"What the fuck does Gabe want?"

Mum is in no good mood. I can't blame her. To have all that past suddenly resurrected must make her sick to the stomach. And realising that people around her have been thinking and doing terrible things to do with her all these years mustn't help either.

"I don't know," Amias mumbles. "But he's angry. And when he's angry he does unspeakable things."

"Well, I'm angry too," snaps Mum. "And I might actually stab this knife in him if he comes too close." She picks up the knife she was using to cut vegetables only moments ago.

"Why didn't you stab it in me?" Amias asks her. I can't tell if he's trying to make it light-hearted. Knowing him, he probably is. "I mean, we do have history."

"Try me, lover-boy." She cracks a smile at him. It's strange, considering she's only been cussing at him for the past two minutes.

And then the door pounds.

A terrible thumping sounds, and it's obvious the person is throwing their full weight against the door.

"Let him in," Mum says with this crazed look in her eyes.

"Mum," I warn weakly.

She ignores me. "Let me show him what it feels like to have an elbow cracked so badly it creaks."

"No!" I call as she rises from her chair. "This is going to end badly! You're going to get killed."

The knocks are persisting. I can hear faint swearing, my name a few times, more swearing. Mum only laughs at my outburst.

She's heading for the door to the hall. Amias chases after her, almost kicking the seat backwards. He pushes to the front, shielding my mother, and then I can't see them anymore. I remain in the chair. I can't move.

"Open the door!" Mum yells. "Let me rip his face off!"

CRACK!

The door, I assume, has given in to Gabe's force.

Mum screams, Amias shouts, and then Gabe is in the kitchen.

My muscles are frozen solid. He bursts into the kitchen, his face an angry red like a tomato that should have been picked ages ago. Then he's behind my chair, arms locked around my neck. I gasp for air as he pulls, forcing me up to my feet, and he knocks the chair away so I can feel the zip of his jacket digging into my side, his legs straddling mine.

The crease of his elbow is locked tight my throat. I wheeze for air but none enters my blocked windpipe. His other hand grabs my wrists, locking them together in a vice-like grip.
Then I begin the struggle. But as I shake my body from side to side, his grip only tightens.

"Useless cunt," he whispers, hot breath clouding down my neck and making my skin prickle. I squirm more but he holds me firm. "You're the one who told Kylie to end us so I'm going to end you."

"No," I try to say. But only an animalistic sound arises from the back of my throat.

My vision is clouding. Dark spots appear in the corner of my vision and I can feel cold sweat prickling my skin.

"Let her go, Gabe," I hear. I swing my head at Amias' voice but I can't see anything.

Mum calls something. My face feels too hot, my skin clammy, and I think that perhaps this is the end of it all. Strangled to death.

Then suddenly I'm released.

I try to fall forwards but I still feel restraint. Then it dawns on me that Gabe is still behind me, forcing me into him, but he's removed his arm.

I gasp for air. It comes out in a wheezy breath. I can feel my body shaking uncontrollably, and a single bead of sweat traces my hairline.

A sob escapes my lips.

"Boo-hoo," Gabe hisses behind me. I can barely hear it. "Chandy-pie is so terribly upset."

My vision clears. Then I take in my surroundings.

We're still inside the kitchen. Mum has placed herself behind a chair and grips it firmly as though debating whether to throw it at Gabe. Amias stands next to her, face grim, jaw set, eyes hard.

And he's holding a gun.

It's aimed right at us. I can only stare fearfully into its barrel.

"Let her go completely," Amias is saying. "Nice and slowly or a bullet's whizzing to your brain."

"Where did you-?" I begin but then stop myself because it's a stupid question.

I try squirming once again out of Gabe's grasp but Mum gestures frantically for me to stop.

He has a knife, she mouths.

I don't want to look down.

"Chandy was not the one to tell Kylie to break up with you," Amias begins, trying a different approach. "She'll tell you herself. The reason Kylie broke up with you, Gabe, is because you're a monster."

I can feel Gabe tensing.

"You're a monster and you know it. Kylie saw it that night at the jewellers and it terrified her. What she saw that night was not the Gabe she loved. That Gabe was a monster and I see that monster right here, right now."

"I'm not a monster," Gabe says defiantly. It's laughable.

"Yes you are," Amias insists coldly. "You wouldn't be holding Chandy with a knife to her neck if you weren't."

"You're a monster too, then," Gabe counters, almost childishly. "We've killed together. And you're pointing that pistol at me, which ain't a good idea."

Amias adjusts his grip on the gun, and for a split second I think he's going to fire it.

"You let her go and put the knife away, I'll step back and put the gun away."

There's a slight pause as we let the offer sink into Gabe's thick brain.

"I just want Kylie back," Gabe says sadly.

"I can't promise you you'll get her back. But you can start by not murdering her best friend."

Another pause. And then Gabe releases me.

I shake myself down, feel my neck for any marks but find none. Realising it's safe, Mum rushes to me with a gasp, squeezing me in her embrace.

"I thought you were going to die," she murmurs over and over again.

So did I, I think.

I'm still shaking. Must be a result of the trauma.

Amias takes me from my mother. I lean into him, feeling the tears leaking from my eyes like raindrops. He kisses me over and over, hands roving over my face as though to check I'm still here.

"I honestly thought you were gone," he says.

"Not yet," I say shakily.

He kisses me harder, with more desperation, and it relaxes me.

And then Gabe's phone begins to ring.
Why, I think, does every bad thing have to start with a phone call?

"Yes?" Gabe says gruffly into the phone.

He waits. We wait. If I were on a seat I would be on the edge of it.

"Right, right." Then Gabe turns to us and mouths, Andre.

I frown. What does Andre want this time?

To murder someone else, probably.

"Megan Arenas," Gabe repeats deliberately for us to hear. "You want Miss Arenas physically injured? No? Only a scare, okay."

A murmur.

"Okay. Although I'll have to get more details face to face like last time. Can you wait a second? I have my lads here."

He removes the phone from his ear and puts Andre on hold.

"He thinks I'm a home with the lads," he says. "He's pissed at Megan, the bitch Kylie wouldn't stop nattering about."

"We know who Megan is," Mum says gently.

"Why's he pissed at Megan?" I ask. "She's his daughter. Why would he want to harm her?"

"He just wants to scare her," Gabe says.

"But still! That's horrible!"

"Should I tell him to come here?" Gabe asks. "He needs to talk to me."

"Fuck yes," says Mum. "Bring him here and I'll give him a piece of my mind."

"Same here," Amias growls. "He can't know Chandy's locked in an office and get away with it. And he can't do whatever the fuck he likes with women at work either."

"You're growing on me," Mum says to him with a smile.

Gabe takes his phone again.

"It's confirmed." Gabe grins. "21 Morgate Avenue. The lads and I are waiting for you."