The rain started again, and she nearly groaned at the eerie setting and timing of weather. A long trailing scarf of fog covered the trees around her. The path leading out toward the lighthouse looked forlorn; grim and haunted, covered in long streams of rain. Shadows lurked everywhere, a person could literally be hiding anywhere along the path. Cassie shuddered as her feet became cemented to the floor. No way could she leave the car and walk down that trail. It was like walking into a long dark cave. No way could she do it.
Tears filled her eyes. Why was he doing this to her? Why prolong this? Why make her go through this terror? But she knew the answer. Precisely that. To scare the living daylights out of her. To prolong his control over her, to make her rue the day she’d ever met him. And fuck if he hadn’t succeeded in doing just that.
The slimy little bastard.
Cassie grabbed the door handle and flung it open. She refused to fall into the pathetic mass of nerves Marcus expected out of her. She refused to let a little rain and shadows make her become the weak victim Marcus thought she was. This was the same place that she, Luke, John, and Tim had explored in dazzling sunlight.
It was the same place.
There was nothing different, other than a little rain, and gloomy afternoon shadows setting in.
And Marcus Leary at the end of the path. At least she knew it. It wasn’t a surprise. And neither was the setting Marcus picked.
Cassie looked around. Why did she always assume Marcus knew her so well? Didn’t she know Marcus just as well? Didn’t she? Wasn’t her coming here as she had just as predictable as his sneaking into the house to scare her? To set up theatrics and smoke screens to play mind games with her? The weasel thought he could win because she’d be scared and shaken and beaten down to his will. Just as every other time with him.
Not this time however.
Cassie’s hand squeezed protectively over the syringe she’d taken from the center console of her car.
Not this time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Marcus was there. He stood in the open, for anyone to see him. As he turned toward her, Cassie drew in a sharp breath. The reality of seeing Marcus’s face again was far more powerful than she remembered. Her knees were about to give way, and her stomach did flip flops. She feared she was going to be physically ill at the sight of him. He looked the same. So much the same that no time at all could have gone by since she’d last seen him. This man who had stalked her and terrorized her family. This man who had known she’d show up alone. He hadn’t even taken the precaution of mildly hiding to make sure she followed his instructions. He’d known. He’d known what no one else did about her. They thought she’d react rationally and protect herself with their help. But not when it came to Marcus and not when he threatened her son. Marcus knew that about her.
Marcus looked so ordinary, and so unassuming, it was almost sinister. The cold, calculating violence hiding in him was well-disguised. He would disarm anyone with how mild-mannered he seemed. Marcus Leary’s lethal nature was concealed by how likable he was, and of course, with how easy it was to forget him once he left a room.
He looked at Cassie long and hard. Slowly, he walked to meet her.
“Hello Cassie.”
“I’m here. What do you want?”
“No one knows you’re here do they? You wouldn’t risk Tim, would you?”
She gritted her teeth.“You got me here, what do you want?”
“To see my wife.”
“I’m not your wife.”
“Yes you are. Only somehow I don’t think wives are supposed to play house with other men like you are. Though I will say the accommodations are lovely.”
“Enough of the crap Marcus. Yeah you got into the house. Just as you got to Kelly. Why? What is it you want from me?”
“You know I’ve wondered that for years. At first, I wanted revenge, simple cold blooded revenge. Then time went by. And I realized death was too easy. Too painless. And that’s what I intended for you. Revenge and pain. Oh I could do a lot to hurt you, wouldn’t you agree? There’s Kelly, and of course Tim. Tim would be the ultimate for you wouldn’t he? You took to him like a mother bear to her cub. And now that you’re cheating again, there’s always John, and John’s family that you’re playing house with. Do you see my endless options? There are so many. I’ve thought out so many scenarios. Really I have. And then damn it but I find myself rejecting them all. Do you know why? Do you?”
Cassie’s blood stopped moving, like she’d suddenly succumbed to hypothermia, and her heart and organs weren’t functioning properly. The chill went so deep inside her it was like her whole body had stopped working.
