Devotion - Chapter 30 #3
"One thing I do love about you is how utterly transparent you are," she said. "You think I don't have connections? You think I had no idea what was happening to my own husband in the hospital? Think again."
Her own husband? She had lost her mind. She was completely insane. "Who's feeding you information?"
"The question is, who isn't, dear. God, this was all too easy."
I swallowed hard.
"So, let's see. Hmmm. How should I have this play out? I originally just came here to plant evidence to frame you. But this is so much better. I'm thinking a lover's quarrel. Maybe the two of you were sleeping together behind James' back? Maybe the baby is actually Rob's?"
"How do you know that I'm pregnant?"
"Weren't you listening? I know every move you make."
"Who were you working with?"
"The press will report anything I tell them," she said, ignoring my question.
"But I do love a scandal. Poor James. His new bride and his letch of a brother screwing around behind his back.
And the worst part is James will believe it.
Because I'll be by his side helping him recover.
And I'll be reminding him every day how awful you were.
How you only wanted to be with him for his money.
And how his brother lived off his wealth.
How Rob always resented his big brother's success. "
"That's not true. You were the only one that was ever after his money."
She made the same noise with her throat that James' mother always did.
"I have my own inheritance. I don't need the Hunters' fortune.
And you won't be there to trick him anymore, putting false ideas in his head about me.
Besides, James certainly doesn't believe that you could possibly love him if he doesn't even love you. "
"He does love me."
"No. That was the problem the whole time. He's addicted to you."
"He's not addicted to me."
"Yes he is! And now that I know the only way he's capable of a connection, I can easily win him back. I'll make him crave me in a way he couldn't possibly crave you."
"He's not addicted to me," I said more forcefully. I was sick of hearing that. James was not addicted to me.
"You're so naive. I almost feel sorry for you, if it wasn't for the fact that you fucked my husband while I was still married to him." She lifted her gun a little higher.
"And you're delusional."
"Is that what you think? That my trying to win my husband back is delusional? I'm fighting for him. I'm fighting for us."
"There's nothing left to fight for!"
She shook her head. "It was always me and James.
Always. Ever since we were children our futures were set in stone.
We have the greatest kind of love story.
Yes, we've had our issues. And that was on him, not me.
He projected his problems on me. He wouldn't touch me.
He made me feel awful about myself. So yes, I found solace in other men.
But he pushed me there. Because he couldn't face the fact that he was sick.
And now he's gotten help. Now he's better.
And now he can truly love me in a way I never thought possible.
The way that you did. So it's only fair that he comes back to me. It's only fair."
"Life isn't fair, Isabella." I wanted to lunge for the gun. My mind was racing. What was the best way to reach for it?
"You think I don't know that? If life was fair I wouldn't be standing right here with you. I wouldn't be arguing with an immature girl about my husband!" Her hand was shaking.
For the first time I thought she might actually not shoot me. Maybe she was realizing how crazy this whole thing was.
"Isabella, we don't have to be arguing about this." I took a step forward.
"Don't move." She grabbed the gun with her other hand to steady it.
My phone started vibrating in my purse. Isabella glanced over toward the kitchen counter.
"Who's calling you?" she asked.
"I don't know."
She pulled my phone out of my purse and looked at the screen. "Is Porter still at the hospital?"
"No. He was waiting in the car downstairs."
"Shit." She tossed my phone down on the counter. "Enough chatting. Stand next to Rob." She raised her gun again.
"Isabella, you don't have to do this."
"Of course I do. I've already tried to kill James. And I failed both times. Now I'm going to kill you instead."
"Both times?" She tried twice?
"Kneel down next to Rob," she said, ignoring me.
"Isabella."
"Now!"
I heard the click of her gun being cocked.
Fuck. "Okay." For some reason my fear hadn't switched on until that moment.
I was worried about Rob. But now, now I realized what was going to happen.
She was going to kill me. She was going to get her way.
I was going to die. My baby was going to die.
I tried to blink back my tears. I tried to think of anything I could do to prevent this from happening.
But there was no hope. I glanced down at Rob's lifeless body.
This was it. James and I were never supposed to happen.
I was his student and he was my professor.
Everything had always been against us. We weren't allowed to be happy. Life was a cruel joke.
I looked back up. I noticed the front door slowly opening. Porter! Oh, thank God. "You don't have to do this," I said. I needed to distract her. I couldn't let her hear him coming in. "We can just tell the cops it was an accident. You won't have to go to jail."
"Nothing I do will send me to prison. People like me don't end up in jail."
Criminals? I thought about James' rap sheet. He never ended up serving time. Maybe she was right. People like her didn't end up in prison. I needed to think of something to stall her. "Who's been telling you everything?"
"It's not just one person, Penny."
"Who then?"
"This is really what you want to know on your deathbed? As your whole meaningless life flashes before your eyes? I pity you."
"At least tell me how you got up here." Please let this be working. Isabella seemed happy about the way she had tricked everyone. She seemed to like to brag about her connections and tricks.
"You really are quite dense. Why do you think I'm dressed like this?" She gestured to the yellow gloves. "It's crazy what a little flirting at the front desk will get you. Men have always been easy for me to manipulate."
