"Me too," Kyle mumbled. He stopped suddenly
and I felt like screaming in frustration. "I'm gonna fuck up
sometimes," he said in a gruff tone, his blue eyes locked on mine,
his forehead pressed to mine. "You know it and I know it. Just…just
don't give up on me." Taking my hand, he placed my palm on his
chest. I could feel his heart pounding against my hand. "Can you
feel it this?" I nodded and he smiled and brushed his lips to mine.
"This starts and ends with you," he whispered. "I start and end
with you. You got it?"
I nodded my head and pulled his lips to
mine.
"I got it," I breathed.
****
Chapter 17
Stand by
your man
Lee
Kyle received another letter from Rachel this
morning. I'd recognized the handwriting on the envelope the second
I saw it lying on the coffee table in the lounge–along with all his
other mail, Christmas cards and newspapers. It was the identical to
the one's I'd spied him slipping into his messenger bag when he
thought I wasn’t looking. Like the other letters she sent him, this
one was unopened. The fact that it was lying out in the open
surprised me. He usually hid them from me. He thought I didn't know
about them. Curiosity burned inside of me.
"Are you going to open it?" I asked as I
leaned against the doorframe and watched Kyle. He was standing at
the sink in our kitchen, dressed in gray sweat pants and a black
vest, holding a baby-formula scooper and a knife in his hands. Hope
never woke up before eight am, but Kyle hated being unprepared so
he always had got up early and made a bottle. He'd told me about
how hard it was settling Hope when I'd been in hospital. I'd been
breastfeeding Hope, and rarely expressed for bottle feeds. Linda
had helped him to wean her onto formula, but it had been a tough
stage.
One I had missed
. Even though I'd been home almost
three months, Kyle sometimes forgot that he wasn't on his own
anymore. I was home. I would share the load.
"Nope," was all he grunted, not even turning
around to look at me, as he measured the scoops of formula, shaved
the extra formula off with the flat side of the knife before
plopping them into Hope's bottle. He looked deep in concentration
as he frowned at the can of formula perched on the sink in front of
him like it was a dangerous animal ready to attack him. I watched
his lips moved silently as he added scoop after meticulous
scoop.
"Why?" I asked. "Kyle, maybe you should at
least…"
"Dammit," he hissed and tossed the bottle
into the sink before turning around and smiling sheepishly at me.
"I lost my count."
"You were on five," I muttered as I fetched a
clean bottle from the sterilizer and handed it to him. "And I think
you should at least read one of those letters."
"One, two, three, four," he muttered as he
refilled the bottle. "Five."
He wasn't even listening to me…
Rolling my eyes, I left him alone to continue
the
tedious
task of preparing a baby bottle. On my way out
of the kitchen, I grabbed the letter from the coffee table in the
lounge and rushed upstairs. I only had so much self-control. I had
resisted reading that folder–and looking for Cam's journal. I had a
feeling that these letters were going to drive me insane if I
didn't find out what she wanted from him.
****
Kyle
"You know, opening other peoples mail is a
federal offence," I said with a smirk, while inside I was fucking
quaking. This could blow the hell up in my face.
Lee's head jerked up from where she was
engrossed in my letter. She stared at me with a guilty assed
expression as she attempted to hide what I'd already seen her
doing. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, cheeks glowing, eyes wide. "I
just…I needed to know what she wanted. It's been driving me insane
watching these letters arrive every week and not knowing. Knowledge
is power, Kyle. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail…" She shrugged her
shoulder and sighed. "I needed to know." Well...shit.
We'd been doing well with the past few days.
No arguments, no goddamn drama. And now, two weeks before
Christmas, my woman decides to turn into Sherlock Holmes.
Christ…
"And what did she want?" I asked as I sat on
the edge of our bed. How the hell did she know about the letters?
I'd been so fucking careful about hiding them from her.
Dammit…
I wasn't pissed with her for opening my mail–what's
mine was hers–but I was worried. I couldn't understand why she
would want to read anything Rachel Grayson had written.
