Ethan glanced at Livvy, at the shell-shocked look on her face, and he wanted to pull her into his arms. Hell, he wanted to kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. But now wasn’t the time. Especially since Anthony was likely dying, and this might be their last chance to get some answers.
“Was Franklin involved in any part of your plan?” Ethan asked him.
Anthony laughed, but there was absolutely no humor in it. “Not a chance.” He coughed and dragged in a ragged breath. “When I was hooking up with Zadie, I tried to wheedle info out of Franklin, tried to see if he knew anything about what his sister had done, but the man was clueless.”
Maybe. Ethan figured it was possible that Franklin could have had an inkling of what his sister had done, but he probablycouldn’t have imagined that she’d murdered not once but twice. And all because she’d been jealous of her cheating husband.
“Sunny knew,” Anthony insisted, the words tumbling out with his breathing.
“I didn’t,” Sunny protested from behind them.
Ethan glanced back at her. She was on her feet now, but mercy, she had lost a lot of blood. Her whole right side was soaked with it. The moment the EMTs arrived, she’d need to be rushed to the hospital. Grace must have realized that, too, because she hurried out onto the road in front of the house and motioned for the ambulance and cruiser to hurry.
“Why did you stage Zadie’s body the way you did in the tub?” Livvy asked Anthony. Ethan was surprised that she’d managed to keep her voice steady and strong. All cop.
“To frame Chloe,” Anthony admitted without any hesitation. “Zadie had told me enough about what was in that file for me to know that’s what Chloe had done to that other woman she killed. I figured if Chloe couldn’t be punished for the two murders she committed, then she could be punished for this one.” He laughed again. “But you cops didn’t arrest her. You let her walk around, free as a bird. Well, now she’s dead, and I hope she’s burning in hell.”
Ethan was having a hard time not wishing the same thing. And since Anthony was obviously spilling all, he pushed with another question. “Was it you who hired Hank to go after Sunny?”
“Yeah.” Again, no hesitation. “Too bad he failed.”
The ambulance and two cruisers pulled to a stop in front of the house, and despite the sounds they were making, Ethan still heard the shuffling movement to his left. He whirled in that direction.
And he saw Sunny pick up Anthony’s gun.
“Put that down,” Ethan ordered.
But Sunny didn’t listen. The woman was trembling from head to toe and there wasn’t a drop of color in her face, but she managed to turn the gun on Vernice.
“If you’d turned in Chloe all those years ago, my sister would be alive,” she sobbed. “You need to pay for that. You need to die.”
“Sunny,” Ethan and Livvy shouted at the same time.
If Sunny heard them, she showed no signs of it. She just kept the gun pointed at Vernice, who was now screaming and trying to scramble away. Ethan had no doubt that Sunny was about to pull the trigger, and if so, there was no way Vernice would be able to take cover in time.
He lunged at Sunny, and in the same motion, he tried to push Livvy aside. Out of the possible line of fire.
But he was too late.
Sunny fired. The bullet hit what was left of the wooden fence, ricocheting off a rock or something metal. Splinters flew and chunks of debris flew up, and something, maybe even the bullet itself, sliced across his forehead. Ethan couldn’t focus on that though. He couldn’t let himself think that Livvy might have been shot. Or soon would be if he didn’t get the gun. He just focused on stopping Sunny.
Sunny was clearly focused, too. On killing Vernice. And she took aim again, shifting the gun at Vernice, who was still trying to escape.
Ethan charged at Sunny, ramming into her and clamping his hand on her right wrist. He shoved her arm up into the air. Still, Sunny got off another shot. Then another that he heard ricochet off something. He prayed that Livvy and the others had gotten out of the way.
With all the shouts and the chaos, over Vernice’s screams and Grace’s orders for everyone to get down, Ethan heard Anthony laugh.
What Ethan didn’t hear was any sound from Livvy.
Sunny tried to fight him, tried to use her body to shove Ethan out of the way, and she fired again before he shoved her back, hard, and they tumbled together onto the ground. He tossed his own gun aside so he could use both hands to take control of Sunny’s wrist and Anthony’s gun. Ethan had to wrench it from her grip, all while Sunny was cursing and sobbing.
Ethan heard the movement around him, and he whirled around again, bracing for the worst.
Fearing the worst.
Terrified that he had lost Livvy and their child.
But he hadn’t. Livvy was right there, looking a whole lot stronger than she had just seconds earlier.
