Instead, she peeked around the edge of the cart, watching as Baylor tucked one of the guns into the waistband of his slacks before he reached into his pocket to pull out a disposable lighter.
“I know you can hear me,” he called out, clearly speaking to her and Griff. “You might as well come out. Unless you want to be burned alive.”
With a casual gesture he leaned down to touch the flame to the floor, which was covered in the turpentine he’d spilled. Fire danced toward the nearest stack of boards.
Griff reached out to grasp her upper arm, tugging her toward the aisle behind them. Blood rushed in her ears as she bent low and followed behind him. Then she silently cursed. She hadn’t counted on the fact that her legs would’ve stiffened up while she’d been crouched behind the cart.
Before she could warn Griff, she was stumbling to the side and slamming into the metal rack. It was enough to jolt a box of nails off the shelf. It hit the ground next to her feet, busting open.
In the silence of the warehouse, it sounded as loud as a bomb going off.
Carmen clenched her teeth as horror spread through her. She’d exposed their presence. Nothing she could do about that. There wasn’t anywhere to run. And nowhere to hide.
But even as she resigned herself to the inevitable, she abruptly realized that she could make sure Griff had the opportunity to escape. Not giving herself time to consider the consequences, she straightened and walked directly into the small clearing.
Baylor pivoted to face her, his gun pointed at her as his gaze darted over her shoulder.
“Ah. There you are, sweet Carrie,” he drawled, trying to hide his fear behind a smug bluster. “So kind of you to join me.”
She curled her lip in disgust. “You bastard.”
Circling the edge of the small fire that was thankfully producing more smoke than flames, he moved toward her, his gaze continuing to search the shadows behind her.
“Where is Griffin?”
She shrugged. “He got out through the loading dock.”
Baylor released a harsh laugh. “You’re not dealing with an idiot. I know your lover would never abandon you.” At last reaching her, Baylor wrapped an arm around her neck and stepped behind her, as if hoping to use her as a shield. Spineless coward. Then he pressed the muzzle of the gun to her temple. “Come out or I’ll put a bullet through her head,” he commanded in a loud voice.
“Don’t,” she instantly called out. “He’ll kill both of us anyway.”
Baylor’s arm tightened around her neck. “You should have stayed on the farm.”
A distant part of her knew she should be terrified. This man might be her cousin, but there was no doubt he was truly insane.
For now, however, she was just so damned angry.
This lunatic had used, abused, and murdered anyone who crossed his path. And for what? Ego? Greed? Perverted lust?
“So you could steal my inheritance?” she demanded, her voice harsh with scorn.
Behind her, she could feel Baylor stiffen. As if she’d managed to strike a nerve.
“It belonged to the family, not some spoiled little brat,” he snapped.
“Don’t you mean that it belonged to you?”
“I run the business.”
She released a sharp laugh. “Does Uncle Lawrence realize he’s no longer CEO?”
He used the arm around her neck to steer her toward the edge of the clearing, pressing his back against the nearest rack. Obviously, he realized that Griff was nearby with a gun pointed at his head. And that the second he had a clear shot, Griff would put a bullet through his brain.
Which meant he couldn’t kill her, right? Not as long as he needed her to protect his own pathetic life.
“I’m the future,” he boasted. “With me Jacobs Hardware can become a worldwide corporation.”
“You’re as delusional as Ronnie,” she charged.
Again she seemed to hit a raw nerve as Baylor sucked in a sharp breath.
“Don’t compare me to that pathetic psycho,” he warned.
Her gaze skimmed blindly from the smoldering fire toward the shadows across the clearing as the memory of what she’d overheard seared through her mind.
“Are you saying you didn’t kill those women?”
She felt him shrugging his shoulders. “It was necessary to play the game with Ronnie,” he drawled. “And I’ll admit there’s something satisfying in releasing my deepest lusts. It cleanses the soul and allows a man to return to civilized society with a sense of peace.”
Nausea rolled through her stomach. She still had nightmares from the pictures that had been sent to her. The thought that her own cousin had been responsible for torturing and murdering those poor women was inconceivable.
Had there been warning signs when he was young? Had he always harbored such wicked lusts? Or had his greed slowly corrupted his soul?
“Ronnie was sick,” she breathed. “You’re pure evil.”
He muttered a curse, the gun pressing hard enough against her temple to leave a bruise.
“Last chance, Griffin,” he called out, an edge in his voice warning that he was reaching a breaking point. “One. Two.”
Carmen squeezed her eyes shut. In the next few seconds, Griff was going to step into the clearing and be shot. Or she was going to have a bullet rip through her brain.
Neither option was something she wanted to watch.
It never occurred to her that there might be a third option. Not until she felt the raindrops that were spraying over her face.
At first she thought she must be dead. Why would it be raining in the middle of the warehouse?
Then she felt Baylor loosen his grip on her as he stumbled backward.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
Carmen opened her eyes and impulsively did a belly flop onto the hard floor. She landed with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs, but she barely noticed as the blast of a gunshot deafened her.
Blinking through the rain that continued to fall, she turned her head to watch as Baylor’s eyes widened. As if he’d seen something surprising. Then a trickle of blood flowed down his nose from the new hole he had in the middle of his forehead.
Carmen grimaced, jerking her gaze away as her cousin started to tumble backward. She didn’t need to check to see if he was dead. Instead, she frantically searched for some sign of Griff.
He was standing just a few feet away, his dark hair plastered to his head and his arm slowly lowering, with the gun held loosely in his hand.
He was pale and soaking wet, and he’d never looked more gorgeous. Jumping to her feet, Carmen wobbled across the suddenly slick floor and tossed herself into his waiting arms.
“Griff,” she breathed, pressing her face into his damp sweater.
He was alive. They’d survived both Ronnie and her crazy-ass cousin.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, laying his cheek on top of her head.
She was trembling so hard she was sure her knees were about to collapse.
“Why is it raining?”
He chuckled softly. “It’s the sprinkler system.”
“Oh.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. She dismissed the relentless water drops that fell from the ceiling. And the knowledge there were two dead men in the building. Right now nothing mattered but the fact she was in Griff ’s arms. “Hold me. Just hold me.”
“Don’t worry, Carmen, I’m never going to let you go,” he promised in low tones.
For long minutes they clung to each other, and then the sound of footsteps had them awkwardly pulling away to watch a slender man stumble out of the shadows.
Matthew.
He looked as bedraggled as Carmen and Griff, but there was a goofy smile on his face.
“I did it,” he announced with obvious pride. “I pressed the button.”
Epilogue
January 22, Louisville, KY
Griff did finally manage to join Rylan and Jaci to enjoy the holidays. It was a little belated, but with Carmen at his side, he’d never been so happy.
They’d also traveled to visit his grandmother, who’d smothered them with her special brand of affection. Carmen had slowly lost her pallor and the dark circles beneath her eyes had faded to mere smudges.