Ransom 14

It took a good few seconds for Aaron's words to sink in, and when they did Robert reached out and gently gripped Aaron's forearms pulling him closer. "I'm not letting you do this. I'm not letting you push me away..."

"I'm not. I'm trying to save us both from more hurt."

"You're not thinking straight..."

"But I am." Aaron protested, he knew what he was doing. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how heartsick he was he knew he had to end their relationship and for good this time.

"You love me and you need me." Aaron was going to need his love and support even more when he found out about his father. Robert desperately wanted to be there for him, and help him through the difficult days that lay ahead.

"But it's not enough. How can it be? Look what I did. I could have killed you... I wanted to at the time. It's not a healthy relationship Robert, it never has been. We've hurt each other, physically and emotionally, other people have been hurt because of us. I'm putting a stop to all that now before it's too late."

"No it wasn't healthy, not in the beginning, but it is now. We turned things around and we've got something good now." Robert believed that with all his heart.

Aaron had thought they had too but this last twenty fours hours had shaken that belief. "No..."

"You're running scared now and I can understand that. You're panicking because of what happened, you feel guilty because of what you did. You just need to stop, take a step back and think it all through. Once you have you'll see you're wrong about us, about what we have. Aaron this is something that should bring us closer not force us apart. But ... well I don't think this is the time or the place to talk about this. We have to get out of here, we need to get you home." Robert wanted to get Aaron to a place that held happy memories, to where he felt safe, he desperately needed that sense of security right now.

Aaron was determined that Robert would hear him out, that he understand his reasoning, maybe then he would accept his decision. "We hurt Chrissie, and this is her getting back at us. Actions have consequences, it's a ripple effect and it's just going to go on and on unless we walk away from each other."

"No! This is not about Chrissie, this is about you. It's about you not trusting me. I've given you plenty of reason not to I know, but this runs much deeper than that and it's something you need to accept and deal with. It's not just me you don't trust you have trouble trusting anyone..."

"That's not true."

"But is is. It took Paddy a long time to earn your trust, your mum had to work hard to regain it. But if someone was to plant a seed of doubt in your mind about either one of them, your faith in them would falter. "

"No!" Aaron was appalled by Robert's claim. Paddy and his mum were the two people he trusted most in the world.

"You'll never be able to trust anyone completely. That mistrust goes back a long way. Your mother walking out on you was the start of it but it's what Gordon did to you that destroyed your trust in people. It's that deep rooted mistrust that's coming between us now, don't let it Aaron, don't let that bastard..." Robert's attention was suddenly drawn to the window, out of the corner of his eye he'd seen movement, and he realised that there was someone outside. "Did you lock the door?"

"What?" Robert's words had been making painful sense but his sudden change in direction had thrown Aaron, "No... yes, I think I did. Why?" He couldn't remember for sure, his head had been all over the place at the time. He'd carried an unconscious Robert in from the car and then waited impatiently for him to come to, he couldn't remember doing anything more than that.

Robert hurried over to the door to check and found it locked. Still a deep sense of unease gripped him, something told him they were in danger.

"What is it?" Aaron was perplexed by Robert's actions.

"How did you get away from Shields?" Robert demanded a sense of urgency in his voice.

"I... " Aaron held up his hand to show Robert the handcuff, "I worked it loose. The door was unlocked... and the shutter..."

"Unlocked!" Shields didn't make such careless mistakes. "It sounds like you got away easy enough. Like you were meant to escape?" Alarm bells were now going off in Robert's head. Why hadn't he thought to ask these questions before?

"I don't know..." It had been too easy, he'd thought that himself at the time, "Yeah I think..." Aaron glanced anxiously at the door, he was starting to realise why Robert was asking him such questions.

"I think you were meant to get out... and then come after me!" It was Shields' job to convince Aaron of his treachery, to make Aaron hate him and he'd almost succeeded.

"I was coming after you, but then you showed up... but I don't suppose they expected you to find me?"

"No, that wouldn't have been part of their plan. Shields had to have been watching you..."

"And you think that tosser followed me here?" Aaron was horrified, his thirst for revenge had put them in more danger.

"There's definitely someone out there. I saw someone by the window. It could be Shields... I think it probably is." Another thought hit Robert, "Where's the car?"

"Round the back, out of sight." Aaron's blood ran cold as he suddenly remembered his earlier actions. "Robert I got in the back way, I forced the door... it's not locked."

Robert turned on his heels and hurtled through the lodge to its rear entrance, Aaron right behind him. Although Aaron had forced the door open, the lock appeared undamaged and Robert secured it with a sigh of relief. For now they were safe, but they had to get out of there and quick.

Turning to face Aaron, Robert said, "Where's the car keys?" If they could reach the car they could get away.

Aaron didn't know for sure, he hurriedly checked his overall pockets then shook his head in dismay, "They must be in the car."

"They were!"

The disembodied voice had both Aaron and Robert turn in its direction, both men horrified on realising that Shields was actually in the Lodge. He stood smirk on his face, car keys in one hand, a hand gun in the other. The cold steal was pointing in Robert's direction.

Aaron silently blasted his stupidity. If he'd remembered about the door sooner the bastard wouldn't have got in. They wouldn't be back in his control.

"It's over Shields." Robert spat his voice thick with loathing.

Shields laughed and shook his head, "Not yet it isn't."

"I know whose behind this. I know Chrissie hired you. Trot on back to that twisted bitch and tell her that her sick plan didn't work out.

"The plan just needs a little tweaking here and there. The end result will be the same, you dead and ..."

"No!" Aaron countered angrily. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Robert.

Shields' attention turned to Aaron, "Aww, did you two make up? Did you forgive him..."

"There's nothing to forgive!" Aaron snarled, eager to push home the fact that Shields' mind games had ultimately failed.

Shields gaze moved back to Robert, "So he doesn't know about our last bit of business?"

Robert cringed inwardly, Shields had obviously planned to tell Aaron about it, he had to have been saving that piece of information, keeping his Ace card up his sleeve and waiting for the right moment to bring it into play. He couldn't let that happen. In desperation Robert said, "Shields. Whatever Chrissie is paying you I'll match it, double it. Just let us go. Just..."

"See how scared he is about you finding out what he paid me to do."

"I'm not interested." Aaron snapped, he truly wasn't. All he wanted was for them to get out of this nightmare safely.

"Not even if it concerns your mother?"

"What?" Aaron eyed Robert incredulously and waited for him to rubbish Shields' claim. He'd been certain he would but Robert was strangely quiet, and as yet hadn't looked him in the eye. Aaron's heart started to beat faster, his mouth became miserably dry, he was suddenly scared of what he might hear. Still he had to know what Shields was referring to, how his mum was involved, "Robert?"

TBC