cheek and run my hands through his hair. I couldn’t stop myself from touching him, and I was tracing his lips with my fingers when he opened his eyes slowly.
“Maddie,” he whispered up at me with a smile, and I grinned back at him.
“Hey, you.” I gazed into his loving green eyes, and felt my stomach flip-flop with butterflies.
“What happened?” He tried to sit up, but winced in pain and stopped.
“You were shot.” I held onto his hand. “My dad shot you.”
“Jared kidnapped you.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and your life.”
“Logan Martelli, are you joking?” I cried out. “It’s me, it’s me and my family. All this time, you’ve been so worried that you haven’t been good enough for me, but it is me who hasn’t been good enough for you. All I’ve done is bring drama and trouble to your life. My mom told me everything. She knew, you know. What my dad had done. The poison he put into your lives. I feel like I’ve made your life even worse. I have been the deadliest poison ever.”
“No,” he shook his head. “Never say that.”
“Logan, you’re in a hospital bed because of me.” I looked away from him. “What if you had died? I never would have forgiven myself.”
“Maddie, I didn’t die.” He smiled. “Unless I’m in heaven right now.” He laughed. “Then thank you to God, because as long as I have you by my side, I don’t care where I am.”
“Logan,” I groaned, though I was delighted at his words. “You were right about my dad and about everything.”
“I’m sorry, Maddie.” He sighed. “I know it must hurt to know your father is this person.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.” I shook my head. “I just want to talk about us.”
“Oh, yes?” He sat up slightly. “Do you want to tell me how much you love me?”
“Yes.” I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. “I love you with all my heart, Logan Martelli.”
“I love you, too, Maddie.” His eyes sparkled at me and he reached over and ran his fingers down my cheek. I held his fingers in mine and kissed him again, and he groaned.