A Dangerous Widow (Dangerous #1)

by Christina Ross

  “I’d love to see you both.”

  “Then consider it done. Let me pick up Jennifer, and we’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

  “Thank you, love.”

  “See you in twenty, doll.”

  * * *

  After finishing my second cup of coffee, I went upstairs to give Ben my phone. “Laura is picking up Jennifer,” I told him. “They’re on their way over.”

  “Good,” he said. “You need them now—especially Laura. Spend some time with them—but not too long. We need to consider next steps.”

  “Laura already knows that. She told me that they wouldn’t be long.”

  “Call me if you need me.”

  I wrapped my arms around his bare chest. “I will. But don’t come downstairs looking like that. Because if you do, the girls might need a drink.”

  “Very funny,” he said. “Listen, when the intercom goes off, I want to make sure that it’s just Laura and Jennifer, OK?”

  “I understand.”

  “Call me when they arrive.”

  * * *

  When the intercom rang, I felt a thrill. After last night, I needed a moment with my girlfriends—especially with Laura and Jennifer. Before I answered it, I called out to Ben, who hurried down the stairs and joined me in the foyer.

  “Answer it,” he said.

  I pressed the button. “Yes?” I said.

  “A Laura Sanders and a Jennifer Wenn to see you, Mrs. Stone.”

  “We’re here!” I heard Laura say, which was enough to make me smile.

  “We are!” Jennifer said in the distance.

  “Is anyone else with them, Christian?” I asked.

  “No, Mrs. Stone.”

  “Then please send them up.”

  Satisfied, Ben gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Enjoy them,” he said. “And talk with them. I know that you need them right now. I’ll be in your office. Call me if you need me.”

  I was so excited to see my girls, I waited by the door after Ben left until the knock came. With one quick look into the peephole, I saw Laura standing just beyond it. I flicked the locks and flung open the door.

  And that’s when everything went wrong.

  A woman suddenly appeared at Laura’s side who wasn’t Jennifer at all—it was somebody else. Somebody of Asian/Caucasian descent with long black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. She was wearing a black jacket, from which she removed a gun with a silencer fitted to it. She pointed it at Laura’s head, raised her eyebrows at me, and then led Laura inside as she shut the door behind them.

  “Scream or talk above a whisper, and I’ll kill her,” she said.

  I was so stunned by what was happening, my mind raced.

  “You’re ‘W’…” I said.

  “What a brilliant observation, Kate.”

  “Kate, I’m sorry!” Laura said in a shrill voice. “She jumped me when I left my apartment. She’s been waiting to do this—”

  “Shut up,” ‘W’ hissed into her ear. “Not another word or I’ll kill you.”

  When she said that, Laura looked at me with wide, terrified eyes. She’d just been so loud, I had to wonder if Ben had heard her.

  “Where is he?” ‘W’ said to me.

  “Where is who?”

  “Here’s the deal, girl. You’ve got two choices, because this ends here. If you cooperate with me, all of you can die quickly and easily. If you make this difficult for me, then I’ll make sure that all of you suffer for it. You already know I’m talking about Ben. So, where is he? The living room?”

  “If he was, don’t you think he already would have intervened?”

  “Not necessarily. He could be waiting me out. Where is he?”

  Try to buy time…

  “He isn’t here.”

  “The hell he isn’t.”

  As rattled as I was, I forced myself to keep my composure. Otherwise—if I made a misstep—all of this could shatter in an instant.

  “It’s the truth,” I said. “If you want, you can search the apartment for yourself. After last night, neither of us had the energy to make lunch, so he went to Pret a Manger fifteen minutes ago to get us a couple of sandwiches. It’s just a block from here. He should be back soon.”

  “Bullshit,” she said.

  “It’s not bullshit.”

  Outwit her. Even if Ben didn’t hear Laura raise her voice, he’s going to start questioning why he can’t hear me talking with Laura and Jennifer.

  “What do you want from me?” I asked.

