Page 60 of Break Me: Smith and Belle

“You don’t have to lie to me. You thought she was crazy. She thought she was crazy, too. That was easy enough to arrange, especially once I moved in. Antipsychotics can do funny things to people who aren’t actually crazy. It’s funny really.”

“You gave her…“ We’d trusted this woman. We’d let her into our home, and she’d breached that trust. But not simply by lying. She had wormed her way into our worlds, depositing her wickedness every place she could find.

“It was simple. Wrong drugs. Wrong tea. I took the nappies she packed out of the bag, and she nearly melted. I whispered to her in her sleep. God, you sleep like a rock. I was so nervous the first time. I was sure I would wake you, Smith, but you didn’t budge.” She laughed with delight at the memory. “I didn’t have to do much to twist the knife. Although personally, if I had to choose a favorite trick, it was the nuts. I know you’re probably thinking: how could I top faking my own death? I mean, it did take effort to get all that mud on her, but she was so out of it after she took that pill. And it wasn’t exactly easy to gather so much blood. But no, it has to be the nuts.”

“You faked that, too?” I needed to keep her raving. I wanted her to spill every detail. I wanted to know everything.

“No.” She giggled, turning in a circle. “I am allergic. It was a real risk. I think that’s why it was so exciting. I made sure that my file was gone. I never put it on there, by the way. I never told Belle. I hid my Epi-Pen. I really could have died!”

“Thrilling,” I bit out, wishing she had. Then the nightmare would have ended.

“Don’t be a sore loser, Smith.”

“Mr. Price,” I growled.

“But we’re family, remember?”

“What do you want from me?” I’d grown tired of her game. I could see every move now. And she was wrong about one thing: Nora thought she had me. She thought she could take me off the board or force me to choose between myself or my wife. She was wrong.

“To pay for your sins,” she said. Her hands slipped out of her pocket. Moonlight caught the edge of a knife. She raised it over her head, her eyes wild, and I saw her final move. She would win the twisted game she thought we were playing, even at the cost of her life.

“No!” I moved toward her as a gunshot cracked through the air. I felt something whizz past my ear, and then Nora’s body was flung into the air like a rag doll, her arms splayed and her eyes frozen in surprise. She hit the ground with a thump.

“Good shot.” Alexander’s voice floated through the fog. I turned to see him and Georgia appearing through the haze like ghosts walking through a wall. Both had guns still drawn.

I exhaled heavily and pulled my mobile out of my pocket. “I recorded her confession,” I explained. Nora didn’t need to die. Before this, I would have killed any person who hurt my family without blinking. But now, I saw things differently. How many lives had Hammond destroyed? I was wrong. It wasn’t my sins that kept finding me. It was his. “She needed to be locked up. She needed to pay for what she’d done.”

“Are you complaining about our—”

A scream split the air and I felt a blade pierce my shoulder. I stumbled forward, ducking just in time to give Alexander a clear shot. He took it without hesitation.

“You were saying?” he asked coolly.

I reached behind me and touched my shoulder. Drawing my hand back, I found it coated with blood.

“Let’s get you back to your family,” Georgia said softly, “and call a doctor.”

“And maybe the police,” Alexander suggested, leaning over to check Nora’s body.

“That depends.” Georgia raised an eyebrow, meeting my eyes. “Don’t best friends bury the bodies?”

“Not this time,” I told her. I wasn’t going to hide from my past anymore. I wasn’t going to let it define me. Instead, I left it behind in the dirt and walked away.

I stepped inside the back door and made my way toward the living room toward the fire and my daughter and my wife. Mrs. Winters flapped over, clucking at me. “Is this mud? My floors!”

I glanced back to see a trail of blood and dirt in my wake. “It’s blood. I’m sorry my wound is making a mess.”

Her neck snapped back and she turned to stare, not moving when Alexander and Georgia walked around her. I would deal with it later. I had to, unless I wanted to find another housekeeper. I wasn’t sure her poor heart could take any more excitement between having the King of England for dinner and the shootout on the grounds.

Clutching my hand over the wound to staunch the bleeding, I walked wearily into the sitting room. Edward jumped up when he saw me, and Brex immediately headed to Alexander, ready for a report on what had transpired. But Belle lingered near the fireplace.

Penny’s downy hair was visible just over her shoulder, glinting gold in the firelight. Belle moved rhythmically, rocking her, but the baby didn’t make a sound. I realized she was doing it for herself as much as for Penny.

“Beautiful,” I said softly, and her shoulders sagged as whatever weight she’d been holding on them released. She turned to me slowly. When our eyes met, a ragged sob escaped her lips.

Despite the exhaustion I felt, I walked swiftly toward her, forgetting my wound, forgetting everything but her. Belle rushed to meet me and we collided, her arms cradling Penny protectively as she pressed into my arms. Her free hand reached around to hook my neck, hitting the stab wound, and I winced. Her eyes widened and she started to draw back, but I was too quick.

I kissed her, knowing she was mine and that nothing could come between us. We had faced darkness behind these walls, not just from our enemy but from ourselves, and we were still here. We were still forever. Her mouth parted in a soft sigh, welcoming me home.