Riley

Chapter 43

Riley POV
Daniel looks so helpless, and I feel so helpless standing here. I try to take a step forwards and both men cock the guns, making the gun click, and stopping me from any further movements.

"Riley I wouldn't move if I were you." A voice calls.

Michael walks into view and goes to stand behind Daniel. He grips Daniels hair and pulls his head back so that Daniel is looking up at him. I can see Daniel jaw flexing as he grinds his teeth.

"Do you want to live, boy?" Michael asks with a grin.

Daniel doesn't say anything and Michael releases him with a push on his head, making him fall forward. Daniel regains his balance and the men yell at him to put his hands up.

"Riley..." Michael says to me in a sickeningly loving tone. "Do you," he starts emphasizing the you "want the boy to live?" He finishes his sentence cocking his head to the side staring at me.

"...Yes." my voice is surprisingly stable. "I do."

"Well I think it's best hat you come with me, then no one will get hurt. I just want a family again." He explains.

"Micha-" I start but get cut off

"WHO?!" He yells outraged and turning red. "I am your father. " He calms itself.

"Dad..." I force the vile word out. "we can never be a family again. Not a functional happy family. You ruined that about seventeen years ago when you killed Isabella, my birth mother. "

"Who cares about Isabella! I don't want her. It can just be me and you against the world. "

He holds his arms out and spins as if his is some happy family reunion.

"Me and you against the world..." I try out that phrase and almost vomit. "It can never happen. Try this out, you against me and the world. "

"Me...and you. Against the world. " He mutters to himself with his head downcast to the ground. "Okay" he lifts his head and gazes at me with a new resolution. "It's me, against you."

He steps from behind Daniel and the man in black moves from Daniels side, as my dad takes his spot in exchange. He holds his hand out to both men in black and they look at him quizzically.

"Give me the guns, you idiots. " he demands.

Peter takes defensive steps towards me and tries to put himself in between me and Michael. Michael, without breaking gaze from me, aims the gun perfectly at Peters head.

"Don't you move, or I'll blow your brains RIGHT OUT YOUR HEAD." He snarls

Peter stops, a little more than halfway to me. Michael raises the gun to aim at me and Peter moves more urgently to block the path.

"I said don't move!" His head snaps in the direction of Peter who has successfully moved in front of me.

Michael aims at Peters shin and pulls the trigger. Peter cries out in pain and sinks to the ground. Shouldn't he be injured? The bullet shouldn't have effected him.

Panic sets in my stomach and throat, making it hard to breathe. "Peter, are you okay?" I ask very worried. He shouldn't have been affected. What is going on?

He holds his leg up to himself and has his hands over his shin and rocks around on his back in pain.

"I did warn you, you can't say that I didn't. " Michael says amused. "Riley you should pick smarter friends." He clicks his tongue and stares at me. "Now, I'll give you one last chance to become a family again..."

"It won't happen. " I grit my teeth together and try not to look at a very- much-in-pain-Peter, rolling around on the ground.

Daniel kneels quietly with his hands still in the air in a position of surrender.

"Well Riley. I've given you the opportunity to become a family and still keep your friends...but that seems like it won't happen that way. " He taps his chin. "I'll just have to persuade you. "

He takes aims one gun at Daniel and the other at my leg. I stand completely still, unsure of what to do. If I move, he'll shoot and he might hit me someplace worse than my leg, and If I stay still then I still get shot.

The men in black both stand motionless and the only noise is the wind whipping through the trees; it's deadly silent.

My eyes lock on the gun aimed at me, and more specifically to the finger on the trigger. He tightens his grip and takes a breath and pulls the trigger.