I wasn’t even sure Mason was talking to me anymore. He didn’t seem to notice I was even in the room with him as he recounted his wife’s cheating and then leaving him. Silently, I prayed to God to help Kane find me before Mason remembered why he’d brought me there and killed me.
“I gave her everything, and she left me for a fucking carpenter!” he bellowed into the room, still looking up at the ceiling.
Closing my eyes, I prayed to God to rescue me from this nightmare. God, please save me. Please help Kane find me here and save me.
“I bet you wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Abigail?” Mason asked.
My eyes flew open to see him standing in front of me. Trembling in fear, I said quietly, “No. I would never do that to anyone.”
“See? I knew that,” he said as he nodded his head, his demeanor back to the kind way he’d been when I’d met with him in his office. “I can see that in you. You’re not like her, Abigail.”
“Why do you call me Abigail?” I asked without thinking, immediately regretting my question. Asking questions was what always got me in trouble. I waited for his face to grow dark with anger and for him to pull his fist back to hit me, but he just smiled like I’d said something that made him happy.
“Her name was Abigail. Do you know the moment you entered my office that day you reminded me of her. My Abigail. Sweet and innocent, you wanted to protect the man you loved, but I see you for who you really are. You’re just like her.”
In a flash, his expression morphed into one full of rage. I shook my head over and over as I tried to convince him I wasn’t like the woman who’d broken his heart. “No! No! I’m not like her. I would never do that to you. I would never hurt someone like that!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, but instantly my attention was on Mason’s fist crashing into my face. His knuckles smashed right into my eye, sending my head flying back into the wall behind me. Pain shot through my skull from all sides, and in seconds another punch landed just lower on my cheek, sending my head rolling on my shoulders.
I struggled to keep my eyes open. He cocked his arm back and then from the left side of the room someone launched at Mason and slammed him to the ground. Through my blurry vision I saw the man begin to beat him, repeatedly smashing his head on the floor. As I tried to make out who the man was, I felt hands untie the cord on my wrists.
Turning my head, I saw Gemma standing beside me. “Honey, we need to get out of here. Follow me.”
Suddenly, the scene in front of me made sense. I looked again and saw Kane pummeling Mason’s face, his fists smashing his nose as blood sprayed everywhere. My hands freed, I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. Gemma grabbed me from behind to pull me out of harm’s way, but I fought her, not wanting to leave without Kane.
“No! I won’t leave him here!” I screamed when she wrapped her arms around me and tried to move me toward the door.
“Abbi, we need to get out of here. Kane can handle himself. At least let me get you to the car.”
“No, I don’t want to go,” I sobbed as Mason gained the upper hand on top of Kane and began to land punches to his face.
Gemma shook her head. “No. I won’t leave you here! Come on. He’ll be okay.”
Much stronger, she forced me out of the room, even as I screamed for Kane. By the time we reached the car, I was crying uncontrollably, sure he was hurt and needing me while I was outside saving my own skin.
“Abbi, let me look at your face.” She touched my cheek with her sleeve, making me recoil back in pain. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to hurt you. He hit you bad. You’re all bloody, sweetie. I need to clean you off.”
I sagged against Kane’s Mustang and watched for him to come out. “Gemma, I need to go back in there. I can’t let him get hurt. You have to let me go.”
She shook her head violently. “No way. He made me promise I’d get you out of there as soon as I could. You have to trust him. He can handle himself.”
The tears flowed down my face and I tried to push my way past her, but it was no use. She was just too strong for me. Defeated and sure something terrible was happening inside the house, I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. If Kane got hurt because of me, I would never forgive myself.
Gemma hugged me and rubbed my back to soothe me, but nothing would make me happy until I saw Kane come out of that house safe and sound. Burying my face in her shoulder, I cried, “What if something happens to him? We can’t leave him in there. We have to do something.”
“Don’t worry, honey. Everything’s going to be fine. I know it will.”
I pulled away from her and looked into her eyes to see she was as worried as I was. “How can you say that? No matter what happens, it won’t be fine. Kane is going to get in trouble again, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop that. And that’s if he doesn’t get himself killed in there. Mason is crazy, Gemma. He thought I was his ex-wife who left him and he wanted to punish me for that.”
“I thought he did this because of what Kane did to his brother.”
“I thought so too. He said he wanted me to feel the pain Jethro felt when Kane beat him, but then he started talking about how I reminded him of his wife whose name was Abigail too. He’s crazy! Kane can’t fight that.”
“It’s going to be okay, Abbi. I don’t know how, but it will be. All we have to do is wait for Kane like he made me promise and it will all be okay.”
I closed my eyes to pray to God again. He’d saved me. Now I needed him to save the man I loved. Please don’t let him get hurt. Please. I love him. Please, God.
Just then, I heard a noise that sounded like a gunshot go off somewhere inside the house. Had someone else come to help Mason and shot Kane? My blood ran cold at the idea of him on the floor bleeding to death alone. I pushed past Gemma, who stood trying to figure out where the gunshot had come from, and ran back toward the house.
I needed to see Kane, no matter what happened.
My legs buckled under me at the sound of a second gunshot and then everything went black as I fell to the ground, my mind filled with one terrible thought.
Kane was dead.
KANE’S LIPS pressed gently against my forehead, and he whispered, “Everything will be okay, angel. I’m here. You’re safe now, Abbi.”
He lifted me into his arms and carried me, but I didn’t know where we were going. He yelled something about a car—the words seemed to get lost in my head, rattling around and crashing into one another as I tried to understand what was happening.