Page 69 of Forbidden Love

I shrug. “If you want to waste your breath, go ahead. Today, I’ve killed my father, left my brother for dead, and now I’m holding you hostage, waiting to end her life.” I nod at Kally’s sleeping form. “Nothing you say is going to make me change my course of action.”

“What if I could help you?”

I shake my head. “I don’t want help. For a shrink, you’re not a very good listener.” I can feel my blood start to boil, and that never bodes well for the person facing my wrath.

Kally stirs beside me, and I take my eyes away from the doctor and study the girl on the bed. She looks so young and helpless.

“Why is she in here?”

The doctor takes in a deep breath. It’s so quiet in here. I hate silence. “She wanted to leave and became aggressive.”

“And she’s not allowed to leave?” I ask.

“Of course she is, but we thought she’d be safer in here away from…”

Silence falls over the room again, and the doctor averts her eyes from mine.

“You thought she’d be safe from me in here, right? That’s what you were going to say.”

The doctor doesn’t acknowledge what I said, but I know I’m right.

“No one is safe from me, Doc.”

“Clark…” Kally croaks, and I jump off the bed. Her eyes are open, but they look distant. Vacant.

She tilts her head to the side and Gail sits forward. “Kally, it’s okay.”

“Gail. My head.”

“It’s okay. That’s the sedation wearing off. Just sleep it off.”

Her head tilts back to the center, and I know the minute her eyes connect with mine. Her body stiffens, and she tries to push herself up the bed, but she can’t get her limbs to work.

“Colton. How? Why?”

“Hello, Kally. I’m here because I want to kill you.”

“You’ve lost it. You need help.”

“As I’ve just told your doctor, I’m beyond help, princess. I don’t want anyone’s help.”

“Well, get on with it, Colton. Put us all out of our misery. Stop this now. Only you can do that.”

“Kally…” Gail protests.

“No, Gail. I’ve had enough. I can’t live like this anymore. None of us can. Just let Gail go. This is between you and me, Cole. No one else needs to become a victim to you.”

I point the gun in her direction. She hasn’t called me Cole since we were kids. Everyone called me Cole when we were younger, but that name wasn’t masculine enough for my dad, and it became Colton or Collinson. Everything changed overnight, and I didn’t even realize at first.

“I didn’t mean for things to get so bad.”

“But you did, Cole. You’ve made everyone’s life miserable. You can blame everyone for this, but you allowed it. You were weak. You let your father control you.”

I shake my head, anger coursing through my veins and my hands shaking. “Shut up, Kally.”

“Why? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

“Everything is always my fault.”