None of those past events compared to the fear that gripped my throat at the sight of my ex-husband pressing a loaded pistol to my best friend’s temple while he sneered at me.
Tom looked terrible standing in front of me. His clothes were filthy like he hadn’t changed out of them for days. I could smell his body odor from where he stood across from me. His eyes were bloodshot, making him look strung out. His nose and under his eyes were still black and blue from when Reid had broken his nose.
Jill looked at me with wild eyes. “Kate, get the fuck out of here.” Her begging plea turned into a whimper when Tom pushed the pistol harder into the side of her head. I shook my head. She should know better than that. I wasn’t about to leave her behind.
My phone rang, startling me. My heart felt like it would thunder out of my chest. I saw Detective Santos’s name flashing across the screen. My hands shook as I tried to reach for it.
Tom kept his death grip on Jill, bruising her arm, as he pointed the gun my way. “Not so fast, sugar. Take your phone and throw it on the floor, shatter it. You won’t need it where we’re going.”
I did as he asked but not before swiping my thumb across the screen, answering the call. Hoping I wouldn’t break it completely, I threw it to the floor. If it still worked, then Damon might be able to hear what was happening.
Looking back up at Tom, I raised my hands in front of me. “Whatever you want, Tom. I’m sure we can work something out. You don’t need to keep Jill here,” I said in hopes that he would let her go.
He let out a humorless laugh as he brought the gun back to Jill’s head. “Now why would I do that, Kate? She just ensures that you do as I tell you until I get what I want.”
Jill gritted her teeth in pain as Tom tightened his grip. “How did you even get in here?”
I could tell by the way she cringed that his breath must have been rancid when he turned his face toward her to speak.
“I’ve been lingering in your bathroom since those cops left on the fake trail I led them on.” He looked back at me now. “I have been trying to get you alone for days now, my wife. I figured that the cops were probably trying to track my credit card purchases. So, I bided my time. I watched you from afar. Never getting close enough to tip off those guys you have been fucking. You really have whored yourself, sugar. You’ve turned into such a slut since we separated, haven’t you?” He scrunched up his nose like he was disgusted.
I didn’t dignify him with an answer. Maybe his words would have hurt me before I met Reid and Heath, but not now. I didn’t give a shit what people thought of me anymore, especially not him.
“I learned your schedule. I even watched your men. I figured the best time to make my move would be before the blond one came to pick you up in the evenings. So I figured out a way to stall him. His coworker found his tires slashed today, making him call in late, causing blondie to be late picking you up.”
He tapped the gun to his temple before returning it to Jill’s temple. I could plainly see that he had gone completely insane.
“I made a visit to a local motel. It wasn’t hard to book a room and pay off the clerk to lie for me. If you give someone enough money, it’s easy to get them to say whatever you want them to. That worked to lure your detail away and now here I am.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from leaking down my cheeks as he finished his story. “I don’t understand what you want from me, Tom. I thought you were done with me, so I left. Just tell me what you want.” I sobbed, my mind racing, trying to find a way out of this situation.
He practically growled at me. “I want my life back, you stupid bitch!”
I flinched as if he struck me.
“After you left, everything started to fall apart. I lost my business and that cunt left me right after I paid to have her tits done. I took a second loan out against the dealership for that surgery and then she just took off!” He was visibly shaking with rage, and I feared that his finger would pull that trigger by accident, taking my best friend away from me permanently.
I tried to step forward, getting closer. I needed to get that gun away from him. “Tom, you can’t think that any of what has happened is my fault.” I tried to make him see reason.
He laughed again and twirled the barrel of his gun in Jill’s hair. Tears were leaking from her eyes now.
“You know, I was okay when you left. I even started throwing your shit out immediately after you moved out. Vivian and I had a blast burning your shit and fucking in our bed. And then I started going through some of your important papers. Do you know what I found, Kate?”
I felt my eyes widen, and I started to shake with realization. I just figured out what he had wanted from me this whole time. How could I have been so oblivious?
He smiled cruelly at me. “Were you ever going to tell me that daddy left you $500,000 when he died?” He spat in my direction. “You got that money when we were still married. The way I see it, at least half that money is mine. I find it funny that he made sure to put it in an account that I couldn’t even access. That old fucker never did like me, the feeling was mutual of course. And it only took one call to our old attorney to figure out that you never updated your will, sugar.”
All the puzzle pieces fit together now. “So you’re doing all of this for money? How are you planning on using the money when you’re stuck in federal prison on charges of fraud, not to mention murder?” I took another step forward.
Before I could make it far, he stopped me by pointing the gun in my direction again. “That’s for me to know and for you to, well, you won’t be finding out because you’ll be dead.”
He leveled the gun at me, and I sucked my breath in, bracing myself for what was to come next.
Before he could pull the trigger, Jill jumped into action. She pulled her arm forward and brought her fist down right on my ex’s manhood.
The sudden attack on his favorite body part caused him to lose his grip on her. She pushed him as he doubled over in pain. She ran in my direction, screaming at me to run. She slammed into me, pushing me toward the door. It seemed so far away at that moment. I ran as fast as my legs would take me.
My hand was almost on the handle as my world exploded in gunfire. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening as two shots were fired and then everything got quiet.