Chapter 51

Shaw

       I stared at my phone, seeing the voicemail from Holden. I was about to answer it so I could hear what it was, but I heard some stirring so I placed my phone back into my pocket and walked over to the person I hated the most in the world right now.

       When he finally wakes up, he looks at his surroundings, his eyebrows furrowed so I crouch down beside him. "You look confused," I said. "Waking up in a forest tied to a tree. Not the best way to wake up. By the way, you have a mark on your head. You might want to get it checked out. You know, once you get out of here."

       "What am I doing here?" he asked.

       "I'll tell you what," I said. "If there's one thing I take very seriously, it's my family. I'll do anything I can to protect them. So when someone, namely you, tried killing my husband, imagine how furious that makes me."

       "I don't know what you're talking about."

       "Oh, don't play dumb with me," I said. "If you want to not get caught harming someone, I suggest you do it in a place where there's no cameras. Like this forest. Now, I could have easily gotten you arrested. My sister is a police officer and even saw the footage from the nightclub. You're just lucky she didn't know who you were. Actually, I would say you're not lucky because what I'm going to do is a lot worse than being arrested."

       "You know what I don't get?" Hugh asked. "How the court deemed you a worthy enough parent to have majority of custody. You're a dangerous person. You get into fights. You killed someone. You tied me to a tree. If only Kendra wouldn't only see the good side of you."

       "And you know what I don't get?" I asked. "Why you tried killing my husband."

       "I didn't try killing him," Hugh said. "You're being delusional."

       "I saw the security footage," I said. "I saw you wait until Holden wasn't near his drink for you to place something in his drink. And whatever you used was high enough to overdose and kill him. I'm sure you didn't choose a random amount. Now I really need you to tell me why you did it if you want me to go easy on you."

       "You took three kids away from their mother," Hugh said.

       "No, I didn't," I said. "Kendra can still see the kids. I'm not stopping her from seeing them. But you... You actually want to take my husband away from me? Forever? Do you not understand how sick that sounds?"

       "Sick like you tying me to a tree?" Hugh asked.

       "Well, if you actually knew me, you'd know that this is probably the most sane thing I've done to someone who just doesn't get that I shouldn't be messed with," I said. "So there are a few options I could do. I can either leave you here for a couple of hours or I can finish off what you tried doing to Holden. In other words, I can kill you. Your choice."

       "You really want to go to prison?" Hugh asked, sounding only a tiny bit scared. "Leave behind you kids, your husband? And you really think Holden will still want to be with someone like you after you're released from prison?"

       I gave Hugh a smile. "I've been to prison before when I was with Holden and funny thing, he stayed with me the whole time. He waited for me to get out. He'll wait for me again."

       My cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. "Aren't you going to answer that?" Hugh asked. "Maybe it's someone calling to talk some sense into you because right now, you're going to through your life away."

       "Yes, like how you were going to through Holden's life away," I said. "If you have a problem with me, you go to me, not my eighteen-year-old husband. He's a still a teenager and he has his whole life ahead of him. You're in no position to tell me that I'm throwing my life away."

       My phone stopped buzzing but a few moments later, it started up again so this time, I actually pulled it out of my pocket and answered it without even looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

       "Shaw, I swear, you better not be doing anything stupid right now," Lawrence said. "Viola told me everything and if you're hurting Hugh..."

       "I'm not," I said. "Well, not yet."

       "This isn't you, Shaw," Lawrence said. "You're not this violent person anymore. Is he with you now?"

       "That is a possibility, yes," I said. "And this is me. This is the most like me I'll ever get. And you know what? It feels so good to not feel restricted. I'm finally myself again."

       "No, you're not," Lawrence said. "This is not you at all. Look, the security footage is enough to arrest Hugh. If you hurt him, you'll be arrested to and it will be a long time before you can see your family again. Just please, tell us where you are."

       "Not happening," I said.

       "Shaw, listen to me," Viola's voice suddenly said. "I know you better than most people. You're my little brother and I know you are not like this. You can't let this rage get the best of you. You need to think about your kids. About Holden. You really think he's going to be able to cope with you in prison? You really think he can raise Gibson on his own? He needs you."

