Vince looked at Amy across his breakfast and frowned, his eyes moving to his wife and seeing the same look reflected there. Tony's visit had turned Amy back into the frightened mouse she had been when she had first come here, and he didn't like it one bit. But something else was bothering him too. There was something she wasn't telling him, he was sure of it. He shuddered to think what that something might be, because for her not to tell him it must be worse than the threat of her ex-boss. He would give her space to think, and then hopefully she would come to him with any problems she had.
"Linda, did you send those forms off?" he asked his wife, raising his eyebrows.
The elegant blonde woman looked up and gave a knowing smile. "Oh yes, I sent them off. It should only take another couple of weeks now, what with there being no-one to contest it," she said, smiling mysteriously when Stephanie and Shane shot her a confused look.
"What papers?" their daughter asked.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with just yet," Vince said, glancing once at Amy and then back at his daughter. "You're not working today are you?"
Stephanie shook her head. "Nope, I need to do some Christmas shopping later on, it's only a few days away now. Why?"
"I want Amy to stay here today, and I want someone here with her. If you want to both go shopping that's fine, but I'll have someone come with you, okay?"
Stephanie nodded and Amy looked at Vince, not offering any argument. He raised his eyebrows. "Is that okay Peaches?"
"That's fine," she murmured, turning her attention back to her breakfast and pushing it around the plate.
"Hmm. Well, I have to get going, some of us do have work to do," Vince said, blotting his mouth and standing up, Linda following suit. "Well come on!" Vince said, eyeing Shane still sitting there eating.
"Okay, okay!" the younger man said, smiling and then rolling his eyes as he took a last gulp of coffee. "Hey, sweetie," he said to Amy, putting his hand on her shoulder when he stood next to her. "I thought I'd bring Glenn back for lunch today, maybe Glenn's girlfriend. What's her name? Tammy isn't it? What do you think?"
Amy brightened a little and gave a wan smile. "That would be nice."
Shane nodded and messed her hair up with one hand, grinning like a kid. "Great. See you later...oh, you do realise you'll have to make lunch though, don't you? Maggie's off for the rest of the day!"
Stephanie threw her napkin at him and then laughed as he rushed out of the house, her parents following at a more sedate pace.
"Well, looks like a girls morning then. What would you like to do?"
Amy shrugged and glanced out of the window at the thick snow that still covered the ground. "I don't know really. I wouldn't mind going for a walk around the grounds before we go shopping, I feel a bit restless."
"Okay, but you better bundle up nice and warm, otherwise dad will kill me. The last thing you need is to get flu again!" Stephanie said, grimacing. "Well, I'll clear this little lot up and then we can get walking. To tell the truth it'll probably be good for me, I feel like I haven't had any fresh air for ages!"
Amy watched as the older woman went about clearing the table and she got up to help, glad to have something to do to take her mind off Mark and the horrible things he had said. But nothing helped and she just kept thinking about it, replaying the scene over and over again as she tried to make sense of it all. And then there was that woman he had been sitting with, holding hands with, something that had hurt the worst. She frowned. Was that how Mark had felt when he saw her with Kevin? she wondered. If it was, then his actions were a little more understandable she supposed, although she would never have said those sort of things to him.
When Stephanie was satisfied that everything was spotless, they both went and got their coats on.
She looked Amy over when she came back downstairs and stood in the hallway. "No, no, no, this coat isn't warm enough. Hang on a second," Stephanie said, rushing back to her room and returning with a long black coat. "Here, wear this one, that way I'll know you're warm enough."
"I'm not sick anymore," Amy grumbled, letting Steph put the coat on her regardless. It was warm, she thought, maybe too warm. It was extremely thick and made of some very luxurious material. She tied the belt tight and then tucked a scarf around her neck, staring at Stephanie and waiting to get her approval.
"Okay, that's better. Let's go!" the older girl said, and she grabbed Amy's arm and dragged her out of the house, beginning the long walk around the grounds, their progress somewhat hampered by how deep the snow was in places. But it had the desired effect and Amy felt herself starting to relax a bit, Stephanie's constant chatter bringing a smile to her mouth. When she gave a shiver at how cold it was, the older girl stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, looking at her comically. "Why didn't you tell me you were getting cold? Dad will kill me!" she said, tutting and shaking her head. "Come on, let's get back and I'll make a nice cup of coffee and we can talk about what you're going to buy your man for Christmas!"
