Epiphany (Legacy of Payne) (33 page)

My heart twisted when he dashed away a tear. I’d only seen him cry once before and that was when I’d dreamed of the night he found his wife. “You and the baby—that’s why I’m doing this.” He moved past me and headed toward the garage. I went to follow, but a hand shot out of the bedroom and fisted my hair.

I screamed, and Aidan whirled, eyes wide in terror as Judd pressed the barrel of a gun to my temple.

“Looking for your gun?” Judd asked.

Aidan went still, his body wired tight enough to spring into motion at any second. “Let her go.”

“Look at him. So pathetic. He actually thinks he has a say in this.” Judd pushed me to my knees, and I squeezed my eyes shut as he jabbed the barrel hard against my scalp. “I could pull the trigger now, blow her fucking brains all over these walls, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

“Don’t do this,” Aidan pleaded, his voice an octave away from breaking. “Whatever you have against me, I’m begging you, don’t take it out on her.”

I blinked, and my tears spilled over as he tossed a set of handcuffs at Aidan’s feet. “Cuff your hands behind your back.”

Aidan bent in tiny degrees, never taking his eyes off me. I expected him to fight, but he didn’t hesitate to do as he was told, which spoke volumes on how hopeless the situation was.

“You won’t get away with this,” he said as he clicked the cuffs in place. “Everyone’s looking for you.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Judd yanked me to my feet. “Don’t you think I know that? This isn’t ending well for any of us. I have nothing to go back to, thanks to the two of you.” The gun shook against my head, and I felt his body tremble as he dragged me back a few steps.

Stall him. Keep him talking.

“What did we ever do to you?” I asked.

“You messed everything up! You and your stupid dreams. I had it all mapped out.” He pointed the gun at Aidan. “He practically set himself up by coming in to see you. He’d go down for your murder—he’d go down for them all.” His voice dropped. “Six took your place that night, you know.”

My body went cold. He’d completely unhinged, even more so than before. “You don’t have to do this. Killing us won’t get rid of the pain.”

“No, but it’ll be satisfying as fuck.” He tightened his hold on me and gestured toward Aidan. “Get in the bedroom.”

“You’re gonna kill us anyway,” Aidan said, his jaw twitching as he assessed the situation. “Why draw it out?”

Judd shoved the barrel into my mouth, and I nearly threw up. “Do
not
test me.”

“No!” Aidan cried. “I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t hurt her.” He moved into the bedroom slowly, his face ash-white.

Judd pushed me in after him and indicated a chair in the corner. “Sit down,” he ordered Aidan.

“What do you want from us?” he asked as he lowered into the chair. “Why are you doing this? I don’t even know you.”

“You don’t know shit. You’re fucking clueless.” Judd pulled the barrel from between my lips, and I broke down crying as he shoved me toward Aidan. “Use the rope at his feet and tie him to the chair. Either of you gets any funny ideas, and you’re dead, sweetheart.”

I knelt, reaching for the rope, and dropped it three times due to my shaking hands. Finally, I secured one ankle to the chair leg and then raised my head.

“It’s okay,” Aidan said. “We’ll get out of this.”

I didn’t believe him; even worse,
he
didn’t believe himself. My heart squeezed painfully as I saw something in him die, and that scared me as much as the threat of Judd. He was giving up, right before my eyes, and I could do nothing to stop it.

“If you get the chance, run. Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I said as I finished tying the last knot.

“Quiet! You guys can forget whatever you’re whispering about. No one’s going anywhere.” I stood slowly, and Judd nodded toward the bed. “Climb up.”

Automatically, I shook my head, self-preservation dictating my reaction. Pleading with him wouldn’t help, and running wouldn’t help—he was blocking the way to the bedroom door—but I couldn’t
not
try. “Don’t do this—”

“Do I need to use the Taser again?”

I gulped, placing my palm over my stomach. “No.”

He ignored Aidan’s threats and grinned, and his eyes fell to my hand. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Reality faded, and I let my mind drift in a fog. None of this was happening. As he tied me down, I didn’t think, didn’t feel. I wasn’t real. This wasn’t real. This was another nightmare, and I was still at the hospital with Aidan, warm beside him in bed.

Except that Aidan was screaming, and that alone was enough to jolt me back to reality. “Don’t you touch her! Sonofabitch, I’ll kill you!”

