“Perry, it’s time. I’ve had my fun.”
I look at Perry and shake my head, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. “Please, Perry, don’t…”
“Sheila, baby?—”
“Oh, give me the fucking gun. I’ll do it!” she snaps and gets up, then walks over to the window with a frustrated huff.
Perry tries to stop her, but she boldly pushes him aside and reaches for the gun.
I struggle against the rope. It’s wound tightly around my wrists.
I can’t get away.
She’s going to kill me.
30
WILLOW
Istare down the barrel of that gun.
It feels cold, impersonal, as if fate itself is trying to tell me it wasn’t supposed to end this way.
“Sheila, honey, come on,” Perry says, trying to reason with her. To my astonishment, he has more of a conscience than she ever will. “She’s pregnant. There’s a kid in there.”
“Another heir to the Morgan fortune,” Sheila replies, gripping the gun fiercely as she shakes her head and glares at me with boundless hate. “I refuse to share. I didn’t put up with Bill Morgan’s pasty old ass for all these years just to get a smaller slice of the fucking pie.”
Ah, there she is, the girl from the Bronx with questionable morals and nothing but a pretty face to show for it, the monster with red hair and green eyes that few ever see, the real Sheila.
“Please,” I say, trying one more time, my body going limp as it prepares for the cold embrace of death. I don’t think Perryis mentally strong enough to take over, to stop her. “Please, Sheila, my baby…”
“Fuck you and your?—”
The front door blasts wide open with a terrifying bang. The noise startles Sheila so badly that she drops the gun on the floor and screams in genuine shock. Perry whirls around just in time to see the Morgan brothers as they storm into the room. Everything happens so fast.
All I can do is watch it unfold, one second at a time.
Cole lunges at Perry, just as he’s about to retrieve the gun. He knocks Perry down and starts landing punches—hard blows to his head and body. I hear bones cracking and Perry’s grunts of pain.
“Don’t move!” Toby snarls as Sheila tries to flee.
Asher reaches her in a matter of seconds and secures a zip-tie around her bony wrists, then rushes to where I’m still bound and helpless and crying from genuine relief. My entire body feels like it’s made of jelly.
“We’re here, baby, we’re here,” Asher says.
Toby helps Cole turn Perry over, then they tie him up, as well.
I hear the sirens wail as they race up the road, disturbing the entire neighborhood. I see the squad car lights flashing, red and blue, before I look up at my men. The ropes fall from my wrists, and I throw my arms around Asher.
“Oh God, I thought this was it,” I cry over and over in Asher’s embrace.
“You’re safe, baby,”he says.
Cole takes me in his arms, showering me with deep, wet kisses, while Toby gives me a quick once-over.
“Are you okay, my love?” Cole asks.
I nod enthusiastically. “By some miracle, yes. Oh God.”