"I probably won't be seeing him again, so it won't matter," Amy mumbled, her mind firmly on Mark again now Stephanie had bought up the subject.
"What do you mean? Have you argued?" Stephanie asked as they walked slowly back towards the house.
"Sort of," she replied and then shook her head. "It's nothing really."
"Well, it doesn't sound like nothing if you don't think you'll be seeing him again!"
"It's just something he said...I guess I'll have to wait and see," she muttered, trying to make it sound okay when she thought it was anything but.
"It'll be okay, Amy, you'll see. Arguments like this always blow over as quick as they begin. I bet he'll be banging on the door before the day's over!" Stephanie said, smiling reassuringly at her. Amy forced herself to smile back, not wanting Stephanie to be affected by her current misery. "That's better. Now, about that shopping trip....oh, who's that?"
Amy followed Stephanie's gaze and saw a car sitting in the driveway near the house, but thought nothing of it. The fact that Stephanie didn't know who it was didn't get through to her for a second. She looked at the older girl and saw her frowning.
"Don't you know who it is?"
Stephanie shook her head, and then shrugged. "It's probably an associate of dad's, someone I don't know. We'll let them know he's not here and then we can start getting lunch together for when Shane gets back."
They went around the front of the house and saw the car was empty, and Stephanie frowned again. "That's odd, they can't be in the house...."
"That's right, we can't be," Sara said, making both women swing around to face her. Stephanie's eyes widened and then she sneered, her lip curling up as she bared her teeth.
"What are you doing here?"
"Shouldn't that be 'what are we doing here?'" Sara said smugly, giving Steph an evil smile before turning to Amy, her eyes filled with hatred. "I have a surprise for you."
Amy saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head in time to see Tony step from behind some shrubbery, and she felt herself become boneless as shock paralysed her.
Stephanie hadn't seen the man before, but Amy's instant reaction to him let her know who he was. "What do you want?"
"Oh, this little bitch knows exactly what I want," Tony said, grabbing Amy by her hair and dragging her to stand in front of him, laughing as she cried out in pain. "And guess what, pretty, I'm gonna get it. There ain't no-one here to stop me this time."
Sara watched him and smiled gleefully. "As for me, Stephanie, I want Mark and I will get him."
"He would never go back with you, Sara, he has more taste than that!" Steph spat at her, looking from one of them to another as she tried to decide what to do.
"Really? Well, he didn't have any complaints when he had his dick in my mouth last night," she said, arching one eyebrow.
Amy stared at the woman with wide eyes, feeling unbelievable pain course through her as she heard what Mark had done. And this woman was his ex-wife, someone he had professed to hate. She felt as if he had been playing with her the whole time. Tony's hand tightening in her hair jerked her back to reality and her eyes filled with tears of pain as he almost pulled the hair from her head. "I'm gonna have some fun with this one," he said, raising his other hand and trailing it over the front of her body, the sensation thankfully numbed through the heavy coat.
"You can have all the fun you want, afterwards," Sara said, pulling a gun out of her pocket, much to Stephanie's shock. "Now then, let's get inside and we can get the ball rolling, okay?"
She motioned for both women to move and Stephanie reluctantly unlocked the door and let them in, Tony shoving her and Amy along in front of them until they stood facing each other in the hallway. Sara closed the door behind them and smiled. "Here's the plan ladies. You two are going to telephone Mark and Vince, and you are going to say exactly what we tell you to say, understand? Then, if you're really good, you may not come out of this too badly maimed."
"You bitch," Stephanie said, her voice quiet as she stared at the woman she had once tried to befriend.
Sara nodded and moved towards her. "Maybe so, but you won't say that again," she said, using the back of her hand to strike the other woman hard across the face.
"No!" Amy shouted, surprised that her voice was working.
Sara turned to her in surprise and laughed. "Seems our little mouse here wants us to stop. Shall we stop, Tony?"
Tony grabbed hold of Amy's throat and laughed, bending until he was right in front of her, his breath wafting across her face. "No, we're just getting started."
"You can't make us say anything we don't want to," Stephanie said, her breath coming hard as she wiped the trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Don't be naive Stephanie, do you really think I won't use this gun?" Sara asked her, and shook her head. "It goes like this. If you don't say what we want you to say, we kill Amy over there. And vice versa. Of course it's up to you, but I know what I'd do in this situation."
