I pushed Gabe and Emily into the bathroom, waiting for those footsteps to enter this room. The bedroom doors of all my siblings slammed open accompanied with an angry snarl and a crash, either a bookshelf or a dresser or toys.

"Whatever happens, you two stay in here."

"What are you planning on doing?" Gabe asked. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Only if he gets too close. It's better for him to find one of us rather than all three.

"That is the definition of stupid," Gabe hissed. "I can't let you do that."

"I didn't say I was going to. But we need to think logically."

"What is logical about that? You could be killed."

"You get Emily to safety, find my Aunt Mary's boyfriend or other help. Or if you can, find my dad and tell him."
"Carter." Emily looked up at me with her sad blue eyes swimming with tears.

"I need to make sure my mom is okay too," I whispered, trying to ignore her puppy dog eyes just as a door slammed next door. I swallowed the lump in my throat, gathering my newfound courage and sucking in a deep breath. Quietly, I untucked the handgun from my waistband and flicked off the safety.

My parent's bedroom door flew against the wall with a loud bang and I jumped, knowing we were safe inside their bathroom for only a couple more seconds. Footsteps stomped over to Teddy and Jack's room, the adjoining room to my parent's bedroom. Loud crashes made my pulse rise and quicken at the violent sounds of toys flying off tables and a dresser crashing to the floor. They didn't care who heard them, displaying the confidence of someone who thought they were unbeatable. I swallowed again, the thought twisting my stomach. A second more and the footsteps were right outside the door. Gabe pushed Emily behind him and stepped inside the shower. One more second and they would find me. Me and then Gabe and then Emily. I had to protect them somehow, they didn't deserve to be involved in this. Come on, Carter. Grow some balls and use the element of surprise while you have it.

I stiffened my arms and gripped the handgun in steady hands. Quietly, I pushed the bathroom door open a crack.

"Carter." Gabe's voice was laced with worry and hesitation.

"Gabe, promise me you'll get Emily to safety."

"Car." He was conflicted, stuck, but I ignored it.

So, I pressed, "Promise me, Gabe."

"I promise." It was low and quiet, but I knew that he wouldn't betray me.

"I know you're in here, so don't even bother trying to hide," the man outside the door growled. He had his back to me. His broad shoulders stretched out a gray t-shirt and tattoos decorated his thick arms. He had a bald head and when he turned, he had an ugly scar that cut through his cheek.

As soon as he saw me, he snarled, "Hey!"

In that moment, I panicked. There was an angry flash in his dark eyes and adrenaline surged through my veins. It jumpstarted me and I flinched, the finger pressing against the trigger twitching in the process. Five minutes ago, I didn't think I was going to use that gun. But there I was, my arms steady and my grip as firm as it could be. The pad of my finger pressed against the trigger and in a split second, the bullet shot out with a bang. It was loud enough to wake both of our neighbors, if they were home. I stumbled back, the only thought in my head was: Defense, defense. I shot that in defense. But it wasn't defense, it was in fear.

The man in front of me took a couple steps back, shooting his hand up to where my bullet clipped his shoulder. Bright, red blood leaked from the wound, seeping into his gray t-shirt. There was a shout from downstairs but I couldn't hear it clearly due to the long stream of colorful profanities that was being spit out in front of me.

I shot a man. There was disbelief and determination and disappointment and pride, all the emotions flooded me at once. But from one look at his furious face, all I felt was fear. Partly from being scared and partly to distract his attention away from the bathroom, I burst out of the doorway and through my parent's bedroom. I barely made it to the hallway before my legs were swept out from under me, landing hard.

"Did you think you could shoot me, and then try and run?" He gritted his teeth. "You're about the stupidest girl I've ever met." I know, shooting you was probably number one on the 'Stupidest Things I've Ever Done' list.

"I-" I gasped but it was cut short by the boulder- I mean fist- slamming into my face. His punch left me seeing stars and warm blood trickling from my almost-recovered nose.

