Charlie's POV

'It's okay to talk about how you're feeling you know. That's what I'm here for – to listen,' says the psychiatrist. I look away from him. I don't need to talk to anyone about this. The fewer people that know, the better.

'It must have been quite a shock for you, to find out that you're pregnant but that you've lost the child, all in the same day,' he goes on. A shock is a bit of an understatement. What is the point of sending someone in to talk to me who has absolutely no idea how I'm feeling? I continue ignoring him, turning my head further and further away, unable to think about myself when I know something is happening with Brax.

'...let me help you,' he finishes, and I snap.

'There's someone out there right now, who I love, who could be in real danger because he was trying to help me! And instead of listening to me, and sending people to help him, or letting me go and help him, like I asked, the hospital pumps me full of drugs and sends a shrink in to talk to me about my feelings! You want to help me? Then help him!' I start breathing heavier and heavier, choking almost, and the psychiatrist just sits there.

'It's alright Charlie,' he says, in that fake soothing voice all psychiatrists are trained to use. 'Just calm down.'

But I can't calm down. I can feel myself slipping away from consciousness, and only then does the psychiatrist think to call for help.

Brax's POV

'Get over there,' Hammer says, jabbing his gun into my back.

'Alright, alright,' I say, 'just take it easy.'

'You're pretty calm for someone who's about to die, Braxton. Face the tree.' I do what he says. 'Hands behind your head.'

'You think I'm just going to – '

'Hey, who has the gun here? Hands behind your head!'

'Hey – maybe just take it easy Hammer. We don't want to kill him,' Brodie says.

'Don't we? I thought we were in this together,' Hammer says, as I slowly put my hands behind my head. I can hear the fear in Brodie's voice as he talks back to the psycho-maniac.

'W-we are,' he stutters.

'Why else would you have gotten me involved?'

'Because he couldn't go through with this himself,' I say. 'He couldn't kill me himself – there's too much history there.'

'Zip it Braxton!' Hammer yells.

'Or what? You'll shoot me in cold blood? See coz, I don't think you will.'

'And why would you think that?'

'Because Brodie's not gonna let ya,' I say with confidence. 'He doesn't have it in him.'

'Look, just, shut up Brax, alright! You're not one of the Boys anymore, if anyone doesn't have it in him, it's you!'

'I may not be part of the gang anymore but we are still family. Blood and sand Brodie, that hasn't changed.'

'Blood and sand, blood and sand – enough of this crap,' Hammer says. 'Say goodbye Braxton.'

'Think about it Brodie, this isn't the life you want!'

I hear Hammer go to pull the trigger, but just as I suspected he would, Brodie knocks Hammer's arm down, and I seize the opportunity. Hammer turns the gun on Brodie, and just as he does, I turn around and tackle him to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand. He puts up a fight, and we both start swinging, but the worm is so easy to overpower. Eventually he's unconscious, and I stand up, blood on my fists, turning my attention to Brodie.

'Brax, all I wanted was to teach you a lesson,' he says, 'to show you that you can't just walk away from us, from your so called family, for a cop no less!'

'And now I'm going to walk away again,' I say, advancing on him.

'Look, Brax, I swear – '

'This is not over, Brodie. We may be family but I'm not above kicking your ass for what you've done. And I intend on following through on that. But not just this second.' I bend down and pick up the gun that Hammer lost, before heading over to my crashed car. It breaks my heart to see her in this condition, but I have to push it aside for the other girl I love. I take my own gun from the front seat, and a couple of other things that no one should probably find.

'Did you get here in a car?' I ask Brodie, heading back towards the road.

'Yeah, why?'

'I'm taking it.'

Casey's POV

I hear a knock at the door. Thinking that it might be Ruby coming back from visiting her mum (she's been gone for hours), I get up without considering that the person on the other side might actually be someone I don't want to talk to. How silly of me.

'Casey,' Tegan says, smiling at me. I can never look at her the same way again, knowing what she's done. 'How are you?'