"Yeah, I know what I'd do too," Tony said, slowly pulling a knife out of his pocket and holding it in front of Amy's face. "You'd be surprised how much I can change someone's appearance with this blade. I'd be happy to demonstrate later."
"You can have your fun soon, Tony," Sara said, looking at Amy with an unholy light in her eyes. "We'll begin with her. Here's what you both have to say, and I want it to be word perfect."
She started talking and Amy heard the words through a fog of disbelief. If she said those things.....if she said them to Mark and Vince, they would hate her. She felt her chest clench with a combination of fear and pain, knowing she wouldn't be given a choice in this. Sara moved closer to her and lifted the gun, seeing the fear in the younger girls eyes and relishing it.
"You see, it's not only you that you have to worry about. If you don't do as we say, then there really isn't any point in letting anyone else live, is there? Mark won't want me, so I'll just let Tony take care of him," she said shrugging.
"I thought you wanted him back," Stephanie asked, glaring at the other woman and then looking at Amy with concern.
"Oh I do, but I want him on my terms. Basically Steph, if I can't have him, then no-one else will either. Now let's stop wasting time. We'll use this extension," she said, holding up the cordless telephone from the front room, "so we'll know if you give them any clues as to what's really going on." She held the gun out and let Tony take it from her and watched emotionlessly as he instantly put it to good use. Sara looked around and her eyes fell on the scarf Amy was wearing, seeing that Stephanie was wearing a similar one. She took them both and used one to tie Stephanie's hands behind her back, pulling the material too tight and making her moan at the pain it caused. She smiled and turned her around, using the other scarf to gag her, tying that too tight as well, her face a picture of spite as Stephanie broke down and started crying.
Amy watched all this happen, paralysed as she felt the cold steel of the gun press under her chin and she swallowed convulsively in fear. "Now, you pick that phone up and you ring him. You tell him what she told you to say, and maybe....maybe...I'll let him live," Tony said in her ear, his foul breath wafting across her face.
She shakily picked the receiver up and dialled Mark's number, hating what she was about to do and hoping with all her heart that Tony would leave him alone. She knew that he would do to her whatever he wished, and she was aware of the other two women watching from the corner of the hallway. Sara's eyes gleamed with satisfaction, but Stephanie was softly crying, her mouth covered by the gag making any sound impossible except for the soft muffled sobs that could barely be heard. Sara elbowed her and hissed at her to shut up.
The phone rang twice and then Mark's voice came over the line. "Hello?"
"Mark, it's...it's me," Amy said, wondering if her voice sounded as odd to him as it did to her.
She heard him take a shocked breath at the sound of her voice, and wondered if it was because he hadn't expected her to call him, or he hadn't wanted her to. His next words, however, were soft and caring and she knew he would probably have apologised for the day before, had he had a chance before now. "Amy? Honey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I only rang you to say...to tell you that it's over. I don't...I don't want to see you again," she said quietly, trying desperately not to let her tears be heard by him.
"What?" he asked, his voice letting her know he hadn't expected that.
"You heard me. I've ...I've..." she broke off and turned pleading eyes on Tony, only to have the gun pressed even harder under her chin. She quickly continued. "I've had my fun, now I'm getting bored. I need more than you can give me. You were amusing for a while, but I can see why Sara went off with another man."
She closed her eyes and let the tears seep through her lashes when she heard his sharp intake of breath. She was hurting him and he would never forgive her for it, even though she was doing it for a good reason. "What the fuck do you mean? Is this because of yesterday?"
"No, I'm seeing someone else," she said and then hesitated again, not knowing if she could say the words Tony had told her to. He pulled her hair hard and she had to stop herself from crying out as he urged her to go on. "He's better in bed than you could ever be, he knows how to please me. You never would have had the first clue. I'm...glad that we never actually went all the way. The thought of it disgusts me. We've been...we've been laughing about you, wondering if you'd...you'd ever realise what was going on. But you didn't have enough brains to figure it out. I'm sorry Mark..." she began, trying to make her voice sound sarcastic and not knowing if she was succeeding. His next words told her she was and her heart shattered inside her chest at the pain she was inflicting.
"Save your fucking pity. You bitch, you really had me fooled..." she heard him curse softly and his breathing got heavier. "I hope you fucking rot in hell!"
The phone went dead and she dropped the receiver on the stairs, her shoulders sagging as she let the tears fall more freely.
