“My heart’s breaking.”
“Hold on,” George said, “I gotta fill her in on this.” George stepped over Harden’s body and approached Kerri and Angela. “You know Mark had all those gambling debts; that’s what brought the mafia out—”
“Hey!” Angela spat out.
“Sorry, um, y’know that thing of theirs. Anyway, I was his business manager all those years; I was the one who settled the debt between him and them to begin with.”
Angela said, “You were the one who hooked him up with the poker games to begin with too.” She turned to Kerri with a little smile and a nasty wink. “Not the first time either. He’s made us a lot of money, this one.” She looked over at George, eyes combing him up and down. “No so much lately though.”
“What about the Steele fortune once these two are gone?”
Angela had to shrug to admit that George had a good point.
Kerri said to George, “All that bitching about the billboards, Big Pharma…”
George chuckled with a satisfied nod.
“He was the perfect plant,” Angela said. “Really a genius with the books too.” Angela turned to George. “You have those papers we need to transfer the funds?”
“All you gotta do is sign ’em. They’re in the car, with my trusty little zapper. I’ll go get ’em.”
Sal said, “I’ll go witchas.”
George stood for a moment to consider, his smile melting away from his face. A tense silence passed before Angela said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Move it! I wanna get rid of these two ASAP!”
George hesitated, but Sal shrugged at George, and he had little choice but to turn and walk with Sal toward the door. The door clicked open, a long silence passing. The gun’s silencer cut through that ominous quiet before a car door slammed shut.
Angela looked at Kerri with a hungry smile. “Y’know, you are kinda hawt, all tied up like that. I always thought, I dunno, you and me sometime, y’know? But it’s too late f’ that.” Sal entered, carrying only George’s set of car keys. “You dummy, where are the papers and the stun gun?”
Sal thought about it, then said, “Oh, right, sorry,” before turning to scurry back out the door.
Angela shook her head and turned back to Kerri. “Men, am I right?” But she glanced back at Harden, tall and athletic, muscular legs tied together, broad shoulders pulled back by his bound wrists behind him. “Look who I’m talkin’ to ova here. You struck the mother load, baby, I gotta say. All this and that money too, mmmmm-mmmm.”
Sal came back into the house, still empty-handed. “Can’t find ’em, Mrs. B.”
Angela sighed her frustration.
“Check the back seat on the floor.”
Sal stood with a dumbfounded expression before finally saying, “I’ll check again.”
“Santa madre di Dio,” Angela said in Italian. “Gimme the keys.” He extended them and she grabbed them.
“It’s the green one, with the—”
“I know what he drives, you moron. I’ll get the stuff.” She glanced down at Harden before giving him a swift kick in the head. Kerri broke out in a sympathetic sob, but Carlo just jammed that gun farther into her neck, making her jaw close and her tongue press up against the roof of her mouth. “This one’s out. Hope he’s still alive; we gotta have pool water in those lungs. Untie him, strip him, take him out back, and throw him into the pool. I’ll take care of Goldie Locks when I get back. It’ll look like they drowned skinny-dipping.”
Kerri’s blood ran cold in her veins, skin numb, tears rolling down her cheeks. She’d searched the room and her imagination for any way of escape, anything to fight back with, but those zip-ties were strong, and without the use of her arms and legs, she was defenseless.
And soon enough, she’d be dead.
“They’ll know it wasn’t an accident”—Kerri said—“the marks on our wrists and ankles.”
“So maybe you were into some kinky shit; who knows? I read your script, Kerri, I was in your stupid movie! I know how you think—what turns you on. Somebody pokes around, I’ll bet something like that turns up.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Kerri said.
But Angela just turned with a confident and cocky brow. “Sweetie, my only outside connection is dead, and we’ll make sure you two are the prime suspects. Some people already think you killed Carl; this’ll only confirm that theory.”
“But you did,” Kerri said.
