Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
RAVEN
“Jack, put the damn gun down!” Marnie cries, stomping her foot. “She’s not going anywhere. Look at her.” She flings a hand in my direction. “You have her tied to a chair for Christ’s sake.”
Jack flicks his gaze in my direction from his seat at the poker table and then takes another sip of brandy.
He ignores Marnie’s demand…just like he’s been doing for the last hour and a half.
I gave up pleading an hour ago, but she keeps on.
It’s obvious he isn’t going to listen. I’m not even sure why she’s trying.
Out of the two of them, she’s the one who hates me.
If anyone should be pointing a gun at me, it should be her.
Funny how I don’t even know who the real enemy is in my life.
Everyone I trusted has been lying to me, manipulating me, using me.
Marnie wants me gone. Jack wants my dad’s company.
And Rhys…I don’t know what Rhys wants. I don’t care what he wants.
Liar, liar pants on fire, a little voice whispers.
I push it down, refusing to listen to it.
“For the love of God,” Marnie says.
“Oh, shut up!” I cry. “Just shut up!”
She snaps her mouth closed, looking at me in complete shock. She actually has the audacity to look hurt.
“He isn’t putting the gun down. He’s going to sit there and drink his brandy and point the damn gun at me until I give him the company, or he’s drunk enough to shoot me,” I growl.
“You yelling at him isn’t going to change his mind.
He made it up long before I ever walked through the front door.
And frankly, if I’m going to die today, I’d rather not die listening to you screech. ”
Marnie blanches.
Jack chuckles.
“You killed my dad. The only thing I want to hear from you is why. Unless you’re telling me that, just shut the hell up!” I shout, too tired to be reasonable. Too exhausted to care. I’ve never hated anyone before but right now, I hate her. I hate her so much.
She’s taken everything from me. My dad. Rhys. Everything.
“It was an accident, Raven,” Marnie says, wringing her hands together.
“He was laundering money through the company. When I confronted him about it, he got angry. He threatened to take the baby. He tried to grab me. I pushed him and he fell over the coffee table.” She cries without tears, sobbing with dry eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to happen!”
“You’re a liar.”
“I’m not lying!” she cries. “I loved your dad. I still love him.”
“No, you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be able to stand here and lie about him like that,” I growl, yanking at the tape binding me to the chair.
It doesn’t move. I think they used a whole roll.
“He would never launder money through the company, and you know it. He would never grab you or try to hurt you. He worshipped you.”
“No,” she says, switching from tears to sneering so fast it’s startling. “He worshipped you. All he talked about was you. It was always Raven this and Raven that. I could never compete with you!”
I gape at her, incredulous. “Are you kidding me right now? It was never a competition, Marnie! He was your husband. He was my dad. We weren’t in competition for his affection or his love.
He had enough for both of us. When he came to visit me, all he talked about was you.
He loved talking about you because he loved you and he wanted me to love you just as much.
That’s who he was. He talked about the people he loved because to him, they were his world. We were his world.”
“Rhys took one look at you and fell head over heels.”
“You’re in love with Rhys?” I feel like I’m going to throw up.
“God no. I can’t stand him.” She scrunches up her face and shudders in revulsion.
“But everyone loves you, Raven. They fall all over themselves to be close to you. Your dad would drop everything to rush to your side. Rhys would give up everything for you. You have no idea the things he’s done for you.
I could never compete with that. Even when you weren’t here, the whole world revolved around you. ”
”I never wanted the world to revolve around me.”
“I did!” she cries. “I wanted it to revolve around me. Just once, I wanted to come first to Brant. Just once, I wanted him to love me as much as I love him. Just once, I wanted to be the one he dropped everything to come running for. But it was always you. When your mom died, he left me alone for weeks.”
I stare at her, taken aback. I’ve always known that Marnie was self-absorbed.
But I never knew how callous and heartless she was until today.
I never knew how cruel she was until today.
My mom died, and all she cared about was that my dad left her alone to be there for me.
She hates me because my dad was a good dad.
She killed him because he was a good father.
There’s something so inherently wrong with that, something so twisted and fucked up that there are no words for it.
I thought coming here would give me answers, but there are no answers.
There’s just…nothing. My dad didn’t die because of anything he did to her.
He died because she is who she is. Because she’s so fundamentally broken that love is a weapon to her, something you wield to exert control.
