Automatically, her hands went to cover his as she tried to stop the pain. He flung her backward like a ragdoll and picked up the knife. Allegra and Shirley scrambled to their feet as they stared at Asher. Pure evil filled his eyes; he stared them down.
“I loved you, but you never loved me, did you?”
Allegra was so over being nice. She felt the anger start at her toes and rise through her body until she was trembling with adrenaline. “No. You’re a self-important brat who only cares about himself. I could never love someone like you,” she spat.
“You’re just like the others. I thought you were so special, but you’re just like the other whores. Your panties get wet for the likes of Harry and Finn. Well, Harry’s dead because of you. I slit his throat from ear to ear, just like I’m going to do to you and then Finn. You’re just a
whore
! Just like the rest of them.”
“NO!” Allegra yelled back as she stepped forward, his eyes round in surprise as she advanced toward him. “You don’t get to hurt anyone else ever again.”
He moved so fast she didn’t even process what he was doing. He reached out, grabbed Shirley, and sank the knife into her hip. Allegra felt her heart stop as she watched Shirley crumple to the floor in slow motion. When she looked up, Asher stood over the old woman with a demented smile on his face, holding the bloodied knife in his hand.
“See, I’ll hurt whoever I want.”
All Allegra saw was red. She leapt at Asher. She didn’t feel the knife slicing into her arm. All she saw was Shirley not moving on the floor as Allegra balled her hands into fists and let them fly.
Mallory was out of the car and opening the trunk before it seemed to have stopped. She tossed a gun at Finn before sliding a second gun into her back and a knife into her boot. She grabbed her Glock 42 and flipped on the red laser sight. Terrell appeared out of the shadows.
“Gun?” she asked without looking up.
“Got one.”
“Is it legal?”
“Um, maybe I need one then.”
“Take whatever you want,” Mallory motioned to the open silver gun case. “I’m taking the front. Finn, take the side door. Terrell, take the back door. Wait exactly two minutes and then bust the doors down. I got lead,” Mallory said before leaving them staring after her.
Finn gripped the gun in his hand as he and Terrell ran past Mallory, who was walking with deadly precision for the front door. His mother had spent her whole life keeping guns out of his hands and, as his hand tightened around it, he knew for Allegra he would use it. For Allegra, he would rip Asher apart.
“NO!”
Finn stopped in his tracks. That was Allegra. His body was slammed with fear as he sprinted to the side door. He didn’t care if he was early. As soon as he reached the door, he put his foot on it and broke it down.
Allegra felt Asher’s nose crunch beneath her hand. It didn’t stop her, though. She punched, jabbed, kicked, and scratched—anything to hurt him.
“Dirty WHORE!” Asher screamed as his hand came up to his bloody nose. “Enough!” His punch connected with her face, and Allegra saw stars. She fell hard. Before she could even catch her breath, Asher was on top of her with the knife in hand.
She struggled, but he had her arms pinned at her sides, her back on the floor, and his knees on either side of her as he sat across her hips. He looked down at her and smiled. Blood dripped from his face and in between his teeth, giving him a look of walking death.
“That wasn’t very nice, Allegra. And I chose you for your sweet compliance. I see now I was wrong. But, if I don’t get you, then no one will.” Asher leaned down until his face was right in front of hers, the knife pressing loosely against her throat.
Allegra struggled. She kicked, but her legs couldn’t connect with anything. She tried to free her arms, but they were pinned. That left one weapon, her head. She just had to get him a little closer.
“Too bad you’ll never have me either. You’ll never know how lucky Finn was to have something you’ll never have.” Allegra smiled innocently at him. “Aw, poor Asher, never to know my love. Finn has it, though. He has my heart and my soul,” Allegra dropped her voice, and Asher leaned the rest of the way forward to hear her, “and my body.”
Allegra snapped her head forward with all the strength she could muster. She felt her eyes roll back as her head connected with his. Her vision swam as she watched him bend back with the force of her hit.
The knife nicked her neck as he brought both hands to his face. Allegra fought with all she had and managed to wiggle one arm free. She went straight for the knife. She heard crashing and smelled smoke, but it didn’t register. All her attention was focused on the fight between Asher and her for the knife in his hand.
She felt her arm shaking with exhaustion as she gripped his wrist. She was going to lose. Asher had both hands on the hilt of the knife and was pushing it straight down toward her throat. In that instant she knew she wasn’t going to come out of this alive. Images of her mother, her sisters, and her friends flashed through her mind. But it was the memory of Finn holding her tight to him—his hand running through her hair as he whispered his love for her—that would be her last image.
