“You're positive he said Brooklyn was at his grandmother’s?”
“Yes, the Secret Service was shooting at him, so I ran in front of him, trying to get them to stop. But it was too late. There was blood everywhere. He told me he loved me, and I asked him to tell me where B was. As he was dying, he told me B’s at his grandmother’s.”
Garrett lets out a huge sigh. “Keatyn, I’m afraid I have some bad news. There was an explosion at his grandmother’s house. Firefighters are on the scene, but it doesn't look good. I’m there now.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Brooklyn couldn't have survived the blast. Or the subsequent fire.”
“No!” I scream. “No!”
I drop the phone.
It can’t be true.
Damian wraps me in a hug. I sob into his shoulder as he picks up my phone.
I hear him say, “Are you sure? What? Two events?”
I pick my head up and grab the phone out of his hand. “Garrett, wait. Your text said there were two events that made you think Vincent was coming for me. What else happened? Is my family okay?”
“Why don’t you put me on speaker, so I can tell Damian too,” Garrett says defeatedly.
“Something else bad happened, Damian,” I say, gripping his hand tightly. “He wants me to put it on speaker.”
“You’re on speaker, Garrett,” Damian says.
“This is difficult for me to tell you both, but there has also been an explosion on the Retribution movie set.”
Damian squeezes my hand back as Garrett continues. “There was a bomb in Tommy’s trailer. Damian, he and your dad were said to have been inside at the time and are presumed dead.”
“Oh my god,” Damian says, tears flooding his eyes.
I cry too.
And hug him.
Not Matt and Tommy, too.
“I’m sorry, Damian,” I say as we hear Garrett say, “What the fuck?! Are you kidding me?”
I hear a fist hitting metal.
His voice cracks when he comes back on the phone. “There was another bomb. One of my men at the France location just reported that a bomb exploded there, too.”
“At our house? Is Mom okay? My sisters? Grandparents?”
“I don't know. Fuck!” he says again. “I'll call you back as soon as I know something.”
“We’re ready to go,” the pilot says over the intercom. “Attendant, please close the door.”
“Damian, shit. I need you to have them change their flight plan. We need to go home.”
He rubs his eyes, shakily stands, and is going toward the cockpit when the pilot comes over the intercom again. “Hang on. The tower says there's some confusion. There's a bright green Viper causing some problems. Actually, the idiot is heading straight towards us.”
“Wait!” I scream, knowing it’s got to be Riley’s car.
Except Riley is on his way to the hospital.
I stick my head out the door just as the Viper screeches to a halt.
Cooper jumps out of the car, waving a gun.
“Cooper!” I scream.
“Where is he?” Cooper yells. “Where is he?”
I fly down the stairs and launch myself at him. “You’re alive!” I say, crying harder.
“I am. Where’s Vincent?”
“He’s dead.”
Cooper holsters his gun, relaxes, and hugs me back.
“I was afraid I had lost you,” he says. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” I cry, grabbing his hand. “Please come with us. I need you.”
As we board the plane, the attendant gives me an expectant look. “Just picked up another passenger,” I tell her.
“Get buckled up,” she says. “We’ll be taking off for California shortly.”
I sit back down and hold Damian’s hand.
“Tell me what happened,” Cooper says.
“Bombs went off,” Damian says flatly. “Brooklyn, Tommy, and my dad are dead. We’re waiting to hear if Keatyn’s family in France is okay.”
“What?”
I tell him about the bombs.
“I never expected him to do something like that,” Cooper says.
“Me either. I got his new script last night but only read the end. I bet anything bombs were part of the big action scenes. I should have stayed up and read it all. I could have stopped it from happening.”
“Tell me what happened with Vincent. Did you kill him?”
“No. Aiden and Riley saw the van tearing out of school and chased it. I guess they were almost out of gas. Riley was afraid I’d taken off my locket because I had planned to sneak back home tonight.” Cooper gives me a pointed look, but I ignore it. “They crashed into the van; it rolled. Vincent and I fought. The Secret Service showed up and shot him. I thought you were dead, Cooper. I saw him shoot you in the chest. You went down.”
Cooper pulls up his shirt, revealing a bulletproof chest protector. “The shots knocked me over and knocked the wind out of me. When I got up, you were already gone. The school was on lockdown. I came here because I figured he’d fly you back to California.”
“I’m so glad you’re alive.” I start sobbing again. “I caused all of this. Everyone’s hurt or dead because of me. All I wanted to do was protect them. I tried to protect them.”