I lifted my head as Judd stalked over to him. “You had it all. Illustrious career, a shitload of money, hot wife.” He smiled, a thin-lipped grin that chilled my blood. “But I did something about that, didn’t I? Now I’m going to do something about her.” His gaze swerved in my direction. “Only this time you’re going to watch every fucking moment.”

My muscles tensed as he neared.

“Kill me!” Aidan pleaded. “Kill me, not her!” His torment lanced through me, and in that moment I wished Judd
would
kill him first. I didn’t want him to see this. We were both dead anyway. Better he go first, never having to witness what was about to happen.

Judd rounded the bed and halted on the left side. “I’ve already seen her naked. She’s got a great body, but you know that, don’t you?”

“Don’t hurt her.” The tears in Aidan’s voice seared me, as did the hopelessness on his face as he fought against the bindings. I prayed my knots were loose enough for him to get free, though I had no idea how he’d get out of the cuffs.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. I felt like a broken record, but if he was going to kill me, I wanted to know why.

“No, sweetheart.” He grabbed at the front of his pants. “Enough stalling. I’m in the mood to play.” He crawled onto the bed, and I sank into a surreal state. The shadows in the bedroom deepened, and I didn’t hear Aidan yelling, didn’t hear the roar of my own heartbeat . . . failed to notice the doorbell sounding until Judd jumped from the bed.

“Who the hell is that?” he demanded.

My gaze clashed with Aidan’s, and I knew we remembered at the same time. His mother.

“No one knows we’re here. Just ignore it,” Aidan said, though his panicked tone gave him away.

Judd narrowed his eyes, flexed his fingers around the gun, and disappeared into the hall.

Aidan let out a curse as hysteria finally bubbled from my chest, erupting from me like a volcano. “We’re gonna die.”

“No, baby. Look at me.” The chair leg thumped.

I lifted my head again.

He’d freed one leg and was now rocking the chair to free the other. “Everything’s gonna be okay.” Rocking some more, he nearly fell sideways at one point, but managed to break free. He rushed to the side of the bed. “I can’t untie you, but you might be able to reach my cell. It’s in my coat.” He leaned toward my bound hand, and I strained to reach into his pocket.

“If that’s your mom . . .” My fingers barely touched the phone, so I reached further.

“I can’t think about that right now. The only way any of us are getting out of here is if we get help.” He leaned his body more heavily on the mattress. “Hurry.”

“I’m trying!” I finally got a good hold and pulled the phone from his pocket.

“Call 9-1-1. Shit! Hurry—he’s coming.”

Aidan sprinted back to his chair as I tried to key in the numbers. The rope kept my hand at an odd angle, and I was scared Judd would return before I had a chance to get help.

Come on! Don’t give up.

I hit the correct buttons as footsteps sounded in the hall.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“Help us!” I cried, keeping my voice low. “He’s holding us at gunpoint.” I rattled off the address and then gasped. The phone slipped from my fingers and dropped to the floor as Lila and the sheriff appeared in the doorway. They entered the room, Judd behind them, his gun at the ready between his hands.

“Look who crashed our party.”

“Let them go,” The sheriff said. “This is between you and me. Let’s talk about this.”

“Sure, let’s talk. This is turning out to be a nice little family get-together, isn’t it?” Judd snickered. “We’ve got Aidan here, the golden child, and his fine piece of ass. Oh, and we have mommy here too. This should be interesting.” He grabbed Lila and pressed the weapon against her head. “He doesn’t know, does he, Dad?”

Thick silence ensued, and the sheriff slowly put his hands in the air. “You know.” It was a statement—one he and Judd understood perfectly. Aidan and I were left in the dark, and Lila seemed too terrified to make a sound.

“Shitty way to find out you have a brother,” Judd said.

Aidan’s eyes widened as understanding dawned.

The sheriff dropped his head. “How’d you find out?”

“I overheard you guys talking when
she
came here for her dad’s funeral.”

Lila yelped as Judd shoved her forward. She fell into the sheriff’s arms and came apart, her body shaking as she clung to him.

“I don’t understand,” McFayden began. “I only found out about Aidan a couple of years ago.” He was too calm as he inched backward, which made me wonder what he was up to. “You couldn’t have killed all those women in Boise.”