"Well done, pretty. That should get rid of him for good, at least from your life. Just one more call to make," he said, walking over to Stephanie, ripping the gag from her mouth when he bent down in front of her. "Now you call your Daddy and don't deviate from what I told you, or I'll shoot you in the head, you got me?"
Stephanie nodded and did as he told her, waiting for her father to answer the phone. "Dad, can you come home, please?"
"Steph? Are you okay, what's wrong?"
"Daddy, there's a man here and he's going to kill me," she said, her voice hitching on a sob as she looked at Amy apologetically. "Him and Amy are lovers and they've been planning this...Daddy you have to help me..."
Tony smiled and nodded, snatching the phone away from her. "You better get here McMahon, and you better do it quick," he snarled into the phone, smiling with satisfaction as Sara replaced Stephanie's gag.
"Who the fuck is this?" Vince yelled.
"You'll find out soon enough. And bring the big dumb asshole that Amy's been fucking on the side. She wants to see his face when I torture him."
"You fucking bastard, Amy would never..!" Vince shouted.
"Oh wouldn't she?" Tony asked, handing the phone to Amy and nodding, cautioning her to behave with one wave of the gun.
"Vince, bring Mark with you," she said dully.
"Amy what are you doing?"
"I'm having fun, for once. Do as you're told or we'll kill her," she said, repeating what she'd been told to say, her voice lifeless.
"You...you can't be.." Vince stammered, not able to believe what he was hearing.
"Just do it, and don't involve the police, or she dies," Tony yelled, taking the phone back and listening for a few seconds. He put the phone down and grinned. "They're on their way. Now we can have some fun, eh?" Tony dragged her down the last few steps and threw her across the floor, making her smash her shoulder painfully on the cold marble. She struggled as soon as he tried to lay on top of her, determined that she would not give in to this loathsome man. He hit her so hard on her cheekbone that she thought she was going to pass out, but her senses soon swam back into focus and she tried pushing away from him.
"Don't bother fighting me, you little cunt," he panted, trying to grab her wrists, "it'll only make it harder on you! I'm going to fuck your brains out, and you're going to enjoy it!"
"You'll have to kill me first!" she shouted at him, bringing her knee up sharply and trying to get him between his legs, but she just kneed his thigh, enraging him further.
"Right, you want to do this the hard way? That's fucking fine with me," he growled, punching her once more and then getting up. Amy was confused at his move, until she saw him go towards Stephanie, the older girls eyes getting wide when he raised the gun up.
"If you don't open those legs and let me have you, then I'll make sure that this bitch won't ever have a man look at her again. You got that?" he asked, staring at Amy as he pressed the gun against Stephanie's cheek. Steph looked at her and shook her head, indicating that she shouldn't give in, even though there was a lot of danger for her. But Amy couldn't allow anything to happen to the woman who was rapidly becoming like a sister to her.
"Please, no, please don't hurt her," she said quietly, sitting up from her prone position as fast as her aching body would allow. "She doesn't deserve any of this, please let her go!"
Tony gave a sneering smile. "Oh, I like the sound of that, you begging. Maybe I can get you to beg a bit more?" He dragged the gun down Stephanie's face and pressed it to her upper arm, facing it away from her body. "Let's hear some more then bitch," he said, then he pulled the trigger. The report of the gun was ear-splittingly loud in the large hallway and Amy screamed as Stephanie fell sideways, her eyes flickering shut and her upper arm exploding with blood.
Sara sneered and moved away from the unconscious body, trying to wipe the spots of blood from her immaculate suit. "Be careful, I don't want to look too bad when Mark rescues me," she grumbled, glaring at the big man. "Which reminds me, you'd better do what we discussed."
Amy watched in horror as Stephanie lay on the floor, a small pool of blood starting to form around her arm. Her eyes darted to Tony when he stood up next to Sara and then drew his fist back, punching her on the side of the face and knocking her out. He turned and studied Amy's shocked face.
"Now her ex will think she was a victim, and he'll want to make her all better. Such a shame for you. But don't worry, you'll have me, won't you?" He sauntered over to her and gave her a hefty kick in the ribs, making her lose her breath and lay there winded. "Does it hurt?" he crooned, putting the gun away and fumbling in his pocket until he found the wicked looking knife again and held it in front of her face. Amy had enough time to widen her eyes in fear, then a soft groan from across the hall made her look at where Stephanie was laying. She had come to and was now feeling the pain from her gunshot wound, her face pale as shock started to affect her. Her eyes looked over to where Amy was, but she was still gagged so she couldn't speak. All she could do was watch as Tony flipped the knife over and over in his hand, walking around Amy as if she were a sculpture he was about to start work on.
