Greyson

~*25 Minutes Before*~

THERE'S NOTHING MORE I HATE THAN BEING TOLD WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO

"Sir, we need you to calm down, and remain still." An Officer says to me, for the TENTH time.

"Fuck that." I growl. "My fiance is in there with that fucker!"

"We can arrest you right now for defying the police, sir." The Officer explains.

I grab him by the collar. "Better fucking arrest me cause that's the only way you're stopping me!"

"Greyson!" I feel a hard hand grab my shoulder. "Let him go."

Immediately I drop the officer and turn around to see Detective Martinez. He wears a scowl, but a hint of concern in his gaze as he looks at me.

"My fiance's in there." I tell him.

"Yes, we know, but we can't go in there now. We'd place her in more danger than safety." He explains to me as calm as he can. "This Oliver Banks fellow has a few guys in there, two are with her, and there's two roaming the halls with guns. We have several officers down, it's to dangerous Greyson, you'll get yourself killed."

I slam my fist into the wall. "Fuck! Fuck!" Then rub my face. "Why'd I let her go out, I should have never let her go."

"This isn't your fault," He assures me. "this is a senior prom. You couldn't have known this would happen."

Suddenly cutting through our conversation is the sound of a familiar and venomous voice. One that I remember to well from the last conversation we had on the phone.

"Have you met our demand yet, officers? Tick, tick, times almost over." Oliver Banks says from a megaphone behind the doors of the school.

All officers position themselves behind their cars and prepare there guns to fire. But with no target that keep themselves still and wait for their 'OK' to go.

"What are their demands?" I ask.

Martinez looks at me and sighs.

"Me." I slice my eyes to my Fathers.

"Father?" I breathe, staring at him walking towards me.

There are an entourage of men surrounding him, more than the usual body guard count he usually has. Though I can't for the life of me figure out what this whole mess has to do with him, what could I guy hold Sage for, what purpose would it serve if it wasn't me the assholes were after?

"You've made it." Martinez says. "No Emerson?"

"He's in London right now." Father says, straightening himself.

My brows furrow. "What the fuck is going on?"

"None of your concern, Greyson." Father says, coldly.

"None of my business? None of MY business? My fucking fiance's in there! This is all my business." I clench my fists.

He closes his eyes and exhales, then opens them. "I have a past I'm not proud of son, I did what I had to do to be successful and provide a lifestyle that your mother and I deserved. However, to achieve that enemies had to be made—a lot of them. This isn't the first encounter with people like this, who are after me and Emerson for our choices. Your Mother knows all to well."

"Mother?" I stare at him intensely.

Father looks down at me, and for the first time I saw what appeared to be an emotion. One that wasn't anger or disappointment. A mixture of feelings mainly sadness and remorse, at least that's what I recognized.

"You weren't the blame to your mothers death, Greyson." He tells me. "Dawn has informed me this is a burden you've carried and that you believe I am more harsh on you because of the circumstances that went down. But, son, if you remembered what happened. You were the one who was as more of a victim than your mother. And the reason I've been harsh on you was because I wanted you to be stronger than the broken boy I met at the hospital that evening."

What?

Broken?

"What do you mean—?"

"I'm ready." Father cuts me and looks at Martinez.

Detective Martinez looks at me, then at him. "Alright, come with me."

"What's going on!?" I snap.

"Your Father is going to try and speak with the men, try and work something out so that Sage can come out of there free and safe." Martinez explains.

"Isn't that dangerous?" I look back at Father. "What if he just wants to put a bullet in your head?"

Father's eyes drop. "That's a risk I will take to protect her. I will not stand in safety while someone important to you is in danger again." Then his gaze rises to me, a fire inside of them. "I refuse to let anything bad happen to that girl when I could do something about it."

"Father..." My body loosens at his words.

He smiles and places his hands on my shoulders. "Don't worry, son."

Why did that feel like more than just an assuring sentence. The smile itself seems so fake that I can't believe that he actually thinks everything will be okay. But I decide to trust him because that's all I can do. He's set on this and there's no stopping Richard Blackstone when he has his mind set on something.

A few officers and Martinez get my Father prepped, undressing him from his suit jacket and sliding on a bullet proof vest around him. He shrugs into it casually and slowly, then gives me a look before being escorted to the front of the building with a megaphone.

I never felt so helpless

So unsure

"Everyone ready to go?" A few guys say behind me.

"Remember, when Blackstone starts speaking, that's when we barge in." The leader, I assume, explains.

"Roger." The rest say.

"Alright there's three teams, we all go through our own exit, then no matter what we don't hesitate to shoot. These men have only one goal." He continues. "Lets get ready."

The men venture to the left side of the building and I don't hesitate to follow behind. I keep a steady distance, making sure they don't see me. They stop at the exit and I hide behind a wall and wait for them to charge inside.

This is dangerous Greyson

I know

Then stay back, they'll handle it

I can't stand around and do nothing

You could die!

I'd rather die trying to save Sage then leave it up to the hands of men who won't

They've got guns and body suits—you've got nothing

There's nothing I can do about that now.

"Richard Blackstone, what a pleasure." Oliver Banks says.

