“Did you?”
“For all the good that it did. It was too late by then. I was already about to deliver. Alex told me that if I so much as breathed that I would fight him in court, he’d make my life torture. I wouldn’t have a chance to win with the team of lawyers Cahill Limited has at its disposal. They’d take everything from my past, all the mistakes I’d made, twist the facts around and make my life look worse than it was, throw it all in front of the court and prove that I was unfit to be a mother. By that time Conrad would be dead anyway and the money would be gone. The baby would be the biggest loser.” Kylie shook her head. “I can’t believe that I bought Alex’s bill of goods. You know, Alex even pointed out that this way, by giving my baby to Marla to raise, I would finally give my father something the old man had always wanted—a grandson. Is that convoluted thinking or what?” She felt the tears raining down her face. “I’d even convinced myself that I’d have other children, that I could give this baby up.”
“But you changed your mind.”
“Yes.” She looked up at him through the sheen of tears. “Oh yes. The minute I saw James in the hospital, the first time I heard him cry, I realized there was no amount of money that would keep me from him. I would take on the Cahill family and every lawyer they threw my way. I’d go into debt, do anything to keep James.” She saw the doubts in Nick’s eyes and knew all they had was lost. “Look, Nick, I don’t expect you to believe me.”
“I don’t.”
“Fine. You can damned well think anything you want, but that’s what happened.” Kylie couldn’t fight the tears of shame that washed down her face as she looked at her baby, her precious baby, sleeping, blissfully unaware of her pain as he cuddled in her arms. “I’m . . . I’m so . . . sorry,” she whispered to him now. Blinking rapidly, dashing away the hated tears with the back of hand, she said, “People have died . . . because of what I’ve done.” Her head ached as all the jagged little pieces of her life came together, reminding her of a time in her life she’d rather forget. She forced her chin upward and met the fury in Nick’s eyes with her own angry gaze. “I’m not the woman you thought I was. I’m not Marla.”
His smile curved cynically. “And that begs the question. Where the hell is she?”
“I don’t know,” she said, then rubbed her temple. “No . . . I heard Alex talking to her last night. I’m pretty sure it was her and he said something about her hiding out in the carriage house.”
Nick’s smile turned to ice. “At the ranch?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.” He pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
She wanted to ask, And what about us, but didn’t. It was over. She could see it in his eyes. “Yes. Let’s.” She crossed the floor and yanked open the door.
A man was waiting for her, a tall man with brown hair, sunglasses, a goatee and a gun with a silencer pointed straight at her heart.
She froze. “Who are—?”
“Marla,” he said in that same horrid voice she recognized from the hospital and again in her room. Die, bitch! Those were his words. “What the hell are you doing slumming around these parts?” he asked with a cold, ruthless smile.
“Who are you?” Nick demanded, but in a second he recognized the face. It had altered from the time they were kids, but his heart nearly stopped as he realized he was facing Montgomery Cahill. In a heartbeat Nick knew this man was the killer.
“What’s the matter, Cuz? See a ghost?” Monty asked.
Nick sprang.
“No!” Kylie cried, clutching her baby.
Monty pulled the trigger.
Chapter Twenty
Kylie screamed.
The baby wailed.
Nick went down in a heap.
Blood oozed from his stomach.
“You bastard!” Kylie fell down beside Nick, felt for a pulse. “Nick, Nick, please—”
“He’s dead.”
“No . . . I can’t believe.”
“Want me to put another slug in him just to make sure?”
Still holding the baby, she sprang to her feet and lunged at Monty. He sidestepped and leveled his gun at her child.