Finn kicked the door in and rushed into the darkness of the building. He smelled smoke and followed the sounds of music through an empty storage room. He pushed through another door and entered what looked to be a break room.
Voices. He heard Allegra shouting and screaming. He knocked over chairs as he raced forward. He slammed a swinging door open and skidded to a stop. Fire was licking the side of the building. An altar was set up in the middle of the room where a bloody Asher was on top of an equally bloody Allegra with a knife to her throat. The world stopped spinning. Finn aimed his gun, put his finger on the trigger, but then a blast echoed through the building.
Allegra felt the tip of the blade cutting into the soft skin of her throat. She was going to die. She knew it. At least Finn knew she loved him. She would always love him. The image of Finn pressing gentle kisses on her face shifted.
Fight
, his image said to her. Allegra blinked. If these were going to be her last moments, she wasn’t going to go out nicely. She was going to fight, just as Finn had taught her.
She screamed at Asher, she didn’t even know what, just screamed. She fought with everything she had. Suddenly Asher swayed, and with a look of complete disbelief, fell onto her.
Fight
! She grabbed his shirt and shoved. She blindly fought to reach between their bodies and grab his knife.
She heard her name then. It was coming from somewhere in the building. Asher lay cheek to cheek with her, and she turned her head away from him to find the source of the call.
“Finn!” He was running toward her, gun in hand. She fought to shove Asher off her. She had to get to Finn.
She lifted her head over Asher’s shoulder and saw Mallory walking toward her. Her face was tense, her blue eyes narrowed and unmoving. The gun in her hand was still trained on Asher. A red laser from the gun highlighted the hole Mallory had put in the back of Asher’s head.
It was over. Allegra let her head collapse back onto the ground. “Shirley! Someone check on Shirley!” she screamed as the memory that caused her vision to turn red came back to her.
“I’m still here,” Shirley’s shaky voice called out.
“Oh, thank God! I think I’m going to pass out now,” Allegra managed to say before all the strength left her body, and the world turned black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Finn closed the distance between him and Allegra in a blink of an eye. He reached down and grabbed Asher’s shoulders and pulled him off her. There was blood everywhere. Finn frantically tossed Asher’s dead body aside and pressed his fingers to Allegra’s throat. He felt a pulse.
“She’s alive!” he called out, but he didn’t need to. Mallory and Terrell were already there.
Mallory was kneeling next to Asher and shook her head. “He’s not.”
“And just who are you? My, you’re a strong one,” Shirley managed weakly as Terrell helped prop her up and pressed his hand against the gash in her hip.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Finn ran his hands over Allegra’s body. Her face was swelling, there were a couple of small cuts on her throat, and a large one on her arm. He picked up a piece of satin wedding dress from the floor and tied it around her arm.
“Come back to me, sweetheart. I love you. You’re safe.”
“But, you all aren’t,” Mallory said with all seriousness. “Hand me the guns. I don’t want you all getting into any kind of trouble.”
“And what a sexy gun you have,” Shirley murmured, her eyes starting to droop.
Finn couldn't help the laughter. Right there in the middle of the blood-soaked dais with fire spreading, he laughed. Terrell looked utterly shocked at the eighty-plus-year-old white-haired woman with a death grip on a bright orange purse.
“FBI!” Agent Hectoria yelled as she rushed in with backup. She lowered her weapon and took in the scene. “Get some firemen in here!”
Allegra felt hot. Was she in hell? Dear Lord, her mother had warned her to get to church, but she hadn’t. Was this her punishment? Her mother also told her to wear clean underpants in case of an accident. Maybe hell was a better place for her. She’d stopped being nice and gotten killed with day-old panties. Hell would protect her from her mother’s lecture.
“Allegra, sweetheart, come back to me.”
Oh, Finn. Hell was a horrible place. It was hot, she had on dirty underwear, and she was tortured with images of Asher straddling her with a knife at her throat. Then Satan taunted her by tossing in Finn’s voice calling to her.
“Allegra! Open your eyes. You’re safe, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
Allegra struggled to open her eyes. When she did, images of flames filled her vision. She promptly slammed them shut again. “You’re not nice, Satan!”
“Satan? Allegra, it’s me, Finn. Asher is dead, and the warehouse is on fire. I’m going to lift you, but I need to know if you’re hurt anywhere else.”
Allegra cracked open an eye. “I’m not in hell?”
Finn came into view and smiled down at her. “You’re an angel. We’ll be old and in heaven together, but not for a really, really long time. For the time being, let’s get you out of here. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“My arm hurts, my face hurts . . . well, everything hurts, but I’m alive,” Allegra said with her patented optimism. She tried to see out of an eye that was swelling closed. “Is that Asher?”
