Blazing Hotter (Love Under Fire Book 2) (25 page)

***

“Y
ou ruined my life, bitch.” Kenneth’s fist came down against Cassie’s side full force.

The pain made her want to writhe around and it took her breath away. All she could do was gasp and attempt to fill her lungs.

“Let me cut her,” Rose said, sounding much too gleeful about the prospect.

Kenneth shook his head. “You’ve done enough, Rose. I told you that Cassie was mine.”

Cassie managed to block out the pain from the kidney punch and stared up at the doctor who had made her life a living hell for months before getting the restraining order. “Why are you doing this?” she demanded. “I never did anything to you. The cops believed you, not me. You might be a creep, but it didn’t hurt your reputation any.”

“She left me, goddamn you.” The back of Kenneth’s hand slammed across Cassie’s cheekbone, rocking her head sideways and causing stars to bloom in her vision. “She tried to get away for years and when another nurse found out about it, she told Lynn about you and helped her run.”

It finally made sense. Lynn was the replacement Cassie, the poor little blonde who wouldn’t listen to Cassie’s warnings about Kenneth and ended up being his girlfriend for nearly three years. The woman had been trying to escape him? Cassie had no idea. Anytime Cassie ran into Lynn at the hospital, the other woman had treated her with disdain, as though she thought Cassie lied about Kenneth.

Obviously, she was putting on an act to keep herself safe. It appeared Kenneth wasn’t above using physical force to get what he wanted. Cassie wondered how much horror Lynn had dealt with while being Kenneth’s girlfriend.

“Lynn was smart to get away,” Cassie said, realizing now that Kenneth liked to lord his power over women in a far more extreme manner than she’d ever realized. “You aren’t a man, you’re a little boy trying to be macho. Looks like you and Rose deserve each other.”

The back of Kenneth’s hand slammed against her face again. “I’m not trying to be macho. I’m going to kill you and make my world right again. Everything was perfect before I met you.”

“Let me kill her,” Rose begged. “I’ve done everything you asked of me, and you only let me do that one girl. I deserve this.”

Kenneth rolled his eyes, and Cassie got the feeling everything was far from perfect in psycho land. It was obvious he’d used Rose to help him accomplish his goal of terrifying and eventually capturing Cassie. He didn’t love the woman. It made sense, actually. Cassie, Lynn, and all the murder victims had a similar look about them. Rose had dark brown hair and a shorter, stockier build. The woman looked nothing like the others. It seemed Kenneth picked an accomplice he wouldn’t really get involved with, but Rose didn’t realize that.

“He doesn’t even like you,” Cassie said, piecing together what must have happened. “He’s using you. The only reason he had you kill that third woman was to set him up an alibi since he had to work that morning. He doesn’t love you, Rose. You aren’t even blonde.”

“Shut up,” Kenneth growled, giving her another punch to the gut.

Wheezing, but determined, Cassie pressed on. “He’s setting you up to take the fall, Rose. You need to kill him and help me out of here. I’ll tell everyone how he used you and that you’re actually the hero in this situation.”

Kenneth punched her again to the point Cassie could no longer force air in or words out. “Rose knows what we’re doing so don’t fill her ears with lies like you did Lynn’s. Sandy is going to take the blame for these crimes while Rose and I live happily together.”

“Are you sure that’s what you have planned, Kenneth?” Rose took an abortive step forward, holding her knife at the ready. “I said it seemed too soon for you to move on from Lynn, but you promised you’d been watching me for a long time and had fallen out of love with Lynn. From what you just told this bitch, that doesn’t sound like the truth. I thought this was only about Cassie, but is it about Lynn?”

Cassie tried not to let herself get too excited. If Kenneth manipulated Lynn for three years and kept the woman from leaving him, no matter how he did it, chances were high that he could talk Rose into believing whatever he said.

“Baby, why are you listening to her?” he asked, his voice smooth as silk. “Cassie ruined my reputation by lying to the police and that hurt me deeply. That’s all this is about. She knows that you and I are going to cement our love and commitment to each other by killing her together, and she’s saying whatever she can to plant doubts in your mind.”

