Over an hour passes and Mulligan is still staring at me from the other side of the room. He’s flipping a pack of cigarettes in his hand, but when he lets himself rest, he resembles an old mannequin. “Please,” I ask him for the tenth time, “leave me to myself.”

“I can’t let you out of my sight,” he says. “Orders.”

I have such a bad feeling about all of this. I don’t trust this man, nor do I trust the kid with him. They look rough, yes, but it’s the eyes that tell the whole story. They’re lying. They’re going to set him up and there’s nothing I can fucking do.

“Well, at least give me a cigarette,” I tell him. “You can come down with me outside and make sure I don’t leave.”

“No can do,” he simply says.

“You afraid you couldn’t catch up with a girl?” I laugh. “Seriously? What am I going to do? Run away?”

“Oh, bloody hell,” he sighs. “If I give you a cigarette, will you give it a rest? I’m tired of hearing you talk.”

“I promise.” I smile. He hands me a cigarette and opens the front door of the room. We both walk down the stairs and I take a breath of fresh air. “It’s been forever since I’ve had a cigarette. I’ve been craving one since I stepped off the plane,” I lie.

“I don’t care much for your life story,” he says. “Just on with it.” He steps in front of me.

What can I do to get out of this? I reach into my pocket for a lighter, but of course, I don’t have one. I feel the blade inside my jacket. It’s the knife I stole from Renata’s house, some hunting knife she didn’t know she had. I look up at Mulligan and take another deep breath. I’ve never done anything like this before.

My hand trembles and there’s a split second where Mulligan opens his mouth and widens his eyes. In that split second, I can see him realize what’s about to happen. I grab onto the knife and I pull it out. Am I violent person? No, I’ve never been violent in my life. But this is my son we’re talking about. I’m not taking any chances with that.

I don’t even feel the pressure as the blade sinks into his leg. He reaches into his own pocket, but he’s left his weapon inside the upstairs room. There’s a look of shock on his face. It’s as if he’s seen a ghost. Only, I’m not a ghost. I’m just a pissed off mother who wants her life back to normal.

“Give me the address,” I tell him, pushing the knife in deeper. I pull it out and stick it into his abdomen. He screams with a wild fury.

He tells me the address, but not before supplementing it with, “You fucking bitch.” I put more pressure onto the blade before pulling it out. As I run toward Hawk’s address, I look back only to find him crawling to the doorway. He’s right. I am a “fucking bitch,” but I’m the fucking bitch who just stabbed you in the gut.

Hawk’s place isn’t far from where we’re at and I worry that Mulligan will somehow fix himself up and follow in behind me. There’s no time for fear, however. When I get to the old wooden door, I carefully look in the window. Spare for the light in the back, there’s no one in the bar area.

I slip inside, feeling my heart slam against my sternum. Then, I hear the screaming. It’s that fear-for-your-life kind of screaming, the torture kind of screaming. I hear three or four young men laughing and yelling unintelligible slurs and an old man calmly reciting what he needs. “No,” I hear someone say. “Please just leave my family alone.” It’s Walker and they’ve got him.

I head toward the noises, hiding my breath as I bounce on my toes. The door in front of me is half-closed. I can just see enough of Walker’s face to know that he’s still alive, but who knows if they’ll keep him breathing in a few hours.

“This is for Aidan,” I keep saying it over and over in my head. I don’t know how it came to this. Darrin and my life before was nothing that I wanted, but this is above and beyond.

Walker looks up at me and he tears up. His face is dripping blood and sweat. His eyes are practically begging for me to leave, but I can’t do that and have a clear conscience. It’s time to finally act. He keeps silent and looks away as I stand behind the bathroom door in the hallway.

“Get me a pint,” the old man says. I’m assuming it’s Hawk, but I can’t be too certain. “Leave us alone for a while. We’re celebrating tonight.”

The men come out, laughing. One of them says, “Hold on, mate, I have to use the loo.”

