The gun slowly dropped from my forehead. “I just don’t understand. Why were you ever with her then? Why would you hurt me like this?”
“I pitied her. She was weak. I liked that she was young and naive and didn’t know better. Because she was everything that you weren’t. And it killed me that you didn’t want me anymore. That someone so strong willed and sexy had cut me down. I was just trying to forget by dating someone that was so opposite of you. But I could never forget you.”
Young. Naive. Weak. It was everything I didn’t want to be. It was everything that I was. Look at me James. Show me that you don’t mean it.
“I know how unforgettable I am.” She ran her fingers through his hair.
And he smiled. That smile was like a knife in my heart. They looked so natural together. I looked away. Maybe he was just telling her what she needed to hear. But maybe…
“Then kiss me,” he said. “Let’s start over. Let’s put all of it behind us. We’ll be better than we ever were.”
I watched as Isabella leaned down a little closer to him. And I died inside. Isabella was right. The thought of him with her had always haunted me. And now that I was about to see it? It was seared into my brain.
This couldn’t be what he really wanted. This couldn’t be. So why did he ask her to kiss him? To give me a chance to escape? There was no escape. I pulled my wrists as hard as I could. It just made me cry more. Young. Naive. Weak. I was so weak. I gritted my teeth as I pulled again on my restraints. Nothing. All I could do was watch the man I love tilt his head toward the woman he was professing his love for.
It happened in a flash. James pulled out his IV and wrapped the cord around Isabella’s neck right before her lips met his.
She dropped the gun on the floor and it skittered over to the window.
“You tried to kill me, you fucking bitch!”
“James!” I screamed as Isabella struggled in his arms.
“You tried to kill my brother!” He tightened the cord around her neck. Blood trickled down his hand where his IV had been.
“James, stop!” A part of me wanted him to kill her. She had put us through hell. But this wasn’t James. He would never do something like this.
“You tried to kill my wife. You threatened my family,” he was choking on his words. “I was forced to give up my life to be with you once. I’ll never make that mistake again. No one will ever tell me how to live my life again.” He replaced the cord with his hands.
Her face was turning purple.
“James, you’re not a murderer! Stop!”
“Shell never leave me alone! She’ll never leave us alone.” His voice cracked on the word us.
She was starting to sag in his arms.
“This isn’t who you are. James!”
He let go of her throat and pushed her off the bed. Her body slumped to the ground. But I could see her chest rise with each breath. She was alive. Just unconscious.
“Did she hurt you?” James said as he ripped off the rest of the wires that were attached to him. “Are you okay?” He stumbled out of the bed and caught himself on the edge of it. “Penny?” He fell to his knees in front of me.
I couldn’t respond because I was choking on my sobs. This wasn’t the end. I wasn’t going to die. We were going to be okay.
He ran his fingers along my skin as if searching for some sign of injury. My arms. My legs. My face. He grabbed something to cut away the duct tape and he pulled me down into his arms.
“I’m okay,” I whispered. “I’m okay.”
The tears in his eyes just made mine fall even faster.
“Penny.” His voice sounded so hoarse. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, baby.”
“You’re bleeding.”
He smiled through his tears. “I’m fine. We’re fine.” He pulled my face to his chest. “You’re shaking.” He wrapped his arms tighter around me. “It’s okay now. We’re okay.”
“For a second I let myself believe that the things you were saying were true,” I said into his chest. “I thought, I thought…”
“No. No, Penny. I didn’t mean any of it.” He leaned back and put his palm on my stomach. “None of it.” He was staring at my stomach. “Are you really pregnant?”
“I didn’t want you to find out like this. I wanted to surprise you. I was going to give you this little onesie I picked up in the gift shop for your birthday and tell you. And I know you don’t want kids. At least, not for a long time. I was stressed out before the wedding and I must have forgotten to take my birth control and…”
“Penny.” He grabbed the sides of my face. “I want everything with you. All of it. And if you’re pregnant, I want kids now. I want it.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad?” He laughed. “No. This baby is going to be every part of you. Sweet and kind and good. No, I’m not mad.”
“I thought you’d be upset.”
“No, baby.” He kissed the side of my neck and pulled me against him again. “Never. I’m going to be a dad.” He buried his face in my hair.
“You’re going to be a great dad.”
He just held me in response. I let myself cry against his shoulder. This was all I needed. For him to hold onto me. This was all I ever needed.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he whispered.
“I’m okay.” I was holding onto him like he was the only thing keeping me afloat.
“And the baby? Everything’s okay?”
I pulled back. “I don’t know. I found out I was pregnant right after you came to the hospital. I was a mess. I couldn’t eat. I… I don’t know.”
“I’ll go tell Porter or Briggs to get the nurse.”
“No.” I grabbed his arm before he could get up. “Briggs was working for her. She threatened his wife and daughter. And the nurse drugged you. I don’t know if she knew what she was doing or if it was an accident…”
“Is Briggs out there right now?”
“I don’t know. The last thing I remember was him putting this cloth over my mouth and…”
“That son of a bitch.” James grabbed the edge of the bed and slowly stood up.
“James, you need to sit down. Your stomach is bleeding.” There was a blood stain on the front of his hospital gown.
He looked down at the blood.
“Something must be wrong with your stitches. You have to sit down.”
James tried to walk past me but I grabbed his arm.
“James, please just sit down. I’ll go get someone.”
The door burst open and Briggs rushed in holding a gun. He was completely out of breath.
My heart was filled with fear. Because the gun was pointed directly at me.
“Jesus Christ,” he said and kept his gun pointed at me.
James stepped in front of me.
“Get down!” Briggs yelled.
“Briggs, you don’t have to do this,” James said.
“I said get down!”
The room echoed with the burst of his gun.
I screamed and pulled James down behind the side of the bed. I heard glass shatter behind us. I turned my head. I’m pretty sure James saw it the same time that I did because he tried to push me behind him again. Isabella was standing in front of the broken window with the gun in her hand.
“Drop it!” Briggs shouted. “Now!”
She smiled and lifted the gun toward me and James.
Another shot echoed in the room and hit Isabella right in the chest. A third shot hit her in almost the same spot. The gun fell from her hand. She stumbled backwards and crashed through the broken window.
We heard people screaming outside and a sickening crunching noise.
“Are you both okay?” Briggs said. He knelt down next to us. He put his hand on my shoulder.