Chapter 126 Who got shot ?

Chapter 126 Who got shot ?
Quin's POV
“Aiden.”
His name tasted bitter in my mouth.
The smile on his face widened just a little, like hearing it pleased him. For a long moment nobody moved. Even Cooper had gone unnaturally still. The puppy stood a few feet behind me, pressed tight against Tyler’s leg, a low growl vibrating from deep in his chest.
Aiden glanced down at him. “ I see you don’t like me too.”
“He has good instincts.”
His smile disappeared.
I wasn’t trying to be brave. I wasn’t trying to provoke him. I was buying time. Because the second I saw the gun, every priority in my head rearranged itself into one single objective.
Keep Tyler alive. Nothing else mattered. Just Tyler.
Aiden’s attention shifted past me. Toward him. Toward the man standing behind me. My chest tightened immediately.
“Hello, Tyler.”
Tyler ignored and didn’t answer.
Aiden sighed. “Still rude as ever.”
“Get out.” My voice came out colder than I expected.
His eyes returned to mine. “No.” The answer was immediate and certain. Like he’d rehearsed it.
“Security will be here any minute.”
Another lie. Maybe. Maybe not. I hadn’t checked. But Aiden didn’t need to know that.
He laughed softly. “You really think I walked into this house without considering your security?”
That wasn’t reassuring. My jaw tightened. “What do you want?”
The question hung between us. For a second something flickered across his face. Something painful. Then it disappeared.
“I wanted to talk.”
I almost laughed. Instead I stared at the gun. “You brought a weapon to talk, is the gun some kind of mouth piece or what?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t listen otherwise.”
The insanity of that statement nearly took my breath away.
Tyler finally spoke. “Aiden.” His voice was calm. I knew that voice. It was the same one he used when he was terrified and refusing to show it. “You need to leave. ”
Aiden looked at him. And for the first time I noticed something strange. There was no hatred there. Just… resentment. The realization unsettled me.
“You don’t understand.”
Tyler blinked. “Understand what?”
Aiden laughed bitterly. “Any of it.” He lowered the gun slightly. Not enough. Still dangerous. But lower. “He took everything from me.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Of course. Of course we were here. Back to this again. His voice sharpened. “You don’t understand half of what it means to have your life ruined by some small brat who thinks he's better than you.” He pointed at me. “ Because he made everything easy for you.”
Tyler’s expression hardened. “That’s not his fault.”
Aiden laughed. “It isn’t?”
“No.”.
Aiden stared at him. Then shook his head. “You always defend him. You forgot I had to take care of you.”
“I still don't see why you're here with a gun.”
The silence that followed felt heavy. Dangerous. I wanted Tyler to stop talking. I wanted him behind me. Far away from this. But I also knew him. Tyler had never been the kind of person who could stay silent when someone was being unfair. Even when the person being unfair had a gun. Especially then.
Aiden looked exhausted suddenly. Like the weight of everything he’d done had finally started catching up to him. “You think I wanted this?”
Tyler’s voice softened. “Then why are you here?”
For a second—just a second—Aiden looked like he might answer honestly. Then his face hardened again. The moment vanished.
“I came for him.”
My stomach dropped. Tyler went completely still.
“So that’s it.”
Aiden nodded. “should there be more or is there something I'm missing?”
Tyler stepped forward. “No.” Aiden frowned. Tyler’s eyes never left his. “You didn’t come here for Quin. You came because you lost.”
Aiden’s expression changed instantly. There it was. The nerve. The wound. Tyler saw it too.
“You couldn’t accept it. You couldn’t accept that you were never qualified to have what he has.”
“Shut up.”
“You could have been honest in your job but you got greedy.” Aiden’s breathing changed. Dangerous. Erratic. “That greed was the beginning of your downfall but you refused to accept it.”
The words landed like a punch.
“Aiden.” I stepped forward. Immediately the gun shifted toward me. I stopped. Every muscle in my body locked. Behind me, Cooper whined softly.
Tyler continued anyway. Because apparently neither of us had any survival instincts. “You need help.”
Aiden laughed. The sound was awful.“You sound just like him. ”
The gun moved back toward Tyler. Every instinct in my body screamed. No. No. Not him. Anyone but him.
“Aiden.” My voice came out sharper. His eyes flicked toward me. Good. Keep looking at me. Keep looking at me. Not Tyler. Me. “What?”
I took another careful step. Then another. Slowly. Deliberately. He noticed immediately.
“Stop.”
I didn’t.
