Chapter 31
**** HARRISON P. O. V ****
"Melina, could you please explain what you said back there?" I eagerly spoke in a whisper as the priest did his work.
"The death of Nina's mother was because of me." She said while crying.
"What gives? Nina never told me about that." I said and he nodded.
"She probably wasn't there when Jason shot her. That means she doesn't know I know her." I shook my head when she said that.
"No. She told her that she knew you. And you were the best friend of her mother. So, she said she would help." She looked at me when I said it.
"Harrison is not someone I know. I don't get it. They might not have told her how her mom died. If I didn't, she'd hate me." She spoke.
"Gracie you need to tell me what you did wrong." She sighed after I said it.
"When I got to this town, her mother was the first person to even listen to me. She sold pigeons, and they are so cute!"
"After I gave them my food, her mother asked me to come into the shop. We started talking, and she chose to help me."
"When some cars started racing in the market, we were still talking. And I started to hear Jason Emerson's name."
"Just then, one of the pigeons on the road caught my attention. I couldn't let the cars run over it because it looked like they weren't going to slow down."
"So I ran to the road, grabbed the pigeon, and made the car ahead of me stop quickly. So that the people behind them had to stop too."
"When Jason's mother hit her head and started bleeding, he got mad. He went outside and asked what was going on. His driver told him, and he started looking for me."
"She told me to run at that moment. I ran, but I stopped at a corner to watch what would happen. She admitted that she was the one who caused the accident, so Jason pulled his gun on her."
"He said he was going to kill her if the real person didn't come out. I didn't want him to get hurt, so I ran out at the last second to stop him."
"After she told him the truth and got a hold of me, I thought he would spare her, but he killed her right there and took me away." She told the story while crying, and I held her hand.
"You can now see why I dislike him. He made your life a living hell. If Nina finds out about this, she won't like you anymore." I said and she nodded.
"I know, which is why we aren't telling her anything. Not today, at least." She said and I nodded.
"More reasons why you shouldn't have forgiven Jason in the first place." She looked at me when I said it.
"Don't make everything about Jason. Jason's sense of right and wrong was off at the time, and he probably doesn't even know Nina is the woman's daughter. He would have done his best to fix it." She spoke. "So you still stand up for him." I said looking away.
"The truth is that. He was mad at his mother, and he wanted me to suffer or die, but not die. And he had to kill someone right there to make people even more scared. Yes, it's stupid, but this Jason isn't that Jason. And no matter how much I forgive him, that won't change." She spoke.
"Fine." I said I was trying to laugh.
When we looked at Nina, we could see that she was sad. She wore sunglasses, which I thought were to hide her puffy eyes.
"I feel so bad and bad about myself." She said looking at me.
"You are not to blame. Jason owns it." She sighed after I said it.
"Hey." We heard someone next to us say. Ryan was standing right next to Gracie when we both turned around.
"Ryan." She looked surprised, not angry, when she called.
"What do you want to do here? When your brother hurt Nina's mother? You're going to show yourself?" I asked in anger.
"Harrison, lower your voice. Gather yourself up!" Gracie told me with gritted teeth to be careful.
"About what does he talk?" Ryan asked her.
"Come." She said to him and began to walk away. She stopped me from going after her.
"You can't listen to our conversation. You'll let your feelings take over and overreact, which is the last thing Nina needs from you right now. So, you would just sit there and be Nina's friend while I took care of Ryan." I looked at Ryan when she said that.
"I'm right here if you need help." I said she was holding my hand.
"Yes, Harrison, thank you." She said, "Let's go," and both of them left as I stared at them.
"Hey. What's her plan?" Nina asked behind me.
"Hey Nina. Oh, she's just going to make things right. Then, how do you feel?" I asked, making everyone look at her.
"I'm not sure." She said in a sigh.
"Don't you feel like you could use a hug?" When I asked, she said yes.
"I do." She said that, and we hugged. I could hear her crying, so I ran my hand through her hair.
**** MELINA P. O. V ****
"Why are you here, Ryan?" I asked folding my hands.
"Before I say anything else, Melina. Is it true what Harrison said? Was this woman killed by Jason?" As I looked at her picture and he asked, I said yes.
"Just because. I know that is the old him, though. I only wished it hadn't happened." I told him, and he grinned.
"I'm so glad you saw it from that point of view." I smiled at what he said.
"Why are you here, then?" I looked back and saw Nina give Harrison a hug. They were adorable together.
"Jason," he said, and I looked in his direction. As soon as he said that name, he looked sad, and fear came over me.
"What's up with him? Is he alright?" When I asked, he said yes.
"He's not all right, Grace. Since yesterday's event, Jason went home, locked himself in his room, and drank until now, even though he told everyone it was a mistake." I sighed when he said it. "Why do you say this to me?" I asked with my head shaking.
"Because this is what he said." He said this as he pulled out his phone and played a voice recording.