'What are you doing here Tegan?' I ask, as if I don't already know. She knows she's done the wrong thing and she's come to try and make excuses for it. It's the same old story.

'I was wondering if Brax was in. It's really important that I talk to him.' She keeps smiling, like there's really something for her to be smiling about.

'Well he's not here, and even if he was, I seriously doubt he'd want to talk to you. Kill you, maybe, but not talk to you.'

The smile is wiped right from her face. 'I take it you – '

' – know what happened? Yeah. You could say that.'

'Look, Casey, I – '

' – you don't know what I've heard, but you can explain? Yeah, I've heard that before Tegan. You've done some pretty messed up things before, but never anything like this.'

'You think I wanted to get involved in this?' she asks. I prepare myself for her victim act. 'Brodie and Riley forced me into it, okay! They were going to hurt Darcy if I didn't.'

'Oh come off it Tegan, we all know you hate Charlie because Brax chose her over you. But you really need to get over it and move on.'

'You're right, I do hate that grass-cutting cop, but please believe me when I say I didn't hurt her, and that I wouldn't have done anything to her if I had had any other choice.'

'You're unbelievable Tegan. Get out of here, or I might just call Brax. He won't let you walk away from this so easily.'

Tegan smiles out of the corner of her mouth. 'He already did.' She turns and walks away, and just as I am about to close the door on her, I hear another set of footsteps coming towards the door. It's Ruby.

'Hey, what was Tegan doing here?' she asks me.

'No idea,' I say, stepping out of the way of the door so Ruby can come inside. 'How was your mum?'

'She was awful, Casey,' Ruby says, and I can tell she is upset.

'What happened?' I ask.

'She told me the truth about what happened to her yesterday,' she says, which takes me by surprise. 'She wasn't really hit by a car – somebody kidnapped her Casey!' Forget upset, Ruby is distraught. 'And apparently they beat her around so badly that – ' She struggles to get the words out, so I put my arms around her, comfortingly.

'What?' I ask.

Ruby takes a step back from me and looks me in the eye. 'She was pregnant, Case. With Brax's baby. But because of what happened...it died...' I pull her back closer to me and hold her tight. 'I could have had a little brother or sister...' she sobs. 'So could have you...'

Brax had skipped that little detail in his conversation with Heath and I this morning. I knew Brax wanted to kill Brodie and Riley, and Tegan as well, for what they'd done to Charlie, but I had no idea how much he really must have wanted to. Even I wanted to kill them now.

'I swear...' Ruby says, walking back out of my hug again. '...if I ever find out who did this...'

It would be so easy to just tell her. She already pretty much knows everything anyway...what harm could it do?

'Casey...' Ruby says, as if reading my mind. 'I know that look...' She steps back completely away from me now. 'You know something, don't you.'

'No.'

'Don't lie to me. Was it one of Jake's guys?'

'I don't know what – '

'Please Casey! This is my mum you're talking about, our lost little sibling! How can you stand there and lie to me?'

I sigh. What damage could telling her the truth really do?

'It wasn't one of Jake's guys...' I say. 'It was more of...an inside job.'

'An inside job? As in...'

'Two of the River Boys, Brodie and Riley, kidnapped her...and Tegan helped.'

Ruby has a look of pure shock on her face. 'What? Why? How?'

'Look, I don't know, alright, Brax didn't tell me much – '

' – Brax knows?'

'Yes, he knows, and he went out to do something about it, but he wouldn't tell me what.'

'Oh my God, Casey! How could you have kept this from me?'

'What good would telling you have done? It would have only made you worry more!'

'Well now we can tell the police, because I assume you haven't!'

'Wait – Ruby, you can't...'

'Like hell I can't! Casey, they kidnapped my mother, a police officer! We can't just leave this in your brother's hands!' Ruby is already heading out the door, obviously for the police station. And now I see just how much damage telling her the truth could have done.