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“Does my dad know?”
“No.” Emily was crying quietly. “He was desperate to know why I wanted a divorce. He couldn’t understand what he was doing wrong. Why his wives kept leaving him. But I was ashamed, I wouldn’t tell him. I loved him. I didn’t want to hurt him.”
Equal parts angry and baffled, Aggie hardly knew what to say. “If you loved him then I don’t understand why you slept with his son.”
“I don’t know how it happened. Andrew was so persistent. Always making sexual innuendos when we were alone. Always hinting that he wanted to get me into bed. Then the hinting got more explicit, and he was relentless, and then one night he just seduced me. He said we didn’t have to tell your dad. That I could remain married and have him on the side. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to sleep with him once let alone make it a regular thing. But it was like he put me under a spell. I couldn’t think straight when he was around.”
“Giving away all my secrets, Emily?”
They both whirled around. Andrew was standing in the doorway, smiling and relaxing against the doorjamb. When Aggie looked at him, she didn’t see the big brother she had known all her life, she saw a monster. His eyes were different, dark, and filled with a bottomless evil. “Is it true?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Selene and Claudia too?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“That’s why they all divorced him because they couldn’t look him in the eye anymore knowing what they had done with his son. And Dad never knew? About any of it?”
“Like I told you earlier, Dad is way too egocentric to notice anything that anyone else is doing. He left his wives vulnerable and susceptible to me. I simply took advantage of that. But the police are on to me now. Well, on to him.” He inclined his head at their unconscious father. “Besides, I’m all out of stepmothers. So, I need to tie up all the loose ends and move on.”
She knew she was one of those loose ends. The wheels in her head were spinning. How was she going to get out of this alive? How was she going to get Emily and her father out of this alive? She wasn't sure she could. Even if she made a run for it, Emily was too weak to get very far, and her father was unconscious. She couldn’t go and leave them to fend for themselves, but she couldn’t see a way for all of them to get out.
Andrew strolled toward them. “I'm impressed you managed to get her out of the pool, Aggie. I thought with your arm you wouldn’t be able to, even if you did find her. I was hoping you wouldn’t. I was hoping you would have enjoyed a day at the lake and be fast asleep in bed by the time I got back here, then I could have simply tossed you in the pool with Emily. And you,” he turned his attention to their ex-stepmother, “I'm surprised you had enough strength to climb up that sheet rope my sister made. I'm impressed, I didn’t think you had it in you. I almost regret I can't take you with me, but it’s better to make a clean break. Start fresh when I get settled someplace else. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.”
Did that mean he intended to kill all three of them here and now?
No one was going to come running in to save her. This wasn't a movie or a book, there was no hero, no knight in shining armor, no cop who would come in at the last second and rescue her. She was going to die, here and now, at the hands of her brother no less.
Aggie wasn't under any illusions that she would be able to fight her brother off. He was big, a little taller than their father who was almost seven-foot-tall, and Andrew worked out a lot. Every day as far as she knew. She didn’t stand a chance against him. Unless she could somehow use the element of surprise to her advantage. Andrew thought she was physically weak and overly emotional which in his mind made her weak psychologically too, he wouldn’t be expecting her to fight back.
Cockily, he pulled a knife out, pressing the point of the blade to the tip of a finger, and grinned at them. “I love knives you know, I bet you didn’t know that about me, Ag. Emily knows. She was about to become acquainted with my favorite blade when that ridiculous detective of yours called and summoned me to the station to discuss dear old Dad. This time, Emily, dear, you won't be getting a reprieve. You can be first, Em. Since youaresupposed to be dead already. Then Dad can be next. And you can be lucky last, little sister.”
This was going to have to be her chance. When Andrew made his move for Emily, she would trip him, grab the knife, maybe it would be enough to subdue him until she could call for help. If it came down to killing him to save herself, she hoped she was strong enough to do it.
Andrew’s gaze was locked on his knife as he started walking toward Emily. He was almost drooling as he stared at it, like it was the most precious thing in the world to him. His distraction would work to her benefit. He didn’t notice her stick her leg out just as he passed her, so convinced was he that he was in complete control here. Andrew stumbled and the knife clattered to the ground.
Aggie leaped at it, snatching it up and holding it out in front of her as though it had the power to protect her.
Steadying himself with a hand against the wall, Andrew threw back his head and laughed. “If only it were that easy, little sister.”
“Emily, run,” she screamed as Andrew jumped at her. She swung the knife, connected with his arm, but not enough to do any real damage.
The force of his body ramming hers sent her flying. The air knocked from her lungs as she hit the floor. Andrew recovered his balance and stood over her. His malevolent smirk made the blood in her veins turn to ice.
“If I’d known you were this spunky, I would have gone after you well before now. I never knew. I thought you were just some silly, emotional little girl. But you’ve really grown up. Too bad I don’t have time to play with you.”
Before she could register what was happening, his foot stomped down on her left shoulder. Pure agony coated each molecule of blood inside her, sending pain flooding out to every inch of her body until it burned her eyes and her mind so she couldn’t see and couldn’t think. She cried out against it as though that might ease her suffering. Her fingers uncurled of their own volition and the knife slipped from her grasp.
Her brother stood over her, a foot on either side of her hips. Aggie wanted to fight back, but her shoulder felt like it was shattered and her entire left arm, already hampered by her cast, was numb and virtually useless. She wanted to beg Andrew to let her go, but the pain was so bad it was all she could do just to keep herself conscious, there was nothing left to form a sentence, or even a cohesive thought.
“Any last words?” Andrew knelt, the knife in his hand glinted.
All she could manage was a stuttered moan.
“I’ll take that as a no.” He grinned. It wasn't a pleasant sight. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die a slow death.”
As bad as Andrew crushing the bones in her shoulder had been, the feel of the sharp blade piercing her flesh was excruciating. She screamed, sobbed, moaned, wondered whether her death really was going to be slow, the way she felt right now she was at death’s door.
