Pretty Little Wife(93)

“Our history doesn’t matter. If you make me hunt you, I will. And I will savor it.” He swung the hammer and caught her in the side.

She doubled over as pain shot through her, from stomach to back. She kept her head up because she knew if she looked away he would slam the hammer into her brain.

Her side thumped under her fingers, and an ache screeched through her head. Anxiety and panic mixed and swelled inside her. But she stayed on her feet.

“You’re going to bludgeon me, Jared?” She tried to ignored the pain and breathiness in her voice. “How will you explain that to the police?”

“You assume anyone will find your body.”

The hammer was right there, in front of her face. She bolted around him. Shifted to her wounded side. But he caught her mid-run and looped an arm around her waist, tightening against the wound he’d inflicted until the breath left her lungs. He pulled her against his stomach and held her there, his breath gliding across the back of her neck.

“That was a mistake.”

She’d always thought of him as a guy who sat at a desk. In shape but normal. What a joke. He possessed enough upper-body strength to clamp down on her and limit her options. All that running and conditioning. She knew that was part of his game. Part of the hunt.

She would not die like this, another victim of the Payne men.

“Let go!” She scratched at his arm. When he lifted the hammer again, she kicked out her legs, throwing him off balance. He shifted backward and yelled in her ear to stop.

His anger breathed life into hers, but she tamped it down. He wanted her to fight. He got off on the hunt and the fear.

She would not give him either.

She made her body go limp. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

His mouth was right next to her ear. His body so close. But she would not panic. She would not give him that.

“Do it,” she said, issuing her challenge.

He loosened his grip. “Your game won’t work.”

But it had. Her arms were still trapped in his, but she could move now. Lower her hand.

“I won’t fight you.”

He whispered against her ear. “That’s not like you, dear sister. You fight everything.”

She forced her body to stay still. Lure him in. “You act like I have anything to live for. You and your brother destroyed everything.”

“Oh, come on. Let me enjoy this.”

He barely held her now. The space between them widened.

And she pounced.

Her fingers wrapped around the screwdriver she had hidden in her pocket. She thrust her arm into the air, breaking the last of his hold. She spun around and aimed for his neck. He ducked just in time, and the end rammed into his cheek. Blood spurted, and he reeled back.

She kicked him in the stomach. Used all the pent-up anger and fear and stretched out like she had with the fence. He went down, and the hammer fell from his fingers and cracked against the floor. Before he could get up, she jumped on him, arms waving, straddling his hips.

She shifted and heard his sharp intake of breath. When she looked down, she saw his jaw drop open and felt his hands pull at hers. The screwdriver poked out of his stomach, and blood gurgled up from inside of him.

It all happened so fast. The kick and the plunge. She’d stabbed him.

She shoved the screwdriver deeper into his body. Moved it around, causing as much damage as possible. Ripping and tearing.

As his eyes turned glassy and his voice died out, she leaned down. With her face just inches from his, she watched the life seep out of him.

“I knew about you all along,” she whispered.

His mouth moved, but no sound came out.

“About this cabin. About you, you sick piece of garbage.” Her side screamed in pain, and her fingers ached from the grip on the screwdriver, but she kept going. She needed his last memory to be of her. “I followed Aaron here weeks ago and figured it out.”

“No.” His voice came out as a low whisper.

“I had to wait. Bide my time and plan. I couldn’t just kill one of you. I needed to wipe out your polluted bloodline. Make sure every last male Payne was dead, and now I’ve killed you both.” She pushed the tool even deeper and his hands slid off hers and fell to the floor.

“I fucking win.”

“LILA!”

She could hear Pete’s voice but didn’t let go. Jared’s body turned boneless and his head fell to the side. She watched his chest, but it no longer moved up and down. Still, she sat on top of him and dug that screwdriver as deep as she could inside of him.

Blood soaked his gray shirt and flooded the floor beneath him. She could smell it, feel the stickiness on her fingers, but she didn’t unclench.

The room started to spin, and the stitch in her side begged for attention. She heard footsteps thundering up the outside steps. Pete was yelling directions, and someone said something about an ambulance.

No need. She’d taken care of him. She’d ended it.

Pete skidded into the room. He hesitated for a second before running over and kneeling next to her. “Okay, Lila. Let go.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

Pete felt for Jared’s pulse. “He’s dead.”

“He killed them all. Those women. It was Jared. He set up Aaron, but he killed them.”

“We’ll worry about who did what later. I need you to let go now so I can get you some help.” Pete tried to loosen her grip.