My Dad's Bestfriend

Chapter 235

Evelyn

"Tyler, stop the car!"

I screamed, grabbing the wheel, clawing at his arm, fighting with whatever broken, frayed strength I had left in me.

But he didn't stop. He didn't even flinch.

"Sit the fuck back, Evelyn," he snapped, shoving me sideways with a force that rattled my spine. "You make another sound, I'll put a bullet through your skull- and your little girl along with it."

He tossed a water bottle at me like I was just another problem he needed to shut up.

"Here. Drink it. You sound like shit."

I stared at him like he'd gone mad.

Had he gone mad?

He was being hunted-seconds away from getting shot, from dying-and he was tossing me fucking water?

"You really don't get it, do you? It's over!" I shouted, twisting open the bottle and hurling the water right at his face. Rage erupted out of me, unfiltered. The terror, the trauma, the helplessness—it all snapped. "They're going to kill you, Tyler!"

He flinched but didn't lose control. Just wiped the dripping water from his face slowly, like it didn't even faze him.

"Don't push it, Evelyn," he growled, eyes cold.

"Tyler. This is your final warning. Surrender the hostage and stop the vehicle."

The blonde's voice thundered from the mic behind us, clipped and cold. "You're boxed in. Let her go, or we'll shoot."

The car behind us was inches away now. I could hear the tires grinding on the narrow road-both sides lined with deep canals. There was no more room. No escape.

And Tyler?

He leaned his head out of the window and laughed.

Laughed.

"Fuck off," he shouted, voice manic, "bunch of fucking idiots!"

I grabbed Chloe's phone and dialed my hands shaking uncontrollably.

"Jacob?" My voice cracked.

"Evelyn?!" Jacob's voice shot through the line like lightning. "Did he hurt you? Baby, are you okay?"

But before I could speak, Tyler leaned in, grinning darkly.

"Hey, buddy." His voice was sickly sweet, venom wrapped in sugar. "I'm about to kill your Evelyn. You hear that? I hope the mic picks up the gunshot when I blow her fucking brains out. I might just paint the car red."

I froze.

My blood turned to ice as he pulled the gun from his pocket.

"No, no, no-Tyler, no!"

Jacob's voice rang through the speaker-frantic, broken.

I couldn't breathe.

The cold steel pressed against the side of my head.

I shut my eyes, hand clenching the phone so tight I thought it'd snap. My lips

moved before I could stop them.

"...I'm sorry, Jacob."

But the shot never came.

Seconds dragged.

And then-

I opened my eyes.

something was wrong. His jaw was

uneven. The gun

And then...

He dropped it.

in my lap with a

that, he floored the

Everything blurred.

Jacob's voice anymore. Couldn't hear the

hear anything.

at

Then at him.

didn't say a word. He didn't look at me. His

And I realized...

had given me

wanted me to

was cautious,

He didn't answer.

"Tyler?" I said louder.

Still nothing.

I saw it. The truth. Right there

wasn't about hurting me. It

have the courage to do it the

he'd built this-this nightmare-for someone else to do it for

I said slowly, still watching him. "You want me to kill

didn't look at me, but

and your baby, Evelyn. Do it. Because if I'm forced to stop this car, I'll shoot you. I'll have to.

"You... don't mean that."

He looked at

have you trapped.

road. What the fuck do you think I

cracked. But not

From something else.

From pain.

the plan. It always was. All of

him. And for the first time... I didn't feel

I felt pity.

Real, gut-wrenching pity.

I said softly. "You just didn't know what else to do with yourself. You were already gone inside. So you made this mess thinking it would make you feel something. You thought

His breathing hitched.

it," I whispered. "So you spun this whole thing. So someone

him

a child-you tried to fill those holes with power, contro revenge... thinking they'd fix you. But they didn't, even when you convinced yourself they did," I said, my voice low. "And you hated Jacob, because even after losing everythings he got u.al back The media turned him into a hero." Praised him. While you? You only got the backlash. The headlines. The

hands clenched

suffered more," I continued, gently, "yet you

stayed the

growled, his teeth

head, or

hated women," I

of what your mother did

you, it cracked something.

everything from Janet

but even

after all those years of snatching everything from everyone... in

s

softened. “And no one ever told you... that you didn't deserve the

life threw at you."

your bullshit doesn't make it true," he hissed. "Get out

story. I wanted to kill you because I wanted to. That's it.

me peace."

you

A pause.

he hesitated, jaw flexing. "I

"That's a lie, Tyler."

roared, finally snapping. "What is wrong with you? Why

like I'm some tragic case? Dwanted to kill you. I still do! So stop the sympathy get you

I'll make it happen," he laughed, bitter and broken. "I'll shoot you in your pretty little leg—and by then,