“Of course. And after you and the big man take a drink, Britany Stevens just…disappears. Maybe they’ll take her for another of your victims; who knows? I’d rather she not be thought of as a suspect, of course; that’d be a lot easier for me. But that bitch don’t mean any more to me than you do. And the cops, the feds, if they go looking for her; what should I care? They’ll be looking for Britany Stevens, not Angela la Blanca. I’ll be able to walk into any police station in the country with my head held high. Maybe I will, just for the fun of it. Hope you’re watching from where ever you wind up.” Angela pressed that piece of tape back over Kerri’s mouth then turned to cross the room and enter the hall. “Make it quick, boys.”
Carlo left Kerri on the couch, struggling fruitlessly while he and Sal converged on Harden’s lifeless body.
“You think this guy’s really out, Sallie? He’s pretty big.”
“You saw her kick him, not even a flinch. Like the boss lady told ’ja’s, he could even be dead. Let’s get this over with before she gets back.” They flipped Harden onto his stomach. Each man withdrew a stiletto knife, flipped it open, and cut the zip-ties from his wrists and ankles.
Kerri watched closely, hopefully, waiting for Harden to spring to life, to prove that he was just playing possum. That was a vicious kick, Kerri had to admit, and his head’s already bruised. But if anybody has the strength to resist, the discipline to keep playing dead, it’s my Harden.
Nothing.
Carlo and Sal flipped him over and Carlo reached for Harden’s belt.
Harden sprang to life, bringing his right knee up and into Carlo’s gut. Harden’s knees and legs kicked up while he rolled back, flipping Carlo up in front of him and then over his head to topple straight into Sal. The men went rolling into the wall but were quick to recover.
They weren’t quick enough.
Harden grabbed Carlo by the jacket of his tracksuit and lifted him to his feet. He pulled his right fist back and then slammed it into Carlo’s face. His head snapped back, his legs and arms went limp. Harden took a few steps toward the sliding glass door. With a loud growl, Harden threw Carlo into the glass door, head first. The glass door shattered and Carlo went toppling through it, staggering a few steps before falling to the concrete, just a few feet from the swimming pool.
Kerri tried to scream out a warning that Sal was already pulling out a handgun and pointing it at Harden’s torso—the biggest and most likely target.
But Harden was still only a few paces away. He thrust a roundhouse karate kick that connected swiftly. The back of Harden’s foot knocked the gun out of Sal’s hand and sent it flying, banging into the wall and bouncing back, sliding across the floor and under the big entertainment center cabinet.
Sal scrambled to his feet, taking his own martial arts stance, legs splayed, arms loose and ready. Harden launched a series of blows, but Sal deflected them. Sal even began an advance of his own, pushing Harden back toward the center of the room, and perhaps toward defeat.
Kerri looked around, searching for some way to get free. She found it quickly: the shards of broken glass from the shattered door stuck out from the door frame, remnants of what had been a solid pane of glass. Kerri wriggled her way across the couch and then clumsily over the side and onto the floor, inching her way toward the door while Harden and Sal kept exchanging blows. It seemed as if Harden was getting the upper hand, but there was no time to watch.
Kerri knew she had to get free, and that meant carefully lining up that plastic cable and digging into her skin, to f
ind that space between her wrists, where the glass could cut through the zip-tie. Her first try sent pain shooting up her arm—a miss. She tried again, heart racing, the love of her life fighting for his own, and hers.
Kerri found the sweet spot—the pressure against the glass edge without the pain of glass-on-skin. She pushed downward against the glass, but the plastic didn’t give. She pushed even harder, but still had no luck.
Carlo was beginning to stir in the backyard, slowly pushing himself up from the concrete. Kerri sawed the zip-tie back and forth over the shard of broken glass. Carlo looked up and saw her exceedingly close to him, arms and legs still bound.
Easy prey.
Harden was in no position to help her, his own adversary showing amazing speed and power, virtually a match for Harden and with a mean streak that could still give him the edge.
Kerri kept sawing with Carlo crawling toward her, snarling, eyes fixed on her. He rasped, “Let’s dance, sweetheart.”
Kerri’s arms quickly fell forward, the broken zip-tie falling away. Her hands were numb and arms tingling, but she could feel the increased strength she’d gathered from her time with Harden. Kerri knew that she’d never give up, just like Harden never would. And they’d never give up on each other.
