It was close … too close. She'd felt it and she braced, fully expecting to feel the searing pain rip through her own body. Instead she felt him move in front of her, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to push himself up in front of her.

"Oh God," she gasped. "Nick. Nick. You …." She could see the spot of dark red beginning to spread on the light blue button down shirt. "Let me see," she demanded.

"Forget about me," he groaned. "It's nothing. I'll be fine. You go." He pointed towards the door, his eyes glancing towards Cameron who paced back and forth in absolute agony. "Go."

The words suddenly resonated, the reality crashing hard down around him again. It had happened again. He had allowed them to break him yet again. No more. His hands gripped the gun tighter as he felt fury rise. "One step and I swear I'll kill you both," he growled.

"Let her go," Nick protested. He gripped his upper arm, where the bullet had hit, with his hand as he winced slightly. "Just let her go. You don't need her. You have me. I'll stay here. I'll do whatever you want me to do. If you want the house, it's yours. I'll sign the deed over right now. Just have the papers messengered over. If it's money you want, give me an amount. I'll have them wire it to your account. Whatever it is …"

"I want you to shut the hell up," Cameron barked.

"He needs help," Phyllis said softly. "You shot him. At least let someone come and make sure he's okay."

"Good God," Cameron huffed. "He's fine. It's his arm and it's just a graze anyway. The bullet's in the mantle." He pointed over towards the now imperfect focal point. "If I'd really been trying to kill him, he'd be dead, believe me." He studied him for a moment, the concerned look on her face making him seethe inside. His eyes moved towards Nick again, his voice dripping with disdain. "You know, while your father was teaching you chess and water polo, mine was taking me hunting and teaching me how to bag and tag animals. If I can track and kill a spooked deer, I can certainly rid the world of the likes of you."

"You do whatever you want to me, but let her go." He felt her hand on his shoulder as the words left his lips.

"Stop it," she whispered. "Don't say that." She took a deep breath before speaking again. "Please Cameron, please. I know you're upset and I know you're angry, but we didn't have anything to do with any of this. Please don't take this out him … on us. We can still help you, even if they don't."

"No." He shook his head immediately. "No one can help me. I'm done with that. There is no helping me. It's all over now. No matter what I do, it's done. I'm finished."

She looked back towards Nick for only a moment. This type of hopelessness didn't bode well for either of them. If he felt there was nothing left to lose, there was absolutely no reason for him to let them out. He came into this intending to live out his last days in this house and if he was now convinced he had nothing left to live for, there was no reason he wouldn't fulfill that promise tonight … with the two of them inside.

"Listen to me." Her voice was more insistent now, the severity of the situation hitting her hard. "You have a right to see your son. Nick … his family, they have tremendous resources. They can help you. They have lawyers that can go to the family court and they can fight on your behalf. Even if your wife wants to keep your son from you, they can help you."

"That's the same bullshit those officers tried to tell me when they wanted me to roll over on the guys at work. Everything I did was just to help myself. They were gonna help me. They were gonna make sure that everything worked out for my good, in my best interest … If I'd followed my instincts then, I wouldn't be here now. I'm not listening anymore. I know this is all a lie. I know everything you people say is just another means of manipulation. You're just trying to save your damn self!"

"You're wasting your breath, Phyllis." Nick leaned against the wall, mindful of Cameron's every move. "He's not gonna listen to you. He's so damn convinced he knows what's best. And clearly, he's the authority on every great idea because he's got himself into such a fantastic situation here, right?"

She widened her eyes as she turned towards him. "Nick," she hissed. "Stop it." The anger on Cameron's face on grew and she felt the pit in her stomach growing as she saw his grip on the gun tighten.

"Why?" Nick continued. "He's gonna kill us anyway. I'm not gonna spend the last few moments of my life coddling some psychopath who doesn't even care about his son enough to fight for him!"

His body was flying in front of her before she could even open her mouth to speak and she heard Nick scream out in pain as Cameron grabbed his arm and threw him back against the wall.

"You shut the hell up about my son. You don't know a damn thing about it. You don't know what it's like to lose your son. You've never had to fight for anything like that in your life."

"You don't know anything about me," Nick retorted, their faces only inches apart. "If you'd take a minute and open your mind for just a second, I could have told you that I've been in family court before. I've had people trying to take my children away from me and you know what … it's never happened. My children are still with me because I have always had the right people on my side and I can make damn sure they're on your side as well. That woman right there …" He pointed to Phyllis. "She's one of your best allies. She'll fight to the death for you if she believes in you and I promise you, if you walk out of here with us tonight, we'll make sure that you see your son. We'll make sure that he knows what you did for him tonight, that you made the right choice, that you did the right thing. And we'll make sure he knows that you did it because you love him and you want to be a great Dad for him."

Phyllis held her breath. The internal struggle was plastered all over his face. The love a father had for his child fought valiantly against the betrayal experienced by a man now too broken to go on.

"What do you say?" Nick asked, his voice slightly hesitant.

Cameron raised the gun towards Phyllis again. "Move," he commanded.