Courtney laughs, and a maniacal glint illuminates her eyes. She’s totally insane. “Come now, darling brother of mine. Don’t even pretend like you have any power in this situation. You will do as I say or I’ll kill her right now.” She moves her finger on the trigger, and panic floods my veins.
“Don’t!” I push the barrel of my gun in Courtney’s forehead. “Let her go and take me. I’m the one Addison wants after all.”
“That ship has sailed,” Courtney smirks, flicking her eyes to the floor.
My heart almost arrests at the sight of Addison, face down on the ground, with blood pooling underneath her from an obvious bullet wound in her back. “You shot your own sister?”
Courtney shrugs, as if it’s commonplace to murder your own flesh and blood. “She failed me. She was trying to help this little bitch escape.” She tightens the hand around Faye’s neck, and a strangled plea rips from Faye’s mouth. Blood lust thrums through my veins, and it’s taking considerable willpower not to lunge for Courtney and throw my girl free. But I can’t risk it. The gun is prodding Faye’s skull, and I can’t risk Courtney pulling the trigger. Dammit.
Brad growls beside me in shared frustration. Faye’s terror-filled eyes meet mine, and the truth of Courtney’s statement rings true in her gaze.
“Here’s how this is going to go down,” Courtney says. “You will both drop your weapons on the floor and move into the middle of the room.”
Brad and I exchange impassive expressions, but we know each other well enough to read the meaning behind the cool exterior. We have no choice but to do as she says and wait for an opportunity to gain the upper hand.
The click of the gun is like a knife straight through my heart. I whip my gaze to Faye’s, watching her visibly gulp as alarm skitters over her face.
“I wasn’t asking,” Courtney snaps. “Do it. Now.” I place my gun on the ground as Brad drops the baseball bat. It hits the floor with a loud thud. Courtney kicks both weapons off to the side, maneuvering herself and Faye to the left of the door and ushering us forward. Stepping over the inert body of my ex wasn’t on my list of things to do to Addison. No matter what she did, she didn’t deserve to die like this.
Courtney backs us up against two chairs occupying the middle of the floor. She drags them beside one another and shoves me down into one. “Tie his hands behind his back,” she commands Brad. “The rope is on the table.” She forces Faye to her knees in front of me, prodding the gun into the back of her head. “Don’t try anything. Either of you. Or I’ll put a bullet through her skull.”
Faye pants, sucking in fretful breaths.
“It’s okay, baby.” I try to keep my voice and my expression calm. She needs to believe we have this under control, even though that’s the opposite of the truth.
“Did I say you could fucking speak?!” Courtney shrills, narrowing her eyes at me. “It’s okay, baby.” Her voice mimics mine, but I refuse to rise to the bait, locking eyes with Faye instead of looking at the psycho lording it over all of us.
She grips Faye’s chin with force, keeping the gun at the back of her head. Her nails dig into Faye’s skin, drawing blood.
“Leave her alone.” The threat bubbles out of my mouth in a low, dark tone of voice. “I’m going to fucking kill you, Courtney. And I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”
She chuckles, and I surge to my feet, ready to pounce, but Brad steps in between us, cautioning me with his eyes.
“Agghh,” Faye cries out and blood turns to ice in my veins. Brad is blocking my view so I don’t know what’s happened. He steps aside, and my chest tightens. It goes against all my instincts not to rush to Faye’s side, but I can’t push Courtney too far, or it could end in disaster. Faye is hunched over on the ground, clutching her stomach and whimpering. Courtney is hovering over her, pointing the gun at her body.
“Try anything like that again, and I’ll kill her stone dead. I’m only keeping her alive at this point to torture you into submission. So, please, be my guest, keep pulling shit like that so I can take it out on her.”
I slump back in the seat, utterly dejected. All I’m doing is making things worse for Faye. I move my hands behind the back of the chair as Brad loosely ties the rope around my wrists.