"She wants to see you," Lee whispered, as she
sat cross-legged on our bed with the letter resting on her legs.
"She says it's important. She has some…information." She paused and
pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and glanced down at the letter
before back at my face. "She says we're in danger."
Here we go…
"
For Christ's sake." I blew out a
breath and twisted around to face her. I had a nice day planned for
the three of us. I had planned to take the girls out to get a tree
and some gifts, but from the look on Lee's face I guessed those
plans were about to change…She held the letter out for me and I
tried to take it as gently as I could from her hand, but my temper
was rising. My brain felt like it was about to explode in my head.
This was crap. Pure and utter bullshit. Unfolding the letter, I
glanced down at words scrawled across the page.
Dear Kyle,
I'm assuming since you haven't barged into the
prison, and demanded to see me, you haven't read my letters. For
your family's sake, I hope you read this one. I have something to
tell you. Something important. He's planning something. I know. I
know his plans. You aren't safe. Or the baby. And
her
…She's
even less safe. Danger is watching you. Lurking where you least
expect it. I know. I know it all. Every tiny detail. Trouble, Kyle.
More than I have ever caused. Your world is about to come crashing
down on you. Everything will be gone. You will lose everything.
She
will be gone. Come see me. Let me explain. You need to
know. You don't have to trust me. But if you don't hear my words,
you won't have time. No time. Not enough time. You don't know what
he's capable of. What they are capable of. I need to see you. See
you soon. As soon as you can. Your world will crumble. You'll be
better off dead. She'll pray for death when they are finished with
her. She'll wish she died that night. She'll wish my bullet killed
her. That was the intention. The plan. Not Camryn, just
her
.
Cut off your lifeline. You're little princess. Stab you through the
back by shooting her through the heart. It went wrong. So wrong.
The plan's…The plan is set. It will happen. You have to stop it
from happening. We need to talk. Time is of the essence.
I'll love you forever, Kyle.
Rachel.
x.x
"You shouldn't have read this, Lee," I
groaned. There was a reason I didn't read these fucking letters.
Every drop of ink on those pages was laced with poison. "She's just
messing with our heads."
"Are you sure?" she whispered.
No…no, I'm not.
"Of course I'm sure," I lied. The only thing
I
was
sure of was what I intended to do with this letter. "I
need to go out," I blurted as I stood quickly and grabbed my keys
off the bedside table and my hoodie off the chair.
"Are you going to see her?" Lee croaked out,
causing me to freeze.
"What?" I shook my head. "No, baby, of course
I'm not." I bent down and kissed her hair. "I'm taking this to
Kelsie. Maybe Rachel's done us a huge favor by writing this and
they'll lock her up without a trial. No point in pleading not
guilty when you write a fucking confession letter."
This was the letter I'd been waiting months
for. Only now, I wasn't sure if I felt relief or terror…
****
"Well?" I asked as I paced Kelsie's office.
She was reading the letter and taking her sweet ass time answering
me.
"It's good," she said with a grin. "It's very
good."
"But is it enough?" I asked anxiously. It
better be enough. Time was running out.
"I'm going to make a few calls, Kyle," she
said as she pushed her chair back and stood. "I'll contact you as
soon as I have more information."
"Wait," I snapped. "That doesn’t tell me
anything, Kelsie." I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. "Do
we have her?"
Kelsie smiled a cat like smile as she stepped
towards me. "I think we have, Mr. Carter," he purred as she stroked
my arm.
What the fuck?
"And I'm going to make sure that we
do."
My phone started to vibrate in my pocket and
I pulled it out and glanced at the screen. "I need to take this," I
muttered as I backed towards the door. "Call me as soon as you have
news," I told her, feeling a little uncomfortable at how close she
had inched up to me. "I need to get home to my
fiancée
."
Kelsie nodded professionally and stepped back
to her desk. "Will do, Mr. Carter."
"Der, you okay?" I asked as soon as I stepped
out of Kelsie's office. His heavy breathing was a sure sign he
wasn't anywhere close to being okay.
