“Trust me, darling,” Alyssa replies, sitting at one edge of the couch, her legs crossed like a lady. “If I knew where it was, I’d happily hand it to you.”
To anyone else, she’d look as calm as a puddle of water after a storm, but I can see the tremble of her fingers as they rest on her knee, and her rapid blinking hints at her fear.
“Madison has to know,” Ellis growls.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Madison protests.
I lean to the right and catch sight of her. Tears are slowly falling down her cheeks, and her bottom lip is quivering. My view of her is interrupted when Ellis steps forward with a gun in her hand.
Oh, joy.
And she points it toward Alyssa.
“Ellis,” tumbles from my lips. Aw, fuck it. Brain-to-mouth filter, you bastard. “She doesn’t know,” I say softly. “She has no idea about her parents’ relationship.”
Ellis turns to me, her gun still on Madison. “She knew about us though, didn’t she? Me and Natalie?”
I’m sorry, what?
“I didn’t until I saw you!” Madison cries, and Alyssa squeezes her hand. “I was trying to scare her into going away so I could be with Nick! I didn’t know you were with her!”
“You’re her stalker?” I ask Madison. “You?”
Madison squeezes her eyes shut and nods. “I wanted her to leave. I thought she’d be alone. I didn’t even know she was bisexual until Ellis came downstairs with her.”
Oh, fuck me.
“She wasn’t bi. She was a fucking liar!” Ellis yells. “She lied to everyone. I loved her and I loved him, but she lied.”
“She was doing what was best for her baby,” Alyssa says softly. “As wrong as it was.”
“No. She was messing with everyone. I was nothing more than her scapegoat!” Tears fill her eyes. “And then she got herself killed!”
“Why did you do it, Ellis?” I ask. “And Vince, too? Was it just the video?”
“They wouldn’t give it to me,” she hisses, turning to me. With her hair spiked and her cheeks flushed, she looks anything but angry. She looks deafeated and helpless. “They were going to use it to blackmail that cheating bastard further, to get even more money for themselves.”
“Vince never was. He was videoing Natalie for Alyssa. He had no reason to video you. Yours exists because of Natalie, I’m sure.”
“No! He was working with her all along. Even when he was fucking me, he was thinking of her!” Her voice is shrill now, and her hand is shaking so violently that, if she relinquished her grip on that gun for half a second, it would clatter to the floor.
She isn’t a cold-blooded killer. She’s a young woman who had her heart broken and her trust betrayed by someone she loved more than anything. She didn’t act out of spite. It was desperation.
“Ellis, listen to me,” I breathe.
“I didn’t mean to kill her!” she screams, grabbing the gun with her other hand. “I just meant to push her. I wanted her to beg me for mercy, but it was too late. She was already dead. Vince too. I wanted him to know that it was his fault she died. I wanted him to ask me to let him live. But I knew he’d tell. And it was a little harder. I pushed down, and he was weak. He didn’t deserve her! I did! But now, she’s gone and I don’t have her at all.”
“Honey, please,” I plead, seeing Alyssa pull Madison behind Ellis. “The police will be here any minute.”
Alyssa and Madison skirt around the room until they reach me, and I pull them both behind my body. Hey, I have the gun if she tries it.
The tears are falling out of Ellis’s eyes quicker than she can control them, and every part of her is tense. Even her breathing is speeding up, and she’s gasping now, harshly and painfully.
“Put your gun down, Ellis. Please. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Her smile is jittery and weak, and she drops one hand from the gun and holds the muzzle against her temple, angling it in such a way that one bullet would… Well.
“It does,” she whispers as footsteps thunder up toward us. “I’m sorry.”
Oh, hell no.
I lift my gun and squeeze the trigger before she can. My bullet flies into her elbow, and she screams, dropping her gun. It discharges, her bullet soaring into the window and smashing it. Ellis falls to the floor, clutching her arm, and I take a few steps forward and kick her gun out of her reach.
I’m sorry she was so desperate, but I’m not sorry for her. Justice is justice, and she has a fuck-ton of it coming her way.
Cops storm past Alyssa and Madison standing in the doorway. Alyssa’s arms are tight around her daughter, and through the crowd of officers, most in uniform, I find Drake’s eyes. Trent is right behind him, and after I give him a nod, he walks straight to Ellis and demands that someone call him an ambulance, cuffing her uninjured wrist.
“Madison,” I tell Drake as he stops in front of me, glancing at her. “She was our stalker. It was a childish move. I don’t think she’ll be a problem in an interview.”
He nods and grabs Detective Johnson, relaying exactly what I just told him. He walks over to her, exchanges a few words with her, and I look away as Madison holds her hands out to be cuffed.
Drake touches two fingers to my chin and raises it. “You’re okay?” he questions.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
“The short version is that, apparently, crazy in love is a real thing, and you can die of a broken heart. Or want to, at least. So Ellis Law might not have much of an elbow left, but it’s easier than cleaning up a brain. So.” I shrug a shoulder. “Plus, that was for Brody. You’d rather me get revenge than Nonna.”
Drake smiles slowly, pressing his thumb to my lower lip. “Excellent work, Ms. Bond.”
“Why thank you, Detective.”
“Why am I not surprised that you shot her for me?”
I roll my eyes. “Honestly, Brodes, you say it like you were expecting me to do something that crazy.”
He snorts then winces, pressing his hand against his side.
“Noella! Are you-a bugging him-a?” Nonna storms into the front room, her cane clacking like she needs the announcement. “He need-a his-a rest!”
Oh, yeah. If Brody’s recovering from a gunshot wound isn’t enough, Nonna won’t hear of him going home until he can use the bathroom alone—and that’s one of her criteria. Since he got let out this morning, he’s in it for the long haul. Being the good sister I am, I thought I’d stop by and fill him in on what happened at the McDougalls’ yesterday.
“I’m not bugging him! I’m letting him know what happened.”
“So you-a bugging him.”
“Trust me, Nonna. No one could bug him more than you.”
“Hey, Nonna. Can I have a glass of water?” Brody cranes his neck around to look at her. “And maybe you can make garlic bread for dinner?”
“Of-a course.” She kisses the top of his head and hobbles back out.
“Dunno why you can’t get along,” Brody mutters, closing his eyes.
“’Cause she pisses me off.” I laugh. “Anyway, Ellis is in the hospital, guarded. I almost shattered her elbow, but apparently, Trent got a confession out of her this morning. Madison was questioned and charged last night, and her hearing for bail is this afternoon.”
“She’ll get a fine and a community service order. Mayor’s daughter and all that. What’s Alyssa doing?”
“I think they’re flying to Dallas to stay with her parents for a while. Madison is somewhat of a sensitive soul.”
“Not everyone has to be a granite-hearted bitch.”
“Hey now. I felt sorry for Ellis until I remembered she shot you. Then I felt sorrier for you.” I pat his hand. “You’re tired. I’ll leave you to sleep. Do you need me to get you anything?”
He shakes his head, and I reach down and cover him with the blanket. He curves his lips into a small smile and mouths, “Thank you.”
God. It’s hard seeing my strong, confident little brother kind of broken.
I close the front door and get into my car, breathing out a sigh of relief. Despite Brody’s obvious pain, he’s still himself, and he’s definitely going to be okay. The only reason he was allowed home is because Nonna likely annoyed every staff member she came across until they let him out. It’s like they said though—despite the extensive surgery to find the bullet, he was actually completely fine. If you don’t count the hole in his side.