Page 25 of Blood on the Rocks

“You started the rumors about Brandon.” They were the first words out of Seraphina’s mouth. They were firm but shocked. And she sounded more like herself.

“Yes,” Simon said with a curt nod of his head. Seraphina noticed that for someone in his seventies, Simon’s hand holding the gun didn’t shake. “It was terribly easy, too. Even you cannot deny that Brandon Thorpe was the perfect person for the police to focus on. He held out for more money – what a perfect scenario that happened at exactly the correct time. I couldn’t ask for a more arrogant and greedy scapegoat. Perhaps if he was a beloved player, a fan favorite, so to speak, I might have had a more difficult time getting people to turn on him, but people do not particularly like him. Yes, he is an acclaimed net minder but people are flighty and tend to support those that they like, whether or not the player is actually good at the sport. And because people tend to believe what the media says rather than doing their own research and because the media loves a controversy, they feed off of each other until the story has gotten so big that even if Brandon Thorpe is acquitted or dropped as a suspect, his reputation is ruined. He’ll never play hockey again. And I’d have done everyone a favor because people want him gone. Of course, nobody will know this is my doing” – he stopped midsentence in order to look into Seraphina’s eyes, his lips curling into a dark smirk as he did so – “well, almost nobody. But I shall remedy that problem soon enough.”

“You’re going to kill me.” Seraphina wasn’t sure if she meant her words as a statement or a question, but for whatever reason, she felt compelled to say them. Her eyes were still fixated on the gun.

“Well, you need to be disposed of,” Simon told her, as though it was completely obvious. His tone was casual and he shrugged his shoulders slightly, almost like he was apologizing for it but it was still something that had to be done. “Don’t worry about me, though, Miss Hanson, because I’ve thought it out. It isn’t difficult to see that you’ve been struggling to manage the Seagulls, that you’re in over your head. And that, piled on top of the distress you’re feeling in terms of losing your grandfather in such a horrific way, your uncle coming out to the media against you, well, it would make sense for you to take your own life and rid yourself of the burdens that have been placed on your shoulders.”

“Katella won’t believe it,” Seraphina said. Each time she opened her mouth, her voice increased in strength. She even managed to pry her eyes away from the weapon still steadily aimed at her in order to look at Simon. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was a big deal at least to her. “She won’t believe that I killed myself.”

“Katella is insignificant,” Simon growled. Apparently he didn’t like it when people began to poke holes into his carefully drawn out plans. “It won’t matter what some young girl thinks when the police and the medical examiner rule your death as a suicide. And she will be persuaded in the end. You never really, truly know a person, do you? You could be hiding your depression, especially from her, and because you can’t handle it anymore, you had to end it. You had to end the pain and the suffering that has been plaguing you since your grandfather’s death.”

“The police will be here any second,” Seraphina said. She highly doubted it was true, especially since Detective Christopher Williams didn’t seem to understand anything that she had told him, but something snapped in her mind. Her life was at stake. In all likelihood, she would die in a few minutes, by the same man who killed her grandfather.

And she didn’t want that. She wanted to live.

Even though running the team was difficult and stressful and she also had to deal with the loss of her grandfather, Seraphina wanted to live. The pain that come with life’s tragedies was worth it to her because in the end, she was put on this earth for a reason. And that was to survive. And no matter what life threw at her, she would survive.

She had to.

Simon chuckled at Seraphina’s last-ditch attempt to save herself. “I suppose no one can say you didn’t try, Miss Hanson,” he said. “A valiant effort, I must say. But, as I mentioned before, I know when you are lying, and right now, you are lying. The police still believe that Brandon Thorpe is responsible for the death of Ken. And even if he is not suspected anymore, they would never turn their attention to Ken’s old, cripple friend. A close friend, in fact.”

Seraphina watched as his fingers tightened around the gun, his index finger began to caress the silver trigger.

This was it.

“I suppose I will accept your thanks though you have yet to offer them to me,” Simon said. “I will be reuniting you with your grandfather. I know how close the two of you are – Oh, I apologize. The correct terminology I’m looking for is ‘were.’ I know how close the two of you were. But you’ll both be together again, soon enough.”

His finger tightened on the trigger and Seraphina closed her eyes, waiting. She hated that she flinched when she wanted to look at Simon with defiance in her eyes, but she couldn’t help it.

A loud thump caused Seraphina’s eyes to spring open and her arms went to her stomach. It didn’t sound like a gunshot, but she still checked her body to make sure she wasn’t shot. She didn’t feel any pain, but she also knew that pain didn’t immediately arrive.

And then she heard struggling. And then she looked on the ground.

Brandon Thorpe was on top of Simon Spade, holding the old man beneath him. Simon was moaning in pain, probably because he broke a hip when he fell onto the floor.

Seraphina couldn’t get a grip on one particular thought, so she let her body do what it did naturally: she reached forward and grabbed the discarded gun just in case Simon somehow was able to spring free and retrieve it.

“Call the cops,” Brandon ordered, still on top of the old man. His voice was harsh and ragged, but Seraphina didn’t take it personally. She should have thought of that herself. Holding the gun with one hand, Seraphina grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911. Her hands were shaking as they had been even though she knew she was out of danger. “I’ve got him.”

After letting the operator know what was going on and being reassured that police were already on their way, Seraphina got off the phone. She collapsed in her chair, her legs unable to support her anymore.

“How did you” – she paused in order to collect her breath – “How did you know...?” She couldn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t have to.

Instead, she focused her eyes on him. She needed something to focus on since her mind was too loud and too busy to narrow it down. His presence calmed her. She even felt her heartbeat start to slow down.

He was wearing essentially the same thing as he had been. Now, though, his hair was even messier than normal and his cheeks were flushed probably due to the adrenaline. He had managed to force Simon’s hands behind his back, and the goalie was keeping a tight lock on them. Even if Simon wanted to move, he couldn’t. Brandon’s form, in both size and girth, dwarfed Simon. The older man had a hard time breathing, but it didn’t matter.

Brandon had come back. He saved her life. “I was going to head down to the rink,” Brandon said. His low voice was back to its controlled form.

Interestingly enough, hearing that it sounded normal reassured Seraphina more than she was willing to admit.

She felt her body relax into the chair, and her eyes dropped to his mouth, the way it moved around the words. “I figured since public skating wasn’t until nine o’clock tonight, I could get a few hours on the ice to practice. I turned the corner for the stairs when I saw Simon emerge from the elevators. He had a book under his arm. I thought nothing about it, but something made me stop. I waited around in the corner, where I could see him but he couldn’t see me. I saw him come out and then go back in. I waited. But something was wrong. I could hear him talking but couldn’t understand what he was saying. So I got closer and closer until I saw him with the gun pointed at you. I didn’t really think after that.” And he looked away from her.

Simon was wheezing and grunting but neither Brandon nor Seraphina paid any attention. She was safe. She was alive. “Thank you.” She said it, despite the shakiness of her voice. She needed him to hear it. Without Brandon, she would be dead. “Thank you.” She felt her eyes build up with water but they didn’t fall – not yet, anyway – and Seraphina decided to try and stop the sporadic movement her body made outside of her control. She was shaking but she wasn’t cold. She was relaxed but still tense.

With Brandon there, she knew she would return back to normal soon. She should call Katella. And then she would go home and take a long bath and then she would sleep for however long she needed to. Thank God it was an away game tonight. Thank God she didn’t have to be on a stage, in front of the fans, being criticized for the way she sat more than anything. Thank God she didn’t have to worry anymore.

It was over. Finally, it was all over.

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