Lyon's Heart (28 page)

“The baby has nothing to do
with this, it’s me you’re mad at, please just let me put her down.”
She sounded scared as fuck and the knots in my gut grew tighter. I
tried peaking around the corner without being detected but the way
the room was built I couldn’t see right in. I was going to have to
be careful on my next move because I’ll probably have only one shot
at this. My mind was processing shit like a machine. The only
reason Kat would let her get the drop on her was if she had a
weapon, so whatever I did, I was going to have to make it
count.

“Please just let me put her
there on the couch, she’s scared, can’t you see she’s scared? She’s
just a baby. She has nothing to do with this.”

“You know what, you might be
right. It might be fun raising your brat while you rot. Think about
me torturing the little bitch every day of her life. Of course that
luscious husband of yours and I will have more kids. I think I’ll
send the stupid little brat to boarding school.”

“Why are you doing this?
You’ll never get away with it, think about it. Colt knows all about
Taylor and what he did…”

“Lies, all lies, my
boyfriend would never have touched you and that other bitch. You
both made it up because you were nobodies. No one even knew who you
were until you started spreading your filthy lies. I took care of
her though, but you got away before I could get to you.”

“What? What do you mean you
took care of her?”

That’s right baby, keep her
talking. I’d already hit record on my phone. I guess those cop
shows were about to pay off. I could see them now, her back was to
me and she had Kat backed up to the fireplace. There were gifts and
the tree and the big ass gingerbread house blocking her in. Kat had
her body twisted slightly to the side to shield the baby the best
way she could and from the angle of the nut’s arm, I surmised that
she was holding a gun on them.

“
I mean that I was the one
that killed her. That’s’ right, I didn’t even have to touch the
stupid bitch, just held the gun on her until she offed herself.
Only, you’re not going to get off so easy, you I want to
suffer.”

“You’ll never get away with
this. Colt and my father will figure it out. How do you plan to
hide who you really are? Eventually they’ll find out.”

KAT

I’m glad Colt isn’t still so
angry with me. I’ve had more than enough time to think about how
stupid I was. Sitting in that car with my daughter screaming in
fear in the backseat was about the scariest thing I’ve ever faced
worst even than my own ordeal. Colt hadn’t said anything, but dad
had filled me in a little and even he was holding something back.
The men in my family were set on protecting me from everything but
I’m stronger than they think. From what dad had said, it hadn’t
been an accident and Carol’s phone call five minutes after Colt
left the house answered the question of why she wasn’t where she
said she would be. Even after being run off the road, I still
hadn’t pieced it together. Someone had deliberately drawn me out of
the house to hurt me. Not just me, but the baby.

The thought brought tears to
my eyes. Life had been so perfect the last year or so. Colt saw to
that, he shielded me and now us from all the horrors of the world.
I guess I should stop ragging him about his cop shows and stories
of gloom and doom people really do suck. Caitlin was up and seemed
none the worse for wear. I decided we should go finish our cookie
baking and make daddy his favorite foods for dinner to make up for
mommy being a ninny.

We headed downstairs after a
diaper change and she pointed to her gingerbread house so I walked
over to let her play before we got started on our baking. At least
she was happy. I heard Colt at the back door and started to smile
as I heard him coming down the hallway. I didn’t stop to wonder why
he would be coming in that way when he always came in the front but
I didn’t have time to ponder that when a complete stranger entered
the room.

“Who are you? What’re you
doing in my house?” She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t
quite place her. The hair was all wrong but the face rang a bell.
It was the look she gave me that alerted me to the real danger,
that and the gun she raised and aimed at me. I twisted
instinctively to shield Caitie, my heart beating out of my chest
and my mind a complete blank. What was going on? I kept my eyes on
her and the gun she kept trained on us as I looked for a way out of
this latest catastrophe.

“Who are you?” She still
hadn’t answered that question, just stood there glaring at
me.

“That’s not important,
what’s important is why I’m here. Now hand me the kid.”

I moved back a step in
horror.

“You’re not having my
daughter.” I didn’t want to antagonize her but there was no way I
was just handing my baby over to her gun or no gun. Was this one of
those things you see on the news about baby snatching? But didn’t
they usually go after newborns in hospital wards? And why did she
look so damn familiar? The answer was right at the edge of my mind
but I kept drawing a blank. Could she be someone from Colton’s
past? She came farther into the room and with the light from the
fireplace, her face came more into focus.

“Oh shit it’s you, how,
why?”

“I’ll do the talking here.
You don’t get to ask me anything, you’ve done enough.”

“Me, what have I ever done
to you?” Keep her talking Kat just buy some time. Colt, please
hurry; that’s all I could think of while this crazy bitch held me
at gunpoint. Colt is going to be pissed when he gets here. But what
if he walks in and she shoots him? Shit, I have to do something,
but what? I can’t knock the gun out of her hand the way Colt taught
me because I have the baby. Why didn’t I listen to Colt? This is
the last time I doubt him. That’s if I survive this. Caitlin was
starting to fuss and that was just making the nut more agitated.
The look in her eyes said she’d do exactly as she threatened. If I
could save my little girl, at least that would be something, so I
just have to keep her talking. I wanted to scratch her eyes out
when she talked about fucking my husband and sending my kid to
boarding school. I guess that answered one question, it had to have
been her that called me that day.

She kept moving forward and
there was nowhere to go, the fire and the tree and gifts were in my
way and it was finally setting in that I could really die here
today. Why did I never see things the way Colt did? He’s always
telling me to be careful, always trying to keep me from getting
hurt. I’ve always thought he was overreacting but now when it might
be too late, I finally get it.