Judd looked pleased with himself. “I didn’t. I killed his wife though. Hell, she fought like a wildcat.” He aimed a smug smile toward Aidan. “Wasn’t hard to resurrect the Hangman after he vanished into thin air.”

“Why’d you do it?” McFayden asked.

“You weren’t there for me, but you jumped to protect them.” Judd blinked, and moisture trickled down his cheeks. “Pretty fucked up that I had to commit murder to get your attention.”

“I
tried
to protect you. Your mother left with you—I didn’t know where you were. I never stopped looking, but I couldn’t find you.”

“You’re lying! She told me you didn’t care.
He
told me.” His voice had changed, reminding me of the way he’d sounded as a child in my vision. He pulled up his shirt to reveal an ugly pattern of scars—the kind that made me think someone had burned him.

“Look at them, Dad. You weren’t around to stop this. He did worse. So much worse. You don’t know how many times he held me down and—”

“Please, Judd.” McFayden interrupted, blinking rapidly as his mouth trembled. He shook his head. “This isn’t the way to deal with it. Let me get you the help you need.” He paused for a moment. “Let them go.”

“It’s always about them!” Judd waved the gun around and advanced on his father, who pushed Lila behind him. Aidan tensed, and I was terrified he was about to do something that would get him killed.

“Nobody’s leaving here,” Judd said. He sneered as his dad and Lila slowly backed toward Aidan. “That’s right—go protect your
perfect
son.”

Lila dropped next to Aidan and held onto him. I heard her soft cries from where I was restrained to the bed, and I accepted that we were all going to die. You couldn’t reason with someone so far gone. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch when it happened, and listened as the sheriff continued to stall Judd.

“I won’t hurt you, son. Despite what you’ve done, I love you. But I won’t let you hurt them either. You’ll have to kill me first.”

The blast shocked us all. My eyes popped open, and Judd was crying, looking on the verge of being sick as he stared in horror at his father. McFayden gazed at the blood oozing from his arm, mouth agape as Judd staggered back. Lila cried harder.

Where the hell were the police? As if in answer to my silent question, sirens sounded outside. Judd froze, listening as they drew closer. The echo of slammed doors penetrated the walls, and almost instantly, a cell phone rang.

“Fuck!” He paced a circle in front of the bedroom door.

“Come on, son. Put the gun down before you get yourself killed.”

He stomped to his father and stuck the barrel in his face. McFayden closed his eyes.

“Jeff!” Lila shrieked. She jumped to her feet, trying to launch herself at the sheriff, but Aidan trapped her between his thighs.

“No, Mom!”

“Kill me.” McFayden said, still grasping his injured arm. “If killing me will dull the pain inside you, do it.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “I should’ve been there.”

Judd stumbled back again, and time stalled as he turned the gun on himself.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath, frozen in a sequence of events that only seemed possible in the movies. McFayden fell to his knees, pleading with him to drop the gun, and someone’s cell went off again but was ignored. “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t do it.”

“I won’t let them take me,” Judd said, chest heaving, his hand shaking as he held the weapon to his temple.

“I love you,” the sheriff choked. He hurtled himself at him, knocking him to the floor with a loud grunt, and they struggled amongst a tangle of limbs. Aidan jumped to his feet, his body ready to leap into action, despite not having the use of his arms.

Lila was screaming at them to stop. The bedroom door flung open, and several deputies swarmed inside. She rushed across the room and fell next to McFayden. He gathered her into his arms as the deputies detained Judd, who was openly bawling. They hauled him to his feet and dragged him from the room.

Someone unlocked the cuffs around Aidan’s wrists, and he wasted no time in untying me, his fingers working fast to free my hands and feet. He pulled me into the safety of his embrace.

“If I never let you go, it’ll be too soon.”

“Do you want me to go in with you?”

“No, I’ll be okay,” I said. “Doing this alone . . . I think it’s something I need to do.”

Aidan slid his palms along my cheeks. His lips met mine, and for a few moments our surroundings faded. We broke apart just as an officer moved past, decked out in a uniform that was such a dark shade of blue, one might think it was black.

“I’ll be right here when you’re done.” He let go, and I could tell by the strain on his face that he wanted to go with me.