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I didn’t think as I stepped forward, pointing the gun at her chest. All I knew was that I had to stop her, and there wasn’t time to dither. A few seconds would cost Kade his life, and that outcome was simply unacceptable. I hadn’t given up everything and committed myself to him to watch him slip away in a pool of his own blood. A wave of cold triumph washed over me as I fired, noise splintering the air as the bullet smashed into her body and threw her to the tiles.
Kade’s head rose, his eyes wide as he surveyed me. “Little girl?”
He looked as if he’d seen a ghost, or to be more specific, as though he couldn’t believe it was really me, but as I stood there, I couldn’t understand why. This story was infinite, as old as time itself. What could have been simpler than a woman determined to protect her man? I hadn’t instigated the violence, but I would finish it.
From behind him, Lucas groaned, her limbs writhing as she grappled with the pain. Walking around my master, I looked down at her face, her expression agonized and every bit as shocked as Kade’s. The blade she’d been so frantic to push into my man was strewn a few feet away.
“I’m sorry, Detective.” My voice was oddly monotonic. “You should have run for your life.”
As it turned out, Kade had been right all along. It was time to close this chapter. Pointing the gun to her temple, I squeezed the trigger. A raw numbness spread over me as I took in the outcome of my choice, my thoughts flitting to how much work it would be to clean up the kitchen.
“Tiffany.” Scrambling to his feet, Kade yanked me backward, wrangling the weapon from me and switching on the safety. “Are you okay?”
From some distant place, I thought I heard the roll of thunder, but there was no sign of the threatening storm. Perhaps it was only happening in my head?
“Tiffany.” Shaking me gently, he roused me from my thoughts, spinning me to look at him.
“Master.” All there was in the world was his face, the soft hair at his jaw, and those mesmerizing silver-gray eyes. I could never have given him up, never have let Lucas take him away. “Are you okay?”
“You saved me.” He shook his head in disbelief, though his lips curled. “You fucking saved me!”
“Of course.” What did he think I was going to do? Watch him get sliced?
“Thank you.” Discarding the gun onto the counter, he pulled me into his embrace, holding me against his chest. “Thank you, little girl.”
I don’t know how long we stood there in the dimly lit kitchen. The usual markers of time were lost to the black hole that had opened in my world, but at some point, tears came.
“Hey.” He soothed, stroking the back of my head. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’m here.”
He was there. Thank God, but one glance over his shoulder confirmed the lifeless body of Lucas was there, too, and I had done that. I was a murderer.
“Oh God.” My knees buckled as I fought for breath. “What have I done?”
Catching me in his arms, he tugged me closer. “You’re in shock,” he counseled. “It will pass.”
“And then what?” I gasped, covering my mouth as a sudden surge of nausea threatened to make an appearance. “How can I live with this, Master?”
“Shhh.” Sweeping me from my feet, he carried me from the room. With no other choice, I buried my face in his shirt and sobbed.
What had happened to me? I was a good woman, a moral person. That’s why I hadn’t taken the trappings of legal defense and had opted to prosecute for the state. I wanted to do the right thing, to put the bad guys behind bars, but I’d never conceived a future where I might be one of them.
Head spinning, I closed my eyes as he transported me across the house. By the time I opened them again, the soft hues of the master bedroom surrounded me.
“Rest.” Tugging the cardigan from my weary body, he pulled the covers over my body and lowered to his haunches, worried gray eyes meeting mine.
Rest?Was he mad? How could I rest? I’d just shot a woman—a police officer! I had to hand myself in, had to think about what I’d tell the authorities.
“Master,” I croaked, reaching for him.
“I’ll take care of you, little girl,” he promised. “Protect you. The way you’ve protected me.”
“I shot her.” Disgust echoed in my voice.
“Not just that,” he reasoned, taking my hand. “You protected me before then, Tiffany.” Edging closer, he lifted my knuckles to his lips and brushed his mouth over my skin. “When you refused to press charges against me for the things I’d done.” Pausing, his eyes met mine. “And when you listened to my confession and didn’t tell anyone about it. You are the most beautiful star in the world, and you’ve constantly protected me. Now it’s my time to keep you safe.”
“What’s going to happen, Master?” I squeaked, repulsed by my own self-pity.
I was a killer. I should get what I deserved, but then I knew well enough that plenty of predators walked the streets. Some slipped through the net of a trial by their peers, while others, like Kade, never even saw the inside of a courtroom. The world was far from a fair and just place, but that was no justification for what I’d done.
