“What's going on? You two all right?”
Melissa nodded to her to answer. Puzzled, Sheridan called back, “We're fine.
Melissa just wants some privacy.”
“Okay.”
Morgan left them alone, and Sheridan approached Melissa, more than curious.
The moment she neared, Melissa yanked her close and whispered, “They gave me a message for you. Ricardo wants you back. If you come with me now, he won't hurt anyone else.”
The venom in Melissa's voice stunned her. “Wh-what?” Melissa kept one hand on Sheridan and waved the other at the door adjoined to the garage. To Sheridan's shock, the door opened, and Raul entered.
“Melissa, how did you do that?”
“Easily. You think that was amazing, feel this.” She squinted, and Sheridan's head pounded as if someone had taken an ax to her head. “I call it my psychic vise.
You like?”
“Go easy, Mel. You know what he said,” Raul warned.
“Raul?” Sheridan gasped, relieved when the pain stopped.
He smiled, showing his fangs, and joined them. Then he raised a pistol and put it to Melissa's head. Instead of looking horrified, the woman smiled.
Sheridan had the strange feeling that nothing was real.
Raul nuzzled Melissa's cheek. “Go ahead and scream.” Melissa yelled at the top of her lungs. “No! Sheridan, please. No!” Not sure what to do, Sheridan took a step forward. But Melissa wasn't the victim. Or was she? Because now she looked downright terrified.
Then the door behind Sheridan burst open, and Morgan shoved her aside.
“Let her go,” he growled at Raul.
“You did well infiltrating the compound, Sheridan. We'll send word to Ricardo.
Follow me, and this bitch dies,” Raul said and smacked Melissa in the side of the head with the gun. She mewed in fear. Then Raul turned the gun on Morgan and pulled the trigger, shooting him in the chest. “Again, great work, Sheridan. Ricardo is going to reward you well.”
He turned and left with Melissa, leaving her staring after them. She wanted to follow the rogues, to show Jules and the others that Melissa was the traitor. But she had to save Morgan. The chest wound be fatal without her help.
“Morgan, hold on!” She quickly knelt next to him and threw her all into stopping the bleeding and healing the damaged tissue. The bullet gradually surfaced and left his body, letting her get rid of the contaminant causing the damage. It took her a long time, and she expended a lot of energy. The exhaustion tugged at her and weighed her down.
“What the fuck…?” Morgan sputtered just as she lost consciousness and passed out on top of him.
Sheridan woke to a heated argument going on around her.
“I want her gone. Out of here, now.”
“She nearly killed him!”
“Something's not right about this. I don't like any of it.”
“What the hell did she do with Melissa?”
She blinked and slowly sat up on the living room couch. The sudden silence unnerved her. “Wh-what happened?” She clutched her head, then turned to Morgan, suddenly remembering she'd been down on the floor, trying to save him from a chest wound. “Are you all right?”
“Should I thank you?” he asked, his voice sharp. “What the hell did you do to Melissa?”
“Melissa?” Sheridan rubbed her aching head. Her hands were sore, throbbing.
And the sheer mistrust centered solely on her made her want to sink back into oblivion. The Circs, Mrs. Sharpe, Ava, and Jack Keiser stared at her with expressions ranging from puzzlement to rage to sheer disbelief. But it was Jules's face that concerned her the most. His was closed off, more than angry, but unreachable.
Sheridan cleared her throat. “All I know is that Melissa said she wasn't feeling well. She wanted privacy. Fearing she'd been…violated…we went into the laundry room after Morgan had cleared it.”
“Convenient.” Morgan crossed his massive arms over his chest and glared at her.
“I don't know what happened! One minute, Melissa was clutching her stomach, as if in pain, and the next, she made the door open by itself behind her and zapped me with some sort of mental whammy. Then Raul walked through the door.”
“You're saying Melissa's psychic?” Jack snapped. “Give me a break. That's my wife.”
“Really?” Mrs. Sharpe murmured, her eyes dark, pensive.
“Raul?” Jules asked, his voice deceptively quiet.
Sheridan nodded.
“The same Raul who saved you only a few months ago? The one who left me in that hotel room? Your friend, Raul?”
Okay, put that way, it didn't look good for her. “I don't know why he was there or why Melissa started shouting at me. She told me Ricardo wanted me back and to come with her. It didn't make any sense. But I didn't do anything. She's the one who lured me in there. Raul shot Morgan, and I saved him. I didn't plan any of this.” Jules glanced away from her, his jaw tight. Did he blame her for Raul's presence?
Morgan shook his head. “Nice try, but I heard him thank you. Even after he shot me, he told you that you'd be rewarded for your help. Why? Why would you involve Melissa? Why not just attack us head-to-head? She's not involved in this.” Olivia frowned. “I don't think—”
“Don't think,” Jack yelled. “Don't do any of your freaky shit. Don't try to explain this away. I want my fucking wife back!”
“Easy, Jack,” Jesse said with a frown. He stared at the man, looking confused.
The glance he shared with Olivia didn't make sense.
Then again, nothing much did.
Sheridan started to get really scared. The men were no longer treating this like a mix-up. Instead, the accusatory glares and deliberate blame seemed to be settling on her. She turned to the one person whose opinion really mattered.
“Jules?”
He didn't answer.
Mrs. Sharpe frowned. “Sheridan, tell me again why you and Melissa went into the laundry room.”
“I told you. She wanted privacy. She was holding her side, then her stomach, which was odd, because I didn't sense any pain. But I wasn't sure. Everything was so tense, and she seemed scared. She's the one who wanted privacy. It wasn't my idea.”
“Wasn't it?” Morgan asked. “You locked the damned door.”
“I did,” she admitted and swallowed hard. “But Melissa asked me to.” Sheridan wasn't stupid. Melissa had deliberately set her up. But why? Why show her to be one with the enemy? And why the absolute hatred and venom in Melissa's voice when she'd talked to her? It made no sense. “Melissa isn't who you think she is. She opened that door with her mind. And she threw some kind of attack at me. It made my head hurt.”
The others scoffed in disbelief, and Kisho had to hold Jack back from attacking her.
“Where’s my wife?”
Sheridan didn't know what to think. She stood and immediately wished she hadn't. Tersch invaded her personal space and smiled. The grin threatened more than his scowls did. “Give me a few minutes with her.” He cracked his knuckles. “I'll find out the truth.”
She tumbled back onto the couch before Jules pushed the others aside.
Thinking he'd finally come to his senses, she wasn't prepared when he pulled her off the couch and dragged her away. Not toward her room, but toward the stairs leading to the basement.
“Jules?”
He didn't speak.
She had to run not to fall as he dragged her down into the laboratory. He strode through the corridor toward one of the locked rooms she hadn't yet explored and punched in a keycode. Then he shoved her inside.
“Jules?”
He didn't speak, but he didn't have to. The disappointment and anger in his eyes stopped her from saying anything more. The door closed, and a snick let her know it was locked.
Tried and convicted without a jury. Terrific.