Anna tried to muster up a smile hoping Ethan would know how happy she was to see him, but the pain from the bruising was too much to bear.
Instead, she whispered, “Ethan.”
He knelt at her side and gently touched her face. “Jesus Christ, Cara. What have you done?”
“What have I done? The real question here is, what have you done?”
He stood and looked at her. “You’re joking, right?”
Anna could make out that Cara was shaking her head. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
He eyed her closely. “Why is Anna in our house, and what happened to her?”
Cara laughed a sadistic laugh. “I brought her here, or, my lover did.” She winked at Gabe.
“We made a deal that we wouldn’t bring the people we’re sleeping with into the house. We don’t need to attract that kind of attention.”
He knows about Gabe?
“Relax, Ethan. He’s only here because I couldn’t move Anna by myself.”
“I repeat, why is she here and what happened to her?”
“I smacked her around a few times, but I asked Gabe to do most of the damage.”
“Why?” Ethan growled. He finally looked towards Anna and she silently pleaded for him to untie her.
“I can’t even believe you have to ask that question. Have you forgotten what you told me a few weeks ago?”
He shook his head.
“Good. Then you understand why I had to do this. My husband can sleep with as many women as he wants, but I refuse to allow him to fall in love with any of his bimbos.”
Anna would have gasped if she had the energy to. She was being tortured by a sick woman all because her husband had feelings for her even though none of them were provoked.
“Regardless of the feelings I have for Anna, it doesn’t give you the right to attack her and kidnap her. Do you have any idea what you have done?”
“I’m eliminating the competition.”
Ethan sighed in frustration. “You aren’t eliminating the competition, Cara. The only thing you’ve done is what I’ve been trying to avoid, which is draw unwanted attention to us.” He began pacing back and forth. “What else have you done?”
When Cara didn’t answer, Anna did. “Her lover murdered my bodyguard.”
Cara raised her hand in preparation to slap Anna across the face, but Ethan grabbed her by the wrist. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Why do you care if I smack her or not? It’s not like you’ll ever get to taste her.”
“I think you’ve done enough, Cara.”
“On the contrary, husband of mine, I haven’t done enough. You see, I’m not planning to let Anna live the rest of tonight.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Is that right?”
She nodded. “But don’t worry. You’ll get to have some fun, too.”
“How’s that?”
“They’ll find my fingerprints in her house and race over here.”
Ethan’s face burned so red, Anna thought smoke would come out of his ears.
“Why did you think that would be fun for me? Do you realize what you have done? The police are probably on their way here and you have a woman practically beaten to death in our home! You need to kill her already and get rid of her!”
Cara waved at him dismissively. “Gabe learned that the investigation is extremely hush, hush. There will not be any police involved because Ben doesn’t want this leaked to the media. I’ve had him watching the house, too. They only have a few men on the case.”
Anna’s stomach sank. She thought Ethan would be her savior, but he only cared about himself.
“Do you know what that means?” Cara asked, smiling.
Ethan shook his head.
“That means Ben is probably on his way here. You can get revenge on the man for stealing Anna out from under you.”
“You’re a lunatic, Cara!” Anna shouted.
Ethan glared at her. “Please don’t insult my wife.” He balled his fist at his side. “You have done plenty already, Anna.”
The growl in his voice sent chills down her spine. She had never seen him so mad before.
“When a woman rejects and insults me, I punish her, but I had to let you slide because of your fancy boyfriend. I had no idea Cara was secretly plotting against you. And now I’m glad she was. I’ll be able to show you what happens to a person when they humiliate me.” He took off his jacket and slowly began rolling up his sleeves.
Cara let out a sadistic laugh. “Gabe, go upstairs and keep an eye on the house. Call those friends of yours to help.”
He nodded and hurried from the room.
Ethan walked behind Anna and began kissing her neck. “Since you refused me, I plan to take what should have been mine.”
Anna’s world came crashing down around her. Not only was Cara about to murder her, but Ethan was about to do unspeakable things to her. She would die tonight and her last memory would be a man raping her.
“When Beth realized I had a thing for you, she did the unimaginable and fired you. That was unacceptable, so she had to go.”
Anna finally looked up at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Her mouth instantly went dry.
“The only reason you stayed on my project for so long is because I was fucking Beth and repeatedly told her how much I loved your work. It wasn’t until I made the mistake of telling her how beautiful you were that she realized my motive behind keeping you around.”
And here she thought he had been amazed by her designs. Not only was she going to be raped, but he was undermining her, causing her to feel weak and small.
“Firing you was unacceptable. I wouldn’t be able to get close to you if you were no longer on the project, so I fucked her, stabbed her, and pushed her from the car just outside your boyfriend’s house.” He chuckled. “It would have been nice to see his face when he discovered a dead, naked woman on his property.”
Anna frowned. “I hate to break it to you, but he wasn’t the one that found her. Someone else did. He didn’t even see the body.”
Her comment wiped the smile from Ethan’s face. “You think you’re so funny, don’t you?”