Allegra felt her hands tighten into fists as her body prepared to fight. But then two men put him on a stretcher. Mallory stood behind him and watched as Agent Hectoria organized the evacuation of the building. Two men with cameras took pictures, one man took video, and firefighters were spraying the fire with water and foam. She looked to the other side and saw two EMTs lifting Shirley onto a stretcher.
Mallory stepped forward. “How’re you doing, Allegra?”
“Never better. Did you kill him?” Mallory gave a single nod of her head. “Thank you. But, Mallory,” Allegra called as Mallory turned to leave, “and Agent Hectoria.”
Finn slid his arms under her back and knees. He lifted her to him, and she clung to him. “We need to get out of here, sweetheart.”
“No,” Allegra yelled again. For someone who had hardly ever said that word, she was getting used to it. “This is important. Mallory, Agent, there’s something else Asher said.”
She felt Finn stop and turn toward Mallory and Agent Hectoria. They hurried toward her as the video man stepped closer to film her.
“What did he say?” the agent asked.
“He said there were
others
. He referred to the
rest of them
.”
Finn swore. Mallory looked like she wanted to shoot Asher again. Agent Hectoria gave her a quick look before reaching for her phone. “Everyone, clear the building,” she yelled before dialing.
“Come on, Allegra, let’s get you to the hospital and call your family.”
Allegra turned herself over to Finn and the EMTs. Everything was blurry. Her eye was swelling shut, her head rang, and exhaustion was overtaking her quickly. She remembered answering questions for an FBI agent and being wheeled into X-ray. Finally, she was settled in a hospital bed. Her eyes closed almost instantly, and she let sleep take over.
* * *
Mallory stood in the hall of the hospital outside Allegra’s room and handed her gun to Agent Hectoria. With all the chaos, the agent hadn’t asked for it until then. They would test it for ballistics to confirm it was the gun used in the shooting. For as long as she lived, Mallory would never forget the cold fury that overtook her as she leveled the gun and pulled the trigger without a second’s hesitation.
“You saved a lot of lives today. But, I expect you’ll see a lot of blowback from the Woodcrofts,” Agent Hectoria said as she put the gun into an evidence bag.
“I would do anything for those women in there.” Mallory gestured to where Shirley and Allegra were, next to each other in the hospital emergency room.
“It’s not just them. We’re getting reports from LA, New York, and Miami of murdered women that fit Asher’s MO.” Agent Hectoria let out a sigh. “We also uncovered at least eight rape cases that suddenly disappeared. It looks like he was spending money on more than wild parties. He was paying off his victims or making them disappear. We’re hoping some of them went off the grid on their own and will come forward as news of his death breaks.”
“I had no idea. I’ve known him for years.” Mallory shook her head. What had she missed? She felt she could have prevented some of this.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. As you know, money can conceal a lot about a person’s past. Can’t it?”
“It can provide an excellent cover,” Mallory agreed.
“Well, the FBI will stand behind you if the Woodcrofts do any more than blast you publicly. We’ll release our own statement after we talk to some of the families in the other cities. In that statement, we’ll tell the other victims they are safe to come out of hiding. I just hope there are some who escaped. At last count, there were six women whose murder investigations are now being reopened.”
“Please keep me updated. Let me know if there is anything I can do for the victims or their families.”
Mallory didn’t watch the agent walk away. She stared at the curtains and waited for him to come. She had sensed him the moment he walked into the hospital. The twin doors to the lobby opened, and he walked in. His hands were in his jeans pockets and the V-neck sweater clung to his wide shoulders. Mallory rolled her eyes and quickly clenched her fingers into tight fists before relaxing her whole body. Her heart had broken, and it would never be repaired. She believed there was nothing left to hurt if she didn’t have a heart. For years, she’d turned that part of her off and vowed to never feel again.
“I guess I owe you a thank-you,” he said, stopping next to her.
She could feel the heat coming off his body and fought the urge to move closer. “I’d do anything for her,” she said, never taking her eyes from the fabric drape surrounding Allegra’s bed.
“Thank you for saving Allegra.”
“You’re welcome, Reid.”
Reid pursed his lips and disappeared behind the curtain. The rest of the Simpson family would be here soon, and she didn’t want to be. Her sister was safe. Mallory smiled at the blue drape and walked down the long hallway by herself.
* * *
“You are the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. Come on, just give me a little peek. For a sick old woman.”
“You want a pity strip?” A deep voice floated into her room.
“You betcha.”
The deep voice chuckled from behind the fabric room divider. “I need to check on Miss Simpson. Behave yourself while I’m gone.”