“That’s funny,” Cassie said loudly, finally catching her breath again. “Just a few minutes ago he was saying how I was his and he was the one killing me. He wouldn’t even let you use your knife. Now all of a sudden you’re killing me together?”

Rose’s eyebrows narrowed as her gaze darted between Kenneth and Cassie. “I love you, Kenneth,” she finally said. “The first time you touched me, I knew what real love was.”

Kenneth took a step toward her, caressing beneath her chin. “You’d never been with anyone before, always so shy and afraid to love. Now, I’m the only one you’ll ever be with. We’re in this together. I promise you that. I love you too, Rose.”

No! Cassie couldn’t let him do this. Rose seeing through his lies was her only chance.

“He’s the only man you’ll be with because he’s going to have you sent to prison for the murders while he goes free! He isn’t leaving this to chance and saying Sandy did it all. He’ll blame you too. Sandy has an alibi for the first murder. He’s going to say that you—”

“That’s enough!” Kenneth turned around, pouncing on the bed and straddling Cassie’s stomach. He punched her nose and the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as she gagged and choked on a sudden stream of blood. “I’m with Rose forever, and I’m not going to let you ruin that like you ruined things with Lynn.”

His hands went around Cassie’s throat, choking off what air supply she did have.

A smile came over his face and he squeezed more tightly. “This ends now.”

“S
o no one by that name checked in today?” Frankie ran his good hand over his face, wishing they’d catch a break. “She has to have taken Cassie somewhere. It’s been hours. By now Cassie would have come back. She needed time to think, but she isn’t one to let people worry about her. She would have come back or called if she could.”

Laura nodded her agreement. “We’ve all been on edge with the killer after her. She’d have checked in by now, even if she called me and Thayne instead of Frankie.”

Brad McCallister tapped on the electronic tablet he’d brought with him. “I only had two new people check in today. All the rooms here are booked, so she couldn’t have taken Cassie to an empty room.”

“What about the stores and restaurants?” Thayne asked.

Brad shook his head. “The ones that are closed for the night have been searched by security. I have all employees on high alert and helping in the search. She isn’t anywhere that we can find.”

“Can anyone even get on the island without you knowing about it?” Laura asked. “Wouldn’t they have had to catch that charter plane from Kona?”

Brad shrugged. “Unless she rented a boat. If she used cash that could be why the cops can’t track her past the ticket from Seattle to Kona.”

“So unless she took Cassie out to a boat, they have to be on the island somewhere. What about the hiking paths?” Frankie asked, desperate to find her. “What if she went up one of those and met with Sandy on it?”

Brad McCallister nodded his agreement. “I’ll make a call and get the helicopter in the air searching the ground and looking for any boats that shouldn’t be around the island, plus I’ll put some ground crews on the nearby trails. My siblings and their spouses can take the horses out and search that way. Let me make some calls.” He stepped out of the bungalow, phone in hand.

Frankie had never felt so helpless in his entire life, except during that last fire when trying to find the missing children. “What if we don’t find her?” he asked the room at large.

Thayne pressed his hand into Frankie’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

“I’m useless,” he said. “I can’t go off onto the trails looking for her. I can’t do anything. What sort of man can’t protect his woman?”

Laura leaned in close, patting him in a comforting manner. “The kind who has a woman capable of protecting herself. Cassie’s tough and smart. She’s going to be okay.”

Frankie wished he could believe that.

After a few more minutes, Brad walked back into the room. “My sister has an idea about where someone could get complete privacy. You said Cassie walked off toward the shopping area, right?”

Frankie nodded. “Through the deep sand where I couldn’t really follow.”

Brad’s gray eyes flicked to Frankie’s chair and he nodded. “If she kept heading that way past the shops, she would have eventually come to a rocky area we used to play at as kids. There are some old huts out there, single rooms with rotting furniture and such. It’s something my family has been meaning to clear away for years, but the island has experienced a lot of growth and there’s always something else to do. It might be a place to hold someone if you were worried about being seen.”

“We have to go there,” Frankie said, pushing his chair toward the doorway. “I don’t care what it takes. I need to save her.”

“Hold up,” Brad said. “I can help with that. My sister is bringing over one of the ATVs with a trailer on back that can fit your chair. We’ll ride out there while the rest of them check the hiking paths.”

