My hands starts to shake as I raise the gun at Bethany.
Her face pales as she watches me.
I pull the trigger.
***
The bullet hits her in the shoulder and she falls on the ground screaming as she clutches onto her wound.
It hurts to be shot. I know the feeling since she was the one that sent someone to kill me when I was at Knox's place.
I walk over to her and kneel next to her. "I'm not you, Bethany. I'm going to let you live." I push the barrel into her wound and she starts screaming from the pain.
I love the sound of her screaming. It makes her seem weak to what she normally puts out for the world to see.
I look into her eyes and say. "I'm going to let you live, but you won't be a free woman. You're going to be locked up for a long time. I hope in that time you can heal from whatever shit you're dealing with."
Evan, Shawn, Brad and Whitney look at me as I move the barrel from her wound.
Evan walks over to me and he looks at me. "Are you okay?"
"Really? That's all you've got to say Evan? No, I'm not okay. You didn't have my back when I needed you the most. You let your ex girlfriend manipulate you."
Bethany looks at Evan and says. "She had a miscarriage. You can be with me now."
I didn't want Evan to know about the pregnancy. I was going to tell him when I was ready.
Evan grabs my arm. "Are you pregnant?"
I nod.
He looks over at Bethany. "How could you do this to the only girl I've ever loved?"
She holds her hand out to him. "You loved me once Evan. You can't deny it."
He sighs. "A part of me loved you, but you didn't own my heart like Ariana does. She's always been the girl I want to be with. I didn't want to hurt you when you asked me out, so I said yes. I never had the guts to ask Ariana to be my girlfriend and when I did have the guts you were around the corner making our lives miserable, Bethany." He looks at her stomach. "I know you're pregnant with you're managers child. You should be happy that you got the one thing you couldn't get from me."
She shakes her head. "I want you, Evan."
In the distance I hear sirens approach the property and I walk over to Hans.
He wraps his arms around me. "I'm going to take you back to the hotel to get changed."
"Thank you."
Hans and I walk over to the car with Knox.
As I climb into the car I hear Evan say. "Where are you taking her?"
"To the hospital." Knox tells him. "She doesn't want to see you right now." He looks at my brothers and adds. "You all screwed up by not helping Ariana. You led her to danger that she should have never dealt with. It's going to be hard for her to get over the betrayal of all of you. You were important people in her lives. What are your parents going to say when they learn the truth of what you all did to the person you claim you love unconditionally?" He doesn't wait for them to answer as he slides into the car next to me.
I hug him. "Thanks, Knox."
"You're welcome."
Hans jumps into the car and he pulls away from the house as the police pull into the driveway. He pulls over as a police officer waves him over.
The officer looks at Hans. "I need you to come to the police station to answer a few questions."
"Okay," he looks at me. "We'll head over their now."
I don't say anything and just look out the window.
The police officer climbs back into his car and he leads us to the police station.
When we get to the station I step out of the car with Knox and Hans.
They are standing in front and behind me.
It looks like they're my bodyguards and I feel safe when they do that for me.
I'm lead to the interrogation room by the cop.
He opens the door for me and lets me walk in before him.
I take a seat behind the desk and I see a two way mirror in the room. A camera is hung up on the wall and it's pointing towards me.
The officer sits across from me and he looks over me. "Are you alright, Miss?"
"Miss Houston," I tell him. "I'm fine." Pointing at the blood I tell him it's blood from a blood bag I was wearing, to make it look like I was injured the ambush at the farm by Bethany.
I tell him what happened from start to finish and how it was self defence when I shot Bethany.
She deserves more than what I did to her.
I'm nothing like her and I'm choosing not to regret my decision of letting her live.
I just hope that she will get the help she needs.
The officer makes notes on what I told him. He walks over to the door. "You can't leave Nashville until I have all the information on what happened at the farm." He shows me to the waiting room where I find my brothers and Evan.
Looking at them I say. "Grow some balls and tell them how you were manipulated by that girl. All of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Each one of you have told me how much you love me and what happened today is the opposite of what should happen to someone you love."
I refuse to let them see me cry.
Right now I'm pissed at them for the way they've treated me.
It's not going to be easy for me to forgive them.
Evan's face falls when he looks at me. "If I could I would take everything back to so I could save our child." He has tears in his eyes.
I walk over to him and I wrap my arms around him.
I can't let him believe that it's his fault that dot died. I still have dot and he needs to know.
I move his hand to my stomach. "I didn't have a miscarriage. I had to make it look like I did. I wanted Bethany to think she won again, but that's not the case. I won this time. I'm having you're baby, Evan."
He hugs me. "I love you, Ariana."
I push him off me. "Good to know." I stand up and head towards the door. "This doesn't change a thing Evan. I'm not going to forgive you that easily. When I return to Los Angeles I'm living in my condo on my own. Can you give me time before you come around?"
He nods. "Can you do me one thing though?"
"It depends."
"I want to be there for the Doctor's appointments."
"Okay," I open the door and head to the car where Knox and Hans are waiting for me. "Did the cops tell you that we can't leave Nashville until after the investigation is over?"
"Yes, they did." Knox helps me into the car. "I called Lauren and told her that we're safe. I'm sure you're sister would love to hear from you as well."
"I'll give her a call in a moment." I put my seatbelt on and call Charlie.
Charlie: Hello, Ariana. It's about time you called.
Me: Hey, Charlie. I would have called earlier, but I was being interrogated.
Charlie: Knox told is about that. He even told me how our brothers stayed out of the fight because they wanted information that she has on Brad's daughter.
Me: That's right.
Charlie: I did some digging around myself and I found her.
Me: Really? Where is she?
Charlie's voice breaks as she tells me that his daughter is dead. She died last night when her foster father beat her.
My heart breaks for my brother.
He's not going to like that when he finds out what happened to his daughter.
Knox grabs my hand. "Someone needs to tell your brother."
I nod. "I'll do it. It's not going to be easy for him to learn that everything he did to me today and helping Bethany escape was all for nothing."
Me: Charlie, I'll tell him what you found out. If he needs more information I'll get him to call you.
Charlie: Okay,
Me: I'll see you when I get back to Los Angeles. We're stuck in Nashville until the investigation is over.
Charlie: Are you still going to stop by the mansion before it go home?
Me: Yes, I am. Bye Charlie.
Charlie: Bye, Ari.
I hang up the phone and look at Hans and Knox. "Can someone find out where my brothers will be after they leave the police station? I want to break the news to Brad."
I can't let my brother believe his daughter is alive when she's not.
It will be cruel of me to sleep on the information that was given to me.
He should have told the family about his daughter a long time ago.
We could have searched for her together and brought her home to her father earlier.
Now, it's too late for both father and daughter.
I won't let anything happen to make Evan not be apart of his child's life.
We have plenty of time to move forward from what happened this week.
***
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