Page 109 of Saving You

He looks down at her, his face lacking any emotion. My anger grows, but I work to keep it tamped down. I don’t understand how he can look at her with anything other than love.

“Get me Bailey,” he says. “Iwanna talk to Bailey.”

“I can’t bring her out here. How about I call her?” I offer.

His eyes narrow for a second before he nods and gestures his gun at me as if to tell me to get on with it. Reaching into my pocket, I pull my phone out and dial Bailey. She answers after one ring.

“Caleb.” Her voice comes through soft and worried.

“Bailey,” I say, as Derek shouts, “Put it on speaker!”

Pulling the phone away from my face, I click the screen, putting it on speaker.

“Bailey, I’m here with Derek. He has Charlie and says he wants to talk to you. Is that something you can do for me?”

The sound of her muffled sob and deep inhale travel through the line. “Yeah.” Another deep breath. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Derek, I’m going to come closer so you can talk. Okay?”

He nods erratically, and I cautiously approach him, holding the phone in an outstretched hand.

“Bailey,” he yells at the phone.

“Yeah.” Her voice comes out stronger than it did just a second ago.

“I had to get your attention. I knew Charlie was the best way,” he says, as if that explains away his behaviour.

“You have it,” she says.

“Honey, you need to come back to me. We need to be a family again.”

“Charlie is scared right now. We can’t do that if Charlie is scared. Please let her go,” Bailey pleads.

I watch as Haas positions himself behind Derek and puts a finger to his lips the second Charlie spots him.

“If I do that, then you won’t come see me.”

Just then, Haas wraps an arm around Charlie and pulls her away. He quickly turns his back to Derek to shield Charlie, leaving Derek standing there, mouth open. Derek spins, the gun moving to follow Charlie before he trains it on me as he yells. The vein in his neck pulses.

“You did this,” he shouts as he takes a step towards me. “You turned her against me. You took her from me. You can’t take her from me.”

He aims the gun right at my head. Without a thought, I aim for the shoulder of the arm holding the gun, and my finger pulls the trigger. The shot echoes through the air as Derek stagers back from the impact. He drops the gun, and Lazar comes behind him, securing his hands in handcuffs before holding pressure to the wound.

The second I know Derek is contained, I run to look for Charlie. I find her at the edge of the parking lot with Haas. I rush to her and pull her into my arms, holding her as she cries into my neck and squeezes me tight. Haas leaves us and joins Lazar, radioing the situation and getting an ambulance to attend to Derek’s wound. I make my way towards the building. Just as I’m about to reach the doors, they fly open and Bailey comes running out.

She spots Charlie and me and makes a beeline towards us, wrapping her arms around us as she cries. I hold both of them as close and tight as possible. It takes everything in me not to break down with them, but I know they need my strength right now. The sound of sirens nearing draws my attention. Releasing my hold on the girls, I turn and watch as the ambulance pulls into the parking lot, two cruisers right behind it.

I’m still holding Charlie, her arms tightly wrapped around my neck, as I tell Bailey, “We’re going to have to give them our statements. They’ll want one from Charlie, too, but you’ll be allowed to be with her.”

Bailey nods as she wipes away her tears.

I pull her into me again, kissing the top of her head as I whisper, “I love you” into her hair.

When I turn back towards the cruisers, I’m shocked to see my staff sergeant approaching us.

“Sutton,” he says, his voice its usual gruffness.

“Sir,” I say with a nod of my head.

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