Ultimate Kill (Book 1 Ultimate CORE Trilogy) (CORE Series) (46 page)

“Did you detonate the bombs?”

“With a gun to my head or my brother’s. Why the hell do you think we ran from the warehouse?”

“Hunnicutt’s alone?”

“We think,” Vlad said. “Hard to tell.”

He slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Give me the knife.”

Anxious to run into Rose’s house and kill Hunnicutt, Harrison picked the knife and handed it over to the man.
 

After he tossed the knife into the SUV, the man slammed the car door. He looked to Vlad. “Do you have a weapon?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“In car.”

“Throw me the keys.”

Vlad flashed Harrison another dirty look before tossing the keys.

The man pocketed them, and said, “I’ll go through the patio door, Harrison, watch the front and, Vlad, you stay by the door leading into the garage from the side of the house. Those are the only exits. Holler if he tries to leave. If Hunnicutt’s in there, he’s not coming out. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Harrison said. “Aren’t you going to call the police?”

“I used to be a sheriff, so we’re good.”

“But don’t you want back up?”

Jake looked between Harrison and Vlad. “You two are my back up,” he said and started to move.

“Aren’t you worried we’re going to run and leave you high and dry?”

“Do what you have to do,” Jake said to Harrison, then he took off at a sprint between houses. He could give a shit if they disappeared on him. Naomi had told him all about the two men and he had no quarrel with them. His sole focuses were making sure no harm came to Naomi and killing Hunnicutt. The fucking FBI let him walk once and Jake refused to allow that to happen again.

He ran across a backyard, hopped a short, picket fence, then quickly moved through the next backyard, and then the next. One more home and he’d reach Naomi’s. As he rushed across her neighbor’s yard, a part of him hoped Harrison and Vlad would stick around just in case Hunnicutt left through the front or garage door. Especially if he had Rose.

Maybe next time you’ll reconsider running from me…

Jake ran through the neighbor’s flowerbed, then through the tall hedges at the exit of the backyard. When he reached Naomi’s gate, he checked his surroundings and caught a glimpse of Harrison and Vlad running through the neighboring front yard and toward Naomi’s.
 

With adrenaline pumping through him, he slid the lock and opened the gate. The yard was quiet. The glass of tea he’d drank earlier sat on the patio table. The sliding door was closed and he hoped to God it hadn’t been locked. He didn’t have a key to her house, and didn’t want to break any windows and alert Hunnicutt.

Keeping his back against the vinyl siding, he crept along the bricks. When he reached the glass door, he peeked inside. The sheer drapes allowed him a view of the kitchen. Empty. He reached for the door handle. Gun raised and angled toward the kitchen table, he slid the door open, then crouched and moved inside behind the kitchen island.

Staying low to the floor, he eased his way through the room, then quickly rushed down the short hall off the kitchen toward Naomi’s laundry room and office. After checking both rooms, he reentered the kitchen, scanned the living room and caught Harrison’s silhouette through the frosted glass near the front door.
 

With the house eerily silent, his stomach and chest clenched with anxiety. There were only three more rooms to check, the guest bedroom and bathroom, and Naomi’s room. He stopped at the guest room first, and after finding it empty, he looked inside the bathroom. When he reached the end of the hallway, he placed his ear on Naomi’s closed bedroom door. Running water? Not from the sink or shower, but from the bathtub.

Had Harrison and Vlad lied to him or maybe been mistaken about Hunnicutt? Would the bastard really come to Woodbine right after the FBI released him?
 

Drawing in a deep breath, he reached for the door knob and turned. Keeping his gun raised, he eased the door open and peered inside the darkened room. A stream of light came from a partially broken blind hanging haphazardly from the window furthest from the bathroom. The nightstand near the window lay on its side. Glass, from the lamp that had once rested there, littered the hardwood floor. He glanced to the left. The bathroom door stood ajar, the sound of running water growing louder as he crept into the room.

