“Don’t try it,” she warned, blocking my path. She held the stun gun.
I swallowed hard. I was sure that if she touched me with the weapon, I wouldn’t wake up.
“What are you doing, Charlotte?” I asked, backing away as she slowly advanced.
“You know what I did,” she said. “I can’t let you tell Blane.”
“Why would you kill Kandi?”
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Charlotte protested. “It just… happened.”
“How do you just happen to kill somebody?” I retorted.
“I went over there that night because I knew she was sleeping with James,” she said. “I also knew she’d been talking with Blane. The last thing he needed was to hook up with a woman who was already cheating on him. How do you think that would look in the press?”
“So, what, you decided to try and get her to stop? But ran into James there instead.” I can imagine how that had gone over.
“James was never there,” she scoffed. “I thought he was, that it was his semen I smeared on her. Turns out it was Blane’s. I didn’t know he’d already been screwing her.
“You know, this is all your fault,” Charlotte continued, her eyes flashing with anger as she advanced. I continued my retreat, slowly backing away from her while eyeing the stun gun.
“How is that?” I asked.
“All I had to do was get you to go to Xtreme,” Charlotte said. “Summers was supposed to take care of the rest.”
My gaze flew to hers in shock. “Oh my God,” I breathed. “You were the one who had me go there from the very beginning.” When Charlotte had started at the firm, the first assignment she’d given me had been to check into the case of Julie Vale, a young woman who’d been attacked while working at Xtreme.
“If it hadn’t been for Blane’s obsession with you, you’d no doubt be dead by now and with no one the wiser.”
“Who told you to do that?” I asked. “Who wanted me gone?”
“Unfortunately for Kandi,” Charlotte continued, ignoring my question, “she knew a lot of people in Washington, and she never forgot a face. She recognized me, realized I interned with her father, and figured out I’d been sent to… help Blane.”
“And did helping Blane include getting me out of the picture?”
Charlotte smiled. “Bingo.”
My back pressed up against the terrace railing. I could go no farther.
“She threatened to out you to Blane,” I guessed. “So you killed her, thinking James would take the fall—only Blane nearly did.”
“Luckily, James is an idiot who can’t see past besting Blane,” she said. “And you turned out to be useful after all. Though I would have thought Blane would kick you to the curb himself after you slept with his brother. You are such a white-trash slut. I have no idea what he sees in you.” She motioned behind me. “Get up on the railing.”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“You can either take a swan dive off here yourself, or I’ll stun you and throw you over. Either way, you’re so distraught over Blane dumping you—again—that you’re going to end it all right here, right now, at Clarice’s wedding.”
“No one’s dying tonight.”
Charlotte whirled around to see Blane and Kade standing just inside the doorway. Kade had his gun in his hand. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Put down the stun gun, Charlotte,” Blane continued, taking a couple of steps toward her.
“How long have you been there?” Charlotte asked.
“Long enough,” he said.
I’d spotted them but had kept Charlotte talking, needing her to confess everything so Blane could hear it.
Charlotte smiled. “You may have me, but you’re not having her.”
Before I could react, she spun around and shoved me backward over the railing. I heard Kade shout as my hands scrabbled for a hold on anything as I toppled over, catching hold of the bottom edge of the terrace.
A gunshot rang out and the stun gun Charlotte held fell to the ground with a clatter. A moment later, her body hit the floor.
I grunted from the effort of holding on, terror pounding through my veins. The muscles in my arms screamed in protest and I knew I couldn’t hold on much longer.
Blane and Kade appeared over the railing. My eyes locked with Kade’s.
“Help me. Please.” My voice felt strangled inside my throat.
“As if you have to ask,” he muttered, already climbing over the railing to stand on the ledge. Blane held tight to his belt as Kade reached down to me. His hands closed over my arms and he pulled me up, handing me to Blane before swinging his own leg back over the railing.
I was a heartbeat from hysteria, my close call one too many in the past few days. Blane enveloped my trembling body in his arms.
“It’s okay now,” he soothed me. “You’re okay.”
I sniffed. “Is she dead?” I asked, my voice muffled against his chest.
“No,” Blane replied. “We just used her stun gun on her.” He gave me another squeeze, then gently turned me around.
Kade stood a few feet away, his gaze hungrily taking me in. His lips were pressed tightly closed, his hands clenched in fists.
“I’ll go call the police,” Blane said. I didn’t turn but heard him leave, his footsteps echoing as he crossed the hardwood floor.
Kade and I stood there in uncomfortable silence. Tears stung my eyes, but I determinedly held them back. Finally, I spoke.
“Thank you,” I managed to get past my clogged throat. “For saving—”
“Shut up,” he interrupted, but the words had no heat. Kade took two steps and I was suddenly in his arms, his mouth on mine.
We kissed as though it might be our last, the world disappearing around us. I could taste the salt of my tears on his tongue, feel the warm brush of his thumbs on my cheeks as he cradled my face in his hands. The strong beat of his heart reverberated inside my chest as I pressed against him, my arms slipping underneath his jacket and around his back. The warmth of his body soaked through the crisp linen of his shirt to my palms.
When we finally parted, he rested his forehead against mine, our breaths intermingling.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I whispered through my tears. “Those things I said—I didn’t mean them, didn’t mean any of it.”
Kade’s thumbs caught my tears and wiped them away. “Shhh… I know. Don’t cry, princess.”
The sound of sirens in the distance made me step back and Kade shrugged out of his jacket, swinging it over my shoulders. His scent rose from the fabric and I clutched it to me.
Blane was with the cops when they entered the room, just as Charlotte started coming around. He glanced at us, his expression unfathomable, before turning to answer a question from a cop.
Kade curved an arm over my shoulders, holding me close as we gave our statements to the police. I watched as Charlotte was led away in handcuffs, her malevolent gaze piercing me as she passed.
We followed Blane outside. “We’ll meet you at the house,” Kade said to him, guiding me to his Mercedes.
“What about my car?” I asked.
“I don’t give a shit about your car,” Kade said, opening the passenger door. “You’re coming with me. Get in.”
I shut up and did as I was told, recognizing Kade’s instinctual need to keep me close after what had happened. I felt the same.
The inside of the car was warm and I folded Kade’s jacket, laying it on the backseat as he slid behind the wheel. He pulled off his tie and tossed it in the back along with his gun, undoing a few buttons on his shirt before starting the car.
The glow from the dash softly illuminated the carved features of his face as he drove. I kicked off my shoes before turning toward him and drawing my knees to my chest.