I quickly duck behind a stall, lock it, and listen as the man’s boots come inside. He starts humming the Manchester football anthem and that humming soon turns to whistling. He hits against my stall, and I hold my breath as he notices it’s locked. I put my feet up as he looks down.

“Hey!” he screams. “Hey Edward!”

“Piss off,” I hear Edward say outside the bathroom.

“One of these here doors are broken!” he screams. “Damn thing won’t open.”

“I said, piss off!” Edward yells.

The man jiggles the stall one more time before sighing and giving up. He walks over to a urinal and uses that instead. For a good two minutes I’m trapped inside this bathroom with him, but when he leaves, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

“One pint for Hawk,” someone says outside the door. I hear footsteps leave again and I’m assuming they’re alone now. I can hear the muffled voice of Walker too, but he’s fading in and out of consciousness and he’s not speaking loud enough.

I quietly open the bathroom door and step out into the dimly lit hallway. I peer to my right. The rest of the guys are sitting around the bar, drinking loudly. They’ve turned a game on and they’re screaming at the TV.

When I’m at Hawk’s door, I position myself so I can see Hawk’s back. I have the bloodied knife in my hand and I’m shaking. No, I’m trembling. I’m a fucking wreck, but I manage to pull myself together.

“I’m going to make sure you and your family will never make it back home again,” Hawk says.

“Aidan,” Walker says. “He needs his mother.”

“Aidan will be taken care of,” he says. “Don’t you worry about that. He’ll have his godfather Hawk around. He’ll do just fine.”

The trembling turns to a rising fury inside me. Before he can even turn around, I’m inside. I hold the knife in front of me and I just stick it forward, while closing my eyes. The blade inches inside his left side and I hear him make an anguished cry, but it’s muffled. I leave the blade in him and untie Walker.

“We have to leave,” I say, tears falling down my eyes. I don’t know what I’ve done. I know it was me holding that knife, but it felt like I was completely absent. Out of nowhere, I start repeating, “I just wanted all of this to go away.”

“Erica,” Walker stops me and kisses my forehead. I collapse into his arms. “You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of. This ends tonight.”

He picks me up in his arms, but not before he grabs a pistol from Hawk. When he leans forward, Hawk whispers, “You were always a son to me. That’s why I had to do it. We were supposed to be in this forever.”

Walker steps onto his stomach and pulls the knife out. Hawk is bleeding so badly that his skin has turned white. “You’re too pathetic to answer to,” he says.

He kicks open the door. In one hand is the pistol. In the other is, well, me. The men inside don’t even see it coming. Walker whispers, “Cover your ears,” and unloads the whole clip on them. Bullets fly, glass shatters, the TV is destroyed, and the men fall to the ground like dominos. Edward is the only one left standing, but barely. He’s got two bullets lodged in his leg.

“Let me go,” he pleads. “I’ll leave you alone. Just let me go.”

“You’re all pathetic. You come after my family again and I’ll destroy you,” Walker clenches his teeth and spits with rage.

“Yes, yes, I swear,” the young man begs, falling to the floor. “Please! Just leave!”

We break out of the bar and I feel relieved, yet shocked by all of the events that occurred tonight. “What’s going to happen?” I ask, as I try to get a grip.

“We’re going to go home,” he says. “We’re going to get married. And we’re going to raise our baby boy.”

I start to cry even harder, but they’re not tears of pain or sorrow. No, they’re tears of joy. Nothing is ordinary right now, but at least I have my man, and the son of my dreams. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.

He dips his head down and our lips meet in a frenzy of passion and pure happiness. For a second, the whole world fades out. It’s only me and him, consumed by our love. When he pulls his lips from mine, I open my eyes and stare at him lovingly. Everything is on its way to being perfect. It’s almost there. All we have to do is get home.

Except, right behind him, clutching his gut, is Mulligan. And he doesn’t look happy.