"Of course they have."
She laughed. "Flattery isn't going to save you, Penny."
I glanced at Porter who was slowly turning the corner into the kitchen. I didn't even realize my mistake until it was too late.
Isabella smiled and shook her head. She quickly turned around.
"Porter!" I yelled.
Three shots rang out and Porter fell to his knees. Three holes appeared on the front of his shirt.
"Porter!" I choked. I didn't want to be weak in front of Isabella.
But I had just gotten to know Cole. He was sweet and kind.
He had a girlfriend that he was missing.
He stood by James' hospital door every day to make sure he was safe.
I owed everything to him. He put himself at risk every day for me and James.
And now... I watched Porter's lifeless body fall forwards and hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Now, he was dead because of me. I let my tears fall down my cheeks.
I let the guilt swallow me whole. Because nothing mattered now.
Porter was my only chance at surviving this. Isabella was going to kill me next.
"Kneel on the fucking ground, Penny." She grabbed Porter's gun and slid it into her pants pocket.
I knelt down in the ever expanding pool of blood by Rob's head.
"Porter's body complicates things slightly.
" Isabella sighed. "We'll need a new scenario now.
" She tapped her gloved finger to her lips.
"Okay, here's what happened. You and Rob were fighting upstairs.
You didn't want him to tell James the truth.
So you shot him at the top of the steps.
" A shot rang out as she shot Rob in the shoulder.
"No!" God, Rob.
Isabella laughed. "Don't worry. Odds are he's already dead.
" She cleared her throat. "And after you shot him, the force of it made him fall down the stairs.
Dead. Porter rushed in because he heard the gunshot.
So you decided to shoot him too. Because you're the fucking worst!
God, you really are a bitch. And then you realized you made a terrible mistake.
You realized that you just murdered two people in your crazy rampage.
There's no coming back from that. Such an awful feeling.
It just ate you up inside. Your only redemption was to kill yourself after it's all said and done. "
She smiled her cruel smile. "And the best part?
Everyone will think you were the one that tried to kill James on your wedding night.
Maybe Rob persuaded you to run away with him.
And then after your plans went south, you changed your mind.
This bloodbath was the only way out in your delusional mind. "
"I'm not the delusional one."
"In the eyes of the whole world, you're about to be." She lifted her gun.
"Okay. Okay, Isabella, you win."
"Of course I win. I wouldn't have played this game if it was possible to lose. Everything is always stacked in my favor. I'm Isabella fucking Hunter."
"I'll divorce him. You don't have to kill me."
"Maybe that would work if you didn't get knocked up like the slut that you are. But James has a soft spot for children."
She really didn't know him at all. "He doesn't. He doesn't even want kids.
And he doesn't know I'm pregnant. He doesn't need to know.
I'll disappear. You'll never see me again.
" I was lying through my teeth. If she let me go, the first thing I would do would be to find a police officer at another precinct. One that she wasn't in bed with.
Isabella eyed me coolly. "He really told you that he doesn't want kids? That's rather ironic since it was the only reason he married me."
My heart seemed to skip a beat. "What?"
She laughed. "He never tells you anything, does he?"
Don't listen to her. My last thoughts would not be about James lying to me.
"I told him I was pregnant. He always believed everything I told him. That's probably why he has such a hard time trusting you."
"Were you actually pregnant?"
"Of course not. I would never risk my figure for children. That's what surrogates are for." She waved her hand dismissively. "And when I told him I lost the baby, it brought us closer together. That was the happiest time in our marriage."
"When he was depressed about losing a child?"
"No. When he leaned on me. When he needed me." She took a step forward. "And it all made sense when I found out you were pregnant. He was marrying you out of obligation instead of love. It gave me the hope I needed."
"He doesn't know that I'm pregnant."
"You're a terrible liar."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Porter stir. He's alive. Oh my God, he's alive! "I'm not lying. James doesn't know. And he never has to."
"Exactly." She took a step forward.
"You don't have to do this."
"It's already done." She smiled. "Your fate was set as soon as you slept with my husband. As soon as you decided that you were more important than the rules. As soon as you gave into temptation."
As she inched closer, I knew it was now or never. This was my one shot at escape. I had to grab her gun. But I didn't have to do anything.
Porter had stood up. He quietly stepped forward and grabbed Isabella's gun from behind.
"Get off me!" She yelled and pulled the trigger.
I closed my eyes as a shot rang out. But I didn't feel anything. My eyes flew open.
Isabella was squirming in Porter's arms. And I did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed a pan off the kitchen counter and whacked it hard against the back of her head. Isabella went limp in his arms.
"Jesus Christ." Porter shoved her off of him and she fell to the floor. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." The pan fell to the floor with a clang. "But Rob..."
"Call 911." Porter was already crouching down next to Rob's body.
I fumbled with my phone, spilling out all the information to the operator on the other side.
Porter lifted one of Rob's eyelids.
"Is he okay?"
Porter didn't respond.
Rob couldn't die. Not like this. I didn't know anyone as full of life as him. I didn't know anyone as kind and selfless as him.
Sirens wailed in the distance.