End Game (The Game Series) (7 page)

Tara
watched helplessly as Monika lay there, dying. Dropping to her knees she knelt beside her, gripping her hand in her own.

“Come on, stay with us!”
she told her, frantically looking at Kyle and Sandy for help. Kyle had already taken his shirt off and, gently removing Anna’s hands from the wound, he now pressed it against Monika’s neck.

She was losing blood fast and, looking in her eyes, Tara could see that she knew she wasn’t going to make it.

“Call an ambulance!”

“Already on it.” Sandy said, holding her cell to her ear.

“No!” Monika cried out. “No ambulance!” Tara could see that she was trying to say more but was getting weaker by the second. She leaned in close, her ear almost touching Monika’s lips so that she could hear.

“Go,” Monika said softly. It was barely more than a whisper. “Go, take your daughter and go. Be free.”

Tara could barely speak, the sobs taking all her breath.

“Thank you,” she whispered back, gripping Monika’s hand and looking deep into her eyes. “Thank you.”

Monika didn’t hear the second thank y
ou. She was gone, her body limp.

***

Kyle had known immediately that Monika’s wound would be fatal and it had only taken minutes from when she’d been hit to when she’d bled out.

Sandy had terminated her call when she’d seen it was too late for Monika and they both now stood watching silently as Tara and Anna held each other, crying uncontrollably, on the floor next to her body. As he watched them
, their hearts breaking, Kyle wished he’d been able to kill Sergei himself.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
Sergei hadn’t moved since he’d fallen so Kyle had assumed Monika had killed him, but it looked like he’d just passed out.

Walking over to him no
w where he lay, Kyle looked down at him.

“Help me.” Sergei looked up at Kyle and pleaded. “Get help.”

Kneeling down next to him, Kyle grabbed him and turned him on to his side so that he could look at his wound, ignoring his pained cries. Lifting his jacket and pulling his shirt out of his pants, he found it. A puncture wound just where his kidney would be.

Looking
around, he spotted the knife Monika had used on the floor close to where she had fallen. The blade was about six inches long and had blood all the way up to the hilt, clearly having gone all the way in. Lying him back down and turning away without a word, he went over to Anna, still cradled in Tara’s arms.

Hunkering down so that he was at eye level
, he took one of her bloodied hands in his own.

“Anna, sweetheart, I know this is incredibly hard but we have to make a decision.”
He didn’t know how she would respond so he just came out with it. “Your dad has a nasty injury but, with treatment, it’s possible that he will make it. Without treatment there is no doubt that he won’t.”

Taking a deep breath he said.
“We have two choices. We stay with your dad and call for help or we go. Now.” Kyle didn’t want to explain that if they stayed they would be in all sorts of trouble. She had been through so much and she needed to make the decision that was right for her.

She lifted her tear
streaked face to his and looked him straight in the eye. “Let’s go,” she said, starting to get to her feet.

Kyle and Tara exchanged a look.

“Are you sure, honey?” Tara asked.

Kyle needed her to understand what she was saying. “We don’t know how long it will be until someone finds him. Joey has only just left so he won’t be back for hours and that will be too late for him.”

“I’m sure. Get me away from this monster. Please.”

“It will be my pleasure.” Kyle told her and, without a backward glance, they all walked out of the house, ignoring Sergei’s pleas for help.

Chapter Eighteen

They’d driven straight back to London and, after a quick detour to a gas station to get cleaned up, they’d headed straight for the airport.

“You’re going to have to pay for the tickets this time
, Sandy.” Kyle said with a wry smile as they walked over to the ticket desk. They’d left Tara and Anna sat in one of the many coffee shops while they went to try and arrange flights home.

S
he just smiled and asked. “What do you think will happen now?”

Keeping his voice low so that they weren’t overheard
, Kyle whispered, “With any luck he’s already dead. If not, he soon will be.”

“Do you think they’ll come looking for Anna?”

“I think they’ll be in touch but I think Tara’s letter should stop them from asking too many questions.” He’d gotten Tara to write a letter before they left agreeing to have Anna come live with her in the U.S. and she’d dated it the month before.

“When they do contact us to let us know of Sergei’s sad demise we’ll make sure to be appropriately shocked.”

They were in luck and they managed to get four seats on the next available flight back to L.A., scheduled to leave in under three hours. Handing over their passports, thankfully Anna still had hers from her trip and Tara’s was still in her purse, they collected their tickets. They were going home.

***

As he sat now and looked at Tara and Anna sitting across the aisle, Anna fast asleep with her head on Tara’s shoulder, Kyle knew they’d done the right thing. He was not proud of leaving a man to die but he knew that it was not something that would haunt him. He could have killed him, put him out of his misery, but he didn’t want Anna to live with her father’s killer. She was young and while she may not think so now, one day she might grow to hate him for it. No, it was better this way.

They’d been through so much and he would spend the rest of his life making sure that these women realized just how much they were loved and he
knew now, without a doubt, that if Lori and his son were looking down on him, they would be pleased he had found happiness again.

***

Tara held her daughter tight as she rested her chin on the top of her head, gazing out of airplane window. She didn’t think she would ever let her go. Despite everything she had gone through since being sold to Sergei, it had all been worth it to get to this perfect moment.

She knew that it would take time for them to get to know each other and to process everything that had happened but they had all the time in the world. She also knew that whatever problems they faced, they would face them as a family.

Turning her head she looked across the aisle at Kyle and caught his eye. The intensity of the love burning there brought a lump to her throat.
How had she ever doubted him?
He had travelled the world to save her, had risked his life for her. Despite everything, she was the luckiest woman alive.

THE END

*****

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