He glanced down at the fresh wound then glowered at her. With his hands fisted at his sides, he raged.
“You stupid, fuckingbitch! I’ve given you everything. The fancy apartment, the nice cars. The clothes, the jewelry. Most women would kill to have the life you had with me.”
“No, Caleb. Most women would killbecauseof the life I had with you.”
Jaw clenched and nostrils flaring, Caleb glanced down at his shoulder again. “You’ve ruined everything.” He looked back at her with a blank stare. “Now, it’s over.”
He lunged forward, but Charlie didn’t miss a beat. She pulled the trigger.
Click.
Caleb froze.
Praying it was just a fluke, she tried again.
Click.
It was the loudest sound she’d ever heard.
There are no more bullets.
Charlie’s stomach dropped. She’d been so busy running for her life, she hadn’t kept track of how many times he’d shot the gun.
The face she’d once thought of as handsome twisted into pure evil. With a slow, triumphant smile Caleb started walking toward her again.
He made a clicking sound with his tongue as he shook his head. “What are you going to do now? Hmm?”
She wanted to be strong. She wanted to scream and yell. To fight back. But she was frozen.
Tears fell down her cheeks, the silver streaks drawing lines through the dirt. Her shoulders fell with defeat.
There was nothing more she could do. She still had the gun, but without any bullets, she may as well be holding a paperweight.
Charlie thought about trying to hit him with it, but she was becoming weaker and weaker with each minute that passed.
Her entire body was screaming with pain, and she stared back at the man in the center of it all.
This is it.
After everything she’d survived...after finally becoming free and finding the love and happiness she’d always wanted with Derek, she was still going to die the way she’d always feared.
At the hands of Caleb Porter.
“What’s the matter, Charlotte?”
She could feel his breath on her face, now.
“You give up?” He laughed as he moved some hair away from her face. Then, with a disappointed gaze, he asked, “Why did you have to ruin what we had? We were so good together, you and I.”
Charlie’s bottom lip trembled as she tried to show him a strength she didn’t feel. The truth was she had given up. The moment she’d heard that deafening click, she’d accepted her fate.
Doesn’t mean he has to see your fear.
Lifting her chin, she looked Caleb right in the eyes and said, “Fuck. You.”
He looked disgusted, his voice turning flat. “My father was right about you.” An eerie calm settled over him sending a shiver down her spine. “You’re nothing but a pathetic, white-trash whore.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d been called white trash. Kids at school used to tease her about not having money or nice clothes. Standing there, hurting and chilled to the bone, Charlie told Caleb the same thing she used to tell them.