"He's gonna pay for this," he snarled. His
breathing grew deeper–rougher. "I can't take this shit, Kyle," he
roared. "They are both going to fucking regret this."
"Who's gonna pay?" I asked.
He didn't reply.
"Derek," I demanded as I rushed down the back
stairwell and into the foyer through the back entrance of the
building. "Who is going to pay?"
The sound of a click in my ear was proof to
fact that he'd just hung up on me. "Shit," I hissed as I made a
dash for my car.
Yeah, this was turning out to be a real fun
day…
****
Lee
'She'll wish she died that night. She'll wish my
bullet killed her.'
My mind repeated those twelve words until I
felt like screaming in frustration. I expected myself to feel
terrified, and I was, but I was also angry. Really freaking
angry.
"That bitch," I mumbled as I sat on the
couch, in a state of utter disbelief, with my feet up on the coffee
table, and my eyes locked on the photo of Cam.
Who the hell did Rachel Grayson think she
was? I would never wish myself dead. Never. Not for her. Not for
anyone.
'I'll love you forever, Kyle.'
Uh…the woman didn’t know the meaning of the
word. She had battered Kyle senseless for no reason. Robbed him of
his money, his happiness and his freedom. Lied to him for years,
faked a miscarriage and had the audacity to say she would love him
forever…What a joke.
Hope was still asleep and I was growing
agitated, waiting on Kyle to come home.
Dropping my feet to the floor, I sat forward
and grabbed the newspaper. The minute I glanced at the cover my
eyes bulged in my head and my heart sank in my chest...
****
Kyle
When I got to the house Derek was already
gone. I ran around the place like a lunatic, checking every room
before admitting defeat. I hadn't the slightest clue of where to
look for him. Where the fuck would he go, and most importantly, who
the hell was going to pay? Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I
dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail. Just as I was
sliding my phone back into my pocket it started to ring and the
name
Princess
lit up the screen.
"Lee." I tried to make my voice sound as calm
as possible. "You okay, baby? I can't talk for long. I'm...in a
meeting with Kelsie." She didn't need to be worrying. If she even
got a hint of how fucked up Derek was it would crush her. She was
probably scared over that stupid letter. No. She needed to be
protected from this.
"Have you read this morning's paper yet?" she
asked in an urgent tone of voice.
Holding my phone to my ear with my shoulder,
I fastened my seat belt and started the engine. "No," I muttered as
I reversed out of the driveway. "And I hope you haven't either."
Jesus, I could barely control the steering wheel my hands were
shaking so badly. If anything happened to Derek I would never
forgive myself. Never.
"Your father gave an interview to a
journalist," Lee whispered.
Her words were enough to make my entire body
stiffen.
I swerved to the roadside, killed the engine,
and took a few calming breaths before speaking. "What did he say?"
I managed to ask through clenched teeth. Rage was an understatement
for how I was feeling.
"I…um…it's really strange…" She stopped
talking and I could tell she was panicking.
"What did he say, Lee?" I said slowly. "Just
tell me, baby?"
"I'm just going to read it out…" She paused
and I could hear papers shuffling in the back ground before her
soft voice drifted into my ear. "This is a direct quote from
your…from David," she told me before continuing. "I love both of my
sons with all my heart. I was appalled and devastated for my boys
when the news broke about their girlfriends being shot by that
grotesque woman. As a father it is your worst nightmare to discover
one of your children has been subjected to such a calculating
transgression, but to find out both were hoodwinked by that
loathsome woman makes my blood boil. One of my son's has buried his
beautiful girlfriend, Camryn–the woman he had planned to spend his
life with…" Lee's voice broke and I heard her inhale deeply before
continuing. "My other son's girlfriend has been left
in-inca-incapacitated," she stuttered. "As a result of that vile
woman's actions, my grandchild was left motherless for months. My
wife and I have tried our best to support both Kyle and Michael
during this difficult time, but it hasn't been easy for our
family…"