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"Ryan, I'm thinking about her. No matter what I do, I can't get rid of her. Even though I know I can't, I want to hold her, kiss her, and be there for her." Jason said.
"I know Jason, but if she saw you like this, she wouldn't be happy. You look like waste brother." Ryan replied.
"You tried." He spoke up.
"Okay, then let's do this. You should go to the funeral right now and tell her how you feel. And how do you really feel about that?" Ryan asked.
"Ryan I adore her. I'm totally crazy about her!" Ryan stopped the recording when Jason said. ?
"I'm here because of that. Jason is in terrible shape, and it's because you, Gracie, drove him crazy." He said it, and I turned away as the sound recorder kept playing in my head. "This isn't a good time to do this." I said looking at him.
"We don't have time. You're leaving town, so I wanted to tell you how he feels even though he can't tell you himself. He's afraid you'll turn him down and tell him you hate him." He said and I sighed looking away. "Well, that's the real deal." I said.
"We both know that it's not true. You only say those things because you think you shouldn't like someone who made you unhappy. I can tell from the look in your eyes that you love him." I sighed when he said it. "Ryan I know, and I am....." I said something, but the sound of gunshots everywhere cut me off.
"Get down!" Ryan yelled, and he pushed me to the ground and put his body on top of me.
We looked around and saw that everything was in disarray. Then we saw that the shooting was coming from a van that had stopped right in front of us.
"What made them stop here?" He told me no when I asked.
"I know, but I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. Someone sent them here for someone." He spoke quietly, and then one of the men in masks grabbed my arm, making me scream.
Ryan said, "Let her go," and they pulled a gun on him.
I said, "Ryan!" and he put his hand up.
"Let her go, we can talk about this. You want me, so go get me and leave the poor woman alone." He said.
"We have no use for you. She is it." He told the other men to move me to the van, and they did.
**** RYAN P. O. V ****
I looked around to see if I could find someone who could help her, but everyone was running for their lives. Then I saw Nina holding Harrison down. She just stood there and didn't do anything. That looks fishy. "Go ahead, boss." The men in masks said something, and at that moment I realized I was still standing in front of a gun.
"Good bye Ryan." I wrinkled my brows and wondered how he knew my name. I saw him pull the trigger, so I quickly moved out of the way and got hit in the arm.
They ran to the van and sped off, leaving me holding my hand in a lot of pain. I got up and walked to where Nina and Harrison were hiding.
We should talk." I told her to get up.
"Are you okay? Let her go!" Harrison yelled as he got up, but he kept quiet when he saw the cut on my hand.
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"While you were here trying to save your behind, some men came and took Gracie away. Now I have a chance of getting her back, so can you just shut up and let me do what I need to do?" When I asked, he looked around for Gracie while I took the chance to get Nina away from him.
"What is this all about?" She did.
"You don't seem surprised, and I could see you standing there as they took her away so Harrison wouldn't see anything. You did nothing. Can you explain that to me?" When I asked her, she broke down in tears.
"You think I took my friend away from my mother's funeral? Are you okay?" She asked while crying.
"I've seen a lot of fakes, and you are the best one I've seen so far. So stop talking nonsense and tell me what you know, or I'll do to your mother what my brother did to her." When I yelled, she gulped hard out of fear.
She was about to say something when she heard shots again. This was not the same van at all.
"What in the world is going on?! Two surgeries in one day??" I asked, looking at this one, and when Nina didn't answer, I knew something was wrong. She couldn't stop looking at the van as if it were hers.
"So you planned to work at the funeral of your mother?" I asked looking at her.
"Is it one? Neither! Here are the ones I sent." She said looking at me.
"So, who was first?" When I asked, she shook her head no.
"I don't know, but I guess I'm not the only one who wants Gracie." She said it as she stood up.
"She needs to be found! Now! You're going to help me, right?" I said she was stopping her.
"What's the point? No one knows for sure if Jason didn't do this." She spoke.
"Don't even try to get my brother involved. And I know you'd help me because you wouldn't want Harrison to find out that you're a mean person who wants Harrison's best friend to be taken away from her mother's funeral. That means you'd lose him for good, which doesn't seem like something you'd want." I rapped, and she gave me a yes.
She pulled out her phone and said, "Fine."
"What's going on?" I spoke quietly.
"Of course, they were told to go back. Gracie is no longer here, and we can't move forward with our plans as long as they're still here." She said and I nodded.
"Do what needs to be done." I said looking around again.
"Changes happened. Return." She said, and she put the phone back in her pockets.
I looked at the men and saw that they were getting ready to get into the van. They had left.
We both came out of hiding at the same time, and Harrison started coming toward us.
"Nina are you okay?" He asked.
"I am not. Gracie has been taken away from us, and we need to find her." She said it, and I gave her a disgusted look.
"Not like she cares. Crazy drama b**ch!" I yelled in my head as I held my hand tightly, which was still bleeding.
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