Carlo reached through the huge hole in the glass door and grabbed Kerri’s hip just as she tried to roll away. He spun her toward him just as his head passed over the shard of broken glass.
Kerri screamed in terror as her hands found the back of Carlo’s head.
Carlo yelled, “No!” but it was too late for either of them. She leaned forward, forcing Carlo’s neck into the glass, turning his scream into a hideous gurgle and the wet crunch of sliced flesh, a sheet of blood pouring down the bottom of the shattered glass door.
* * *
Kerri turned away, unable to look at it any longer. She clawed her way back onto the couch, sobbing at the horror she had been forced to do, at the chaos that her life had become. And with Harden and Sal still fighting in the living room, her fate was still up in the air, and she had no way of knowing where it would land.
Harden was blow for blow with Sal until Harden suddenly regained his strength and spun Sal around by his shoulders and forcefully bashed his head against the corner of a cabinet where he went down like a house of cards in one foul thud. The crushing sound was interrupted by Angela.
* * *
Angela’s voice preceded her with the opening and closing of the door. “Finally found it. Asshole hid it under the…” But by that time she knew what was going on, and while still in the hallway, she shouted in Italian, “Che cazzo sta succedendo qui?”
Kerri looked around for something to cut the zip-ties around her ankles. She knew there was a knife in dead Carlo’s pants pockets, but she was loathe to go back. Meanwhile, Angela was visible in the hallway, scrambling to get past Sal. “Get outta the way, you moron!”
Finally, with a crackle and a scream, Carlo went down and hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. Harden looked over in shock and reached for Angela’s arm, but she was too quick and hit him with another shot of that crippling electricity.
Harden went down again.
Angela surveyed the room: Carlo face down and dead, nearly decapitated, Harden jittering on the floor, insensate. And that left Kerri, on the couch, with only her arms free. She hadn’t even pulled the tape off her mouth, and by the time Angela charged her with that stun gun, Kerri knew there was no more time.
Chapter 21
Angela lunged at Kerri, who had just enough time to lock eyes on her, a second or two enough to see her coming. Kerri raised her hands up and caught Angela on the wrists. Kerri was strong, trained by a master, and she was focusing all her strength on her arms as she had focused it elsewhere so many times before.
Angela loomed above Kerri, a vicious grin on her face, eyes burning with otherworldly hatred. “I’m gonna kill you, you dumb bitch! First I’m gonna fry your brains, then we’re really gonna have some fun…all three of us!”
Kerri’s arms began to give, the fatigue of bondage having weakened them. And Angela seemed to read it, to feel it, and to answer it with even more weight and increased momentum. Angela’s right hand lowered that stun gun closer and closer to Kerri’s forehead. Angela’s thumb hit the button, the little metal prongs creating a flickering blue bolt of electricity, that hideous clicking getting louder as the thing got closer and then closer still. Kerri knew if it reached her, she and Harden would both be dead.
Closer…closer…
No, Kerri told herself, remember what Harden said! I control my body—me and nobody else. I’m in control!
Kerri screamed out a battle cry and kicked her knees, pinned together, into Angela’s gut. The unseen move stunned Angela, but it failed to throw her. Kerri used that split-second to turn the tables and roll Angela and herself off the couch. Now Kerri was on top. She let go of Angela’s other wrist and locked that hand over Angela’s hand locked on the stun gun, including its trigger. In one swift motion, Kerri pushed Angela’s arm down and squeezed her hand. The stun gun hit Angela in the forehead and clicked its terrible refrain, a burst of blue light digging into her temple from each of the two metal prongs.
Angela spat out a hideous sound, more animal than human, her throat both contracting and expelling at the same time.
Kerri rolled off Angela and toward the center of the room, finally able to pull the tape off her mouth and gasp for breath. Angela was flapping helplessly on the floor, eyes rolled up into the back of her head, mouth open, a string of drool hanging out of the corner of her mouth.
Kerri turned her attention to Harden, lying on the floor not far from her. She clawed her way over to him, ankles still tied. She found him and pulled herself up onto his chest.
