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After taking a deep breath, Elizabeth continued on with the conversation. “Well, let’s review my options? There’s the whole Palmer James Company stake in the matter, or an immediate partial payoff, assuming that’s what you mean. And then, of course, there should be some compensation to Joe for his pain and suffering. Let me think. What is that worth?” she asked as she leaned back, clasped her hands together, and rested them on her lap. She hoped the assertive woman hadn’t noticed her shaky fingers.
“Who the hell is Joe?” Felicia questioned with a look of total confusion on her face.
“It’s her God damn boyfriend who was supposed to have been taken care of by your weak, incapable son, you gold-digging bitch,” Mr. James’ stern tone projected from the entryway.
Elizabeth gasped in shock. It was already bad enough having to deal with Patrick’s mother by herself, and now she had her rapist to deal with as well. She’d give anything for Joe, Nick, or Tony to come bounding through the door at this very moment.
The enraged man’s nostrils flared as he kept his penetrating gaze stationed on his sister-in-law.
She glanced toward Felicia. Her contemptuous expression left nothing to the imagination. Her jaw knotted and her lips drew into a thin line as she stared down Mr. James.
After a moment, Felicia inhaled loudly and expelled a breath. “Palmer, how nice to see you, too, and how nice it is you came all this way to visit your little whore.”
Mr. James’ eyes turned black as coal, and then, all at once, he bounded toward his sister-in-law. He’d nearly reached her before the woman pulled a handgun from her purse, cocked the hammer back, and pointed it directly in his face. He halted on a dime and started edging away from her until she ordered him to stop. He froze in place.
Elizabeth pressed back into her seat, wishing she could disappear altogether.
“What do you mean, my son was supposed to take care of Joe? He was sent here to take care of your little pregnant whore,” Felicia yelled as she waved her handgun back and forth.
The whites of Mr. James’ eyes turned red, likely from his escalating blood pressure. “You stupid bitch! You sent your good-for-nothing son here to take care of my Elizabeth, and my child?”
He stepped toward Felicia, and she fired a round over his left shoulder in response.
The blast assaulted Elizabeth’s ear canals. Her ears buzzed. She fought the urge to place her hands over her humming ears because she feared any movement by her would draw the crazy woman’s attention. Felicia and Mr. James both seemed to be completely unaffected by the abrupt, incredibly, loud noise.
“That was your warning shot. You come one step closer and the next one is going to be between your eyes, you smug prick.” The irate woman cocked the hammer back again, and tilted her head in her direction. “Or maybe I should bury a round in your little whore first, so you can watch her die.”
Irrepressible fear gripped Elizabeth’s spine, and she knew by the psychotic look in Felicia’s eyes the woman was capable of anything, including murder. The air seized in her lungs. Her body quivered. This was it, this was how her life was going to end.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Joe had just sat down at the dinner table with his dad and the kids when a loud, rapid knock sounded on the front door.
“Joe, let me in. Hurry!” Jody’s frantic tone penetrated through the door.
The urgency in her voice caused him to spring from his seat, despite his unhealed injuries. He flung the door open, and she leaped into the house slamming the door behind her. Her body shook, and she was as white as a ghost.