Careful not to make a sound, he kept his steps light and moved to the wall adjacent to the bathroom door. Heart racing, he crept closer, and adjusted his grip on the gun. Scared of what he’d find once he opened the door and now kicking himself in the ass for not calling for back up, he drew in a deep breath. Fuck it. Hunnicutt wasn’t leaving alive. The bastard would never hurt Naomi or anyone else again.

Jake took a step back, raised the gun and kicked open the door.
 

Naomi
.

His throat tightened and his legs grew weak. His arms shook, while terror and rage tore through him and settled deep in his gut. He aimed the gun at Hunnicutt’s head. The man sat on the marbled edge of the bathtub, his gun also on the ledge and within arm’s reach. Instead of going for the gun, Hunnicutt gave him a smug smile and smoothed the damp hair away from Naomi’s pale face.
 

The bath water, reminding him of the color of pink roses, came up to her collarbone. Blood trickled from her nose to the duct tape covering her mouth. She whimpered and groaned. Her tear-soaked eyes were on Jake and filled with a mixture of agony and horror.
 

Hunnicutt turned off the faucet. “I am so tired of being interrupted.” He looked to Naomi and reached into the tub.

“Don’t touch her.”

“I already have…with a butcher’s knife,” he said, moving her left leg until her knees and hands jutted from the water. Duct tape bound her calves together. The tape had also been wrapped around her opened palms and circled her lower thighs, just above the knee, making her arms immobile. Blood oozed from the horizontal slices running from the inside of her wrists and flowed into the bath.

Jake kept his aim steady. “You’re fucking dead,” he said, curving his finger around the trigger, then froze. He slid his gaze to the mirror above the counter. Vlad stood behind him, the gun in his hand pressed against the back of Jake’s skull.
 

Hunnicutt chuckled and pressed Naomi’s bound legs back into the water. “Vlad. I knew I could count on you,” he said, shaking water from his hand. “Kill him.” He looked at Naomi with disgust. “She should be dead shortly and then we can leave. Rose was always a bleeder.” He ripped the duct tape from her mouth. “Isn’t that right?”

An overwhelming sense of helplessness filled Jake with anguish. The woman he loved lay in a tub of her own blood, dying. He could still put a bullet in Hunnicutt’s head. But if Vlad also fired, who would know to come for Naomi? With the way Hunnicutt had slashed her wrists, the bastard was right. She wouldn’t make it for very long. Damn it, why hadn’t he called for backup? He’d been hell bent on making sure Hunnicutt didn’t leave alive, had stupidly assumed Vlad and Harrison were on his and Naomi’s side. Harrison might have been, he’d acted sincere. Considering Vlad had a gun to his head, he figured Harrison was already dead, betrayed by the man who’d helped him escape.

“Don’t,” Naomi gasped and let out another cry. “Vlad, please help us.”

“My men are loyal. He won’t help you,” Hunnicutt said. “If I recall, you begged Ric, too. Just before he helped removed my child from your womb.”

When Jake fingered the trigger, ready to take the risk and shoot a bullet in the center of Hunnicutt’s forehead, the bastard smiled at him. “Vlad, keep the gun on our would-be hero, but don’t kill him yet. I’m guessing we have another twenty to thirty minutes before Rose bleeds to death—and I want to make sure she’s dead before we leave. Besides, thanks to the way the FBI stormed into my warehouse, Rose and I haven’t had a chance to catch up yet. Eight years is a long time to be apart. Tell me, Rose…is this man your lover?” When Naomi remained silent, Hunnicutt’s smile grew. “By the bloodlust in his eyes I’m going to make a solid assumption and take that as a yes. Interesting. Well, lover, did you know Rose used to be my whore?” He reached back into the tub and grabbed Naomi’s breast through her t-shirt.
 

Her faced twisted in pain and outrage. She thrashed her body and raised her bound legs. The gashes along her forearms bled profusely, as if the movement increased the blood flow. Jake didn’t know much about the human body, and had no idea if remaining still would slow the bleeding. “Naomi, stop,” he said, worried she was causing more damage to herself.
 