Allegra opened her eyes and saw Finn sitting on the corner of her bed and Reid standing against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. They were both staring at the blue drape as it was drawn back. The escort they met at Elle’s bachelorette party walked in.
She felt her face flush as she looked quickly between Aiden and the men in the room. Reid and Finn wore a look of utter confusion.
“How are you doing, Miss Simpson?”
His voice almost caused her to shudder. Damn, he was hot. “G-g-good,” she stuttered and then giggled. “It’s hot. I mean, nice to see you again, Aiden. Did Shirley call you?” Finn shot her a dark look and took her hand in his. She felt the blush deepen on her cheeks. Those scrubs had to be painted on.
“No, I’m your doctor.” Allegra giggled again. “No, really. I’m your doctor . . . Dr. Aiden Starr.”
The blue panel was pushed aside, and Allegra felt her mouth drop open. Oh, she was going to get Shirley for this. An equally hot doctor walked in looking at a chart.
“Miss Simpson, I’m Dr. Barry Stein. I’m here to consult on your lacerations.” She giggled again, and Dr. Stein looked up and froze.
“Is that Barry?” Shirley called as Dr. Stein blanched.
“It’s not what it looks like . . .” he said quickly.
“Someone better tell me what this is, because by the way Allegra is giggling and what I overheard between Dr. Starr there and Shirley, I’m not liking what I’m thinking.” Finn stood up as Barry and Aiden shot nervous glances at each other.
“Don’t worry, Finn. Shirley hired them to cheer me up. We met them at Elle’s bachelorette party.”
Finn looked up to the heavens as if asking for patience. “I’m not surprised Shirley would order escorts. But at the hospital?”
Shirley and Allegra giggled again and Aiden cleared his throat. “Actually, we are doctors. Our weekend activities help us pay off our massive student loans.”
“That’s not the only thing that’s massive,” Shirley shot out from behind her curtain.
Allegra snorted. “Here I was worried about you, Shirley.”
“Nah, I got me one of those nice titanium hips three years ago. The knife bounced right off it. And having Dr. Sexyscrubs here is worth the couple of stitches I needed.”
Finn groaned, and Reid hid his laughter behind a cough.
“Maybe they should turn down her morphine drip,” Reid whispered.
Allegra just giggled again. “I don’t think it would help.”
“Thank you, Shirley,” Aiden called out. “Now, Allegra, Dr. Stein is going to stitch you up so that you won’t have any scars. He’s really good at what he does.”
“He sure is! Ask him to take his shirt off while he’s sewing,” Shirley called out.
“Really, Shirley?” Finn responded.
“Crapola, I didn’t know Finn was there. You could have warned a girl,” Shirley said, sounding only slightly embarrassed.
The curtain opened as Margaret, Elle, Drake, Bree, and Logan hurried into the room. Margaret stopped first at seeing Aiden and Barry. Allegra just watched the pile-up. Only Bree and Logan didn’t seem surprised. Her mother sputtered, Elle suddenly had interest in her cell phone, and Drake just looked confused as to why the women had suddenly stopped.
“Mom,” Allegra said, finally taking pity on her. “This is Dr. Aiden Starr and Dr. Barry Stein. We met them at Elle’s bachelorette party. Well, they happen to be on call tonight and are taking good care of Shirley and me.”
“Oh,” Margaret’s eyes flitted to where Shirley was. “Well, bless your hearts.”
Finn sat with Allegra as Dr. Barry stitched her up. He held her hand the whole time, not wanting to let her go. When Dr. Barry was finished and Allegra’s X-rays had come back clear, he helped her check out. Her family was waiting in the lobby along with Shirley who was happily being escorted in a wheelchair by a strapping transport assistant.
“Oh, honey!” Margaret hurried forward and wrapped her in another hug. Finn stepped back and let Margaret fuss. She was going to take Shirley home with her and take care of her after Finn promised to do the same with Allegra.
The doors to the hospital opened as Terrell and Willa ran inside. “Finn! Oh Lordy child!” His mother covered her mouth as she tried to hide her gasp when she saw Allegra.
“It looks worse than it feels, Willa. Well, at least I hope it does from everyone’s expressions. I have to admit I haven’t wanted to look in a mirror.”
Finn couldn’t blame her. One eye was swollen shut, and she had sets of stitches on her neck. There was still blood in her hair. Some of it hers, some of it Asher’s. Her wrist was wrapped where he had grabbed her so hard he had cracked the bone. Her arm was bandaged from the stab wound, and bruises were appearing on her face, arms, and body. Every time he looked at her, he cursed Mallory for shooting Asher. He wanted to kill him with his bare hands.