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With tears in her eyes, she turned and fled the office. Connor. She would get to Connor and he would handle this. He would take care of things and she would never have to deal with this again. She would bury herself in work.
“Lara, wait for me. I’ll drive us to the police station. We need to get there before she has a chance to clean this shit up. Now that I think about it, I saw her with a phone I hadn’t recognized a couple of days ago. Do you think it’s one of those burner phones? Is that how she’s sending you all those threatening texts? That should get her some jail time, right?” Tom was hard on her heels.
Halfway through the kitchen, Lara stopped as the door opened. They were out of time.
Kiki stood in the doorway, a gun in her hand. “I left it unlocked, didn’t I?”
Tom stepped beside her. “What? The front door? No. I used my key. I came to pick up the brief. It’s due tomorrow. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. What’s with the gun?”
She had to give it to Tom. He was cool under pressure. She hadn’t expected that. She tried to follow his lead. “I came down to get Lincoln’s treats. Connor and I are leaving town until we can figure out who wants me dead.”
“I think you know.” Kiki frowned and nodded toward the back of the apartment. “Someone didn’t shut the office door completely.”
Kiki didn’t make the same mistake. She shut the front door and turned the dead bolt into place. Tom didn’t even have the knife anymore. He’d left it just outside the office—too far away.
Tom took a shaky breath. “Sweetheart, why don’t we talk about this? I had no idea you felt this way about me. I thought we were just casual. If I’d known, I never would have broken up with you.”
“Broken up? That would mean we were together in the first place,” Kiki said, her voice lower and nastier than Lara had ever heard it. “You hid me. You told me she couldn’t know. You were ready to marry her, but I was your dirty little secret.”
Tom stepped forward slightly, putting himself between her and Kiki. “That wasn’t how it was. And that’s not how it is. You were the one who always said we were casual. Lara is just convenient. I want to go places. I don’t want to be one more lawyer in D.C. She’s actually quite connected, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s really you I want.”
She knew he was telling Kiki what she wanted to hear, but it still hurt. It was what she’d suspected deep down. Tom was ambitious and he thought she would make an advantageous wife.
“Then you won’t mind if I shoot her, will you?” Kiki’s eyes were bright, her face a mottled red as she pointed the gun in Lara’s direction.
“You don’t want to do that,” Tom said evenly.
“Tom, I love you. I’ve always been the one who loved you. I’m the one who supported you while she just dragged you down. How can you pick her over me?”
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to go to jail,” Tom tried.
“Here’s a choice for you, lover. I’m going to shoot in a minute and if you’re in the way, I’ll know you picked her again.”
“Please, don’t do this,” Tom began.
“Don’t hurt your precious Lara? I hate her. I can’t tell you how hard it’s been to have to sit around and listen to her whine about shit that doesn’t matter. I did it to stay close to you. You have to see that she’s not the right woman for you. She’s a pathetic child who wouldn’t know real love if it bit her in the ass because all her life she’s been an entitled princess.”
Princess. That was what Connor called her. She kept her mouth shut because none of this seemed to really be about her. If she could stall for a little more time, her five minutes would be up and Connor would come looking for her. She had to believe that. He always meant what he said. He’d lied, but he’d also kept her safe time and again. Even when he could have taken the information he’d been looking for and left her behind, he’d made sure she was safe. He would come.
“Just put the gun down, Kiki,” Tom begged.
“Her or me, Tom.” Kiki cocked the gun, the sound distinct and chilling. “Make your choice. If you don’t move away from her, I’ll shoot and I’ll kill you. Are you going to be her savior and martyr?”
She was just about to beg for Tom’s life when he moved—to his left. He took several steps away from her, leaving her with nothing between her and the crazy woman with the gun.
He’d told her he loved her, then left her to die.
“Sorry, Lara,” he mumbled, his gaze not meeting hers.
She looked up and into the face of a woman she’d never really known. Kiki had worn a mask all the time. Lara raised her hands, though she knew they wouldn’t stop a bullet. “What did I do to you?” She had to keep her talking, give Connor time to come for her. “I walked away from Tom. You convinced me to. Now I have a new lover. I would never have gone back to Tom. He’s all yours.”
“What did you do to me? What do all you rich bitches do? You take what you want and leave the rest of us crumbs. I’ve known people like you all my life. And I’ve hated every single one of you. You know I didn’t intend to kill you.”
“No, you just wanted to scare me enough that I would leave D.C.,” Lara surmised.
“I wanted to scare you enough so Tom would see that under your crusading bravado, you’re just a cowardly shit. I wanted him to understand that he was better off without you.”
“Cowardly? I’m not the one who said I loved someone before leaving them to face danger alone,” Lara pointed out.
“I really am sorry,” Tom said, his gaze cast to the floor.
“Don’t be sorry, baby. With her out of the way, we can be together like we always should have been,” Kiki said. “You don’t need her and you don’t need her father. That’s the only reason he wants you back. He wants to leave his job and move up. He thinks your dad can help him.”
“You can’t just shoot her here,” Tom said quickly. “Everyone will hear. You should take her somewhere else, somewhere more private.”
Tom didn’t sound as if he cared much what happened next.
Just as Kiki was about to speak, a mighty crash splintered the door.
Lara dove to her right, to the relative safety of the table. She crouched down and all she could see were feet and legs. Tom’s quickly dashed out of sight, but Kiki’s flats remained rooted in place. Lara prayed she didn’t start shooting.
All around her the air burst with shouts and screams and the sound of that door being torn off its hinges. Two pairs of dark loafers entered the room.
“Put down the gun,” a staccato voice commanded.
“Put it down or we’ll shoot,” another even voice ordered.
“Lara! Lara!” This voice wasn’t even or calm. It was panicked and she was almost certain that was a completely new experience for the man shouting. And she knew those boots.
Connor had come for her.
“I’m here,” she yelled back.
She was about to risk sticking her head up when a gunshot blasted through the air. She watched in horror as Kiki’s legs wobbled, and then the woman she’d thought had been her friend for years hit the ground, her dead eyes staring right at Lara, blood gushing from a wound at her temple. She clutched the gun in her hand, still smoking.
Lara stared in horror before strong arms lifted her into the air and she found herself in Connor’s embrace.
“Did she hit you?” His voice was a gravelly mess, as though all his shouting had roughened his throat. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head and put an arm around his neck. Safe. No matter what he’d done, she was safe with him. She buried her face against his chest so she couldn’t see the body again. “She killed herself?”
His arms tightened around her. “She’s lucky I didn’t get to her.”
“Lara,” Tom called out to her.
