Chapter 21
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I greeted as the door finally opened.
“I came to drop off some paperwork for Ashton to sign when he returns.”
“Oh, he didn’t mention you were coming. You could have scanned them to him to make sure he received them in time.”
“They don’t want a digital signature. It has to be the original, and he’s on a deadline.”
“Oh. What is it?”
“It’s relating to his current contract and his sports management business that he’s starting with a couple of guys.”
“Oh, yeah, Unleashed Athletes,” I replied.
Before she could respond, Titan came racing from the back of the house, barking and lunging at her.
I grabbed him by the collar. “Whoa! Down, boy. Down! Titan, . . . what has gotten into you? We don’t treat our guests that way,” I chided, kneeling beside him and stroking his back and head.
He was as stiff as a board, and his muscles were taut with tension.
I looked up and saw her trembling. “I’m so sorry. Are you scared of him?”
“Yes, I’m scared of all dogs.”
“He probably senses that. Let me go put him away. I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you,” she replied, visibly relaxing as I pulled Titan from the room. He was heavy, and I struggled with pulling him back as his ears flattened, and his teeth bared in a ferocious snarl as he barked again.
He acted as if danger were around, which concerned me. I led him back to the den, recognizing that her nervousness would not help Titan calm down.
“You’re a good boy. Calm down, okay?” I stroked his head and patted it reassuringly. He calmed down just a little but let off a series of barks. I had to shove him away as I slipped out of the room and closed the door behind me.
I felt bad at pushing him back inside of the room and closing the door on him.
He always had freedom to roam around the house, and I was taking that from him.
It didn’t help when I heard him whimper and hitting against the door.
I prayed that he didn’t break the damn door with the way he was slamming his body into it or, worse, tear up Ashton’s den.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know what got into him. He probably senses that you’re nervous like I said before.”
“Yeah,” she responded with a light giggle.
“Would you like something to drink or eat?”
“No, thank you. I’ve already eaten.”
“Well why don’t you sit and rest for a while? Take off your coat and get comfortable. I know that’s a long drive.”
“Sure, thanks, Chanel.” She remained in the same place as I turned to head back to the kitchen.
I had just moved past the couch when I heard swift movement behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her coming after me.
Rather than heading to the kitchen, I rushed up the steps, hoping to make it to one of the bedrooms. If I could get to a room with a lock, I could dial 911 and Ashton, and I would hopefully find some sort of weapon.
Before I reached the top landing, she was on me, knocking me onto my belly.
She tried to grab my short hair but couldn’t get a good grip.
I reared my head back and hit her in the face.
She released me and moved off me long enough for me to flip onto my back, before she came for me again with blood spewing from her nose.
We were nothing more than a flurry of hands and arms, trying to get the best of each other. I managed to hit her in the nose again with the heel of my hand before she slammed my head against the step. Long, strong fingers went around my neck as she choked me.
I gripped her hands, trying to free myself, but she was much stronger than I would have guessed, looking at her petite size.
“You weren’t supposed to come in and ruin things. Your only purpose was to interview him, paint him in a beautiful light, and move the fuck on. You came and destroyed everything! I’m pregnant with Ashton’s baby, and I will never let him go.”
“Liar!” I screamed.
I didn’t know for certain that she was lying, but in my heart and soul, I knew she was. There was no way that Ashton would have done that.
It didn’t matter whether she was lying or not; I was about to be dead if I couldn’t figure a way out of the situation. She had pulled a knife from her coat pocket and pressed it against my neck.
“I’ve stood by for three years waiting for my turn.
I stood by that man, waited on him hand and foot, jumped out of bed and off a man’s dick at five in the morning to make sure that he had everything he needed to succeed.
All the while, he withstood that cheating ass bitch.
I just knew when they finally divorced, he would see me.
But no, here you come prancing around him, distracting him by teasing him. What are men like him supposed to do?”
“Let me go, and you can have him. I swear. No man is worth my life,” I pleaded, knowing that I wasn’t going anywhere.
This insane bitch was going to prison, the mental institution, or her grave if I had my way.
“You’re a liar. You think that I’m stupid, and I’m just going to let you walk away? You have got to be out of your mind. You’d run to the police the first chance you got and tell them everything.”
She wiped blood and snot from her nose with the arm of her coat.
“I don’t know anything. This is nothing but my word versus yours. Two women fighting over a man. That’s not enough to get you in trouble.”
She laughed as she swiped at the blood mixture again. “While you’re here trying to play house with him, he’s in the city mourning his ex-wife who is knocking at death’s door.”
