Chapter 21 #2
“Hold out your fucking arm!”
Emerson kept her arms by her sides. “I’m guessing you sent the horses on that stampede? Where are the attendants? Shouldn’t someone have noticed that horses just galloped wildly through the area?”
“I snuck into the vet’s area. Gave the horses a little something extra that set them off. Made sure the stables were deserted first. Easy to divert workers when you’re the boss.”
“Uh, those horses could be out hurting other guests…”
“Like I give a shit?”
Right.
“Hold out your fucking arm.”
Emerson’s gaze locked on the syringe. “Why? So you can make killing me easier?”
“I can shoot you in the knee cap. Take you down and make you hurt. Or I can give you a little shot. No pain. No blood. You’ll be out before your body ever hits the ground. You can die beside your fake husband.”
Emerson swallowed. “What’s in the syringe?”
“Horse tranq. Enough to send you racing straight to hell.”
“I don’t think I’m going to hell.” She wanted to look back at Gray. So badly. “I haven’t killed anyone. You can’t say the same.”
“They deserved it!” Spittle flew from Hannah’s mouth.
“Men say they will love you forever. They say that you’re the only one they want.
The one they will spend eternity with—only they lie.
They break your heart. They shatter it. They fucking have sex with their massage clients!
And you’re supposed to just move on? Act like it never happened?
Love doesn’t last. Not unless we make it last. I made sure those couples were together just like they vowed… until death.”
Emerson nodded. “Someone broke your heart. Guessing that someone was Angel?”
“He’s the devil!”
“Angel cheated, and, in response, you decided to go on a killing spree? Hate to be the one to point this out…” Where in the sweet hell was her backup? “But that’s going overboard, don’t you think?”
“Hold out your fucking arm!”
“Who’s the partner for you in this little drama? Not Angel. You two are clearly on the outs. So who helped you with the killings?”
Hannah gave a quick start of surprise.
“After your breakup, you found a rebound guy, am I right? Someone who went along with your deadly new agenda?”
“Screw you, bitch,” Hannah spat. “I’m shooting you in the kneecap and when you’re bleeding on the ground, I’ll drive the needle in your throat.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.” Emerson spoke with utter certainty even as fear froze her heart.
Gray is okay. Gray is going to be fine. “If you were going to shoot, you would have done it already. But me having bullet holes in my body isn’t on the to-do list. You set this scene up with the horses because you thought it would look like an accident.
You probably thought both Gray and I would get trampled.
At the most, we’d both be dead. And if not dead, then injured enough that you could sneak up on us and drive your tranq into our veins.
Either way, we’d be dead by the time help arrived, and it would look like some tragic accident. ”
Hannah had a smug smile on her face.
“But Gray saved me.” He’d sacrificed himself, for her.
Gotten taken down beneath the pounding hooves, for her.
“If you shoot me now, that whole accident narrative vanishes. So you can’t shoot me.
All you can do is come at me with that needle, and if you do come at me, you’d better hope to hell that you can take me down, because as soon as I get my hands on you… you are done,” Emerson swore.
That smug smile of Hannah’s slipped.
“Something you should know,” Emerson added. “I’m not nearly as delicate as I might look.”
Gray needs help. He needs help now. There is no time to waste.
An animalistic growl tore from Emerson as she lunged for Hannah.
Hannah’s eyes widened in horror. She gaped at Emerson.
“Emerson, down!” Gray roared.
He’d always told her that she couldn’t follow orders for shit but…
Emerson dropped. Right there. She fell. Sank like a stone to the ground. Gunfire erupted. A hard blast. One bullet slammed into Hannah. It hit her high in the right shoulder. She dropped the gun and syringe and screamed as blood spattered. Then, when Hannah collapsed on the ground?—
Justin.
The bellhop was there. He’d been rushing up behind Hannah. His wild eyes took in the scene. He lunged for Emerson with his hands outstretched. One of his hands clutched a wickedly sharp blade. A blade that he was slashing toward her.
“ Stop!” Gray bellowed.
Justin didn’t stop.
Gray fired again. The bullet slammed into Justin’s chest. Justin’s eyes flared wide with surprise, and then he swayed. His knees hit the ground first. Then he fell forward, smashing into the ground with a thudding impact even as the knife clattered from his hand.
