A tear falls down her face and she wipes it away angrily. “I begged him. I begged him to think of our child and he just looked and me and smirked and said he wanted nothing more to do with me.” She laughs then, a manic and hysterical laugh. “He underestimated me. You see, I know how to use a gun. My fucked up step-father taught me in between the times he raped me and hit me. And when he choked on his own vomit when I was sixteen, I pocketed that gun and kept it.” She stares at Grayson. “It was so easy. I just pulled the trigger, and he was gone.”
“Tess, you need to put the gun down. You don’t want to do this. You’re not a killer. Tess, you’re hurt and you’re angry, but you are better than this. Be better than him.” I urge.
She gestures with her head at Grayson. “He’ll grow up to be just like him, you know? I’d be doing you a favour if I pulled the trigger. He always looked down his nose at me. Did he tell you we fucked?” She grins. “I wasn’t stupid, I knew he was using me to get one over on his dad. He’s no different though, thinks he’s too good for everyone and that he’s something special.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry, Tess, but you’re wrong. Grayson is nothing like his father. He’s loving and giving, and he has made me so happy. He hates the man his father was, and he has made sure that he is the opposite of him.” I take a step forward and Grayson’s eyes burn into mine as if he’s telling me to stop.
I reach out a hand. “Give me the gun, Tess. Step up and be the mother your baby will need. Don’t let him reduce you to this.”
More tears drop down her face. “I just wanted him to give me the life I deserved.”
“I know,” I reply sadly. “He hurt you and there’s no excuse for that, but don’t make Grayson pay for his father’s sins.”
My entire body is tense as I wait and see what she will do next. She slowly lowers the gun and drops to the floor in a sobbing mess. I immediately grab the gun that is by her side and relief floods through me. Grayson grabs me and pulls me into his arms.
Tess looks up through her tears at us. “I’m sorry. I never would have pulled the trigger on you, I’m just so angry and upset.” She looks around the bedroom. “I know he keeps money hidden in here somewhere, I just want what I’m deserved.”
The door downstairs bursts open, and someone shouts that it’s the police. There are heavy footsteps on the stairs and then a police officer bursts through the doorway and he stops when he spots the gun in my hand. I immediately hold my hands up and lower the gun to the floor.
“She confessed to my father’s murder,” Grayson tells the officer as we both stand there with our hands up in the air. “The gun is hers.”
I release the breath I have been holding in, as the shock of seeing my boyfriend with a gun pointed to his head sinks in. The police cuff Tess and escort her out of the house, and I drop to my knees and release a sob. Grayson rushes to me and wraps me up in his arms.
“It’s okay baby, we’re okay,” he assures me, rocking me in his arms as I weep.
“She held a gun to your head. She could have killed you.”
Grayson nods his head. “I know Manchester, but she didn’t because you got through to her. You saved us sweet cheeks. My kick-ass northern girl.”
I laugh through my tears as I cling to him. “It looks like we are making a habit out of saving each other.”
He pulls back so he can see my face. “I think it’s about time we had some downtime and fun and make plans for the future.”
A PARAMEDIC CHECKS me over in the back of an ambulance just as my dad and Sophie come rushing up the driveway.
“Everly, thank god,” he exclaims when he sees me and realises that I’m okay. He pulls me into a tight hug before pulling back so he can check over me. “Are you okay?”
I smile. “I’m fine, Dad. We’re both fine.”
“Where’s Grayson?”
I nod my head towards the other ambulance. “He’s in there being checked over.”
“Your daughter is fine,” The lady paramedic tells my dad. “Probably a little shaken up, but she is good.”
“Thank you,” he says to her, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. We walk over to the ambulance that Grayson is in, just as he’s stepping down out of the back.
“Grayson, son, are you okay?”
Grayson nods with a frown. ‘I’m fine. I didn’t need checking over.”
The detective who has been leading the investigation into Mr St. Clair’s murder comes over to us. “Grayson and Everly, we need to get your statements. Are you good to come back to the station now?”
My dad frowns and shakes his head. “Detective, they’ve were held at gunpoint by the woman who murdered his father. Can we at least take them home and do this later or tomorrow?”
I touch my dad’s arm to get his attention. “I can’t speak for Grayson, dad, but I’d rather just get this over and done with now and then we can go home and relax.”
Grayson nods his head. “Same here.”
Dad looks like he might argue with us but he can see I’m resolute so he reluctantly agrees that we’ll follow the detective back to the station.
THE WHOLE VILLAGE IS buzzing with gossip about the whole murder and Tess. At college people stare and whisper, but they soon avert their eyes and shut up when Grayson
