“Why did you ask me to marry Ashley, Pamela?” Chad asks, out of the blue, and I guess it’s a tactic to stall them. “I was thinking about it lately. I thought it was so I could save her the same way your marriage and pregnancy saved you, but that can’t be it now.”
Mom laughs. “I just needed to distract you while my lover’s men took Ashley from the car. She had left Doug’s house far earlier than expected, and she was too close to the townhome. You were getting ready to go for a run. Of course, I didn’t care if you discovered it and we had to kill you, but my daughter would have cared. We had a plan, and it couldn’t be thwarted.”
“You killed your own brother,” I say. “James’s blood is on your hands. Julia’s too,” I add, remembering her snide comments about my cousin.
“That little slut had it coming!” Mom’s voice elevates to near hysteria, and I’ve clearly struck a nerve.
“Pamela. You know Julia was my sacrifice and burden to bear.”
“Yes, my love. I know, but her filthy hands should never have been anywhere near you.”
“She’s burning in the fiery pits of hell,” Rhett says.
“You two are fucking nuts,” Bree says. “If anyone will be burning in hell, it’ll be you.”
“PC1!” Jase yells. “Shut your mouth and sit still. We have this covered.”
I’m not sure we do, but I appreciate him telling his sister to stop whatever she’s planning.
“Your tears at the graveside. They were for James, right?” I ask, wanting to distract Pamela as my fingers slowly creep toward my belt. If I can get to my knife and the guys can cause some kind of distraction, I can get Pamela away from me, stab her to distract her, and get the gun. “You already knew he was going to die, and you were mourning him, not my father.”
“James was one sick puppy, but I used his obsessive love for me to play him for years. It was so easy.” She laughs. “He was delighted when I killed Lucille, believing it proof that I loved him as much as he loved me. I only did it because that nosy bitch caught Rhett and I together. She was going to tell James and ruin everything we had been working toward.”
“James was an idiot,” Rhett agrees. “And we killed two birds with one stone. It was genius, my love, and further proof of how perfect you are for me. We even got control of Manford Media without any effort. James played right into our hands.”
“You’re a match made in hell,” I say as my fingers touch the edge of my belt.
Shouting trickles down the stairs from the main room, and it’s the perfect distraction. Ares nods, and it’s on. Jamming my elbow back violently into Pamela’s stomach, I duck down as Ares fires over my head at her. Rhett roars, and sounds of scuffling emerge from behind me as my fingers fumble with my belt. A hand grabs Ares’s ankle, and I scream as a barely alive Vincent tugs Ares to the ground. The gun flies out of Ares’s hand, and it all happens in slow motion as I watch Pamela straighten up, with fire in her eyes, and point the gun at my lover.
I don’t think. I just react, lunging at Mom and plunging the dagger into her neck before she can fire at Ares. My aim is true, hitting her carotid artery. Her eyes pop wide for a split second as her fingers loosen, and the gun slips from her hand. Blood drips down her neck and bubbles in her mouth as she crumples to the floor, the light leaving her eyes, and she’s dead the instant she hits the ground.
Bree screams as gunshots pepper the air, and I instinctively drop to the floor, my eyes meeting Knight’s. He keeps eye contact with me, silently conveying all is okay as he nods slowly.
Deadly silence swirls through the air for a couple of beats until my sperm donor shatters it.
“It doesn’t matter if you take me out,” he rasps in a weak voice as arms lift me up from behind.
Chad pulls me into his arms, dotting kisses all over my face as I stare at Rhett Carter bleeding out in a pool of blood, his chest riddled with bullet holes. For as long as I live, I will never forget the manic evil look in his eyes as he stares at Jase, crouched over him.
“My supporters will continue my work, and they will come for you when you least expect it.” He coughs out blood, his body jerking and spasming. “Sinners must be eliminated, and you are all going to die.”
ChapterFifty-Four
Ashley
“Thanks so much for your help,” Jase says, shaking Diesel’s hand. “We appreciate it a lot.” Turns out, Lo’s friend D is Diesel Calloway, the man in charge of VERO. We were recently informed Theo works with him, and Theo called Diesel when shit went down. The commotion we heard from upstairs was Diesel and his team arriving. Like he alluded to previously that day he ambushed Chad and me in Chad’s truck, there are Luminary ties with VERO, and with three Luminary leaders in the room, he didn’t hesitate to clean up this mess and help us to present it as a murder-suicide.
Already, the major news channels are running with the story we concocted: Rhett Carter, CEO of Carter Construction & Development is dead by suicide after murdering his married lover, Pamela Stewart, and her other lover, Vincent Fox, after discovering them in bed together.
Suicide is considered a grievous sin within the Luminary world, and we are hopeful this will confuse Carter’s supporters into inaction. We don’t know what plans, if any, he made in the event of his demise. Given how nonchalant he was about his death, we are hoping he didn’t have anything concrete in place. But we know he has supporters, and his final words were more than just a threat.
We hope our actions today have bought us time so we can clean house and weed out his followers before they put his plans into place. We expect a small percentage will become disillusioned and return fully to the fold. A further group will be torn, waiting to see what happens next. We expect we’ll be able to win most of those back. But the majority will not believe any evidence presented no matter how compelling it is. We guesstimate about twenty percent of Luminaries worldwide are fanatics who will remain loyal to Carter and his ideals. Not enough for us to worry they will take over, but it’s a sizable enough group to worry about retaliation and further planning in the future.
Which is why specialist task forces will work to identify these people, on an ongoing basis, and deal with them.
“You should go. You all look beat,” Diesel says. “We’ll finish up here.”
We sent the others away hours ago. Ares went with a subdued Lili in a chopper Jase organized to take them back to the Stewart castle. Victor and Baz were both awake when the HQ ambulances took them to the hospital for a thorough screening. At least they didn’t have too far to travel. Jocelyn went with Bree and their mother to the hospital. Eric was still unconscious when he was stretchered into an ambulance. The paramedics confirmed he has a pulse but it’s weak, and his condition is precarious.
