Emily wanted to reach out and run into her boyfriend's arms, the look in the agent's eyes trying to calm her down. Her breathing was out of control, her eyes dilated and the sweat dripping from every pore in her body. How was she supposed to be calm in this sort of situation? "Aaron," she whispered.

"You want me to blow a bullet through that thick skull of yours?" Johnny screamed. "Shut the fuck up!"

Aaron heard the sirens blare behind him, and he knew the rest of his team had finally arrived.

"Please," the scared brunette pleaded, her lips pouting as her eyes grew red for her copious amount of tears. "Aaron please!"

Johnny pushed the gun in his hand so hard into Emily's head that it flew to the side, blood trickling from her porcelain white skin. "Have you forgotten everything I taught you? Shut the fuck up!"

Amelia held Jack tight to her chest as she watched the scene unfold from the back of the SUV, her eyes filled with tears as she saw her mother try to focus her eyes. Emily had done everything she could to try and protect her and make the world a safe place for her, but it looked like she was going to lose this last battle.

"She ok, Mia?"

Hearing the hiccupped question spoken against her neck, Amelia smoothed down the young boy's sandy hair. "She's going to be ok."

Aaron watched the deranged man wrap his arm around his girlfriend's neck, and he forced himself not to show the fear he felt for the beautiful woman whose face was redder than he could imagine. "Let her go."

"Or what?" the country man chuckled, feeling Emily start to grow heavier in his arms. "What are you going to do, officer? Shoot me?"

The FBI agent felt himself give an evil grin. "It's agent," he corrected. "And yes. I will."

Johnny caressed his ex's white skin with the muzzle of his gun, watching the crimson blood smear across the side of her head. "Still beautiful," the crazed man laughed gently. "You look better with a little color."

"Can I ask you something?"

Johnny looked up and watched another FBI agent step forward, this one with a bulletproof vest strapped to his chest.

Dave nodded to the younger man, knowing Derek and the rest of the team had his gun trained on him just as he did. "Do you have a point?"

"What?"

The award winning author looked Johnny in the eye and gave a small nod of the head. "Is there a point? Coming here, finding the woman you say you love but slap around, and threatening her life before us all. Is there some kind of point to this? Any of this?"

Johnny almost felt bamboozled, his grip on the gun faltering for the quickest second. "She's mine."

"She's not anyone's to have, son. She's her own person."

"She's MY person!" he growled. "She always has been! Emily and Mia are my girls! MINE!"

Dave stepped forward, shoulder to shoulder with the man on his team who had everything to lose in the next thirty seconds. "Do you love them?"

Johnny gave a stupid grin. "What a dumb fucking question! Of course I do! That's why I want them back."

"Look at her face, Johnny. Look at what you're doing to her."

Emily did her best to control her breathing as she grew dizzy, her eyes not knowing where to look. Her hands clung to her ex's arm around her neck, and she felt his face turn to hers, the tip of his nose so close to her cheek that she could feel his breath.

"You will always be mine," the abusive man said, the words grumbling low in his throat.

Aaron watched the younger man step a millimeter to his right, and he was finally out from behind the woman he had fallen for. Without hesitating, his eyes meeting those of the brunette in Johnny's arms, and his finger pressed hard on the trigger.

Emily gasped, her body jolting forward as her ex fell to the floor, and her hand flew up to her head to see how much blood.

"Emily!" The agent shoved his glock into his holster and ran toward the woman he loved. "Emily!"

The chef cried and threw her arms around the older man. "Aaron," she sobbed, her tears melding into Aaron's tanned skin. "I was so scared."

Her whispered words broke his heart, and hearing Amelia screaming to them from the car, he reluctantly let her go. "Go to her."

She kissed him quickly before running off to the SUV, pulling her daughter into a hug tighter than she thought she could hold her. "I'm so sorry," she cried, trying her best to soothe the teen in her arms. "But he's gone now, ok? He's gone, baby."

"Mommy he almost killed you," Amelia croaked.

Pulling back, Emily looked her daughter dead in the eyes. "I would never leave you. Do you hear me?"

"Me, Em'ly?"

The brunette pulled the young boy from the backseat of the car and hugged him to her chest. "I won't leave you either."

"You gonna stay?"

Emily's eyes watered as she felt Aaron's presence behind her, and she let both kids cuddle into her chest as she nodded. "I will," she tried to smile, her heartbeat still racing. "I promise."