“Right, yes I have her name listed here. Ellen. I’ll make a note to call her that. Actually,” he said and cleared his throat. “I was wondering… do you know if she’s single?”
My first reaction was to laugh. Cliff was even younger than me. And Ellen had to be at least 60. But of course, there was no way he was asking for himself. He was probably asking for his father or some older relative. “She’s single.”
“Oh wow. Okay great.” He looked slightly embarrassed. “I’m happy to hear that James woke up.”
I smiled. I couldn’t even express to him how ecstatic I was. “Thanks, Cliff.” I walked toward the elevator with the mail. I thought about Bee and Mason, Rob and Daphne, and Jen and Ian. And possibly even Melissa and Matt. Love was in the air. Ellen loved James like a son, but she didn’t have any children of her own. She had never married. Maybe there could be some love in the air for her too.
The last week and a half I had felt so depressed walking into our apartment. It felt empty and lifeless without James. It wasn’t a home without him. Really, the hospital felt more like home than this did. Wherever James was, that was where home was.
I stepped off the elevator and grabbed my keys. I walked into the apartment and tossed the mail and my purse on the kitchen counter. “Rob?”
There was no answer.
“Ellen?” I couldn’t wait to tell her that Cliff had asked if she was single. Her first reaction would probably be to giggle too.
But again, there was no answer.
They must have both been upstairs. “Rob?” I called again as I walked out of the kitchen. I turned the corner toward the staircase and saw him. He was lying at the bottom of the stairs. There was a pool of blood under his head and his leg was twisted at an awkward angle. “Rob!” I ran toward him and crouched down. “Oh my God, Rob.” I was afraid to touch his body. I didn’t want to injure him any more than he already was. There was so much blood underneath his head. And it was smeared around beneath his hands like he had tried to get up and failed. No.
“Wake up. Rob, you have to wake up. Ellen!” I screamed up the steps. “Ellen, help!” I gently put my fingers to Rob’s neck, trying to find a pulse. My eyes were blinded by tears. “No, Rob, wake up.”
“Don’t move.”
Her voice made my whole body turn cold. Isabella.
“Stand up, Penny.”
I let my fingers fall from Rob’s neck. I hadn’t had time to find a pulse. Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe what I had really felt. Nothing. There was no pulse. And I suddenly felt so weak. I didn’t want to stand. I wanted to throw myself on Rob to protect him. A million thoughts flashed through my mind, but what stuck with me were some of the last words Rob said to me. “I’m going to marry that girl.” He had finally found himself. He was finally happy. He couldn’t die now. He just couldn’t.
“Put your hands in the air and turn around.”
“Where’s Ellen?” I thought about Ellen lying somewhere else in the house. Unconscious. Or worse. All I could do was stare at the pool of blood expanding around Rob’s head. This can’t be happening. Rob can’t be dead. Tears streamed down my cheeks. He can’t be.
“I said put your hands in the air and turn around.”
For a second I thought about running. It wasn’t just my safety I had to think about anymore. But I couldn’t escape this. There was only one door out of the apartment. And she was in my way. And I couldn’t leave Rob. I stared down at his body. Please be okay. I slowly stood up, lifted my hands in the air, and turned to face her.
A cruel smile crossed her lips. She looked as perfect as ever, even though she was wearing something I never thought I’d see her in, a pair of faded jeans, a tattered t-shirt, and yellow latex gloves. She was dressed like a cleaning lady. Yet not a single strand of her hair was out of place and her makeup looked like a professional had done it for her. I always felt insignificant around her. I thought that feeling might fade after James and I got married. But it hadn’t. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was pointing a gun toward me.
“I never much liked him,” she said and nodded toward Rob’s body. “It’s a pity though, I didn’t expect anyone else to be here.”
“Is he dead?” I needed to know if Rob was okay. I needed to know if he was breathing.
“How should I know? He certainly doesn’t look good. Luckily I always come prepared. Although, I certainly didn’t expect to see you. Shouldn’t you be with your new husband? Especially after you left him alone the last time?”
How does she know about that?
“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 was, 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.”