"That was for shooting me," He growled and snatched the gun from my limp hand. "Be grateful I don't kill you right now."

"Now, move." Little did he know that the gun was empty as he poked me in the back. But even though I knew, I flew down those stairs into where he pushed me into the kitchen.

I stumbled backwards in shock at the horrific sight in front of me. A gasp escaped my lips and I leaned against the wall for support. There, in the middle of the kitchen, bounded to one of our kitchen chairs was my mom. Or what was left of her. Both of her eyes were bruised and swollen, matching the rest of her purple face. Right now, she looked unconscious, but judging by the number of scratches on her skin, she had put up a fight.

"Oh, quit the dramatics," the man behind me snarled, shoving me forward.

To the man with cropped black hair and tree trunk arms relaxing next to my mom, he laughed, "Joe, look what I found."

"Is that a Mason?" Joe asked.

"It's the one who refused to leave the car crash with nothing more than a scratch, Carter."

"What," I gasped, the words unable to leave my mouth. "What did you do to her?" My lower lip trembled and I felt like I was going to throw up. Dad, what did you do?

"I don't know, Ray," Joe completely ignored me, laughing at the man behind me. "It looks like she left you with more than a scratch."

"Shut up," Ray growled dangerously. "Did you get anything else out of her?"

Joe shook his head. "Not before she passed out on me."

"Passed ou-?" My words trailed off as my eyes locked on the blood spotting Joe's knuckles. The dots connected and I cursed under my breath. I couldn't breathe correctly, couldn't focus correctly. Everything was spinning out of control. The world was hazy and spinning when I lunged at Joe, scratching and hitting like an animal.

Bang.

I practically jumped out of my skin. Joe shoved me down into the chair where he was sitting, letting me come face to face with the barrel of my gun. My gun. My empty gun.

"You wish," I laughed at Ray's frustrated scowl.

The safety of another gun clicked to my right and Joe threatened, "One more word..."

I nodded, glancing sideways at the barrel of his fully loaded gun. Gulping, I leaned back into my kitchen chair. The only thing I could do was sit. Sit and watch them whisper to each other. Sit and watch Joe talk on the phone with, I'm guessing, another bald guy. Sit and wait. Wait for Joe to pull the trigger. Wait for my mom to wake up, twiddling my thumbs and wondering why they were beating her in the first place.

Five years ago I had daydreamed for moments like this where I, the girl, would be kidnapped or need help from my knight in shining armor. But reality was, I wasn't going to act like that girl. First off, I sent away Gabe to go take Emily to Aunt Mary's. He should be back soon, but I couldn't count on anything. The only thing I could count on was myself. I couldn't just sit here and wait, I had to take a chance.

I swallowed one more time, shoving down the knot of anxiousness and fear to where I could no longer feel them. I prayed that Joe wouldn't shoot and spoke, "What do you want?"

Joe laughed darkly, waving the gun around, "Remember our little agreement?"

"Yes, but whatever you want must be important enough to beat my mom senseless," I paused, stopping my voice from rising. "All I'm asking is what do you want?" I knew exactly what they wanted and what they were here for.

"The money."

There was a small moan next to me and I turned my head to find my mom's eyes fluttering open. Or as open as they could be in their extremely swollen state.

"Carter?" She murmured. "Carter, what are you doing here? You can't be here." She tried to sit up but winced, sucking in shallow breaths instead.

Before I could get a word in, Joe grinned, playing off of my mom's vulnerability. "We were hoping we could use her as a little incentive."

"No," my mom cried. "Please, don't."

In one swift move, Joe was next to me, pressing the barrel of the gun against my temple. "Tell me where the money is, or I'll shoot."

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Thanks so much for reading and please vote if you liked it!! This was a hardish chapter to write lol but it was kind of fun to write, so I hope it's fun to read!!

Let me know what you think!! Is Joe going to shoot? What do you think is going to happen????

Till next time!!

- Scarlett