"They'll be here soon, bitch, and I'm going to make sure I'm not. Oh don't get too hopeful," he said, laughing at her expression, "I won't be far away. They'll discover you three and then they'll blame you for it all. So when they throw you out...and they will throw you out...I'll be waiting for you." He grinned at her.
"I'll never come to you," she muttered, glaring at him with all the hurt and hatred she had inside her. Whatever happened now, he had ruined her life. He had made her turn everyone who she cared about against her, and she knew that she would never be able to explain what had really happened. They wouldn't want to listen.
"Oh you will, you'll come to me and you'll beg me to kill you. And after I've had my fun, I just might grant your wish. But for now...a little something to make sure you don't forget me," he said, moving swiftly down onto one knee and pressing the knife against her side. "Tell me if this hurts at all," he told her, grinning maniacally as he pushed the blade slowly through her thick coat and between her ribs.
She jerked and screamed as the pain transmitted itself to her brain, burning along her nerve endings as the blade sliced through her flesh. He twisted it a quarter turn and then withdrew it, ignoring the way she thrashed about to try and escape the pain. "There, it won't kill you...at least, not yet. But it will hurt like a son of a bitch. Farewell, pretty, see you in a little while," he said, stroking her hair off her face and walking out of the house.
Amy lay there gasping for breath, fighting to remain conscious. As the first wave of shock and dizziness passed, she managed to pull herself over to the stairs and slumped against the wall there, her breathing jerking out of her as she tried to get used to the pain. She looked down and was surprised when she couldn't see any blood. Of course her coat was black and thick, so even when the blood did come through, it probably wouldn't show. But she could feel the stickiness of it creeping out of the wound and wetting her shirt.
Time passed slowly, she had no way of knowing how long, but eventually she heard a car drive up outside and closed her eyes, knowing it was them, knowing they would now look at her with hate in their eyes. What she hadn't counted on was how much hate she would see there.
When Vince came rushing in the door he took in the scene in a split second, his eyes finding Stephanie and rushing over to her. Mark stood dumbfounded as he surveyed the three women, his eyes fixing on Sara for a short while in confusion and then swinging to Amy. They were an intense green and sparkled with hatred and anger, making Amy flinch. She watched as he marched over to her in three long strides and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her up in front of him and giving her a shake. "You bitch, you unbelievable bitch, how could you do this?" he yelled at her and she almost bit through her lip to stop from screaming as the jarring shakes made her wound felt.
"Look at Stephanie, look at her you bitch, look what you did. Where's your latest fuck anyway? Did he abandon you?" he asked, dropping her onto the steps and sneering at her. "It's no more than you deserve, you worthless tramp! We're going to make sure you get put away for the rest of your life! And this," he said, spotting the pendant he had bought her peeking out from the collar of her coat, "is something you never deserved!" He grabbed the fragile chain and yanked it hard, making it cut into the back of her neck briefly before it broke and he flung it across the hall. He gave her one last hateful glare before he spat on the floor near her and walked over to Sara, his hands gentle as he stroked her hair back from her bruised face.
Amy cried quietly as she watched, not even bothering to try and defend herself. What would be the point? She had condemned herself in their eyes forever.
Stephanie felt Vince take the gag off her mouth and she tried to speak, to tell him what was really going on, but her tongue felt too thick for her mouth and she couldn't seem to make any sense. "Daddy....Amy..." she finally managed to gasp out.
"I know sweetheart, I know, I can't believe it either." He frowned as he looked at her arm and he flipped his cell phone out and dialled the police and ambulance service.
Stephanie tried to talk again and ended up moaning. "No, don't try and talk sweetheart, just lay still now, you'll be okay," Vince said, holding her gently, the worry in his eyes quickly replaced with disbelief when he looked over at Amy. She was huddled against the wall of the staircase, one arm gripped tightly to her side and her face stark white, and he tried not to feel any pity as he looked at the bruises she had. He was confused. He thought he knew her, and now it turned out he had no idea who she was. Perhaps she took after her father more than he had realised, but his worried mind couldn't quite work out what it was that was wrong with all this.
