Chapter Thirty-One

"Hello, Catherine," Rebecca said as she stepped into the room. She could barely make out the shapes of objects at the far end of the room, but she could see Catherine and the man who stood beside her quite clearly in the glow of the candles he had placed in a circle around them. He was staring at her, a look of confusion on his face.

"Who is your friend?" Rebecca asked, stepping forward slowly, her jacket unbuttoned, the safety off on her automatic.

"This is Raymond," Catherine answered in a steady voice. She looks so calm!

He moved quickly, stepping behind Catherine and pressing the revolver to her temple.

"You shouldn’t have come here," he said. "Now I have to kill her."

"I don’t think so," Rebecca said evenly, her eyes on his face. "I wont let you."

"You have no idea who I am. You don’t know my power. You cant stop me." He laughed, enjoying himself.

" You don’t know how powerful I am!" she responded. " This woman is mine. I’ve come for her."

"You’re a fool. Ill kill you both."

"You cant kill me," Rebecca said arrogantly, fervently hoping that Watts was in position, and that he could still shoot. She was counting on him to save Catherine’s life. "Go ahead. Try to shoot me. You wont be able to, you puny pathetic excuse for a man. If you were a man, you wouldn’t have to pull women into the bushes’ and rape them." Her eyes never left his. "I bet you cant even get it up if they’re looking you in the face. I bet you’re afraid to let them see just how weak you really are. You don’t have the balls to shoot --"

She rolled left the instant his gun moved from Catherine’s temple, drawing her own simultaneously. She thought she fired, but the impact of the bullet that tore through her chest pitched her backwards. She never knew if Catherine was safe.

It was unclear whose bullet hit him first, Rebecca’s or Watts. Raymond Blake had died instantly, leaving Catherine Rawlings unharmed. Catherine took a leave of absence, stating health reasons. To the casual observer, she would have appeared perfectly healthy as she juggled two shopping bags of groceries and her keys to the door of her brownstone.

She frowned, key in hand, as the door opened.

"You’re not supposed to be up."

"Let me do something," her reluctant patient complained. "You’ve been taking care of me for weeks."

"I've been taking care of you because I love you, Rebecca, and I owe you my life."

Rebecca looked uncomfortable, as she always did when Catherine brought up the night in the boathouse.

"No you don’t. I was just doing my job."

"It was more than that. We both know it!" Catherine cried in an unusual fit of temper. "You knew you could die protecting me. Did you actually believe I could survive it if you traded your life for mine?"

Rebecca looked away. "I don’t know. I only knew I couldn’t survive without you."

Catherine’s anger dissipated as quickly as it had come, the product of her fear. She slipped her arms around Rebecca’s waist, careful not to disrupt the bandages covering the healing wound on her chest.

"Rebecca," she said softly, welcoming the desire Rebecca’s nearness kindled in her. "I love you. I want the chance to love you for a long time. I want you to promise me that Ill have that chance. If you cant do that for me, I wont be able to bear watching you walk out my door. Ill die inside each time you leave me."

Rebecca’s arms tightened around her, so many words she wanted to say choking her. "I promise."

Catherine clung to the words, knowing it was the most important promise Rebecca would ever make.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16