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

gun in his

And then...

He dropped it.

in my lap

that, he floored the gas

Everything blurred.

Couldn't hear the

hear anything.

stared at

Then at him.

didn't say a word. He didn't look at me. His eyes were locked straight ahead,

And I realized...

given me

me to

was cautious, barely

He didn't answer.

"Tyler?" I said louder.

Still nothing.

saw it. The truth. Right there in

wasn't about hurting me. It

just didn't have the courage to do it the normal

nightmare-for someone else to do

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

look at me, but his voice came out

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

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

He looked at

Evelyn-I have you trapped.

A dead-end road. What the fuck do

voice cracked. But not

From something else.

From pain.

part of the plan. It

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

I felt pity.

Real, gut-wrenching pity.

kill me," 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 hurting me

His breathing hitched.

you spun this whole thing. So someone else could pull the trigger

doing anything at all-they were making him tense.

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

hands clenched

suffered more," I continued, gently, "yet

stayed the

fuck up, Evelyn," he growled, his teeth grinding. "Stop making fairy

your head, or I

women," I

of what your

when I rejected you, it cracked something. You

everything from Janet

but even

snatching everything from everyone... in the end, you were still that broken, scared little boy. Just wanting to be

s

“And no one ever told you...

life threw at you."

sitting here tolerating your bullshit doesn't make it true," he hissed. "Get out of that little world in your head where every fucked-up person

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

me peace."

did you hand

A pause.

"I

"That's a lie, Tyler."

the fuck up, Evelyn!" he roared, finally snapping. "What is wrong

kill you. I still do! So stop the sympathy get you damn senses back and walk

you in your pretty little leg—and by then, your psycho boyfriend and his army will kill me anyway. Either way, I win. Either you're