Amy lifted her eyes and met Vince's gaze, flinching at the look in them before lowering her eyelids again. She heard Stephanie trying to speak again and tensed when she heard her name.
"Amy...Amy got hurt..." Stephanie managed to slur.
"Shh, baby," Vince said, all his attention on his daughter again. "She doesn't matter, just rest. She doesn't matter anymore."
Amy tasted blood as she bit through her lip, trying to stop herself from howling her pain out loud. It wasn't fair. She took as deep a breath as her wound allowed and slowly and laboriously pulled herself upright by holding onto the banister, struggling to catch her breath as she achieved her goal of standing. It took what felt like forever to move slowly over to the place where the pendant had landed, but she couldn't bear to part with it. It would probably be the only thing she would have to remind her of Mark, and it was infinitely precious because of that. Once she had managed to bend down and pick it up and close her fingers around it, she cast a grief stricken gaze at the people who she loved the most in the world - and who she now thought hated the sight of her. She had to get out of here, had to get away from them all. No-one would care anyway, she thought, and began the slow process of staggering to the door and slipping outside. She was right, no-one saw her go, no-one except Stephanie and she was in too much shock and pain to be able to protest.
Amy looked blearily around the cold landscape, relieved that she couldn't see Tony lurking around out here, but her relief was short-lived. She had taken only a handful of steps when a hand came down on her shoulder.
"Hello, bitch. Told you they wouldn't want you, didn't I?" he growled in her ear and she almost collapsed at the shock of his reappearance. Oddly she didn't feel too much fear anymore, and she realised she was on the verge of giving up. She tried to summon up a spark of fight, but could find none. What Mark and Vince had said to her had killed something fragile inside her, even though they were only reacting to what she had been forced to say. But what they had said had hit home. She didn't matter anymore, Vince had said, and he was right.
She felt Tony's arm slip around her neck and he pulled her backwards, dragging her into the shrubbery surrounding the big house. If he was surprised at her lack of resistance then he didn't show it, he simply moved her to where they were out of sight and then threw her on the ground in the snow, coming down on top of her. From a vast distance she felt his mouth on hers, his hands running up to her breasts and squeezing them through her coat, trying to get a reaction out of her. But she had none to give, she felt dead inside even though, conversely, she was hurting more than she ever had in her entire life.
"Come on you bitch, don't just play dead, give me something back!" Tony whined, roughly parting her legs with one of his and laying squarely down over her. When she still didn't move or react in any way he got frustrated. "Maybe this will help!" He drew back his fist and viciously punched her in the ribs, right where he had stabbed her and she gave a scream of agony as pain surged strongly through her. "That's better, let's try that again!" he said, grinning nastily as he repeated the attack. She actually heard her rib crack, but she couldn't make any more noise as she suddenly found it difficult to breathe and she coughed violently, getting a mouthful of blood. Her fingers closed tighter around the pendant until her nails bit into the palm of her hand, drawing blood. Black dots started to appear at the edges of her vision as she tried to draw air into her lungs and from somewhere far off she heard a voice shouting. She couldn't make out who it was and decided it must be Tony yelling at her, until she saw a familiar face bend down over her looking concerned.
"Amy! Amy, speak to me!" Shane put his hand on the side of her face and waited for her to say something. When it became obvious she wasn't going to he swore and ran off into the house.
He had just driven up to the house with Glenn and Tammy when he heard her scream and had found Tony apparently beating and trying to rape her. Glenn was still having fun pounding him into the ground, but Amy wasn't aware of any of it, still struggling to breathe. Tammy bent down next to her and stroked the hair away from her face, not knowing what to do. Her eyes caught the sheen of moisture on the dark material of Amy's coat and she untied the belt around Amy's waist, trying to move slowly. Her eyes filled with tears of panic when she opened the coat and saw the amount of blood that was pouring out of her friends body, and she called for Glenn.
When Shane got inside the house he couldn't believe the sight that met his eyes, and he ran to his sister's side, seeing if there was anything he could do. "What the hell happened?"
Vince snorted. "The man who was supposedly following Amy happened!"
"What do you mean, supposedly?" Shane enquired, frowning.
"He wasn't following her. They...planned all this together," Vince said, his frown getting deeper. "I still can't believe it."
