Page 84 of Whispers of My Skin

“You seem to have forgotten that you were already married when I met you. What about your husband, what about Stephen? He’s a good man and he adores you.”

“Stephen bores me rigid! He’s an old man and I don’t fancy him, he makes my skin crawl if you want the honest truth. He doesn’t matter, he’s irrelevant. Only you matter to me.” Cassie is starting to get hysterical on the subject of her marriage, so Joel reverts back to persuading her to get rid of her weapon. Probably a wise move considering how irrationally she’s behaving.

“Just put the gun down, Cassie, so we can get out of here and talk things through calmly,” Joel starts cajoling again.

“Only if you come with me,” she states. “Just you and me. Let’s get out of here.”

She’s weakening, her arms trembling so much she’s struggling to keep the gun pointing upwards. Cassandra could collapse at any moment, so Joel seizes on this small crack in her armor.

“I’ll come with you, if you put the gun down,” he agrees. “Just do it, Cassie. Put the gun down.”

But just when I think she’s going to comply, she recovers and points the gun directly at me.

“No!” Joel yells, as he takes a couple of steps towards me, placing himself as a human shield.

“That bitch will always come between us, as long as she’s alive,” Cassandra screams.

“No, no, it’ll be just you and me, Cassie, we’re going to leave here together just like you want,” Joel urges, trying to calm her down.

“I tried. I tried to do things right, to make you get rid of the bitch. I’m very talented in bed, I know I’d have make you happy,” she mutters almost to herself. “What I told you about Stephen hurting me what just a way of getting into your lives. I’d make you hate her, get her out of the picture. But when my stupid husband came back early and ruined everything, and Oscar said he had a plan to get rid of her, while keeping you safe, what other option did I have? Oscar promised you’d be mine, that we could be a family, you, me, and my son.”

Shit, Cassandra and Oscar are accomplices? What a horrifying combination.

“We can still be a family,” Joel says. “You know I’ll always love your child.”

“You will?” She looks at him with pure adoration shining from her eyes.

“Of course I will, Cassie. I already promised you that before all this happened, didn’t I?”

“That’s true, you did,” she nods, approaching him. “So, are you ready to get out of here?”

“Just ditch the weapon first, we don’t need it, do we?” he says evenly. “Drop the gun and we’ll get out of here.”

I understand what Joel’s doing, and why. But even knowing it’s nothing but a lie, it still hurts to hear him say that he’s going with her, because Joel is mine, damn it. Mine.

Suddenly another shot rings out.

Cassandra screams as she drops to the floor.

We’ve been so focused on her, listening to her rant about her love for my husband, we’ve forgotten about my stepfather. Now, Cassandra’s crouched in a ball on the ground, crying and rocking, cursing Oscar, while calling to Joel to help her. It’s soon clear that Oscar missed, the shot went over her head. For the baby’s sake, I’m relieved. For her – not so much.

“Don’t move, you bastard!” Joel yells at Oscar, who’s slumped back down on the floor. He’s clearly lost a lot of blood and looks close to passing out.

Joel goes over and kicks the gun away from him. Injured as he is, even with his hands tied behind his back, Joel is still fighting, fighting for us.

Cassandra remains where she is, immersed in her all-consuming obsession with Joel as she continues to rock while muttering incoherently. I almost feel sorry for the pathetic creature she’s become—almost, until I remember that, insane or not, she nearly got me and Joel killed.

“Are you alright?” Joel asks breathlessly, his face a picture of concern as he rushes over to me, his chest heaving from his exertions.

“I’m fine,” I reassure him. “But I think we need to call the police to take care of them.” I nod my head in the direction of Cassandra and Oscar. “And you need to get to the hospital too, you need medical assistance.

“I’m fine, but you’re right, we do need backup, so that means finding a phone, which I’m assuming neither of us have. And as your hands are tied in front rather than behind like mine, I think you’re better able to do the searching, babe.”

“Yeah, guess that makes sense,” I agree, looking round, wondering if Cassandra has one in her purse.

“Best keep your distance from Cassie for now, don’t want to risk setting her off again, so unfortunately that means searching through that bastard’s pockets,” Joel scowls in my stepfather’s direction.

“Needs must,” I mutter.

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