       Hearing Holden's name slightly pushed the rage I had down, but not enough. "He almost died because of Hugh," I said. "You really think I'm going to let him get away with it? I almost lost Holden too many times and I can't handle it. I just can't."

       "That's what I'm here for," Viola said. "I'm a police officer so please let me do my job. We already have patrol cars going around trying to find him. Please make this easier on us and tell me where you are. Please, I'm begging you, I don't want to see that dark side of you again. You need to stop this."

       I couldn't push the anger away. I was trying but I couldn't. It was still inside of me and it was completely taking over.

       Lawrence took back the phone and started talking again. "Shaw, we can't force you to do the right thing, but... Holden left you a voicemail. Listen to it and then make your decision, okay?"

       After he hung up, I went to the voicemail Holden left for me and while I was getting there, Hugh asked, "So can I get out?'

       "Shut up," I said, getting the voicemail and holding my phone up to my ear.

       "Shaw?" Holden's voice said. "I don't know where you are or what you're doing but I really need you to come to the hospital. I have to stay longer than just the weekend for observation because something might be wrong. The dosage used in my drink was way too high and I could have died. I probably would have if Calvin wasn't with me and I just... I need you by my side. Please."

       He sounded so broken in that message, which made me feel horrible. He needed me and I was off going back to my criminal ways.

       I was a horrible husband.

       I texted Viola, telling her I was in the forest before placing my phone back in my pocket. "Today must be your lucky day," I said as I started untying the rope around Hugh. "Looks like you're getting out of here."

       "You know you're going to pay for this, right?" Hugh asked.

       I shrugged as I finished untying him. "Well, today isn't the day because if I were you, I'd run."

       "Yeah, with me not being tied up, you're not threatening," Hugh said.

       "Oh, it's not me you have to run from," I said. "It's the police. They're already looking for you."

       That was enough to get Hugh to start running.

       And thankfully, I got out of the forest just in time to see Hugh surrounded by police cars and being arrested in suspicion for attempted murder. It was so satisfying watching.

       When Hugh noticed me, he glared at me. "This is all your fault," he said while he was being handcuffed.

       He was so funny.

       Lawrence and Viola walked over to me, both of them looking worried yet relieved. "Shaw, you cannot go back to your past life," Lawrence said. "You have way too much going on for you. And don't you dare say it's you because it's not."

       "It's always going to be me," I said. "There's always going to be something that just sets me off and I won't be able to control it."

       "Because you don't even try at times," Lawrence said. "There were a lot of other things you could have done but you didn't."

       I sighed. "I know."

       "And you could have lost everything," Viola said. "I highly doubt the court would have ruled you to be a fit parent if you did anything to really harm Hugh. You are so lucky you didn't go through with it."

       "Again, I know," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the hospital and not be a horrible husband."

       I was about to walk off but Lawrence stopped me. "There's something you should know about Holden."

       I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back at Lawrence. "What is it? Is he okay?"

       "We don't know yet," Lawrence said. "But Josh called me and gave me some news. They found a shadow on a scan of his brain."

       "A shadow?" I asked. "What does that mean?"

       "It means something's there that shouldn't be," Lawrence said. "They don't know exactly what it is yet and they have to run a few more tests but as of now things don't look good."

       I didn't even wait for him to say anything else before I started heading to the hospital as quickly as I could. How could I just let Holden stay alone in the hospital and not be his side when he needed me the most?

       As soon as I got to Holden's hospital room, he looked at me and I could see the tears in his eyes. "Holden, I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you got the news," I said as I went over to him and pulled him into a hug.

       And that was when he completely broke down, so I just stayed by his side, hugging him as tight as I could.

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shaw what you doing why didn't you kill hugh??????

lol jk jk i don't condone violence at all i just hate hugh ahahahah

guys. guYS GUYS OMG HOLLYOAKS RIPPED MY HEART OUT AND STOMPED ON IT. THEY GOT STE AND HARRY BACK TOGETHER FOR NOT EVEN A FULL EPISODE BEFORE THEY WERE LIKE "NAH WE BEST BE FRIENDS"

like??????? why???????

at least shaw and holden will never be just friends 😤😤