Emerson scrambled up. She grabbed the discarded gun. Stomped the syringe into pieces. She kept her gaze on a writhing, cursing Hannah. “Gray?” Emerson called. “Tell me you’re all right!”
“I’m all right.”
Footsteps rushed toward them. Emerson tensed, but Trinity burst up the path.
“Emerson!” Trinity yelled. She had her own gun out. “Agnes and Rylan are having to control freaking wild horses!” She raced to the scene. Stopped. Gaped.
Gray had rolled onto his back. He still had his weapon gripped in his right hand.
“What happened?” Trinity demanded.
“Those wild horses…” Gray groaned. “Trampled over my ass.”
“Jeez.” Trinity dropped to her knees beside him. “I don’t think you should be moving.”
“Tell me about it,” he muttered. “Emerson?”
Her breath shuddered in and out. Blood covered Justin’s chest. She knew that shot might be killing him.
Too much blood. Acute bleeding. Could be myocardial damage, rupture, could be valve damage, could be— She snapped to attention.
“Trinity! I need you to guard Hannah!” Hannah was down, but her injury didn’t appear life threatening.
Emerson was pretty sure the bullet had gone in and straight out of Hannah’s shoulder.
There was blood loss, but nothing that would indicate substantial damage.
Trinity immediately appeared at Emerson’s side. Emerson turned, and she went straight to Gray. He was her priority.
Her hands fluttered over him. “Don’t move. Not anymore, you understand me? You could have spinal injuries. I need to get your head and neck stabilized. I need?—”
“You followed orders.”
Her gaze jumped to his.
“I knew you would,” he said. “Because when it’s life and death, you trust me.”
“ You should stay still. You shouldn’t have fired. Shouldn’t have moved at all! Gray, dammit, if you have a spinal injury, you could be hurting yourself more. Paralyzing yourself! You have to look after yourself ? — ”
“Not when your life is on the line. I look after you. Don’t care what risk I have to take, I’ll always fight for you.”
She wanted to crush her mouth to his. Wanted to hold him desperately. But…
He has to get stabilized. No more movements.
“I’ve had worse,” Gray told her. “I’m gonna be fine. ”
“You’d better be,” Emerson replied as she blinked away tears. “Because I love you.”
His eyes widened.
“Love isn’t real!” Hannah yelled. “It doesn’t last. They swear they’ll love you forever, but they don’t. It’s. Not. Real!”
Emerson did not look away from Gray. “Yes, it is.” The way she felt for Gray was the most real thing in her life.
More footsteps. Rylan appeared. Followed immediately by guards wearing the resort’s uniform.
“Thank goodness!” Hannah called out. “These people are crazy! Martin, Fletcher!” she rattled off the names of the guards—names clearly displayed on the badges near their hearts. “Take them into custody. Take their weapons away!”
Martin and Fletcher didn’t move. Rylan rushed forward, with his gun out. “They know we’re FBI,” he said flatly. “And I know you drugged me last night.”
Gray sat up fully. Winced.
Emerson’s fingers fluttered over his shoulders. “ Gray. Stay still! ”
“I’m okay. Do what you need to do.”
What she needed to do was get him secured.
“Go, Emerson,” he urged. “I’m not the one dying.” Grim.
She looked over her shoulder.
Justin’s body bucked. Shuddered.
“He doesn’t have long,” Gray rasped.
Her shoulders squared. “We need a transport out here!” Emerson’s voice rang out even as she jumped toward Justin.
She had to stop the blood flow. Assess the damage.
“Need transport for our vics, and Rylan, you make sure Gray does not get off that ground, understand me? He’s getting secured and his spine checked out, stat. ”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Gray begin to rise.
“If you love me,” she snarled at him, “you will follow orders and keep that ass down. ”
Gray…kept that ass down.
Her head whipped toward him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he told her.
Yes…as in… he loved her?
But she didn’t get to dive deep into that revelation because Justin the bellhop—and serial killer—began to shudder and heave.
“Dammit!” Emerson cried out. Her fingers slid into the open wound on his chest.