“Because you’re like a poison. A God damned poison is what you are. Even me you’ve managed to poison with your venom. Don’t you see? Those things I did; it’s all your fault. I never was a physical man, until you. Look at what you’ve done to my life. I hate you, yet here I am, my entire life wrapped up in you.”
Cassie didn’t move a muscle or twitch during his long rant. Marcus’s eyes were glazed over and his face was flushed. He believed everything he’d done was her fault. Somehow he thought he was the victim of
her
.
“And now what Marcus? You’re going to punish me?”
“You poisoned me. You ruined my life. What have I got now? I lost everything, and I don’t even have a reputation to build a new life on.”
“Reputation? People just now know the truth about you,” she said recklessly. “You’re sick Marcus. You need help.”
“No, Cassie I need you.”
Her mouth opened at his unexpected plea. Of all the terrible scenarios she’d imagined, his statement caught her off guard. He reached a hand out and gripped her arm tightly, like a handcuff had suddenly been snapped around her wrist. He easily pulled her too him.
“That’s right. I know everything you are. I know what you’ve done to me. So that means this time I’m in control of you. I won’t be denied my wife any longer. I thought hurting you was the answer. Then I realized that I wanted you more. You’re my wife don’t you see Cassie? We belong together, always have. Just us. Tim was the mistake. He took you away from me. He made you do terrible things to me. But no more.”
Cassie’s breath caught. “No more?” she asked softly, unwilling to believe Marcus could get to Tim.
“Yes, no more. I’ll leave him be. I’ll never harm a hair on his head, as long as you are with me. As my wife.”
Her head was going to spin off her body. Marcus wanted her back? As if they could leave here and live a life together? She looked into his feverish eyes. He really believed everything he was spouting at her. That somehow he could possess her as if she were some kind of sex object and she’d fall into line because it would keep those she loved safe.
“You’re not going to hurt me?”
He pulled her against him. “No. Not as long as you’re with me. But if you ever betray me, or leave me, I will hunt you and Tim down and take out that revenge I was talking about earlier.”
“But you think I’m poison.”
“You are. And I’m infected. But as long as I have you, I’ll be okay. Don’t you see?”
She did see. He was not only cold and violent, but without a soul or a mind. He was crazy. Not funny-crazy, but serial-killer, homicidal, crazy. He believed somehow that possessing her would cure him of all that had gone wrong. As if she was somehow both the cause and cure of his violence.
Her mind raced as she tried to decide what to do. He had a hold of her. They were within feet of the edge of the cliff. He was strong enough he could push her off. He appeared to have no gun on him, but who knew what he’d do next? Should she pretend to go along with him? Quietly pretend she was his? Calm him down until she could do something?
Would he believe her if she acquiesced? It was the only chance she had.
“All right, Marcus. What next then? You know you’ll have me as long as Tim is safe. I promise.”
He grinned; his feverish eyes looked her over. “Here. Now.”
She nearly choked on the bile that filled her mouth. “No. In the car.”
She had to get him away from the treacherous cliffs. The wind picked up as the shadows grew deeper; the daylight was now a tepid gray against the black storm clouds over the ocean. The waves were thunderous. The lighthouse looked like the edge of the world. The low, chain link fence was a feeble barrier from the rocks and thrashing waves below. She was sure that Marcus was on the brink of insanity.
They were standing on the physical edge of his insanity. All he had to do was fling her, and she’d be dead. Or both of them. She wasn’t so sure he was into just revenge against her. He seemed to have lost connection with reason. How long before he snapped and, using his own theory, decided to kill that which controlled and made him inferior?
“Come on Marcus; let’s just go to my car, before the storm hits,” she pleaded.
“I’ve waited so long for you,” he said, whispering into her ear as if he hadn’t heard her. “There’s been no one but you.”
She cringed. His sick fascination with her was far worse than she was prepared for.
“So long—”
Suddenly, he seemed oblivious that they stood outside on a cliff next to a lighthouse with a storm minutes from hitting them. He pressed closer to her, still clutching her wrist. He moved her intimately along himself. She wanted to kill him for making her feel him. She wanted to kill him period. But his grip was too tight for her to escape. He had grabbed the hand she needed, the hand that held her lifeline; the small syringe. If only she could convince him to move, to walk, to go toward her car. Somehow to shift positions so that she could fight him. But as it was, she was impotent against him. She was trapped by the man who thought she was somehow poison, and the only way to stop her was to possess her.