“Not so fast, Brad,” Courtney demands, dragging Faye up by the hair. Tears are rolling down Faye’s face, but she doesn’t cry out or say anything. Courtney pulls her around behind my chair, and laughs. “Yeah, thought you might try that. Tie that rope tight. Until I see his flesh turning red with the strain.”
Brad reluctantly complies, and there’s no way I’m getting out of this chair anytime soon. I’m starting to get really worried, and I’m struggling to see how we’re all going to get out of this alive. I can only hope that whoever Kev called is on their way and they get here in time.
“I do hope Mommy and Daddy are on their way here, Kyler. I’d hate them to miss the grand finale,” Courtney says, nudging Brad into the chair beside me.
“I hate to disappoint you, but no one knows we’re here,” I lie, wanting to lull her into a false sense of security.
“Nice try, Kyler, but I’m not buying it. Besides, by now they will know something is wrong even if you didn’t tell them. Why do you think I kept Faye’s cell on?”
Shit. Of course, Courtney would know that all our cells have tracking apps. I should’ve known. I was the one who called Courtney after Faye’s cell broke her first day here. I was the one who asked Courtney to get a new one for her. I feel sick as realization dawns. “This was a trap.”
“Now you’re getting it.” She pushes Faye on the ground behind Brad’s chair. “Tie him up.” She throws back her head, cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West, laughing at some joke we’re not privy to. “I’ll bet under different circumstances you’d love the sound of that, Brad, or have you gotten over your little crush?”
“Fuck you, Courtney.”
Keeping the gun pointed at Faye, she kneels down beside him and smooths a hand over the front of his jeans. I puke a little in my mouth. “You know I’d be so down for that. I’ve always thought you were hot, and when I saw the tape Addy made of you two, I must admit I was jealous.” She moans, and my gag reflex kicks in. “Who knew committing murder could be such a turn on?” Licking her lips, she continues to stroke him, noticing the growing tent situation the same time I do. “I do believe you’re turned on too,” she whispers, her eyes filling with lust and I’m wondering if we might use this new development to our advantage.
“I’d rather fuck a dead dog. This is a pure physiological reaction, that’s all,” Brad responds automatically. “You gross me out.”
Faye is fumbling with the binds on his hands, and I shoot her a knowing look over my shoulder. But Courtney isn’t as oblivious as she’d like us to think. Yanking her hand from Brad’s crotch, she grips Faye by the shoulder. “Tie it tighter, bitch.”
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” I grit out, thrashing about on the chair. I shoot her my most venomous look.
“Pipe down, little bro. I was beginning to doubt the same DNA flowed through our veins, but you’re just like him, aren’t you? I’ve seen the same anger, the same aggression, the same disregard for women in you.”
Her earlier comments return to me now, and I think I’m going to be sick as I join the last few dots. It’s obvious Courtney was calling the shots, which means she killed my dad. Ignoring the bait, I focus on the other reality. “Doug was your father too? That’s why you killed him?”
She drags Faye around so they’re both facing us. Forcing Faye to her knees again, she wraps her hand around her neck at the front, and sticks the gun in the back of her skull again. “Please,” she laughs. “That man was on borrowed time, and just because he was there when I was created gives him no right to call himself my father. I did us all a favor.” An evil glint appears in her eye. “I followed you all the
way from Wellesley, and I waited outside while you were in his house. After you left, I knocked on Doug’s door. I hadn’t intended to kill him. I was hoping to blackmail him into helping with my plan, but before I could tell him that, before I could tell him who I was, do you know what he did?”
Anger blazes in her eyes.
“He put his hand up my skirt! He felt up his own daughter! Told me I was beautiful and he would fuck me so hard I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week. I knew right then that pig had to die. The idea to plant the gun in your room came later. It was genius.”
She sends me a gloating look, pausing momentarily as if she’s expecting a pat on the back or a gold medal.
“If I didn’t hate your mother, I might actually feel sorry for her. Framing you for his murder was the cherry on top of my revenge pie.” She glances briefly over her shoulder. “I can’t wait until Alex gets here. Until she understands that she’s lost. That I win. That I always win.”