"What the hell are you talking about? She wouldn't do that, you know that!" Shane said angrily.
"That's what I thought, but she told me herself on the phone."
"No, that can't be right. She's outside right now, I just got that guy off her. She's hurt real bad, Dad," Shane said, unable to conceal his worry. "I have to call an ambulance."
"Don't bother, there's an ambulance on it's way for Steph."
"Dad, you don't understand..."
Vince held a hand up to silence his son, a deep frown appearing between his drawn eyebrows. Something wasn't right about this, something about that phone call. "Her voice wasn't right," he murmured quietly, the frown getting deeper.
"What?" Shane asked, looking confused.
"Her voice...it sounded wrong. There's something wrong about all this, something..."
He was cut off from what he was going to say when Stephanie regained her senses and struggled to tell them what was happening. She managed a groan and tried some slow breathing to try and become more lucid.
"Steph, honey, just be still," Vince said.
She shook her head slightly and her eyes looked to where Sara had regained consciousness and was crying softly against Mark's shoulder. She couldn't let this happen, she had to say something now, before it was too late. "No...no....it was her..."
"We know, it was Amy," Vince said.
"No! It was Sara.....it was Sara....and Tony...."
Sara's head shot up at those words and she sent a venomous glare at Stephanie, hoping that Mark hadn't heard. But his hearing was too sharp and he had caught every word. His arms dropped from her immediately and he shoved her away from him, standing up to glare at her. His frown turned quickly into fear as he thought about where Amy was and what Shane had said.
"They did this....he hurt Amy...he stabbed her, he made her say things....you have to help her..." Stephanie continued, tears flowing down her face as she tried to work through the pain to make them understand.
"Steph, calm down," Vince said, his eyes nevertheless shooting to Shane and Mark as panic bloomed within him. "Call another ambulance!"
Shane quickly complied and was promised that they would be there in no time.
"Where is she?" Mark asked Shane, pulling the smaller man up on his feet and almost shaking him.
"Outside, follow me," he said immediately, rushing from the house with Mark close on his heels. When they reached the place where Shane had found Amy, they saw Glenn bent down giving her mouth to mouth, one big palm resting on her chest and feeling for a heartbeat as he concentrated.
"Oh, God, no," Mark ground out, the hot sting of tears at the back of his eyes. He couldn't believe he had condemned her so easily, even if it had been her who had made him believe it all in the first place. He should have had more faith, should have realised. But all the recriminations in the world weren't going to help now. He kneeled down next to her lifeless form and took her hand, grimacing as he saw the blood soaked shirt she was wearing, the extent of her injury clearly seen.
He watched helplessly as Glenn and Shane worked on her together, only moving when he finally heard sirens. He made it out to the driveway and told them where she was, leading them there and standing back to watch as they took over where the other two men had been.
All three stood and waited, hardly noticing the skill of the paramedics, their eyes on Amy. Shane quickly apprised Glenn of the situation and they discussed what would become of Tony, watching as the police started swarming over the place and dragged a screaming Sara from the house.
Mark wanted to throw himself off the nearest building as he remembered what he had said to Amy, what Vince had said, and also how he had acted. She had hurt him and he had wanted to hurt back. But he hadn't known she had been stabbed when he shook her, and she had given no indication, made no noise, even though it must have been viciously painful. He tried to stop the moisture from creeping into his eyes and failed, having to turn and walk away before the other two saw it.
He listened to the noises behind him as he composed himself, swinging around when the paramedic said the words he had been waiting for. "We've got her," he said, and they quickly put her on the gurney and into the waiting ambulance.
"Aren't you going with her, man?" Glenn asked him, frowning in confusion when Mark backed away from the vehicle.
"I should have been here for her, I shouldn't have just taken her words at face value...I should have..." he broke off and shook his head in self disgust. "I may as well have done this myself."
"Don't be an idiot, Mark, she needs you!" Glenn snapped.
"She won't want me when she wakes up...if she wakes up. I can't face that," he said, struggling with his emotions and then walking quickly away, leaving the other two men staring at him in shock.
"I can't believe he did that," Shane said, shaking his head.
"Me neither," Glenn agreed, then turned back to the ambulance. "I'll go with her, you go and be with Stephanie."
Shane nodded and watched as Glenn hauled himself inside the vehicle and it drove off, the second ambulance roaring up to take it's place seconds later. He lead them inside and they dealt with Stephanie.
