Chapter 30
30
CHANDLER
R yan’s older Toyota sat in front of us in the driveway. I was right that he would bring Ellie back here where it all began. How he distorted the past, him believing Ellie was his, not his brother’s, was still an unknown.
Go in gun at the ready or not? That was my current dilemma. Brandishing the gun, I could irritate an already unstable killer, but not holding one would leave me vulnerable. I weighed the two options as I stared down the front door.
An irritated killer could harm Ellie before I got a shot off.
No gun, then. Even if it left me vulnerable, I wouldn’t add to the possibility of her getting hurt.
The decaying cement loosened beneath my steps as I inched toward the front door. The torn screen door protested with a screech as I drew it open. Knuckles raised, I landed three sharp knocks and held a breath.
“Come in,” said a familiar female voice from the other side.
I swallowed down the spike of hope hearing her voice had conjured. Brass knob in my grasp, I gave it a hard twist and shoved the door open. It too protested with a groan, popping at the hinges as it swung open.
A stuffed dated living room with a couch, chairs, and matching wood coffee table and end table was what I saw with my first small glimpse into the home. I pressed two fingers to the wood door to widen the opening. Every muscle tensed, freezing me in place when the kitchen came into view.
Ellie’s entire body involuntarily trembled, her face a blank mask and held against Ryan, who had an arm constricted around her waist. The metal barrel of a revolver pressed against her temple, Ryan’s face sealed to the other side. If he pulled that trigger, there would be no saving either of them.
My fingers twitched with the impulse to seize the gun secured against my lower back, close enough to grab but out of sight. Every emotion flared, swarming my body and mind. I had to calm down, take control of the situation. Inhaling through my nose, I let it out slowly and forced myself to relax.
“Where’s Brett?” I asked. “I’ll help you and Ellie get out of this. But I need to find him first.”
Something like confusion flickered across his face. A quick spark of light that flashed across Ellie’s placid face encouraged me to keep going.
“I know he made you do it all, to get her.” I nodded to Ellie but didn’t take my focus off Ryan. “First the tires and now this. It’s okay. We know you’re innocent.” The gun barrel retreated a fraction. The red circular indention left in its place caused rage to boil in my chest and heat my skin. The fucker would pay for marking her. “Just tell me where he is and we can stop this.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, it’s too late. It’s too late for us.” My heart stopped when the gun barrel pushed against her temple again. Ellie’s features pinched with pain. “ You’ll take her from me.”
“Me?” I scoffed. “I’m leaving tonight.”
“What?” he asked, clearly buying into the lie.
“Yeah, sure. I was sent here to help identify the killer. And we did that—with your help, by the way—so why would I stay? The Rangers will continue searching for Brett, and I’ll move on to the next case.”
“What about Ellie?” he snapped.
Fuck, I needed to get that gun pointed at me instead of her. I would need to dig deep into my training to talk my way out of this one. If I made him angry at me, attacked something he loved, then maybe, just maybe he’d forget about Ellie and turn his sole focus to me.
What could I use to make him upset at me and not her?
Those blue eyes met mine.
Ellie.
“What about Ellie?” I laughed and crossed my arms, widening my stance. “It was fun, but I’m going home. Getting the hell out of this shithole of a town.”
“You love her. I heard you say it,” he muttered, though to me or to himself, I couldn’t tell.
I twisted my lips into my best cocky smirk. “I’ve said that to every woman I’ve fucked. You know, to make them feel better for spreading their legs for just anyone.” Fuck, I hated myself for saying this shit, but if it saved her life, I’d pay the consequences. “She wasn’t that great though. I’ve had better.”
Lies. All lies.
Ryan stood a little straighter and shifted, putting his body slightly in front of Ellie’s.
“She’s amazing,” he said defensively.
“Really? You know that from experience?” I had no idea if he’d ever slept with her, but pointing that out seemed like a good idea. If he was reminded that he’d never had Ellie the way he wanted, maybe he would dismiss the murder-suicide plan.
“No, but I’ve seen her. Watched her.” He looked at her and sniffed her dark hair. “She’s amazing.”
“Wouldn’t you want to know for yourself? Why should your brother get to have all the fun, leaving you watching in the shadows?”
I gave him a second while he thought over my words. Forcing my focus on anything other than Ellie and the tears that now streamed down her cheeks, I nodded toward the living room.
“Nice place. Seems like a great home.”
“It is. We inherited it from my father.”
“Where is Brett, Ryan?” I coaxed. “Don’t let him get away with what he did to you, to Ellie. You can have her. Just tell me what I can put in a report so I can get the hell out of this town.”
My heart hammered as I followed the slow path the gun trailed down her cheek, along the column of her throat, past her shoulder, and finally pointing toward the floor. A relieved whoosh of air escaped when the immediate danger to the woman I loved was removed.
But he still had the gun, and he was still batshit crazy.
Still holding her tight, Ryan stood tall. “He liked going to Waco. I bet that’s where you’ll find him.”
I nodded. “Good, that’s good. Would you mind giving me an official statement to put in the report?” I waved a hand with the perception of being nonchalant. “You know, make all this official so I can get on that plane and get the fuck home.”
His features relaxed. “Yeah, sure.”