  “Here’s what I want,” she said in a taunting voice. “I want you to call out to Ben. I want you to tell him that the lock on the door is jammed and that you can’t open it to let your friends inside.”

  I felt a bracing chill overcome me when she said that. Because if I did what she asked, Ben would realize why he couldn’t hear us. I wouldn’t just be setting him up—I’d be leading him straight into this woman’s trap.

  And by the hard look on her face, she knew it.

  “Do it,” she said.

  Had he heard Laura…?

  “Do it now, Kate, or I kill your friend in front of you. It’s your choice.”

  “He’s not here.”

  “Then why are you hesitating, Kate? If that’s the case, call out his name and ask him to help you with the door.”

  I was cornered. But what choice did I have? All I had was the hope that Ben had heard Laura earlier.

  “Ben!” I called out. “Can you help me? The lock on the door is jammed and I can’t open it!”

  The silence that stretched at that moment was so intense, I expected it to snap. But when he didn’t reply to me, a crashing sense of relief overcame me. It told me everything I needed to know—Ben had heard Laura. Already, he’s on to this and likely figuring out how to handle the situation.

  “I told you,” I said to her. “He isn’t here.”

  She nodded her head at Laura. “Either that, or he heard this one a moment ago and is just biding his time.”

  “Look,” I said to her. “You came here to kill me, not Laura. Not Ben. Before Ben comes home, take my life. Isn’t that what you’ve been paid to do? Leave Ben and Laura out of this.”

  She nodded at Laura. “It’s already a bit too late for this one.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s seen my face.”

  “She’ll forget it.”

  “No, she won’t.”

  “She can.”

  “But she won’t.”

  “Ben hasn’t seen it.”

  “I’ll give you that. But imagine if I did kill him, Kate. I shoved Michael down a set of stairs and broke his neck. How I wish you could have seen it, because it was something to behold. But what should I do to Ben?”

  “You’re sick.”

  “And you’re about to get a bullet in the face. Just so you know, Kate, the ‘W’ I signed that card with stands for Widow, because—believe me—I’ve created my share of them over the years. People call me the Widow for a reason.”

  “How proud your parents must be.”

  “Don’t fuck with me, girl.”

  “You also killed Lydia?”

  “I did.”

  “How?”

  “I poisoned her.”

  “So, it’s true. Bill Witherhouse is behind this.”

  She furrowed her brow when I said that and then just shook her head at me.

  “Bill Witherhouse?” she said. “He has no connection to this.”

  “You’re saying that he’s innocent?”

  “I am.”

  “But Lydia died in his home.”

  “She might have died in his home, but that doesn’t mean that she was poisoned at his home. Lydia had other clients. On the day of her death, she was poisoned at another person’s home just before she left to clean the Witherhouses’ mansion.” She made a clucking sound. “Poor Bill and Maxine,” she said. “Questioned for something neither of them is responsible for…”

  “Then who is
responsible?”

  “I bet you’d love to know that…”

  “If you’re going to kill me, what’s the harm in telling me?”

  “Actually, I’ve been instructed to tell you, because the person behind all of this wants you to go to your grave knowing who killed Michael, Lydia, and soon you, Laura, and Ben. It’s Mark Dodd.”

  I couldn’t believe it.

  “Mark Dodd?” I said.

  “Yes—the man your husband screwed to the wall and left there to hemorrhage.”

  Where is Ben? Buy time…

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Dodd didn’t lose a dime on that deal.”

  “You and I both know better, Kate. Mark and his team of investors were planning on taking StoneTech public. Because Michael denied him of that, Mark lost billions on that deal. He was so furious, he wanted Michael dead for his betrayal, and so I was hired to kill him. Since Lydia witnessed his death, I had to threaten her for six months so she’d keep her mouth shut. And I have to give it to her—Lydia followed through, likely because I told her that I’d kill her husband and children if she said anything. But since she always would have been a threat to us, she was targeted for death. We waited several months and made sure it looked like she died of natural causes so that it wouldn’t look suspicious. Then, with her gone, Mark and I were free.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And then you stupidly, publicly decided to second-guess Michael’s death, which Mark and I couldn’t have—and that’s the reason why you’ll die today.”