Crying, she drew her knees toward her chest, then stilled. Blood continued to ooze from her wounds and trickle into the tub and onto Hunnicutt’s hand at her breast.
 

“That’s disgusting,” the bastard said, using the towel on his lap to clean his hand. “By the way, lover, do you even know her real name?”

 
When he met Naomi’s gaze, his stomach tightened with dread. The fear and apology in her eyes was killing him. Their situation was fucked, but he didn’t want her giving up on him. Based on the crash course Rachel had given him on narcissism, along with what Naomi had told him about Hunnicutt, Jake doubted he could talk their way out of this. But Hunnicutt acted as if he was in the mood to talk. Good, let him. Jake could use this time to figure out a way to save Naomi.

“Yes, I know her real name.”

“Don’t answer any of his questions,” Naomi said on a sob.

“Oh, Rose. Does it really matter?” Hunnicutt shook his head and looked Jake directly in the eyes. “I’m going to kill him anyway. Before I do, I think you both deserve to suffer.”

“I’ve suffered enough,” Naomi shouted. “You’ve taken everything away from me.”

“Everything but your current lover, which I’ll rectify momentarily. Before I have Vlad splatter his brains all over the bathroom, I’d like your lover to know a few interesting details about you.”

“He knows all about you and what you did to me and my family.”

Hunnicutt kept his eyes on Jake. “So she told you how she used to love to get down on her knees and suck my dick?”
 

Jake had been holding the gun steady for several minutes. The urge to lower his arm was there, but he fought it and the need to pull the trigger.
 

“Or how she used to love to bend over and let me fuck her?”

Clenching his jaw, he did his damnedest to keep his temper in check. Earlier, Naomi had admitted to having sex with Hunnicutt. From the way she’d talked, he’d suspected the encounter had been bad and had refused to push her for answers as to
how
bad. His imagination had already given him enough answers, and part of him had feared knowing the reality would have been much worse.

“Yes,” Hunnicutt continued with a smile. “She was a lovely whore. But then she ended up pregnant. Does it bother you to know she carried my child?”

Jake looked to Naomi. Her face had grown paler, her breathing shallower. He had no idea how much blood she’d lost or how long before the bleeding would result in complications or death. “No. Her past means nothing to me,” he said, wondering if giving Vlad a solid throat punch would do the trick. Without looking at it, he remembered the gun on the ledge and played out the scene. Him hitting Vlad, Hunnicutt picking up the gun and shooting.

“Interesting. Chivalrous, really. Personally, I couldn’t tolerate such a thing. Why, just the other day when my wife threatened to have an affair with the pool boy, I told her I’d have his dick cut off and stuffed down her throat.” He chuckled. “And that threat was only over an affair. If she’d become pregnant by my pool boy?” He shook his head and let out a low whistle. “It wouldn’t be pretty.” He stroked Naomi’s hair, then grabbed a fistful. “Rose knows all about that. Tell him. Tell your lover how I had you bound to a table in the cellar of my home. How Ric and the good doctor spread your legs, reached into your vagina and destroyed the life you carried.”

Naomi shivered and arched her neck. Although her hands and arms had started to grow numb, and breathing had started to become an effort, the sharp pain to her scalp served as a reminder that Christian hadn’t won yet.
 

“Give your lover the gory details. Explain to him how you could never have his children. That
I
wouldn’t allow him or any man to have you.”

Thanks for telling me.

To think she’d let Jake’s words bother her. Looking at him now, seeing the misery and distress etched on his handsome face, along with the love and fear in his eyes, she’d let those four words affect her judgment. Instead, she should have focused on his actions and on the three words that mattered the most.
 

I love you.
 

“He knows,” she said, her tongue thick, her mouth dry.
 

“He knows what?” Christian taunted her. “Say it Rose. Say he knows I branded you as mine.”

Tears welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. Her stomach grew nauseous and she tasted bile. Lightheaded, she closed her eyes. “He knows the only man I’ve ever loved was him.”

“And Naomi knows I love her, no matter what you did to her.”