“She was just trying to do right by you. She gave you up to give you a better life.”
Michael narrowed his eyes. “You think I had a better life? My parents had me fucking committed as if I was crazy. I’ve been in and out of treatment facilities since the dog.”
“Crazy people kill dogs. You had blood on your hands, Michael.”
“I was trying to save it. I didn’t kill my dog, just like I haven’t hurt anyone else.”
“If not you, then who?”
“Me,” Danny said, stepping out of the shadows of the woods. He had his revolver pointed at Becca. “I told Michael, if he ever hurt our mother by wanting to leave, that I’d kill him.” Danny waved the gun from Becca toward Michael. “He didn’t care if he died, so I upped the ante. I told him I’d kill Betty and you. The dog was just to show how serious I was.”
“Why me?” Becca asked while slowly stepping back. “Michael wouldn’t have cared if you killed me.”
“He knows that he and you are connected, and when you first confided in me about seeing the killings, I told him. Why else do you think he’d care if you stayed alive? You were the only other person that could have stopped me.”
Bile rose in Becca’s throat. Anger coiled in her muscles. “You sick bastard.”
“You should have seen the look on Michael’s face when I told him that you were falling for me, and that I took yourvirginity. He would have killed me if he hadn’t been restrained that day.”
“Don’t hurt her,” Michael pleaded and held out his hand while inching closer to Becca. “She didn’t do anything to you.”
“It was you all along?” Becca asked, inching backward, trying to put as much distance between the gun and her as possible. Michael stood unmoving, as if he knew exactly how this might play out. He didn’t seem the least bit scared; he seemed almost relieved.
“You told me about your premonitions the same day Michael did. The same day the dog died. I knew you two freaks were linked. I just didn’t know how.”
“My sisters will hunt your ass down and kill you,” Becca threatened, moving backward until her back was pressed against the well, where Michael was standing. “Put down the gun.”
Becca slowly reached behind her back and put her palm over the butt of the gun. In an Old West stand-off, she didn’t have a chance. He’d fire his gun at one of them before she ever got off the first shot.
“This ends now.” Michael’s voice deepened in tone. “You can’t blackmail me anymore. Which one are you going to shoot? The woman you love or the brother you want to pin it on?”
“I don’t love her.” Danny gawked.
“I do,” Ian said as he sprang from the brushes, knocking Danny to the ground.
Danny and Ian wrestled in the wet grass as Michael grabbed Becca’s arm and tried to lead her away.
Danny’s gun went off, making Becca’s heart fall into her stomach. Ian lay motionless on the ground, blood oozing from his shirt as Becca pulled the gun free from her jeans. She aimed at Danny as he was trying to stand and fired a shot straight into his chest. The impact knocked him to the ground.
Becca’s hand shook as she continued pointing the gun at Danny. She glanced at Ian and slowly eased in his direction.
Betty skidded to a halt in the clearing. It took her only a second to figure out what had happened, and she hurried to kick Danny’s gun out of reach before taking the gun from Becca’s shaking fingers.
“You all right?” she asked Becca while pressing her foot into Danny’s wound.
“We need an ambulance,” Becca screamed and dropped to her knees.
Betty had the phone pressed to her ear before Becca had finished her sentence.
Becca tuned everyone out after that as tears formed in her eyes.
“Ian, wake up,” she said, pressing her fingers to his neck, relieved when she found his pulse. Whipping her shirt off,she pressed it to the wound on Ian’s chest, trying to stanch the flow of blood.
“Ian, please,” she begged, staring at his face. “Please, open your eyes, baby.”
Marry me.
She heard him in her mind. Relief filled her body. “Open your eyes and I’ll consider it.”