“Harden! Harden, it’s me, it’s Kerri…your wife, Harden, it’s me, your wife!”
Harden lay there, body still jittery from the electrical charge. But his head was swollen and bleeding, and his eyelids were fluttering, a sad gurgling rose out of his mouth.
“Harden, tell me you can hear me; tell me you’re going to be all right!” No answer, and Kerri grabbed his hand, fingers clasping his deadened digits—no response. Kerri squeezed his hand tighter, his own fingers straight and rubbery—lifeless.
Dying.
Tears pushed out of Kerri’s eyes, her lips quivering to imagine the worst, heart and soul scrambling to deny it.
“I know you’re going to come back to me, Harden; I know it. You can’t help it, you can’t stay away from me, not even…not even death will separate us.”
Harden lay there, a fish dying on the deck of the boat of life. Kerri’s breath panted and all her strength focused on controlling her breath, on fighting back the sobs that lurked just beneath the surface.
* * *
Kerri’s heart raced as she tried catching her breath. Eyes blurry with her tears. “You remember your oath to me, don’t you? I know you do! I do; I’ve repeated it to myself every day since we married, my love, my own and only true love.”
Harden’s hand was motionless in hers, his stare vacant, the light in his eyes fading. Through her sniffling, lungs spasming, and lips bending in a tortured frown, Kerri’s voice was cracked and quivering.
“‘Before I met you, I thought I had everything. But it was all empty, all illusion. You are my only truth, Kerri Abernathy, and you will remain that. I think of you when I wake and I dream of you when I sleep.’”
Harden lay there, body still trembling with his fading struggle to remain where he no longer belonged.
‘“I am your servant,’” Kerri recited from memory, “‘your honor guard, your knight errant, and I thank the heavens that I have that honor, that privilege, that delight. I will never be apart from you; no matter where we are or where we go, I will forever be by your side—that quiet presence to comfort you and love you, through all things and in all ways.’”
Harden still offered no answer. Kerri gasped, knowing she was losing h
im. She pressed his lifeless hand against her cheek, tears pouring out of her eyes, salty trails burning her cheeks and rolling down his fingers, baptizing them in the rebirth of her ceaseless sorrow.
No, Kerri told herself, I won’t lose him like this, I won’t let him just slip away!
Kerri squeezed Harden’s hand even tighter, her own frown becoming more resolved than desperate. “You listen to me, Harden Steele. You’re not gonna fade on me now, you understand me? You wanna do it? You wanna fade away, give it all up? No, Harden, you’re gonna do what I tell you to do, you understand me? You understand me?”
Harden offered no response.
Kerri said louder, “Don’t you die, Harden, you hear me? Don’t you do it, don’t you dare do it! You’re not gonna do it ’til I say so, you got that? You hear me? You do it when I tell you! You hear me? You hear me?”
Harden’s fingers began to curl, little twitches followed by rolls of those numbed digits, slowly reaching down to clasp around Kerri’s own.
“Yes,” Kerri said, her voice breaking with relief and exhausted gratitude. “That’s right, Harden, that’s right. You’re gonna be all right, Harden, you hear me?” His fingers gripped tighter. But she commanded him even louder, stronger than she’d ever been before. “Say it! Say it, damn you!”
Harden’s voice creaked and croaked, his eyes glancing around and finally finding Kerri, looking down on her. His lips quivered and his jaw struggled to open. In a tearful whisper, Kerri repeated, “Say it…say it…”
Harden pushed out, “I-I’ll be…all…all right.”
Kerri broke out in a gush of tears, falling down over his chest, wrapping her arms around him, and squeezing him tighter than she’d ever done before. They’d come so close to losing each other, losing everything they’d won and everything they’d ever enjoy together. But love and faith and perseverance had triumphed, and Kerri believed for the first time in a long time that she would be okay, that they would be okay, that everything would finally be as it was meant to be; nothing would ever challenge their love or their lives again.
Billionaire Benefactor Daddy: A Single Dad & Virgin Romance Boxset Page 78