“Marcus please, let’s go before the rain starts. It’s only a minute to my car. Please Marcus, please,” she begged; hoping her sudden pleading was plausible to him. He seemed excited by her voice.
He didn’t answer. He was lost. Lost in his own reality he’d created. A crazy reality where the two of them were together. He gripped her breast in a painful pinch. Her cry of surprise seemed to insight him more. He backed her away from the lighthouse and for a moment, vertigo hit her as she thought he was going to back them off the cliff. Then the fence was digging into her lower back, and she nearly cried out with relief. She had to do something. He was about to rape her, or worse, rape her and then throw them both off of the cliff.
Then he pulled something from the pocket of his raincoat. A knife, as cold and hard as the rocks below her, was suddenly being slid along her throat.
****
John got the call from Luke; Cassie was gone. No one knew where she was. Liam had discovered her absence. Once the alarm sounded, the house went into chaos. Kelly was locked in with Tim playing board games in an attempt to keep him occupied, safe and most of all, oblivious to what was going on.
Nancy called the police in. A search of the house had already begun. They looked for any clues to her disappearance. The only thing notable was that Cassie’s car was gone.
John’s guts twisted and turned as he rushed home. His heart was going to explode in his chest. Where was she? What had happened to her? But in his gut he knew, by the fact that her car was missing, she’d done it again; she’d gone off, alone, to deal with Marcus, to protect Tim. He nearly smashed his fist through a wall as he realized she once again hadn’t trusted him. What could he do if he had no idea where she was?
The only blessing was that Tim was safe.
But where the hell was Cassie?
He found the crumpled note on the floor of his bedroom. She had left it there. On purpose? Or had she left here too shocked to notice the fallen note? John’s insides suddenly turned to liquid. She had gone after Marcus all alone, and unarmed.
John’s anger left him immobile for a second. Then he spurred into a frenzy as he ran downstairs toward Luke’s room. He briefly told Luke where he was going. He told Luke keep the others clueless to his plan and his departure, and oblivious to the gun he took from Luke’s room.
****
The storm hit. Wind came sweeping over the bluff, so strong it felt like it was going to pull them both off the rocky ledge into the swirling mass of exploding waves below, waves that were hurling onto the uneven rocks and cliffs that surrounded the point where the lighthouse stood erect and solid. The lighthouse wasn’t in danger of tumbling off the hillside, but Cassie knew she was. Rain hit her. It did nothing to cool Marcus Leary’s lust. He had her pressed so hard against the metal rail that she wondered why it didn’t come loose. He kissed her deeply, wretchedly. She wasn’t fighting him, she was like a limp noodle against him, but he still had yet to loosen or relax his hold of her wrist. Or notice what she clutched so fiercely in her nearly numb hand.
His mouth was painful against her. He used his strength to punish her. Still she didn’t fight. Hoping he’d believe she wanted him, wanted this.
If only he’d let go of her wrist.
The storm was loud, the waves even louder. The shadows were deep and threatening around her. She wondered fleetingly if she’d make it out of this alive. If she’d hug her son again. If John would ever forgive her if she died tonight, alone, against Marcus.
No! She screamed silently. It took all her will power to not voice the silent scream, to not struggle manically against Marcus’s painful fumbling and kissing. She wanted to knee him, bite him, hit him. But he had her trapped against the fence. He was strong and solid; like a granite statue in front of her. He clutched the knife carelessly as he kept her still for the punishing pressure that was supposed to be a kiss but was like no pain she had ever experienced from another human being. Marcus had hit her before. But nothing as degrading, as brutal, as punishing as what he intended to do to her now.
A chill swept through her body. Was this really going to happen to her?
Then he moved his hand to her belt and tried to undo it while he clutched the knife with his other hand. Her heart froze. He really intended to rape her. Then her blood started pumping in anticipation; while he was fumbling with their clothes, this was her chance.