She stared up at him fiercely, her heart pounding, her nerves strung tight. Silently, she dared him to do it. As he had in the past. His face twisted in fury, his swollen eye making him look like the madman he was.
“I would have died that night if it wasn’t for Oliver and his conscience. He told me. Let me in on the secret. Explained what was going to happen. Begged me to leave town.”
“But you didn’t.”
“You know me, Shannon, I don’t run.” He sneered. “I get even. It was simple really. Neville was about my size. He didn’t suspect a thing.”
“Neville?” she whispered, bracing for the truth.
“The reason no one knew that I survived that night is because I became Neville. I abducted him, interrogated him and found out that his crazy twin was telling the truth. Then I traded places with him, wearing his stupid disguise and arriving at the meeting in the woods to find out that it was true. All of your brothers were planning to kill me. They had this big show, and the leader, Shea, according to Neville, though no one was supposed to know, mapped it out. They all vowed to murder Ryan Carlyle that night, you get it?” he demanded, still circling, his rage emanating from him, the smell of gasoline nauseating. “I just beat them to it. I left my wallet with Neville. Buried it out of range of the fire but close enough to find. I figured Neville’s body would be burned beyond recognition. Lucky for me, your family wanted to keep some secrets themselves. They identified Neville’s remains as mine.”
“They wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t lie about Neville.”
“Yeah? Maybe they didn’t know for sure. But nobody wanted to look at dear, old Neville’s dead body too closely. No autopsy. No DNA testing. Just identify it as Ryan Carlyle and everybody leaves happy.”
Shannon wouldn’t believe it. She tried to close her ears, think only of escape.
“That’s when this happened,” he jerked a thumb at his back. “I tripped getting away, and slid into the fire myself. But I managed to get out. Neville didn’t.”
Shannon shrank away from both the real vision of Ryan’s scars and the mental vision of Neville’s burning death.
“Had to treat it myself…But it’s been a good reminder. It’s kept me focused. Helped me never forget that I had to return. Payback time.”
Shannon’s body jerked as she remembered Travis telling her about the bloody words scrawled in Blanche Johnson’s house.
Travis…
Please God keep him and Dani safe, away from this maniac.
Shannon’s insides shredded as she realized that it was because of her actions that they’d been put in danger.
“That’s right, wifey, payback time, for that bitch that gave me away and for you and your family. And mine…”
“Mary Beth?” Shannon whispered, realizing he must mean his cousin.
“Turncoat bitch. She was supposed to defend me! But your lawyer twisted her words around, confused her.” His nostrils flared. “She was always stupid.”
“So you killed her.”
“It was more than that,” he said, pleased with himself. “I wanted Robert to feel the pain, to know he was behind her death, that because of his womanizing, he wasn’t there to save his wife.” His eyes narrowed and he said smugly, “I think it worked, don’t you?”
Ryan glared at the woman, his prisoner, who had once been his whole life. She, like the others, was a traitor and deserved the fate he was about to mete out.
Everyone had turned on him. Especially this bitch seated on the chair, tied and restrained. She was scared; he could see it in her eyes, the way she watched him, but more than that she was defiant. As always. She’d never had the sense to cower from him, to let him have his way.
Stupid woman.
Worse yet, she was still beautiful. Heart-stoppingly so. He’d always loved her wild hair, her big eyes, her sexy smile. That smile had been his undoing.
He studied her. If he had the time, he’d fuck her first, remind her that he was her husband, leave her sore and aching, making certain she understood that he was the one in command. Afterward, while she was still panting and bruised, he’d kill her.
She was no better than the rest of them. Worse even. Hadn’t she vowed to love and obey him until “death do us part.” Well, baby, death was just about to do its thing. With one strike of a match, the gasoline would ignite and she would feel the pain he’d suffered, the heat of the fire, the terror of knowing she was going to be consumed by painful, angry flames…
Shannon had to keep twisting her head, watching him over her shoulder as he circled her. She pulled at her bonds when he wasn’t looking. Weren’t they moving? Wasn’t there the tiniest bit of slack? If she had enough time, worked with them, could she pull her hand through? That’s all she needed: one hand. Just enough of an edge to grab a weapon and kill him.
“Neville didn’t die in the fire,” Shannon reminded him through clenched teeth. “If it wasn’t you, it was someone else, because Neville was seen after the fire.” She was desperate to keep him talking and walking, distracted. She needed time to free herself.
“Correction,” Ryan said, holding up a finger. “Oliver, posing as Neville, was seen.”