I gulp down, then hear my Father's voice. "Mr. Banks, I'm sorry to disappoint but I cannot say the same for you."

Then the police barge through the doors and I follow them from behind. Before the door slammed closed I managed to stop it with my foot and a surge of pain hits me form the metal underneath. I ignore the pain and quietly open the door.

The men spread out into groups of two and I hear them yell 'Clear' as they enter classrooms.

I slowly walk my ways through the hallways, hoping to not be noticed by them. As they did a walk through of the rooms I zoomed passed them, however, I immediately stop when I see a man who was wearing casual clothing while holding a gun. I hide in the first room I see, my heart races in hopes that he doesn't see me.

Slowly and discretely he walks next to the door to the room I am hiding in, I look at the door knob twist and grab a random book to slam it into his face.

That is until I hear a... "Hey!"

Then the guy begins shooting.

When I hear "Man down!" I slowly open the door and make a run for it, bullets begin being shot at me. As I ran I immediately bump into someone through the corner. And to my surprise it was Dorian.

"Where's Sage?" I ask.

Then I notice a gun in his hands and my blood turns to ice. No. It can't be. He was part of it? Without warning Dorian stiffens and shoves me into a classroom. I hesitate to yell when I hear the shooters voice.

"Yo, D, you seen a guy walk through here?" He asks.

"No, maybe he cut through the hall in the middle, I just got here." Dorian answers.

What?

He's protecting me?

"Thanks, bro." The shooter says.

Then far away I hear the sound of gun fire back and forth

"Damn, I think Banks just killed the geezer, I've got to find him." The shooter, chuckles. "Serves that asshole right. Well hopefully I'll find this guy and Banks. Keep a lookout kid."

I clench my eyes shut.

Fuck!

You better be alive, Father

Seconds later Dorian grabs me from the room and pulls me close. "She's in room 304, you're going to have to go the long way since Sean is heading there now. Just follow the numbers and take the hallway all the way down the left."

"How the fuck am I supposed to trust you when you're one of them." I spit out.

He clenches my shirt tightly. "I would have fucking killed you by now. Now go."

When Dorian releases it he walks down the hall and towards the one in the middle like the shooter. I don't hesitate storming down the hallway, keeping my mind on Sage and not the wild-fire at the front of the school.

→←

After walking what felt like a thousand miles, I hear sobbing—Sage! When I peak through the hallways I see the back of the shooter and hear him talking to whoever is inside. I look around for an object and grab the first object I saw then zoomed in for the kill.

"...they're asking for you—" His body goes limp as soon as I slam the object onto his head.

Then I walk into the room, fury running through my bloodstream, wearing the deepest scowl my face has ever made and my fists clenched tightly.

"G...Greyson..." Sage breathes out. "GREYSON! RUN!!"

I look at her and although she looks like a mess, my girl is still alive and in tact—at least as I can see. Then my eyes dip down to her dress. Covered in a deeper red than the original crimson color of the dress and it was ripped all the way to her bra. Her underwear showing sends horrific visions in my head.

The sound of a gun being reloaded echoes into my ears and I look past Walter—Walter!? And to the man holding the gun towards me as he pulls the trigger.

"NO!" Sage yells.

My eyes widened as he pulls the trigger.

I looked down and saw red—everything was red.

"Greyson!" Sage storms towards me. "No, no, no!"

I fall to my knees.

"What is wrong with you!" Walter yells. "You weren't supposed to shoot him!"

"He was imposing! What in the fuck was I supposed to do!?"

"Not shoot him!"

Oliver argues back. "How the fuck was I supposed to know that!?

"We have to go, now." Walter says, then walks out of the room. "We finished what we came here for, Richard is gone, right?"

I look back up. "Father?"

"Max shot him from behind from the building across the street like you asked." Oliver explains, going over the guy on the ground.

"Let's go then." Walter follows, but before leaving the room, he briefly looks at me. But then walks away.

Then the two men are gone and I lay on the ground, Sage holding me. Pressing my face against her chest, hugging me tightly and sobbing.

"Greyson, please...please!" She cries. "Don't die."

I groan. "Fuck, that hurts."

"Shhh, don't talk, relax." She says to me, rubbing my head. "Please just...relax...and stay with me. Help should be coming soon—right?"

Yeah...they should.

Walter and Oliver are leaving—hopefully they've caught him.

"Getting stabbed...then shot in less than two months..." I chuckle painfully. "That has got to be a record."

"Greyson, shh." She hushes me, not taking my joke with nothing but total seriousness.

"I'll be fine..." I groan, clenching my abdomen. "at least it wasn't my heart."

Sage looks out the door. "I think it's safe to go."

"I think so too." I agree.

"I'm going to help you up, okay? Then we're going to walk out of here, okay? We're going to get out of here together Greyson. You hear me, okay?" She assures me, but I think she's assuring herself.

I nod, then chuckle. "If that rapper can survive nine of these bad boys then I can survive at least one."

As soon as I say that I close my eyes to sigh but immediately realized how good it felt to have them shut.

It feels like I'm drifting away.

"Greyson?" Sage says but her voice sounds...far away. "Greyson! Hey! Wake up, Greyson! Greyson! Wake up!"