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.

was still staring at me—but something was

The gun in his

And then...

He dropped it.

gun landed in my

he floored

Everything blurred.

Jacob's voice anymore. Couldn't hear the man in the

hear anything.

stared at the

Then at him.

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

And I realized...

had given me the

me

was cautious, barely

He didn't answer.

"Tyler?" I said louder.

Still nothing.

it. The truth. Right

plan... wasn't about hurting me. It

have the courage to

built this-this nightmare-for someone else

the gun," I said slowly, still watching him. "You want me

at

Because if I'm forced to stop this car,

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

turned. He looked at

you trapped. You. And your kid. I've

dead-end road. What the fuck do you think

cracked. But not from

From something else.

From pain.

plan. It always was. All of

first time...

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

His breathing hitched.

"So you spun this

at all-they were making him tense. Because every time he took a breath in... it

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

clenched on the

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

stayed the

the fuck up, Evelyn," he growled,

head, or

women,"

what your mother

And when I rejected you, it cracked something. You

everything from Janet

but even

disowned you. And after all those years of snatching everything from everyone... in the end, you were still that broken, scared little

s

“And no one ever told you...

life threw at you."

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.

me peace."

why did you

A pause.

hesitated, jaw flexing. "I wanted to see you

"That's a lie, Tyler."

fuck up, Evelyn!" he roared, finally snapping. "What is wrong with you?

kill you. I still do! So stop the sympathy get you damn senses back and walk away! Get back to your picture-perfect life. Don't try

he laughed, bitter and broken. "I'll shoot you in your pretty little leg—and by then, your psycho boyfriend and his army will