Page 115 of Second Chance

“Hey,” Tony says.

They don’t hear him at first, still occupied with their age-old discussion, so he tries again.

“Hey.” He glances over at Daniel and smiles involuntarily. “Uh, you should probably know I’m gonna move out.”

“Oh, we’re doing this now?” Daniel murmurs, soft enough only Tony hears it. “Okay.”

“Could have sworn you moved out in, like, June.” Gianna’s teasing, but she’s also smiling. Approving.

“Gianna.” Ma’s tone is warning. “Tony, are you telling us you and Daniel are moving in together?”

At his nod, a whole other event begins other than a joint post-kidnapping dinner. Suddenly, he and Daniel are surrounded by congratulations and offers to help, although what with, Tony isn’t sure on. Daniel’s apartment doesn’t need any more furniture except that dining table, and Tony doesn’t have enough essentials left at his parents’ house for more than one car trip. Everyone ends up ordering another round of drinks, and somehow, they still haven’t left by nine.

Tony’s not sure how long this restaurant usually stays open, but so far, no one tries to hurry them, and it’s nice to be surrounded by friends and family wishing them well.

One of the massive stainless steel serving dishes at the buffet table clatters to the floor with a loud crash, pulling them out of the warm haze that has settled over the group.

Everyone quiets down, even Blake W, who was busy exaggerating his own involvement in Lily’s recuperation for Blake G’s benefit.

“Professor Rosenbaum,” a voice calls from the restaurant’s main room. “I know you’re in here. Saw you playing happy families on the ‘gram.”

It’s a voice and, more importantly, a series of utterly college-student words Tony would recognize anywhere.

“Sean,” he mutters.

“Sean?” Colette gets to her feet. “Is that you? The police have been looking for you—”

“Yeah, I know they fuckin’ have,” he yells, still from the other room. “What the fuck did she tell you?”

“What did who tell me?”

“My lying, nutso girlfriend, that’s who. She’s been telling lies about me, trying to frame me, hasn’t she— Hey, get the fuck down.” He must be talking to the waitstaff.

A gunshot in a cramped restaurant with fabric on all the walls sounds muffled, but it’s unmistakable. At least, it is if you’ve heard a gunshot before.

“Quick,” Lisa says, the only one of them to have regular experience with active shooter drills. “Everyone under the tables. Hide.”

The last thing Tony hears is Colette muttering “Only in this godforsaken country” before everything is chaos.

Lia is first under the table, Blake and Gianna following quickly after to crouch on either side of her carrier. Others follow, but there’s not enough time to get everyone hidden.

The barrel of Sean’s gun twitches aside the curtain separating the room they’re in from the rest of the restaurant.

A whimper escapes from Ma, and Tony’s on his feet before he can reconsider.

“Sean,” he tries. “Sean, why don’t you put the gun down.”

Sean enters the room through the curtain, sneering at him. His eyes are bloodshot red. He looks exhausted, strung out and high. “I’m not looking for you, dude.”

“Let’s talk about this,” Colette says, using what Tony’s distantly aware of as her phone call voice. She walks around the table slowly, edging closer to where Tony’s standing, his body between Sean’s rifle and the rest of the room.

“There’s nothing to talk about. You all took my girlfriend and hid her somewhere, and I need her back before she gets me all wrapped up in this.”

“No one took Lily,” Daniel says as he edges around Sean’s side, the one opposite from Colette, effectively blocking Sean’s exit from, the room. “She needed medical care.”

“She doesn’t need shit.” Sean spits the words out, saliva catching in his mustache. “She needed to fucking confess it’s allherfault, and then this would all go away.”

“Sean,” Daniel says, softly and calmly, as if he’s talking to a four-year-old who has misbehaved and not a grown man holding a gun pointed at him. “The police already know she—”

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