"Where's Jack?"
Ellie could see that Nita was surprised that she knew he was there. She recovered quickly as she waved the gun around. "We decided to fly back tonight, so I was coming back to pack. Can't say that I'm surprised to see you here, although I never thought you had the backbone to actually confront a problem."
"You blew up my car. You encouraged me off the grid. Why? Why are you doing this?"
"I just needed a little time without you up my ass with one problem or another so I could get all the paperwork done for you to sign."
"And you thought I'd just sign it? You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you?"
Nita pivoted so fast that no one had a chance to move. A loud bang echoed through the room, and Ellie watched in horror as Colton fell to the floor. Blood from the gunshot wound near his shoulder stained his shirt as he looked up.
Ellie screamed as she dropped to the floor. She used Colton's hand to cover the wound. "Here. Keep pressure on it until I can get help." Small sobs escaped as she smoothed his hair. "Don't you die on me."
"Get up."
Ellie looked up at Nita. "Call for help."
"Not until you sign the papers. All of them."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ellie screamed as she rose to her feet. "You just shot a man in cold blood."
Nita launched the satchel at Ellie, who caught in and slammed it to the table. "Sign the damned documents."
Ellie dug for the pen and scribbled her name on every paper that Nita shoved in front of her. When she finished, Nita grinned. "See. Was that so hard?"
"That is all stuff, you ignorant bitch. Colton is not stuff. If he dies, none of this is going to matter to you."
"Have you ever heard of a murder-suicide?"
Ellie missed her meaning. "What are you talking about?"
"Your room here at the resort. You've been feeling suicidal and got pushed over the deep end when you were fired. Cowboy here was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, so you killed him before you killed yourself." Nita nudged Colton with her foot. “I should have known you weren’t legit when you turned me down.”
Ellie could see the pain on Colton's face, both from the gunshot and from the similarity of this situation to the one his father had been in. Anger clouded her vision as she turned on Nita.
"Are you going to shoot me? Are you that pathetic that you can't do anything on your own so you have to be me? Doesn't that weigh heavy on your soul, to know that I'm that much better than you are, by your actions?"
"Shut up, Ellie. Nothing you say means shit around here." Nita raised the gun. "Can you tilt your head just a little more so I can get the trajectory right? I don't want there to be any questions when I happen to find your bodies later tonight."
Ellie stared down the barrel of the gun, but it was the wild look in Nita's eyes that captivated her. She was actually going to do it, and for the first time, Ellie felt like she was going to die. “Nita. It’s not fair.”
“The hell with fair. Life isn’t fair but you were too busy sucking on your silver spoon to see that.”
“Silver spoon? I earned every damned thing I have.” But aside from her physical possessions, she had just found love and somewhere she belonged and a trusted friend was going to steal it from her. She tried to look down at Colton, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Nita.
"Goodbye, Ellie."
Another blast echoed through the room that made Ellie flinch, but this time it wasn't the gun. The reverberation mingled with the sound of broken glass. Without a sound, Nita collapsed to the floor. Ellie's head whipped around to see Vinia shifting from dragon form to her human form on the balcony outside the window. She picked her way through the glass to walk across the room.
"I was almost too late, but no one is going to take my son out the way I lost my Jeremiah."
"You hit her with your fire?"
Vinia gave a curt nod. "I did. She's dead. No one will be able to figure out how other than maybe a massive heart attack." She knelt next to Colton. "Are you going to lay there all day?"
He grinned and stood up. Ellie shook her head. "You're fine?"
He showed her the wound that was almost healed. "I'm a dragon. We heal very quickly. No shot to the shoulder is going to kill me."