  “Jesus,” Laura said.

  The Widow pressed the gun harder against Laura’s temple and looked at her. “It is complicated, isn’t it, dear?”

  Laura didn’t respond.

  “I’m sorry, Laura,” I said. “I had no idea that it would come to this. If Ben had been here, he would have protected us.”

  “Shut up,” the Widow said. “We finish this now.”

  She shoved Laura toward me and trained her gun on us.

  “Move forward,” she said. “Out of the foyer—away from the door. My gun is fitted with a silencer, but that doesn’t mean that someone won’t hear it when it goes off and then question it. So, move deeper into the apartment. And Ben?” she called out. “If you are here and even dare to make a move, know that I will kill each of them in front of you before I kill you.”

  As we moved out of the foyer and into the living area, the intercom buzzed.

  My lips parted as I turned to face the Widow and two scenarios struck me—either I had a legitimate visitor, or Ben had called down to the doormen from my office and had told them that there was a situation unfolding in my apartment.

  “It’s him,” I said, hoping that was the case. “I told you he was out.”

  “If it is him, then your boyfriend has shit timing, because now he’s about to die.” She nodded toward the foyer. “Answer the intercom, but hear me on this, Kate. If you say one word about this, I’ll kill you and Laura right now, I’ll kill Ben when he arrives, and then I’ll find my way out of here. Trust me on that. Now, answer.”

  With my heart pounding against my chest and my body thrumming with a fistful of nerves, the three of us walked back into the foyer.

  Please let this be Ben…

  “Yes?” I said when I pressed the button.

  “A Mr. Benjamin Cade to see you, Mrs. Stone.”

  Thank God…

  “Please send him up.”

  “Does he have a key?” the Widow asked.

  “He doesn’t,” I said, wondering where Ben was. Was he coming down the stairs? Was he moving closer to us? He must be, but where was he? I knew that he was using this distraction so he could make his move, but since I didn’t know what he had in mind, I didn’t know how to manipulate the moment to help him. The only thing I could think to do was to keep the Widow’s focus on the front door.

  But then the Widow changed all of that.

  “Stay by the door,” she said to me. “Laura, back up with me—right to the edge of the foyer. Kate, when he knocks, swing the door open wide so he sees my gun and me first. If you don’t, I’ll make certain that Laura’s death is particularly painful. Once I order Ben to step inside, shut the door behind him and lock it. He’s going down first.”

  “Please don’t do this,” I said. “I don’t know what Mark Dodd is paying you, but I have the means to pay you so much more.”

  She lifted her chin at me when I said that, and her emerald-green eyes flashed at me. “How much more?” she asked.

  “Name your price.”

  “A billion sounds good to me—not that I’d ever take it, Kate. You’ve seen my face. So has your friend. And I can’t have that kind of threat lingering over my head. Besides, I have plenty of money—more than you could imagine—and my life is worth a hell of a lot more than your billions.”

  At that moment, a shadow stretched across her face. And when it did, I knew that everything was about to change. The Widow reacted to it with a flinch—and then started to turn.

  Time slowed.

  Seconds turned into minutes.

  The Widow swung around and got off a shot just as Ben’s gun went off. A bullet tore into her shoulder, she cried out in pain—and then her gun sprung free from her hand and fell to the ground just as I heard what had to be Ben hitting the floor somewhere in the living area.

  I needed to get to him. And so, before the Widow could recover, I punched her so hard in the nose, I heard it break. She staggered backward from the blow and nearly tripped. As quickly as I could, I scooped up her gun and pointed it at her face.

  Her nose was bent to the right, and she was bleeding profusely from it. Her eyes were alive with rage, calculation, and hatred.