Anna knew she was playing with fire when she said it, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Hmph. It doesn’t matter anymore. Both of you will die tonight.”
She whipped her head in his direction, causing her head to pound harder.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t like the sound of that? Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll let him know that no one takes what’s mine and then I’ll kill him quickly. He won’t even know what hit him.”
“You’re as crazy as she is, Ethan.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But on the bright side, I win.”
He stalked towards Anna like a lion after its prey. She closed her eyes and waited for him to pounce on her, knowing however he’d do it, it wouldn’t be soft and gentle.
A loud crash sounded upstairs, stopping him in his tracks.
Ethan glanced towards Cara and nodded. “They’re here.”
* * *
Ben didn’t know what to expect when they arrived at the Sanders home or who’d they encounter. All seemed well when they exited the vehicle and moved towards the front door, then it happened. A shot fired from somewhere inside the house, the bullet hitting the car they had recently vacated.
All four of the men ran for cover as another series of shots rang out.
“Tom!” Ben yelled from the tree he crouched behind.
Tom whistled, alerting him of his position, and Ben rushed to his side, thankful that the next two shots fired missed him.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“Ben, this has gotten out of hand. I have no choice but to call for back up.”
Ben nodded. “Do it.”
Tom spoke into his radio while Ben surveyed the property. The shots fired were only being fired from the right side of the house, meaning no one was on the left.
“Gunman, two o’clock.”
All the men looked in the direction Ben spoke of and pointed their guns.
“While you guys fight back, I’m going to look for Anna.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Tom asked, yanking Ben to the ground. “They will destroy you the second they see you.”
“Cara is mentally unstable. Our arrival could spook her enough to kill Anna. I’m not taking any risks.” Before Tom could protest further, Ben ran to the end of the property and crawled through the bushes that led to the back of the house.
He entered the home through a side door that was left wide open and walked into an unfinished section of the house. Ben treaded lightly through one room after another hoping to stumble across Anna, but all he found was empty spaces littered with tools. It wasn’t until he rounded the corner of the fifth room that he finally came across someone. A man lay in the middle of the room, unconscious. He rushed to the man’s side and felt his neck for a pulse. The thrum of his heart beat was strong and he sighed with relief. Ben wasn’t interested in seeing another dead body.
When he rolled the man over, he suddenly sprang to life wielding a pipe. He swung it in the air and it connected with the side of Ben’s head, knocking him out cold.
* * *
Ethan stood over Ben’s unconscious body and laughed. The meat head was making it too easy. He contemplated hitting him with the pipe until his heart stopped beating but decided against it. It didn’t seem like it would be as much fun as plunging a knife through his flesh. He had discovered how oddly satisfying that sensation was when he did it to Beth. Watching her beg for her life was erotic in a way he never thought possible.
Ethan hadn’t meant for things to get out of hand, but the day Anna rejected him, something inside him snapped. He wanted to do some pretty hurtful things to her, and it was unfortunate that Cara had beaten him to it. He wasn’t very happy to discover that his wife had beaten the pretty girl senseless, but he did take satisfaction in the fact that she got what she deserved. He was too happy knowing that he would be able to take his frustration out on the man she preferred over him.
The shots continued to fire outside. Ethan knew it was a matter of time before the real police arrived, so he needed to be quick. He would be able to kill Ben in front of Anna and disappear before the raid began. His alibi was solidly in place thanks to the business trip he supposedly left for three days ago on a commercial plane. Being rich has its perks, he thought as he rubbed his hands together. It was too easy to hitch a ride home with a fellow businessman on his private jet, with no record of him even being a passenger.
He grabbed the unconscious man by the legs and began dragging him across the room. Ethan discovered just how solidly built Anna’s new beau was. It felt like he was dragging a two-hundred pound bag of bricks. He dropped his legs to the ground and glanced around the room, hoping to find something that would make it easier to transport him to where Anna was, and smiled when he spotted a wagon filled with paint. Once the paint was removed, Ethan was able to stuff Ben’s large body on top of it.
Feeling pleased with himself for his cleverness, Ethan sped towards the room Anna and Cara were in. The gunfire had ceased and he knew all hell would break loose any minute.
Ethan noticed the look of surprise on Anna’s face when he wheeled him inside and took pleasure in the tears that welled in her eyes.
“Ethan,” she whispered. “What have you done?”
He pushed the wagon over with his foot and Ben’s body fell to the ground with a thud.
“Don’t worry, Anna. Your precious Ben is still alive. Enjoy it while you can, though, because it won’t last long.”
Cara came to his side and wrapped a hand around his waist. “Husband and wife against boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Ethan grinned at her. “Help me get him into that chair.”
She nodded and together they plopped Ben into a chair beside Anna and tied his hands together. Ethan didn’t think it was necessary to tie his feet together since the poor guy would be dead before he could react to what was about to happen to him.
With his wife by his side, Ethan asked, “Would you like to go first, darling, or would you like me to?”
A smile spread across her face as she pulled two guns from the back of her pants and handed one to him. “You go. I’d like to watch.”