I was worried I needed extra security from my mother when she found me at the hospital in Oxford. I thought she was going to strangle me for getting myself into a dangerous situation again. After she told Ryan that she told me I shouldn't have left, she demanded that we needed to tell the police about what happened. Austin then met us at the hospital after we managed to get my mother to head home and I rolled my eyes at his timing. When he found my room, he didn't even say hi before saying, "Shits gotten weird guys."
From my bed, I wave to him and reply, "Oh, I am alright." He frowns before replying, "Ryan and mother told me. Right now, I need details because when we went back and raided the garage, Dot and Kit were gone but a pool of blood was left near a desk. Whose blood is it?"
At the same time, Ryan and I reply," Kit's."
"And how did Kit's blood get all over the floor?" Austin asks us as he takes a stance at the end of my bed. I let Ryan take the reins.
"I gave him a little flesh wound. He'll survive," Ryan replies with a shrug.
"Were you going for a little flesh wound?" Austin teases and Ryan smirks, "If I wanted the fucker dead he'd be dead."
"Well right now he is missing, so I can't confirm his pulse at the moment," Austin tells us.
"If he was found shot, the police were going to ask why and then he'd have to fess up to kidnapping and assault charges. Oxford prison is about to have all the Cunninghams setting up residency there," Ryan tells him and Austin nods.
"Are you going to tell the police?" Austin asks me and I nod, "I have to. I came in here to check how many drugs they knocked me out with. I wasn't about to go down for negligence or endangering my own child. That and I had dried blood all over my shirt and in my hair."
"What was their plan with you?" Austin asks and I waited for Austin before filling Ryan in on everything. I wasn't going to go through everything twice and I knew my mother couldn't handle all of it.
"I don't actually know. I know you guys finding me messed up their timeline. They panicked when you guys came to the gate. But then Dot was worried about my DNA getting all over everything, so they were either going to kill me or let me go and scrub the place."
"Kit didn't...pull the same shit as Rory did he?" Austin cautiously asks, not looking to Ryan.
"He almost did but that's when Ryan showed up and shot him."
"And you said you were going for a flesh wound?" Austin sarcastically asks, "What part of the body did you shoot?"
"Sawyer was blocking the target so I had to settle for the shoulder," Ryan responds flatly, and I truly believe Ryan would have shot his dick off if it were out. He didn't hesitate to shoot him.
"They wanted to know who took the drive from them. They were angrier that someone betrayed them than they were about it actually missing." I tell him and this gets the topic off of Kit's crotch.
"What did you tell them?" Ryan asks.
"I said I didn't know and that we wanted the drive too. I told them when it went missing, but we don't know who took it or who has it now," I answer.
"You covered for Sebastian?" Austin asks but it's more of a statement. I'm sure they both know why I did it.
"Yeah, we're even now."
"Well, I still would like to know how you ended up in their garage. You were supposed to be wedding planning with Momma," Austin asks me flatly. He folds his arms over his chest and I just noticed he's still wearing his F.B.I windbreaker.
I glance to Ryan, "Something came up that I needed to talk to Ryan about. I took Momma's car and they found me on Theo's driveway."
"What was so urgent that couldn't wait a couple of hours?" Austin asks us and Ryan says, "Whitney sent her some photos. Collateral."
"For the Anders shit?" Austin asks in confusion and Ryan nods. My jaw drops and I slap the sheet covering my leg.
"Austin knew about Garrett and Whitney? You told Austin, but you were going to use the NDA as a reason not to tell me," I snap, feeling betrayed by my own husband.
"The country trusts Austin with secrets, Sawyer. That and I needed his help with a few technological things," Ryan replies, like I shouldn't be upset.
"What were the photos?" Austin asks, pulling our glares away from each other. I point to my purse and Ryan finds my phone. He hands them to Austin and he had a much different reaction than Ryan. A loud laugh escapes my brother as he slaps the foot of the bed.
"She set you up! Man, you two fall into so many traps." Austin says, smiling and laughing at Ryan's stupidity. He finally stops zooming in on the last picture after he says, "She's trouble but she's hot."
"Okay Gus," I tell Austin to try and get him to stop gaping at the bitch on my phone.
"How did she even find you, Ryan? How did she know it was you that sniffed her secret out," Austin asks but he shrugs.
"My guess is Garrett told her? And maybe he gave her my information. Which is why I didn't want to see him at Theo's today," Ryan confesses and we both nod as I come to understand his hesitancy.
I watch something pass over Austin's face before he says, "Nah, when I saw him today he said he hadn't realized you and Sawyer had moved back to Hollis. He mentioned it because he thought LulaBelle said Sawyer moved to England."
"Maybe he was lying?" I ask but Austin shakes his head, "He had no ill will directed toward y'all. If he knew Ryan was the reason LulaBelle found out I can't imagine he'd act genuinely interested in what y'all were up to."
"So LulaBelle didn't tell Garrett that Ryan was the P.I she hired?" I ask in confusion.
