“Too late, Kylie.” His smile was cold as ice, the shotgun in his hand deadly as he lifted it to his shoulder and sighted on Kylie. “The way I see this scenario is your lover, Montgomery over there, and you tried to steal our son, to kidnap and ransom him. Everything went wrong. Montgomery tried to double-cross you and you killed each other.”
Kylie turned her gun toward Alex, who laughed.
“That’s it, go ahead, try to shoot me or Marla . . . it’ll only add credence to my story that I had to kill you to protect my home and family. And remember, the baby might get hurt with all the bullets flying. I don’t think that’s a chance you’re willing to take.”
“Why did you do all this?” she asked, anger and fear raging inside her.
“Did you ever really think I’d give this baby to you?”
Marla asked.
“I figured you were in on this.”
“From the start. You’ve always been a thorn in my side. It killed me to have to ask you to conceive my baby.” Marla had cut her hair to the same length as Kylie’s and they looked enough alike that few people could tell them apart. It was all so sick.
“How did you know where I was going that night . . . after we had the fight in the foyer?” Kylie asked, trying to stall, to come up with some plan to wrest her child from Marla and break free.
“Don’t you think we knew you’d take the bait and drive down to Monterey?” Alex asked. “Jesus, we set that up, too. I made it look like Marla called me. I knew you’d figure it out, that you over heard the conversation—at least half of it—and that you’d call the automatic callback service and find out that the call had been from the bed and breakfast.”
“But you weren’t there, were you?” Kylie asked, her gaze turning to Marla, as she remembered the call.
“No. Montgomery did the honors. The minute you left Alex called him back and he took up his position on Highway 17.” Marla’s eyes gleamed as if she’d just won a very important game.
“But I could have taken another route,” Kylie argued.
“But we followed,” Marla said. “Alex, James and me. In a rental car. We followed you down to Haight Street and saw you get into Pam’s Mercedes. From there it was easy—just call Monty and get him into position. Pam was a bonus. We were going to have to deal with her, too, since she was your attorney of choice and was not only going to help you in court but write the damned book. Even though you didn’t die in the accident, at least we got her out of the way.”
Kylie’s fingers curled on the bloody bedspread. Was there no way out of this mess. Think, Kylie. Think! “Why would Monty want to kill me?”
“Not you,” Alex said. “Marla. He wanted to kill Marla for betraying him and he needed money. Monty had himself a pretty expensive cocaine habit.”
Kylie dropped her head in her hands, but again, she knew she couldn’t give up, couldn’t let them win. She was thinking fast, trying to come up with a way to snatch the gun from Alex and still save James. “And Cherise was in on this?”
“She had no idea,” Marla said with a mirthless laugh. “But then she always was a fool. Just like her stupid brother. I used him, you know. When Alex wasn’t interested in me, I used Monty to get back at him.”
“You really can be a bitch,” Alex said, but there was a note of fondness and pride in his voice that Kylie found disgusting. They were all sick. Twisted. “Okay, now, we’ve got to use the .38.” He kicked the gun toward Marla. “You do it. Go stand by Monty and shoot at her.”
Marla sucked in her breath. “I can’t.”
“You have to.”
“No, Alex. I . . . I can’t pull the trigger.”
“For Christ’s sake!”
He stepped forward. A muffled shot reported. Alex’s body jerked wildly and he fell to the floor, dropping the shotgun.
“No!” Marla screamed. Monty, one hand holding his gun, fell back again, his eyes closing.
Kylie lunged for the shotgun, grabbed it and rolled to her feet. She trained it on Monty but the man didn’t move. She crossed the room and kicked the pistol into the bathroom, then with her weapon still trained on Monty, she backed up, nearly tripping over Marla, who had fallen to the floor and was huddled over her husband. “Give me my son,” Kylie ordered.
“But Alex, he’s wounded.”
“Let him bleed to death. Give me my son!” Kylie was standing over Marla and she reached down and yanked James from the other woman’s arms. Marla was sobbing now, crying and cradling Alex’s head on her lap while blood gurgled over his lips. The baby cried fitfully, but Kylie held him fast.
“This is all your fault!” Marla screamed up at her.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Kylie said. “It’s all yours.”