Brad urges me to keep her talking with his eyes. I sense the subtle movement behind me as he quietly works to free his hands. Diverting Courtney with talk of Doug Grant worked. She was too distracted to notice Faye hadn’t tied the binds as tight as she instructed. “Why exactly do you hate my mom so much?”
“She ruined my life, and I’ve made it my life’s mission to make her pay for that.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, although I have an inkling where this is going.
She kneels on the ground behind Faye, keeping her hand secured firmly around her neck. I want to rip her insides out with a pitchfork. “Doug Grant got my mother pregnant when she was fifteen. He swore faithfully that he loved her and that he would stand by her if she promised never to reveal who fathered her child. His motocross career was only starting to take off, and a scandal like that would have finished him. He would’ve gone to jail for sleeping with a minor. My grandmother intervened, forcing Wendy to give me up for adoption when she refused to put the father’s name on my birth cert. By then, Doug was making a name for himself on the motocross circuit and he was away a lot. They grieved for me and made plans to get me back.”
She shakes her head, and unadulterated anger flickers across her face. “He filled her head with a load of crap that she fell for. When she was twenty, he set her up in the trailer park and promised her he’d make an honest woman of her. Promised he would find me and we would be a family. He strung her along for a few more years, making empty promises he had no intention of keeping. He was also sleeping with Alex for some of that time, and when she got pregnant with Kaden, he decided he wanted to settle down with her. That she was a much better prospect. He broke things off with Wendy, shattering her heart and her dreams.”
She turns hatred-fueled eyes on me. “If your mother hadn’t come along, my life would’ve been so different. Instead, I was bounced from foster home to foster home. Had all manner of horrific things done to me in care. It’s Alex’s fault that I grew up without my family. When I turned nineteen, I tracked Wendy down, and she explained it all to me, and I set about exacting my revenge. I took my time, planned it all out. I only went to college so I could get a degree and use that to get a job in your mother’s office.”
I glare at Courtney. “My mom isn’t at fault for that man’s actions. It’s hardly Alex’s fault if Wendy couldn’t hold onto her man.” That earns me a slap to the face. As my head whips around, I cast a quick glance at Brad’s hands. The rope is loosening and it should only take another couple minutes before his hands are free.
“It is all your mother’s fault!” Courtney screams, and the hand around Faye’s neck loosens a bit. Faye looks at me intently. Her eyes casually drift to Courtney’s hand and she gnashes her teeth in a subtle communication. I nod once, quickly, confirming my understanding.
This is risky, but it’s all we’ve got. We may not get another opportunity. I sense Courtney is coming to the end of her story, and I fear what that means for us.
Brad and I share a quick look, and I detect the understanding in his gaze. “And I won’t stop until I’ve taken her life from her in the same way she took mine from me.” Courtney continues ranting. “I was so close! I had James where I wanted him, and I was only five days away from gaining control of the company, and she had to go and ruin everything for me. Now, she’ll be sorry.” She glowers at me. “Now she will watch as I kill you. As I kill James. Then I’ll take her with me and make her watch as I kill the rest of her precious sons.” She makes a popping sound with her tongue and the side of her mouth. “Pop, pop, pop. And they all fall down.” She roars laughing, and Brad coughs. Faye’s surprisingly alert eyes latch on mine and I nod.
It’s now or never.
Faye sinks her teeth into Courtney’s hand, biting down really hard, giving it everything she’s got. Courtney howls out in pain, dropping the gun involuntarily. It skids across the floor, coming to rest close to Addison’s prostrate form. Brad lunges out of his chair, sliding across the floor with his hand outstretched. But Courtney recovers quickly, digging her elbow sharply into Faye’s back, and Faye yells out, crumpling to the floor in a ball. Jumping up, Courtney makes a grab for the gun the same time Brad does. They wrestle on the floor, as I shunt forward in my chair toward Faye. “Baby, can you move? Can you untie me?”