LYON

It was now or never Kat was
scared. I could see she was about to panic and the baby was
starting to fuss. I couldn’t shoot the bitch in her head because my
kid was right there but a knee shot was good enough for what I had
in mind. Kat caught sight of me just as I was lining up my shot but
my brave girl didn’t make a sound. I knew her well enough to
recognize the look of relief that came into her eyes. I took the
shot just as my little girl noticed me and started to call out for
me. The bullet was true, one behind the knee and she dropped with a
yell. I was in motion before she hit the ground.

“Get upstairs Kat and call
your dad.”

I put my knee in the idiot’s
back and took the gun from her hand as she flopped around in pain.
She wailed in anger and tried pushing me off of her. It took all my
strength not to strangle her.

“Get off of me, I have to
finish this, she ruined my life, I’m going to kill her.”

I pushed my knee harder into
her back because it was the only recourse left to me. I could hear
the guys rushing the house through the backdoor calling out for
me.

“The only reason you’re
still breathing is because my wife and kid are in the house. I’d
like to put a bullet in your fucking head and end you right here
you crazy bitch.”

She kept struggling to get
up and I kept applying more force as the guys bounded into the
room.

“Go upstairs Jared, I sent
the girls up there.” I turned my attention back to the screaming
woman beneath me. All the hate and rage I felt threatened to over
power me as I thought of what she could’ve cost me.

“Keep moving bitch and I’ll
change my fucking mind. I always knew it was you. You never fooled
me for a second. I got your laptop and I saw the disguises you’re
done. You’re going to spend the rest of your life behind bars where
that fuckwit should’ve been and guess what? My wife and kid are
going to be very happy for the rest of their lives, I’ll see to
it.” I played a hunch and threw a question out at her.

“Where’s that rapist asshole
boyfriend of yours anyway? He needed a woman to fight his
battles?”

She went crazy under my
knee, screaming and cussing, throwing out harmless threats. She’s
totally gone, how the fuck hadn’t I seen it that day in the
hospital?

“He had to go away because
she lied. Now I’m all alone and it’s all her fault. Taylor would
never have done what she said, she lied.” She started crying, snot
and tears flowing freely. I heard sirens coming but didn’t move.
Kat was on the stairs calling to me and Jared held a screaming
Caitlin while holding her back.

“Come let your dad in Angel,
it’s okay. I’m okay.” She seemed disoriented for a minute, like she
didn’t know if to go to the door or come to me.

“It’s okay, go let your dad
in.” By now, Drake was pounding on the door. It opened to him and a
few of his deputies who assessed the situation and one of them got
on the horn to call an ambulance. I moved off the woman on the
floor and grabbed my wife while my guys stood back. They’d put
their guns away but were still standing guard.

“You’re okay baby, I’ve got
you. Get that bitch out of my house.” I turned to Drake who knelt
beside the nut who was all but slobbering at the mouth.

“We have to wait for the
ambulance, she’s bleeding.”

“Put her ass on the
driveway. I want her the fuck out of my house now.”

“Colt we can’t do that. This
is a crime scene.”

“Well, do whatever the fuck
you need to do and get her out. Here, this might help.” I threw him
my phone.

“I want that back, so make a
copy or some shit.”

“What’s this?” He studied
the phone in his hand.

“I recorded her admitting to
the shit she’s done and the reason she’s here. There’s a laptop on
the kitchen table as well, you don’t have to wait for a warrant
because it belongs to Elena.”

This whole time, the nut was
still screaming about killing Kat and I realized I still didn’t
even know her real name. Back at the apartment, I’d only had time
to see the picture of her and Taylor before I went into motion.
There had been no time to dig any farther and I’m glad now that I
hadn’t. This shit was going to give me nightmares for a long time.
Fuck me, she wasn’t supposed to get this close, I fucked
up.

“Who is she
Colt?”

“She’s from Arizona.” I
didn’t need to say anymore, he could piece the rest of that shit
together. I needed to go see to my family.

“Tell me what happened here
Katarina.” He turned to his daughter while one of his men cuffed
the nut on the floor.

“She came in through the
backdoor. I’m sorry Colt. I didn’t realize the alarm was off. I
forgot.”

“It’s okay Angel. Don’t
think about that now.” I held her close and smoothed her hair while
she told her dad what had happened.

“She, she had a gun and she
started saying all these things. She killed Donna, it wasn’t
suicide.” She broke down then and that was enough for
me.

“That’s it. Get her the fuck
out of here. I don’t care crime scene or not.” I wouldn’t give her
the satisfaction of seeing how upset my wife was. There will be no
victories for her today and if it took everything I had, I would
make sure Kat didn’t spend another thought on this murderous
bitch.

The ambulance showed up and
the nut job was taken away in handcuffs with a police guard. I
called up Xavier and Paul who had been the only two who’d gone home
because they were supposed to take the night shift on this bitch. I
guess one of the others had let them in on what was going down
because they were already here. I wasn’t taking any chances that
she might escape the cops, so I sent them to the hospital to stand
watch.

Drake walked over to where
Jared stood with the baby and took her from him rocking her back
and forth in his arms. He had tears in his eyes and I could only
imagine the shit that was going through his head. His kid had faced
danger twice now, and this time had been too close for
comfort.

“You guys are gonna have to
come down to the station.”

“Fine, we’ll follow you down
there. Just let me call mom to come stay with the baby.” I didn’t
even think of asking Jared because I know my guys, none of them
were going to let us out of their sight for the next little while.
We all face danger from time to time. It’s par for the course with
our lifestyle, but not when it came to our women and children. I
could argue with them that tomorrow was Xmas and they should go be
with their families but I knew it would be a wasted
effort.