“I don’t have my key,” she insisted, trying to dissuade him.
Steve laughed again, “You and I both know that I don’t need one. I’ll have us in there before you’ll be able to blink.”
“As in, you’re going to break into my home?” she challenged.
He shrugged, “What’s a little breaking and entering when murder is involved?” he teased. He was right, breaking into her place was going to make up the least of his charges if he got away with murdering her. But, once he tried to get into her house, the security system would notify both Slater and the local authorities. Slater had upgraded her system back when Beck was having issues with Knox’s crazy ex-assistant. She had come after Beck and Rainey, trying to get Knox’s attention. That was when she met Slater and he practically moved into her driveway to keep an eye on her. He was camping in his pick-up, and she wanted to ask him in, but she also didn’t want to give the kids the wrong idea of why she had a strange man in her house. She almost found it funny that they had ended up together anyway. She and Slater were just meant to be and now, she wasn’t ever going to see him again—not unless she stopped wallowing in her self-pity and got herself together. She needed to fight back if she stood any chance of seeing Slater and her kids again, and she needed that chance more than she needed her next breath.
“You’re awful quiet over there,” Steve taunted.
“Well, I am about to meet my demise. I thought some quiet introspection might be in order,” she lied. She was actually formulating a plan. Slater had once told her that if the security system was tripped, she’d have to hold out for just eight minutes. That was how long it typically took the local law enforcement to get to her house. Since she had already had trouble recently, with Steve showing up at her house claiming to be her husband, that might light a fire under the officers, and they might actually get there in less time. Regardless, she wasn’t sure she could do anything with that spare time unless she found a way to fight back. She’d need a weapon if she wanted any kind of fighting chance, and she knew just where to get it too. Slater had kept a gun duct-taped to the top of the cabinet under the sink. It was out of sight, but within reach, if they needed it. Rainey found it ironic that she complained to him that she didn’t want the gun there, but now, she was hoping that he’d left it there for her to grab. If she could find that gun, she’d stand a chance at getting out of that house alive and that was all she wanted, a chance.
* * *
It took almost five hours to reach her house and she wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad to see the place. It was time for her to put all her emotions aside and find a way to muster enough strength to fight Steve—if that was even possible. At the very least, she figured that Slater, and the kids would have gotten back to the cabin and found her missing since it had been dark for over an hour now. If that was the case, Slater would have feared the worse and sprung into action, having his team start looking for her. And now, Steve was about to trip his security system at her house when he tried to break in. That would mean that she’d just have to find enough strength to fight for eight minutes, tops, and then the cavalry would arrive. As far as plans went—it sucked, but at least she was going to do something besides roll over and take whatever Steve had planned for her. If she was going to die today, she’d at least go down fighting.
“We are going to take this nice and easy,” Steve said, poking the gun into her side to remind her that he was still in charge of this shitshow. “No sudden moves.”
“Got it,” she sassed. “Don’t do anything crazy, or you’ll kill me. But I was under the impression that you planned on killing me either way.”
His smile was mean. “Get out of the car,” he almost whispered. Rainey slid out of the car behind him, hopping out on the driver’s side. She wanted to run, to scream for help, but she also knew that her only hope at triggering the security alarm would be for Steve to try to break into her house. That was the only way for Slater and the local authorities to be notified and show up to save her.
“Get on the porch,” he insisted, giving her a little shove. “Don’t make a fucking move.” Steve pulled what looked like an old metal nail file out of his jacket pocket and looked around to make sure that they hadn’t garnered any extra attention. He shoved the pointy end into the lock and twisted it back and forth. It wasn’t about to just give, and the frustrated little growl that escaped his parted lips told Rainey that he knew it to be true too.
“Shit,” he grumbled. “I guess it’s plan B then,” he insisted. He picked up a rather large rock from her garden and threw it into the front window. Glass shattered around them, and Rainey was surprised at how easily the window broke.
“So much for tempered glass,” she muttered to herself.
“Yeah, I’d tell you to contact your builder after this is all over, but I’m not sure that it will matter much to you by then,” he taunted. She rolled her eyes at him as he pulled off his sweatshirt, rolled it around his arm and hand, and cleared off the glass fragments that remained around the window frame.
“You’re going in first,” he ordered. The window was in her kitchen and if she could get in fast enough, she might have time to grab the spare gun under the kitchen sink. If not, she’d just end up getting herself shot sooner than later. Honestly, she didn’t have anything to lose, so it was now or never.
He pushed the gun into her back. “You get any ideas, and I will fucking end you,” he threatened.
“Again, not much of a threat since you plan on doing that anyway, Steve,” she sassed. He practically shoved her through the window and Rainey cried out in pain when a shard of glass that was left behind cut her forearm open. As soon as she turned to find that Steve was climbing through the tight window opening, she took that as her cue to try to grab the gun. Rainey shot across the kitchen and pulled the cabinet under the sink open.
“You fucking bitch,” he shouted. He was half in and half out of the window and she smiled back at him when she realized that his hand with the gun in it was still outside of her house. She had seconds before he’d be able to push his body through the hole and that was going to be enough time. Rainey grabbed the duct tape that held the Glock in place and quickly pulled it down, the gun practically falling into her hand. She turned around to point it at Steve just as he worked his way into her kitchen.
“I told you that I’d kill you,” he reminded.
“And I told you that it’s not a threat if I know you’re going to do it. I have nothing to lose, she said, pointing her gun at him.”
“You ever fired one of those?” he asked. She had a few times, but she wouldn’t tell him that. “The safety is on,” he said. She was sure that it wasn’t, but she foolishly took her eyes off him to check the gun. That was when the shot rang out through her tiny kitchen and Rainey felt a piercing pain shoot through her upper left arm. She looked down to find blood starting to trickle from the wound and then looked back over to where Steve stood, holding his stomach. What the hell had happened?
Her hand, that was holding the gun, shook as she realized that the safety was off, as she thought, and in the midst of being shot, she fired her Glock, shooting Steve in the stomach. His faint laughter filled her kitchen as he slumped to the wood floor.
“Guess I underestimated you, Rainey,” he breathed. He coughed up some blood and spat it onto the floor. “You do know how to handle a gun.” That was the only thing he said to her as he exhaled his last breath. He was dead and she had shot him.
Rainey leaned back against the kitchen cabinet, carefully putting the gun that she was still holding onto the counter. “Shit,” she breathed, looking down at her arm that was now dripping blood onto the floor. She grabbed a couple of kitchen towels and yelped when she pressed them to her wound. If her calculations were correct, the sound of sirens getting closer meant that the calvary was just about to arrive and that was a good thing because she wasn’t going to last much longer before she passed out from either loss of blood, the pain, or both.
“Rainey,” Slater shouted, running in through the back door. “Rainey,” he yelled.
“In here,” she cried. “I’m in the kitchen and Steve is dead.” As soon as Slater found her, he carefully pulled her into his arms, and she willingly let him.
“I heard the gunshots and thought the worst. You okay?” he asked.
She shook her head, “No,” she sobbed. “He was going to kill me. He shot me in the arm, and I guess that was when I pulled the trigger. He said that he blamed Jack for the accident that killed everyone but him. He said Jack wasn’t following orders. That can’t be true, can it?” she asked.
“I don’t know, honey,” he said. “Right now, I need for you to try to stay calm so that I can get you to the hospital to have that arm looked at. We’ll need to wait here just a few more minutes for the cops to catch up with me.”