Using her hands, she pushes off the floor until she’s on all fours. Slowly, she starts crawling around my chair. Brad yells, and I look over, aghast as he curls up, clutching his groin and rolling in agony. The bitch must have kneed him in the balls. My eyes widen in pure dread as Courtney staggers to her feet, swaying a little, but her grip on the gun is firm. “Oh, you really shouldn’t have done that.” She stalks toward Faye with her arm extended and her finger curling around the trigger on the gun.
Mad panic seizes control of me, and I stagger to my feet, still strapped to the chair, and charge at Courtney.
The noise of the gun going off reverberates in the room, dulling my senses. A burst of pain hits my upper body, and I fall awkwardly to the ground as unconsciousness overwhelms me.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Faye
The gunshot goes off, and the ringing in my ears intensifies. A scream erupts from my mouth of its own volition. Ky’s chair clangs noisily, the wooden slats splintering the second it impacts the floor. Terror grips my heart as I watch his head whack against the floor. I scream again, sliding toward him on my belly. The force of the gunshot sent Courtney flying to the ground on her butt, but that woman is like a cat with nine lives. She is climbing to her feet as the door of the cabin slams open and a swarm of heavily armed men dressed in black fatigues with yellow FBI lettering across their chests burst into the room.
I’ve never felt so relieved or so grateful to see anyone in my life. When Adam showed up to save me in the diner, I was too badly injured to feel emotion of any kind, but now relief swathes me in a blanket of gratitude. I can hardly hear over the shouting and the ringing in my ears, and my eyes dart wide as I scramble to take everything in. My eyes land on Ky, and my gratitude dissolves as renewed panic emerges. Sobbing, I drag myself over to him as my heart aches in my chest. Blood is gushing out of a wound in his shoulder, and he’s completely unconscious. I reach his side and touch my finger to his neck, almost collapsing in relief when I feel the weak thud of his pulse. He’s still alive. Crying hysterically, I place my hand over the wound and press down firmly in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of blood. “Baby, I’m here. It’s over. We’re safe. Please wake up. Please don’t leave me, Ky. Don’t you dare die.” Tears plop down my cheeks and onto his face. I lower my mouth to his, and the warmth of his lips goes some way toward reassuring me.
Steady arms lift me up from behind, and I thrash about, adrenaline surging through my veins, giving me a new burst of energy. “Let me go,” I half-yell, half-cry. “He needs me!”
“It’s okay, Faye. I’m Agent Cooper and you’re safe.” His voice is muffled, and it’s as if
I’m hearing him from far away.
I wriggle about as he lifts me into his arms. “Put me down! I need to stay with him!”
“Listen to me, Faye. You’re injured and you need medical attention.”
“I’m fine. Ky needs help! Get the medics in here. Please. He’s been shot.” I burst out crying as the words leave my mouth. She shot him. That bitch shot him. I hope she rots in jail for the rest of her life. I hope they lock her skanky, crazy ass in the worst prison and she gets pounded on every day for the rest of her miserable life.
“We are taking care of your friends. Look.” Very gently, he turns my head in Ky’s direction. A team of medics surround him, lifting him carefully onto a gurney.
“I love him,” I cry. “He can’t die. Promise me you won’t let him die.” I grip his shoulders with more strength than I thought I possessed. “Promise me or I’m not leaving.”
“Here,” he says, handing me off to another agent. “Hold her for a minute.” He goes over to one of the medics, talking quietly in his ear. When he returns, he takes me back into his arms and walks outside. “Your boyfriend is going to be fine. He took a bullet to the clavicle, but it doesn’t look like it hit an artery. He’s lost some blood, but he should be fine. They are going to airlift you both to hospital. We’re just waiting for the chopper to land.”
The early morning sun assaults my eyes, and I lean my head on his shoulder, blocking out the blinding light.
Keeping Kyler (The Kennedy Boys Book 3) Page 30