Thayne’s eyebrows rose. “This woman has killed at least four people that we know of, Mr. McCallister. Any chance you have guns we can use to make sure she doesn’t get away?”

***

C
assie was ready for the torture to end. Just when she thought she would succumb to unconsciousness and check out while Kenneth finished expending his rage on her limp body, he’d stopped choking her.

When he let Rose have her turn with the knife, it was worse pain than anything he’d done to her. Rose seemed to have a knack at making tiny cuts that hurt like hell but wouldn’t actually let out enough blood to take Cassie’s life.

No matter how she struggled against the ropes binding her hands and feet, they didn’t budge at all. Her brain was so overloaded with pain at this point, she just wanted it to end.

“Kill me, Kenneth,” she begged, not for the first time. “I know I ruined your life by telling people what you did.”

“What I did?” he asked, looming over her as Rose made yet another cut to Cassie’s stomach. “I didn’t do anything, and yet you persisted in spreading the lie. You made Lynn afraid of me so that every day was a struggle to keep her.”

What did it matter anymore? Rescue wasn’t coming and it seemed all Kenneth wanted to hear was that this situation was Cassie’s responsibility. She’d take the blame if that’s what it took. She’d say it was all her fault, him losing his grip on Lynn and her slipping away, the girls that he killed as surrogates for either her or Lynn—at this point, Cassie wasn’t sure which of them he’d killed in effigy before recruiting Rose to send her those flowers—and up to and including tonight’s festivities. He wanted Cassie to say she was responsible. If she did that, maybe he would finally end it and kill her.

“I’m sorry, Kenneth,” she whispered. “I ruined it all. Lynn should have been happy with a guy like you. Heck, I should have been happy. I must have been out of my mind to refuse to go out with you.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

“But now you can leave this island with Rose and live the life you were meant to have. Go and be happy. Just end this. Please.”

Kenneth rolled his eyes, still not sold on the idea of Rose. If only Cassie had been able to capitalize on that and convince Rose to free her, but Kenneth was too good at what he did. Rose wouldn’t know the truth until the moment Kenneth handed her to the police with all the proof they’d need to lock her away right alongside poor Sandy.

Cassie hated herself for giving up when she knew Kenneth would be able to move on to the next unsuspecting victim, but she couldn’t handle it anymore. She hadn’t realized just how much pain the human body could handle, and she wondered if that was how bad it had been for Thayne and Frankie when they were trapped in the fire, getting burned alive.

Kenneth put a hand on Rose’s shoulder, stopping her before she made yet another cut. “I think we’re done here.”

“Do you want the knife?” Rose asked. “I’m glad we did this together, but you really should get the final cut.”

Kenneth accepted it from her but didn’t advance on Cassie.

What was he waiting for? This was obviously a game for him. Rose might have real feelings, thinking she was doing the right thing for the man she loved, but Kenneth was only passionate when talking about how Cassie had ruined his life. She had to wonder if he even really cared about losing Lynn all too much. She had been a possession to him, part of his perfect life that he wanted to keep intact.

Cassie had never delved much into psychology while in school for her nursing degree, but she had to believe that Kenneth Morgan was a psychopath. He didn’t actually have feelings, not the way normal people did. He wanted his image intact, and Cassie had the feeling he enjoyed watching her suffer more than anyone should. The man liked killing, and Cassie wondered if this latest rash of murders was the first time he’d done it.

How many patients had he lost on the table in his career? Were they all legitimate, or did he help some of them along instead of saving their lives?

“Do it,” she whispered, tired of him staring at her.

To her dismay, he shook his head. “I’ve got a better idea.”

Rose grinned. “What’s that, honey?”

“There are two firemen on this island right now, likely going out of their minds that they can’t find this woman.” Kenneth chuckled. “How fitting if she perished in a random blaze on the side of the island no one uses?”

“And the firemen can’t save her?” Rose laughed and clapped her bloody hands. “That’s perfect.”

He nodded. “Yes, it is. Grab that jug of kerosene over by the door and douse this place. I want a fire that will get their attention so they’ll know what happened to Nurse Cassie. Don’t put it on the bed. We want her recognizable by the time they get here, but the smoke inhalation will do the job of killing her before they see the fire.”