Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 48: Changes

Author's Note: Shannon's POV. This directly follows the events of the previous chapter.

Content warning for: Violence against women, threats, Will is a d-bag.

"Where are you?" Bucky's voice is a deep snarl.

"In the bathroom," she replies. "But I have to finish this staff meeting."

"I'm coming to the restaurant. Don't go anywhere else except for the staff room and I'll meet you out back," Bucky tells her. "I don't know what the hell this guy is capable of."

She doesn't protest. She's terrified. If he owns the restaurant, he controls a significant portion of her life, and there's no fucking way Will Ryder or Kyle... whatever the fuck his name is, is going to let her live out the rest of her life in New York in peace. Her brain soars from worst-case scenario to worst-case scenario until she's practically hyperventilating on the other end of the line. She can hear Bucky on the other end of the line putting his jacket and boots on. The sound is relieving, to say the least.

"Shannon, it's going to be okay. I need you to stay calm."

"Okay." There's a knock at the door. She sighs. "Shit. That's probably Carrie. I've gotta go, but I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay." His voice sounds tense and strained. She can tell that he's just as scared as she is. Probably with a hint of murderous rage in there, too. The fact that he's willing to drop everything to come and get her makes her heart swell.

"I love you," he says softly.

Shannon smiles.

"I love you too."

She hangs up the phone and splashes some water on her face before she takes a deep breath and unlocks the door, swinging it open. The first thing she sees is Will's hand slamming the door open and holding it there. He's in a fitted black suit with his hair slicked back, but there are deep bags underneath his eyes. They're bloodshot and filled with contempt. He looks like a completely different person, nothing like the man she married.

"Hi, Shannon."

"What are you doing here?"

He grins, his perfectly pearly white teeth glowing underneath the fluorescent lights. She hates him on sight. As he takes a step toward her, she backs up. Will pulls himself up to his full height and puffs out his chest. Shannon keeps her eyes focused on him but tries to keep her wits about her to search for a way to get past him. The space between the countertops and the stalls is just wide enough that she could slip through, but she'd have to incapacitate him somehow. She's never been much of a fighter.

"I know I was supposed to wait until tomorrow to come in and see the place, but I was in the neighborhood, and though, huh... I wonder if Shannon is working – and then I remembered that Greg told me he would make an announcement at the staff meeting today... so?" He gestures to himself. "Here I am." He sniffs and his jaw clenches. He's high. "Maybe I'll have an office in here... or we could share one."

"Why are you doing this, Will? We're done."

His gaze becomes menacing.

"Well, since you wouldn't talk to me when we signed the papers, and you wouldn't talk to me in court, I figured what better way to make you listen to me if I own you." His smirk sends a chill through her whole body. "In some respect, at least."

"You're a fucking psychopath," she spits. "You're not even the person you said you were. All you did our whole marriage was fucking lie to me."

Will lunges at her, grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the wall with one hand.