Again he didn’t deny it.
“Don’t EVER use me without my consent again!”
“I’ll handle it then—”
“In another two minutes she’ll be dead,” I whispered bitterly.
“What?”
“I knew what you’d plan by the time I got to that door. I knew and I was pissed, and you were wrong to use me, but it would be worse if you’d actually done it.”
His eyebrows came together in confusion. “I thought you drew the line.”
“Neither of us has a line,” I whispered, resting my head on his shoulder. “Her IV was part sodium chloride, sucrose, bicarbonate, and vitamins. That and the increased morphine I gave her will cause her to go into heart failure, if the doctors get to her on time and try to use panels she’ll die instantly. If not, she’ll die from lack of oxygen.”
By the time I finished speaking I looked to the door, hearing a doctor and nurse running and shouting. Greyson came into the stairwell looking at me first.
“She’s dead?” I asked.
He nodded.
“How sad,” I said, walking back up the stairs, leaving Ethan to stand alone. But not before adding, “Don’t be surprised if I do not speak to you for a while.”
I didn’t look at anyone. I didn’t speak as I reached the Callahan floor. One of the guards opened the door to the Evelyn’s room, the whole family sat around the suite, as if it were their home. Some of them resting on the couch. Some by the window, but my eyes went to dining table we had all just eaten at. Cora was packing away what was left of my wedding cake. Her brown eyes glanced over to me. I looked away, walking over to Evelyn’s bedside. Her eyes barely open. But a small grin was on her face as she looked over her family. Siting on her bed, I took the brooch out of my purse.
“A Claddagh.” I told her even though I knew she was aware what it was and what it meant. “Hands in loyalty.”
The corner of her mouth turned up and she nodded.
ETHAN
He handed me the ice for my face, which I took, siting on one the stairs.
“Exactly as you planned, sir,” Greyson said to me.
“No, Greyson.” I grinned. “This was much, much better.”
She knew I used her. She knew everything. This was guilt free, something I didn’t even think to achieve.
I didn’t want Klarissa.
She’d chosen to steal a condom and play God herself.
She played the game and lost.
She was never meant to be my wife.
Eleven fifty-eight p.m…Klarissa’s time of death. Ivy’s time of rebirth.
“She’s cold, sir,” Greyson said, partially terrified, partially impressed.
“Wrong again,” I replied. She was a Callahan and like all Callahans... “She’s ruthless.”
FIFTEEN
“The road to hell was paved with the bones of men who did not know when to quit fighting.”
~ Paulette Jiles