I was wrong. I don’t hate her. I can’t. I pity her.
“You’re not raising my sibling,” I say. “If Jack doesn’t kill me today, I’m taking him or her from you. You aren’t capable of raising a child. You aren’t capable of loving one.”
Jack laughs suddenly. “Do you want to tell her, or should I?”
Marnie spins to face him.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” he says, a bitter, mocking smile on his face.
“Don’t,” she whispers.
But he doesn’t have to say it. I’m not blind. I can see what’s right in front of me. The baby isn’t my dad’s. It’s Jack’s. He’s in love with her. And he just listened to her pour her heart out about my dad. That has to sting.
I don’t feel sorry for him in the slightest. Probably because he’s been holding me at gunpoint for the last hour and a half. It’s not exactly giving me warm and fuzzy feelings about him.
“Why not?” he asks her, setting his brandy aside. The glass is empty. Half the bottle is empty. “It’s not like she’s going to survive the day anyway. That is your plan, isn’t it? Have poor old Jack blow her head off, leaving you and the baby everything.”
“What?” Marnie gasps. “No, of course not.”
A movement in the hallway catches my attention. I subtly shift my gaze that way, trying not to draw attention to it. My heart leaps into my throat when I see Rhys standing in the shadows. His eyes connect with mine.
My soul cries out for him.
Even now, I love him. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s true.
He lifts his finger to his lips, warning me to be quiet.
I blink, hoping he knows that means I understand, and then slowly shift my gaze back to Marnie and Jack.
They’re still arguing. Marnie’s rambling, trying to convince Jack that her plan is his plan…
whatever his plan is. I’m not too clear on that.
All I know is that it involves killing me.
Probably Rhys too. Who knows at this point?
They deserve each other. I hope they rot in prison together.
“Then why not tell her?” Jack says, his eyes locked on Marnie.
“She’s been through enough, Jack,” Marnie says, her voice soft. For the first time, I detect a hint of…guilt. As if she actually regrets her choices. Maybe she does. But it didn’t stop her from making them. “Can’t that be enough? Please?”
Jack eyes her for a moment and then gives in. He leans back in his chair. When he does, his gaze shifts toward the hallway. I know the minute he spots Rhys in the shadows. His eyes widen in surprise, and he lifts the gun.
The next moment, all hell breaks loose.
Marnie screams as an explosion detonates and smoke rapidly fills the room. A shot rings out and then another. Something flings my chair to the floor. No, not something. Someone. Rhys. He dives on top of me, covering me with his body as Jack starts shooting.
“Stay down, songbird,” he whispers in my ear. “Stay down.”
The next minute, he’s gone, prying himself off me.
I struggle against the tape, trying to fight my way free of the chair, choking on the noxious fumes filling the room. It burns my throat, making me gag. Marnie is still screaming. Someone is cursing. Jack? Rhys? I don’t know. I hear someone land a blow and then glass shatters.
“Reach for the sky, motherfucker!” an unfamiliar voice booms and then. “Oh, shit.”
Another shot rings out.
The room goes silent.
“Rhys?” I scream. “Rhys! Rhys!” I lunge against the tape holding me hostage, desperately trying to free myself to get to Rhys. He has to be okay. He has to be okay. Please, God. Please. “Rhys!”
He appears like a mirage, falling to his knees beside me.
I sob his name, so weak with relief I nearly black out.
“I’m here,” he says, cupping my face between his palms. “I’m right here.”
“I thought… I thought…”
“I know. I’m here.” He picks me up, chair and all, and rises to his feet. “Don’t look, songbird. Don’t look,” he croons, burying my face in his shoulder.
I don’t look. I don’t have to look. I can hear Marnie sobbing brokenly. I know Jack is dead.
“Kincaid, find me some fucking scissors!” Rhys roars, carrying me out of the house into the fresh air. He sets my chair down on the front lawn. Sirens wail, red and blue lights ripping apart the night. It’s chaos, but all I see is Rhys.
He sinks to his knees in front of me, pressing his face to my chest. “I thought I lost you. Christ, I thought I lost you,” he groans, his whole body shuddering.
For a minute there, I thought I lost myself. I thought I lost him.
“I’m right here,” I whisper, tears of forgiveness falling down my face. “I’m right here.”