“Great. And since Brett’s not here, how about you untie Ellie? I know you were only doing that for her safety, right?” He tilted his head. “In case Brett came back and demanded you hand her over to him. You were only trying to save her.”
He nodded like that was the best excuse for having a woman’s feet tied to a chair and her arms pinned behind her back. It was farfetched, but it was all I could come up with in the moment.
Sweat dripped down the back of my neck and along my temples, slipping down my jaw. Ryan knelt at Ellie’s feet and worked at the knot he’d made when securing her to the legs of the chair.
Keeping my movement small and slow, I inched my hand back for my gun.
The loud bang of a car door slamming shut startled me—and Ryan.
He shot to his feet, having only untied one of her ankles. Frantic, he looked to me, then outside the still open door and back again.
“You’re lying!” he bellowed, spit flying. “They’re coming for me. You’re here for me. You’re taking her away from me.”
“No, Ryan. I’m here?—”
“Shut up,” he shouted and stretched forward, grasping for Ellie.
His desperate fingers only brushed the edge of her shirt as she leapt out of his reach, dragging the chair with her foot still secured to the leg. A manic look overtook his face, distorting his features to show the evil that lurked inside.
It took less than a second for my world to shatter. Too fast for me to prevent the inevitable.
The revolver rose to chest height as Ellie continued to stagger away.
Palm wrapped around the cold rough grip of my nine-millimeter, I pulled it around, raising it with my finger already hovering over the trigger.
Simultaneously, two shots boomed, rattling my eardrums.
A tendril of smoke lifted from the end of my barrel as Ryan’s body folded to the floor.
Immediate threat neutralized, I leapt toward Ellie, not offering Ryan’s body a second glance. My bullet struck exactly where I intended.
Between the eyes.
A quiet cry emanated from her crumbled body. I dropped to the floor beside her, my knees slamming to the linoleum. Rolling her to her back, I held a breath, not sure what to expect. Thin red rivers leaked from between the fingers pressed against her side, trailing over her knuckles and dripping to the floor.
Panic filled her blue eyes as they searched mine.
“I didn’t mean it. A single damn word,” I rushed. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”.
“I know,” she rasped. With another pain-laced whimper, she sealed her lids shut, her face contorted in agony.
Taking the hand covering the wound, I peeled it free, then the blood-soaked shirt. I forced a calm mask to settle over my face as I inspected the jagged hole that bubbled with a crimson flood. My smile was strained as I replaced her shirt and pressed hard on the wound.
“It’s fine,” I lied. “You’ll be fine.”
The stomp of boots behind me had my anger soaring once again. If that dumbass wouldn’t have left the truck, if he would’ve stayed out of this like I told him, Ellie wouldn’t be bleeding out in front of me.
Shoving away the emotions that wouldn’t help Ellie in the moment, I used the hand not staunching the wound to toss my cell at the old man.
“Call Alec Bronson. He’s the last person who called. Tell him we need a helicopter here. Now. Tell him Ellie is injured.”
Knowing he’d do what I commanded, I turned my full attention back to Ellie. Her lower lip trembled like she was either cold or scared. I rubbed the pad of my thumb along the edge, leaving a streak of blood behind.
“You’re okay, Ellie.” Helplessness ate away at my soul. There was nothing I could do. No hospital close by, no doctor in town who could offer aid. I’d just killed the one person in this fucking town who had any type of medical training.
Her lids dipped, dousing my all-consuming panic with lighter fluid.
“No, stay with me, baby. Keep those beautiful eyes on me, okay?” My eyes burned with the tears I held back. “Ellie, you have to hold on. We’ll get you to the hospital, but you have to stay strong for me.”
“Chandler,” she rasped, coughing, then whimpering. “Chandler. I want you to know….” She bit down on her lip, tears running out of the corners of both eyes. “I want you to know that you were the best chapter. I loved every word, every sentence, every page. You made all this worth it.”
“Don’t you fucking say that,” I snapped. “Don’t say that like it’s goodbye. It’s not. It’s not your time. It’s not my time. We have more to our story, Ellie. You and me, there’s more to be written.” Those tears I’d held back now dripped down both cheeks, a visual display of my despair. “Didn’t you know?”
“Know… what?” Her chest rose and fell with shaky breaths.
“Our story isn’t a tragedy, it’s a love story. A story people will read about for years wishing they had what we had.”
“How does it end?” That pain-filled gaze held mine.
“Happily ever after.”
With an almost smile curling her lips, her lids slowly closed.
“Ellie,” I begged. “Ellie, please. Please don’t leave me.” My shoulders shook with each wounded sob from my heart shredding. “Where is that damn helicopter?” I shouted over my shoulder, my voice cracking with the tidal wave of devastation drowning me.
“He doesn’t know. Can’t get?—”
With a raging yell, I scooped Ellie in my arms and turned. The old man stood at the threshold, phone still pressed to his ear.
“Get in the fucking truck. You’re driving us as fast as the damn thing can go to Waco. She will live, damnit. She will fucking live.”
Inside the truck’s cab, I ripped the shirt off my back and pressed it against her seeping wound.
It had been a long time since I prayed, decades maybe, after being forced throughout my fucked-up childhood. But there in the cab of the old truck bouncing down the highway, the woman I loved more than life itself in my arms, I lifted my face to the sky and begged to anyone listening to save her.
Because I knew if she didn’t survive this, neither would I.