“Quin.” Tyler’s voice sounded strained. I ignored it.
Aiden lifted the gun higher. Directly toward me. “Stop moving.”
I kept walking. Not because I had a plan. Because I didn’t. I just knew one thing. The closer I got, the less distance existed between him and Tyler.
Aiden saw the realization in my face. His eyes widened slightly. “You think you can take it.”
I said nothing. Because he was right. That was exactly what I was thinking.
The gun trembled slightly. The Aiden I know wasn't scared of anything, but right now I could see the slight fear in his eye. And fear meant uncertainty, uncertainty meant mistakes. And mistakes created opportunities.
“Quin.” Tyler again. Closer this time. Too close. I was trying to move away from him but he was coming closer from behind me.
“Aiden.” I held his gaze. “You don’t want this.”
His laugh sounded hollow. “You don’t know what I want.”
“No.” I nodded. “I think I do.”
For a second nobody moved. Then Aiden smiled. And I hated it immediately. Because there was something wrong with it. Something desperate and final.
“You’re right.” The words caught me off guard. “I don’t want this.”
My pulse quickened. The smile widened. “But I don’t have anything else anymore. Thanks to you.”
Oh no. The realization hit me instantly. This wasn’t a man trying to win, this wasn’t a man trying to negotiate. This was a man who had already decided there was nothing left after tonight. Which made him infinitely more dangerous. Because people with nothing left didn’t care what happened next.
“Aiden.”
The gun shifted. Just slightly and I moved.
Everything happened at once. Tyler shouted my name while Cooper barked, sharp and frantic. Aiden cursed under his breath as I lunged.
My hand slammed into his wrist. The impact jarred up my arm, bone against bone. The gun jerked sideways with a metallic scrape. Aiden staggered backward, his shoes sliding on the hardwood. But he didn’t let go and neither did I.
Hot pain exploded through my shoulder as we crashed together. His body was solid and heavy against mine. The smell of his cologne mixed with the sharp, cold scent of metal. Sweat slicked my palms. The gun twisted between us, the barrel hot and unyielding, digging into the soft skin of my forearm. I could feel the ridges of the grip under my fingers, the weight of it, the terrifying reality of the trigger so close to someone’s hand.
Aiden’s face twisted with effort, teeth bared and eyes wild. “LET GO!”
“No!”
The hallway blurred as my heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning out almost everything else. I could hear Tyler shouting something behind me—raw, panicked—but the words didn’t land. I couldn’t focus on anything else, just the gun. Only the gun. Get the gun. Take the gun.
Aiden shoved hard with his free hand. My back slammed into the wall. The impact knocked the air from my lungs in a sharp gasp. Pain flared across my ribs. The weapon slipped in our struggle. For one horrifying second the barrel swung toward Tyler. My blood turned to ice.
“No!”
I grabbed harder, nails biting into Aiden’s wrist. He did the same. The gun shifted again—back and forth, metal scraping against skin, both of us breathing in short, desperate bursts. Neither of us are willing to release it. Neither of us are strong enough to completely take control. Heat radiated from the struggle and sweat dripped into my eyes, stinging. My shoulder screamed. My ribs burned.
Tyler reached us. I saw him from the corner of my eye—too close, far too close—his face pale with eyes wide.
“Tyler, stay back!”
He ignored me. Of course he did.
Fuck!
Aiden’s elbow slammed into my side. Pain exploded through my ribs. My grip loosened for half a second. That was all it took. The gun turned. Aiden’s finger tightened on the trigger. My eyes widened and everything slowed.
The sound came first—a deafening explosion that ripped through the hallway like a physical force, so loud it felt like it punched straight through my skull. My ears rang instantly, a high, piercing scream that swallowed every other noise. A bright flash of light burned across my vision. A scream—someone’s, maybe mine, maybe Tyler’s—cut through the ringing for half a second before the silence swallowed it whole.
The gun slipped from someone’s hand. It hit the floor with a heavy, metallic clatter that seemed to echo forever across the hardwood. Nobody moved. For one endless second I didn’t know who had been shot. And that was somehow worse than knowing. Because Tyler was standing somewhere behind me. And I couldn’t bring myself to look. I couldn’t. I was suddenly terrified of what I’d see.
The sharp, acrid smell of gunpowder filled the hallway, thick and bitter in the back of my throat. My ears still rang. Aiden stared at me, face pale, chest heaving. I stared back. Both of us froze. Then very slowly I turned my head.
And looked toward Tyler.