Ryan shrugs, "I don't actually know. Whitney just said she knew I was the one that found everything out. I had assumed LulaBelle or Garrett told her."
"But if you were supposed to be the liaison between her and LulaBelle, because she was worried about how LulaBelle reacted, she clearly hadn't spoken to her," I tell him and I see this never crossed his mind. He shakes his head, "So much shit has happened today that I haven't given it a ton of thought."
"If it wasn't LulaBelle or Garrett that spoke to Whitney about you, then who was it? Who knows that you're a P.I now and was working on that?" I ask, but Austin and Ryan just look to me.
"Who would also want to hurt Sawyer? Someone took those photos of Whitney and Ryan," Austin asks.
"Whitney could have hired her own P.I or some craigslist photographer to hide in the bushes and take pictures," I tell them but it's not good to theorize. We have no idea who Whitney talks to or if Garrett was simply playing nice today.
"Maybe it was LulaBelle. Maybe she thought since you are married to Ryan you knew what was going on," Austin suggests and I could see LulaBelle putting a lot of effort into keeping Garrett's affair and love child a secret.
We aren't able to speculate any further as the doctor comes and clears Austin out of the small room while he checks me over again. He tells us that he's still worried about my high blood pressure and that he wants to keep me overnight. After he gives Austin the go-ahead to come back in, I look to Ryan and ask, "Do you need anything? Do you need to go home or get anything done?"
He shakes his head before I am even done talking, "No. I am not letting you out of my sight. You have given me at least a dozen heart attacks since we started dating and I don't need two in one day."
I frown, "I'm sorry Ryan. I honestly thought I couldn't be safer with all the safety precautions we took."
Austin pipes in as he comes and sits on the other side of me, "Thankfully that barrette led us to you."
"Where was it? It wasn't in my hair when I woke up," I tell them.
Austin nods, "We found it on Theo's driveway."
"Then how did it lead to me?" I ask if they couldn't easily find where I was.
"We didn't immediately realize what had happened. I got your text about an hour after you sent it. I didn't know Theo's house had shit service or I would have never gone," Ryan sourly tells Austin and me, like we knew and conveniently didn't tell him.
"When we went to find you outside, I saw the barrette on the driveway. Then we realized the white Mercedes on the end was mother's and had Theo check the security cameras. We didn't see them take you, but we were able to see the black Audi pull in and out of the gate shortly after you arrived," Austin adds.
"The license plate on the Audi was registered to a rental car and that's when we called in the team. We had to have them look through recent CCTV footage and traffic cams around Theo's house. We finally were able to track the Audi headed toward Briarwood, where we knew the Cunninghams had property. That's when all the dots connected and we sent out teams to the garage and to the other property they had nearby. We weren't sure which one you'd be at," Ryan says and he's still wringing his hands as he relays everything. I can't imagine his anxiety when he realized I was missing.
"Ryan had the idea to send up drones to survey the land beyond the fence. When we found Dot coming out of the garage, he scoped it out and then watched Kit come in and out of the garage," Austin tells me.
"The police weren't able to get inside, but I knew you'd be where Kit was so I slipped through the fence and went in through the side door."
"You guys really are a pair of James Bonds aren't you?" I ask, impressed that they managed to find me from a bobby pin found on a driveway.
"Well thankfully Austin still has full access to the fun gadgets and a smart team or we would have been screwed," Ryan says and Austin nods in agreement.
"So the police and the feds already have an idea of what happened today?" I ask and they both nod.
"Yes, but they still need it from you. I told them I was coming to get a full statement from you and you need to be extremely specific with both y'alls answers when it comes to shooting Kit."
"Her life was in danger and he was an immediate threat to her safety. If I didn't pull the trigger he would have pulled his," Ryan says.
"Oh, now Kit had a gun?" Austin asks, knowing this nugget of information just conveniently came up.
"He said he did and that he wasn't afraid to use it on me and Ryan," I tell Austin but he knows we are full of shit. "He was threatening me, Austin. Ryan had every reason to pull the trigger."
"It's convenient for you two, that the Cunninghams are in so much shit right now that I don't think they'd be dumb enough to come after Ryan," Austin tells us.
"If Kit wasn't at the garage when you got there, then it already looks bad. If he had no reason to come to the police after getting shot, then they know they are screwed," I tell Austin and he shrugs.
"Hopefully they don't retaliate," Austin mutters and we all nod in agreement.
"Well, I'll let you rest. It's been a day for all of us and we are all going to the courthouse tomorrow," Austin says while standing from the small leather chair.
"Oh I will be there to see them deny Rory bail," I tell him and Austin lingers in the doorway.
"Rory comes after your health and safety Sawyer. Stay and heal if you're not feeling okay tomorrow," Austin tells me before quickly glancing to Ryan. We watch as he disappears around the corner and Ryan grabs my hand, "If the doctor says anything is wrong tomorrow, we aren't leaving here."
I nod, "Everything will be fine Ryan. I am not going to miss that arraignment."