I tried to pry her fingers off my neck as they continued squeezing tighter. I was unable to argue with anything that she said, because I was literally fighting for my breath.
“I’ll be the one there to comfort him when he returns and finds his new whore dead also,” she professed as she pressed the knife deeper into the side of my neck.
A noise sounded, causing her to jerk. I took advantage of the opportunity and pushed her off me, forcing her to tumble down the stairs, and I ran up. I had just cleared the landing when I saw Titan race around the corner and jump on her, attacking her.
Fear rushed through my body as I saw her bring that knife in her hand up.
Despite her fear of the dog, she wasn’t afraid to harm him, and I didn’t want anything to happen to him, especially while he was protecting me.
Then I realized something; she had never been afraid of Titan.
She had just been afraid that he would reveal her motive by attacking her.
That was why she wanted me to put him away.
I whistled and patted my thigh. “Titan! Come here, boy!”
He had bitten her face and didn’t seem to want to let go. Titan wasn’t an aggressive dog by nature because he hadn’t been bred that way, but he was protective of family, and I knew that he considered me family.
“Titan!” I screamed just as she angled the knife.
He pulled off her and leapt over her, running up the stairs toward me. We raced to my master suite and locked the door.
With trembling hands, I grabbed the house phone off the nightstand, and I managed to dial 911, while calling Ashton on my cellphone.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” I heard at the same time that I heard Ashton greeting, “Hey, baby. I’m—”
“Someone has broken into my home, and she’s assaulted my dog and me!” I screamed into the house phone.
I could hear Ashton calling my name from the other phone, but I had no time to talk to him. I knew that he could hear me speaking with the operator, and I knew that he would get his information that way.
I answered all the questions as the operator promised someone would be on the way, and she would remain on the line until the police arrived.
“Ash,” I cried out as I set the home phone on the bed. I walked around the room, looking for a weapon.
“Baby, I’m pulling up the driveway to the house now. What’s going on?” he asked as Titan erupted into loud piercing barks that quickly turned into whines as he tried to get out of the door. I finally unplugged a table lamp because that was the only weapon I could find.
“Please be careful, I don’t know if—”
I heard gunshots going off. “Ashton? Ashton! Ashton, please answer me!” I screamed.
I rushed to the window and stared out. I could see Ashton lying on the ground, and she was running away. I grabbed the house phone, giving details to the operator as I ran down the steps with Titan racing ahead of me.
“Stay there. Do not go out of the house, ma’am.”
“I can’t stay,” I screamed and threw the phone down.
Titan was already at Ashton’s side, barking and walking in circles around his owner, when I made it through the front door.
Running to his side, I screamed, “Ashton! Ashton, baby, please, talk to me. I love you so much. I thought it was too soon, but I know now that’s what I feel.
Please don’t leave me.” I dropped to my knees on the wet driveway.
He had just shoveled the snow yesterday evening.
It felt like a long time before the police and ambulance arrived, but I knew it couldn’t have been more than two minutes.
The police took my statement as the emergency responders administered medical help to Ashton.
“Please let me go with him,” I begged as they loaded Ashton into the ambulance.
“Ma’am, we’re not supposed to do that,” the male responder stated.
“I know, but please. He needs to see a friendly face when he wakes up. He will wake up, won’t he?” I asked, looking from him to the female responder.
She exchanged a nonverbal glance with her partner before one of the officers declared, “I’ll take you to the hospital. We’ll follow behind them. Come on.”
I nodded and rushed to the police car with the officer. He held the back door open, and I climbed inside. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s protocol.”
“I know.”
I patted my leg and whistled for Titan.
“Sorry, ma’am. He can’t go to the hospital. We’ll place him in the K-9 unit and take him to the station. You can pick him up when you’re ready. I’ll provide details for that.”
I thanked him and waited for him to take Titan to the K-9 SUV. When he returned, he pulled away and moved in front of the ambulance, to provide them an escort, while another police car pulled behind the ambulance.
The three vehicles left two other police cars and the K-9 unit behind as they continued their investigation. I had learned during the questioning that she had taken the gun from Ashton’s den. I knew she hadn’t had one on her when she arrived, or she would have brought it out.
As we sped away from the house, I noticed two more police cars halfway down the road.
Three police were standing close to one of the cruisers, and a fourth one was standing over a body.
The pristine snow around her was stained red, and my gaze drifted up to see that her eyes stared sightlessly at the sky above.
I prayed that Ashton’s fate would not be the same as his PA, Shaniece’s.