  “Laura, help Ben!” I said. “Move!”

  Laura rushed past both of us and ran down the hallway.

  “Is he alive?” I asked while keeping the gun trained on the Widow.

  “He’s unconscious. Still breathing, but he’s bleeding heavily. He’s been shot in the chest, Kate. He needs help now.”

  “Get something to stop the bleeding! Call 911!”

  “Oh, look, Kate,” the Widow said tauntingly to me. “Your man is about to die.”

  “The hell he is.”

  She wiped the back of her hand beneath her nose, looked at the blood smeared across it, and then flung it off as she smiled at me. “I just took another one away from you. First Michael, now Ben. Tell me how it feels…”

  I pointed the gun at her forehead. “This is for Michael,” I said. “But it won’t be for Ben—you won’t take them both away from me.”

  “But haven’t I?”

  “You haven’t. So, fuck you, bitch. You’re going to hell.”

  Before I could press the trigger, she jolted forward, dived onto the floor, and started to spin toward me as if she were some sort of bowling pin gone mad.

  Startled, I fired the gun at her—and missed. She was crossing the distance between us so quickly, I could barely keep her in my sights. I aimed at the thickest part of her body and fired the gun again.

  Tried to fire the gun again.

  For some reason, I couldn’t pull the trigger—the gun was jammed.

  Stunned, I looked at her just as she leapt to her feet and bolted toward me. She was about to tackle me when I reared back and hurled the gun as hard as I could against her face.

  I heard bones break when the gun slammed against her cheek. The Widow wheeled backward from the blow. Her hip connected with a side table, and suddenly she was sent off balance. I saw my moment and lunged at her, threw myself on top of her, and seized her throat in my hands as each of us landed hard onto the floor.

  When I fell on top of her, she coughed up a fresh rush of blood into my face and eyes. And then she fought. She writhed beneath me, clawed at my arms with her fingernails, and tried to strike my face with her fists. But despite it all, I’d found my grip on her throat, and I started to squeeze it with everything I had within me.

  With her life on t
he line, I felt the Widow’s adrenaline surge as she became a bucking, heaving force of nature thrashing against me.

  “Die!” I screamed at her.

  As blood poured from her nose and onto her neck, it became increasingly difficult to maintain my grip on her. My hands were slipping, and from the look in her eyes, the Widow knew it.

  Hold on to her, I thought. Squeeze!

  In an effort to contain her, I straddled my legs against her and clamped her body between them in a vice grip. She continued to thrash beneath me. She kicked out her feet, and beat my body with her fists, but as she did so, her eyes started to bulge in their sockets and her face started to turn a bright, fiery red.

  Knowing that death was upon her, I bore my thumbs even harder against her throat, and as I did so—as I pressed the life out of her—all I could see was Michael. Mark Dodd might have hired this bitch, but she was his murderer. She’s the one who took him from me—and perhaps she’d taken Ben, too. And with that knowledge fueling me, I lifted her head up toward me, spit in her face, and then slammed her head down so hard against the marble floor that her eyes quickly became dilated pools of black. A clotted gasp escaped her lips, her body relaxed beneath mine, her jaw hung slack—and with a sense of certainty, I knew that the Widow was dead.

  But what about Ben?

  I turned to look at Laura, who was kneeling in a pool of his blood and crying so hard, she was heaving. My skin went cold at the sight—Ben was just lying there, on his stomach, unmoving. As I pushed myself off the Widow and stood, Laura lifted her ruined face to mine and said, “I’m so sorry, Kate.”

  And then the world twisted in on itself—and everything went dark.

  EPILOGUE

  One Month Later

  When I woke, it was with a start.

  I’d just seen the Widow running toward me again—her teeth bared, her eyes wild with rage, and blood spooling from her nose in impossibly thick rivers of red as she leaped into the air and tackled me.

  It was the same recurring nightmare I’d been having ever since I’d killed her.