| |
“IT’S COOL OUTSIDE,” Alex said to me when we left the foundation. “Are you cold? Would you like my jacket?”
“I’m good,” I said as I reached for his hand. “I’m a Maine girl, remember? I may have been here three years at this point, but this weather is still like the Bahamas to me.” I placed my free hand on his cheek as we moved forward with the rest of the crowd. “But thank you, Alex.”
“Anything for you.”
Likewise, I thought.
“Did you have a good time tonight?” I asked as we moved forward and looked through the long line of limousines for our car, which was nowhere in sight. Already, I could tell that we’d be waiting for a while for Cutter to show, but that was fine by me. I was happy to be out and with my husband. He was the only thing I needed.
“I did. How about you?”
“I had a blast. I still can’t believe the surprise you and Rudman sprang on me. That was epic.”
“You should have seen the look on your face.”
“Speaking of faces, did you see Epifania and Rudman’s when we walked past them a moment ago? Sparks were flying!”
“To say the least.”
“I hope that it works out. Epifania can be a handful, but I have a feeling that he likes that about her.”
“Cross definitely likes a challenge.”
“Then he’s going to get one.”
“Jennifer,” a man’s deep voice said behind us. “Alex. It’s good to see you tonight. And here I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again...”
As Alex and I started to turn, I thought that the voice sounded oddly familiar to me. But before I could process it, an arm suddenly wrapped around my throat, a gun was shoved against my right temple, and I screamed as I was led away from the rest of the crowd.
“Jennifer!” Alex shouted.
“One move, and she’s dead, Alex,” I heard the voice say too close to my ear. With my back pressed against his muscled torso, I could feel that whoever had me was in shape. “One move from you or from anyone else, and your Jennifer is dead sooner rather than later.”
As the crowd pressed away from us and looked at me in horror, Alex took a step forward.
“Who are you?” he said. “What do you want?”
“Are you really so self-involved that you don’t recognize me?” the man asked. “All I’ve done is shave my head and bleach my goatee. And you have no idea who I am?” His voice lowered a notch. “Why should I expect more from you, Wenn? In fact, I shouldn’t.”
“Rowe,” Alex said with a chill in his voice.
A chill ran through me.
“That’s right, Alex. What a smart dog.”
“Get your hands off my wife.”
“And what if I don’t?”
“I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Really,” Rowe said. “And how will you do that, Alex? After all, I’m the one holding the gun, not you...”
I locked eyes with Alex and saw the terror in them. Be calm! I thought as I stared at him, hoping he could read my thoughts. Don’t do anything stupid!
“Jennifer and I are going to die here tonight,” Stephen Rowe said. “You should know that. In just a few moments, there will be a big show of blood. And by the way,” he said to the crowd. “All of you will be able to watch it go down. Just think of how many cocktail parties that will get you invited to in the coming weeks.”
He kissed me on the cheek, which made me recoil away from him, though I somehow forced myself to keep calm.
How do I get out of this? I thought. He’s got a gun smashed against my head. His arm is practically squeezing my throat shut. How can I get free from him without him shooting me? And where is security? Ben must have placed security guards outside—are they in tuxedoes in an effort to blend in? Are they waiting for the right moment to strike? Because if they make one false move and Rowe senses it, we’re both dead. They must know that...
“Before I commit my little murder-suicide, Alex—which I believe we all know is how your own parents died, so at the very least, we must consider the irony of that—I have a few things I want to get off my chest,” Rowe said. “And this time, you’re going to hear me out. You’re not going to get rid of me like you did the last time—as if I was some meaningless piece of shit. Instead, you’re going to listen to me. You’re going to realize through your own wife’s death exactly why you shouldn’t have fucked with me on that day at Wenn—when I was dragged out of your building by the police and humiliated in front of the world when the press swarmed me. That day destroyed my life. Today, I’m destroying yours.”
At that moment, his body tensed against mine.
“You made me kill the love of my life!” he said.
“Meredith?” Alex said.
“Not Meredith,” Rowe said. “That bitch never was the love of my life, though I did have her killed. Everyone thought her death was just some sort of random event. But what nobody knows is that on the night of her murder, she was on her way to see her lover when I had her neck broken. Apparently, the coward chose not to tell anyone that she was on her way to see him that night. Social fears,” he said. “They can be tragic, can’t they?”
“You’re the one who killed Meredith?” Alex said.
“Are you deaf? Yes, I had her killed, and the cunt had it coming.”
Confusion claimed Alex’s face. “Then whom are you talking about?” he said. “Who was the ‘love of your life’?”
“Who do you think?” Rowe said. “Janice was. Despite how she turned against me in the end, I still loved her. But she had to pay for what she did, didn’t she? Just like Diana Crane and Mike Fine, she had to pay.”
When he said Diana and Mike’s names—and the implications that were tied to them—I felt my knees go weak.
It’s been him, I thought. All along—it’s been him! How many people have died this week because of him? And by extension, through his connection to Alex and me...?
“Today, in a warehouse that’s, oh, somewhere in this city, I cut Janice up. Sliced her face. Stabbed and deflated the tits I paid for. And now, the woman who would have been mine for the rest of my life if you and Jennifer hadn’t interfered, is dead.”
He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voiced trembled.
“But she betrayed me, didn’t she? She had to die for that, didn’t she? Just like Meredith. And just like Diana Crane and Mike Fine, who withdrew their support of me at the very moment that I needed it most.”
The cold metal of the gun hurt as he jammed it firmly against my skull. I looked over at Alex, mouthed the words “I love you” to him, and then closed my eyes and tried to focus on what I possibly could do to get out of this situation.
And then Rowe spoke, interrupting my thoughts.
“Just so all of you know, this is how I handle betrayal,” Rowe said. “I had Meredith killed. I massacred those people outside the Witherhouses’, and in the process, I took out Diana Crane and Mike Fine. Today, I killed Janice Jones. And now it ends with this one,” he said, pulling me even tighter against him. “Are you hearing me, Alex? All of this ends with the death of your wife.”
The crowd roared as he suddenly lifted me off my feet and dragged me farther away from them. I struggled against him. I slammed my heel onto his shoe, heard him laugh when he tugged his foot away, and then my gut went stone cold when he whispered in my hear, “See you in hell, bitch.”
At that moment, even though a part of me knew that I was as good as dead, my eyes became two balled fists—and I knew in my gut that there was no way in hell that I was going down without a fight.
