Broken

||Chapter Nineteen||

"D-Da-Dad?!"

Celeste was completely stunned. She lowered the gun completely now and her eyes held confusion and a hint of fear.

"Did you just call Dan...Dad?" Simon asked equally as confused as me.

Now that I think about it, I've never met Celeste's parents. Even the day she was adopted. I was upstairs at the time. I didn't want to see her go, it would've been too much to see her go. The most of them I saw was the back of their heads as they walked hand in hand to their black car. Celeste turning around and looked up at the window where she knew I'd be, waving at me, and smiling sadly. Her parents were hardly home according to her. It was just she and her brother most of the time. So I guess Dan being her father, shouldn't come off as too much of a shock, but it did. It completely knocked me off my feet. And I'm sure Simon was equally surprised.

Simon's question wasn't met with an answer as Dan chuckled and started walking over to Celeste. She shakily raised the gun, trying to aim it at him, "D-don't come any closer! I'll shoot!" She tried. But Dan knew better.

"Celeste... You and I both know you won't to that, so put the gun down," Dan said coyly waking over to her.

"You don't know me!" She said holding the gun steadier now, but tears were threatening to fall as her eyes were getting glassy.

"Of course I do honey, I'm your father," Dan said raising his hands in surrender.

"No, you aren't! Not even close! You drove mom away and neglected Eric and me for years!" She yelled sadly, still pointing the gun at Dan.

Everyone, on the other hand, was standing there in shock. The goon that was next to Dan was just standing there, he faced what was unfolding before him like the rest of us. Simon and I were still on looking; interrupting this didn't cross our minds in this moment. What was happening seemed bigger than us and out of our place.

As for the goon that got shot, he was passed out from shock. What a p***y, I thought idly.

"Is that why you idiots ran away?" Dan laughed spitefully, "you guys had everything! The car, the money, clothes, food. You ungrateful bastards," he spat.

This shocked me even more, I hadn't known that Celeste had run away from home. After she broke up with me, she completely cut me off. Only one maybe a year or so ago her brother her brother; Eric, had brought me outside of her apartment to collect some money for some debt I was in. Maybe that's why he was at my house wanting me to repay the favor.

"We wanted a father too!" She argued.

"I couldn't be two places at once! And the business needed me!" He reiterated.

"We needed you!" Celeste said, her hands trembling, her tears streaming freely down her cheeks now, "you cared more about your drugs than your own kids,"

"Celeste, put the gun down before you do something stupid, you won't shoot me," Dan said walking closer and closer. He put a hand on the gun and lowered it.

I saw it fit to finally speak now before things escalated. I reached behind me and pulled out my gun, aiming it directly at Dan, "She won't but I will," I said.

"We're doing this?" He scoffed disbelievingly, "fine!" He then grabbed Celeste's gun, got behind Celeste and used her as a shield, placing the gun at the side of her head.

Celeste yelped, still crying, "Dad, don't do this!"

My heart caught into my throat as I saw what was happening, "Dan, let her go! This isn't her battle!" I heard Simon yell.

"She's as much a part of this as you as soon as she stepped through that door!" He yelled irately, "now, here's what you're going to do for me... You're gonna drop your gun, and you're gonna slide it over here," Dan commanded.

I didn't know what to do, I wanted to drop the gun and do as Dan said; but I also wanted to keep the gun, take the risk that Dan wouldn't hurt his own daughter, adopted or not. "You won't hurt her Dan, she's your daughter," I reasoned, still aiming the gun at him. His crony, whose name I remembered to be Red-fire started walking over rather quickly.

"Put the gun down you-" thinking quickly, I shot him, the bullet hitting him in the shoulder. He groaned as he held the wounded area and grunted, "you b***h! You shot me!"

"Well, what the hell did you expect?" I asked incredulously, "us to play ring around the roses?!" I said half-joking.

I looked at me with fire in his eyes and his bald head was turning red. I suddenly realized that his little colloquialism fit him well.

"You two are really trigger happy aren't you?" Dan said looking at his wounded men frantically. One was in the corner of the room passed out from shock and the other stood in front, not too far from me holding his shoulder, his jaw clenching in pain.

"Dan we all know you won't hurt your daughter, so why not give it up?" Simon tried, "Just give us Darcie and Celeste and everyone leaves here alive,"

"Simon, are you that naive? Don't you realize that you can't reason with me?" Dan yelled, causing Celeste to yelp. His arm was wrapped around her neck tightly. "Now I'd like for you to drop your gun... Now!" He said pressing the gun harder into Celeste's head.

My hand wavered slightly as I thought about what Simon said; would everyone leave here alive here alive today. At the moment it seems highly improbable. Dan has Darcie tied up downstairs, he had Celeste as a hostage; holding a gun to her head, his two men were wounded and losing blood as we speak, I had Dan under gunpoint and Simon stood in all of this weaponless. It seemed as if two people had to die today before Simon and I rescue anyone, but the question was how?

How are we going to Darcie free and Celeste to safety without hurting anyone- anymore at least. Now that I knew that Dan was Celeste's father, it was going over and over in my head of I should really shoot him. He clearly doesn't care about her, but she seems to still be hung up on the past with him and I didn't feel like I could take that away from her. The guilt would surely drive me insane. My legs were buckling over the anxiousness of the situation and I wasn't sure if it was obvious, but to me right now, I felt like I was going to fall any second.

I was left with no choice, I had to surrender...

I lowered my firearm and placed it on the ground.

"Amelia no!" Simon exclaimed. I ignored him and continued.

"That's right, now kick it over here," Dan coerced, "come on,"

I scowled at is coyness and did as he said. I had to, for Celeste's sake, and it wasn't like I could get a clear shot of him anyways. The stare off wouldn't have until Dan kept his promise and shot Celeste, that wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

With a satisfied smirk, Dan pushed a distraught Celeste my way and quickly picked up my gun, pointing it to all three of us. "Alright," he started, turning to one of his wounded cronies, still holding his shoulder, "try to wake up that i***t will ya?" He gestured to the passed out man in the corner.

"Why'd you do that?" Simon hissed at me, "he's gonna kill us all now!" He whispered violently.

Celeste was standing close to me, tear-stained cheeks, she still hasn't said a word to me.

"Like keeping it would've been any better?" I answered Simon matter-of-factly.

"Sure as hell better than him having all the control, were completely f****d now," Simon said, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

I looked at Simon incredulously, "are you actually blaming me for this?"

Celeste intervened now, breaking up what I'm sure would've been an argument, "guys! Could you just stop, we don't need this right now," she half yelled.

"Alright, I gave you enough time to talk, get walking!" Dan ordered, waving the gun at us, "You'll be reuniting with your friend Darcie in the basement,"

Something sparked in me as I heard her name. A will to survive, a will to survive to save her. And in that, saving everyone else. I needed a plan, a better one.

As my mind started racing, we started walking as Dan ordered, to the basement.