Page 10 of Conri

When she was taken away in the ambulance and heavily sedated, they all didn’t say anything.Almost as soon as Howard came up to him, he nearly missed grabbing him up before he fell down.The man was a mess, and so was his family.Cass was telling them that they could stay with them until they rebuilt.If they rebuilt.He couldn’t imagine the things, small and large treasures they would have lost in this senseless act of violence.

“I’m telling my parents they can stay with us in your home.I should have asked, but I didn’t think about it not being mine.”He said that everything that he had was now hers.“Thank you for that.But I still should have asked.”

“Tell them there is plenty of room, and we’ll get the insurance company on it right away.Yuri said the horses were all right, if not slightly startled.I’m just so glad that no one was home.I wonder if she had figured that into…I can’t believe that she did this to their home.”She told him she couldn’t believe it either.“I have to keep telling myself that no one was hurt.Yuri told me that everything is gone.

Everyone followed the fire trucks out to the ranch.There really wasn’t anything to see.Like Yuri said, the house was totally destroyed.The little fires that were still burning were easy enough to get under control.Howie knew enough to call the vet and have him come out and check on the horses.

“We have nothing but the few clothes that we took to the bed and breakfast with us.Nothing else.No photo albums.None of the blankets that were made by my mom’s and Howard’s.It’s all gone.Oh, my jewelry, too.”Elizabeth looked up at him.“Things keep popping into my head that we lost, but I have to keep telling myself that we’re all right, all of us are.”

“And you’ll be staying with us in the house until you get things figured out.”She said she didn’t want to put him out.“You won’t.The pack house is big because it has room for families that have had something happen to their home, and they stay there.My mom doesn’t live there anymore.It’s just me and Cass, and she is staying in another bedroom from mine.”She thanked him for that.

“As soon as your insurance company says it’s all right, we’ll get a construction crew out here to clean this up and get started on the rebuild.I’m assuming that you’d like to start fresh, new home and all.”She told him they’d been thinking of remodeling the house for a few years now.“Well, now you can.“It’ll be cheaper to start this way from what I told.No places that you have to work around.”

“Are you always this upbeat and positive?”Conri told her that only since he’d met Cass.Before that, he couldn’t stand to be around humans at all.“Yes, well, I just have to remember that staying positive can go a long way.Right now, all I want is a bed and a shower.For as much fun as it was staying with the kids last night, they wore me out.As I said, too much positive is just too much.”She looked at him again and cried.“You’re a good man, Conri.The best person I can think of for my little girl, too.Thank you.”

“You’re so very welcome.”He grabbed Cass as she was going by him and smiled.“Cassidy Lynne Warmer Valley, I pronounce on this day that you are my mate and give you all that I have from this day forward.Standing here in front of witness, I proclaim you as my mate.”

She swayed on her feet for a few seconds before she grabbed him by his arms.He could see her face and knew that she was getting magic from him.When she grinned at him, he wondered what she’d do now.

“Conri James Valley, I pronounce on this day that you are my mate and give you all that I have from this day forward.Standing here in front of witness, I proclaim you as my mate.”She looked up at him and then laid her head on his chest.“Did I do it right?Your mom helped me with your middle name, and I’ve been practicing all this week for when we had time.I figured that if you didn’t do it soon, I’d just take you as my mate and see how that worked for you.”

“Are you going to be like this all the time, staying one or two steps ahead of me?”She told him that she was going to try.“Good.I like that in a mate.I’m in love with you, Cass.”

“And I’m in love with you.”She was congratulated and hugged by everyone around them, including the police, who had come out to the house with them.“Now, let’s get my family home so that they can rest up.I have a feeling that the next few days are going to be hectic trying to figure out what else Cynthia has done.”

“Do you think that she’s done more than this?”Cass told her dad that she had no reason to believe that she’d done a few things in the name of destroying things that belonged to the family.“Oh my, I never…well, I never thought she’d blow up our family home, but here she’s done it.Yes, you might be right in thinking that we have plenty more to look for.It’s a scary thought, too, to think that she’s been plotting things out in that head of hers.At least we don’t have to worry about her getting to us anymore.”

“I wouldn’t even rule that out, Dad.There was something just too easy about her giving up.I don’t believe for a moment she thinks that she’s done.No way would she have gone away quietly.I think for the next few weeks, we keep on our toes and look out for her still.”Howard said that he would.“I don’t mean just her physically showing up, Dad, but something that she might well have done, and it needs to…well needs to go off yet.Remember, she’s still plotting and planning.And I have been the source of her plans for long enough to know that she’s coming for me one way or the other.”

Conri hoped that she was wrong, but he also believed that she would still be coming around.Her planning had already taken out an entire house and barn.

Chapter 5

Cynthia thought her plan was going well.Since they weren’t at the other house, they had to be in the one that she’d been in, the big house.But they’d been at the little house—no, no.She couldn’t confuse herself now.They were all dead, and it was just her.The only person she wasn’t sure of was Cass.She’d been there when she was arrested.Things were getting all muddled up in her head, and she was having difficulty keeping things straight.

She was currently strapped to a cot.Not a bed like she wanted but a cot that was too narrow by half and harder than her head.When she saw the doctor coming toward her, she made herself look pitiful.She knew that she could fool him, the little bastard.

“Ms.Warmer, I see that you’re back.Good for you.I never thought that you should have been sent from here in the first place.We’ll get you up and going in a few weeks as soon as we get your medications in you for a week or two.”She had to act like she was taking the meds so that she could be ready when Cass came to visit her.And she would.Just like she had before.“We’re going to have to keep a better eye on you this time.No more not taking your meds.We have a solution for that now.We have them in injections.”

‘What?No,’ she screamed in her mind.Shots would be more difficult to not take.She needed to make sure they came in pill form.Opening her mouth when she was told it was time to get her started on them, the doctor just laughed.

The pinch to her arm nearly had her acting out again.She had to maintain a clear-headed sister so that when Cass came to see her, she’d be able to kill her.And then there would be no more troubles with her sister.She’d be free to do what she wanted.And dating was going to be the first thing on her list of things to do that Cass could no longer do.Cynthia knew her plan would work.Just like it did at the house.

But it had blown up too soon.She’d meant for them all to be in the house when it went up.Now, she didn’t know.Didn’t know.Didn’t know.Cynthia felt the medication starting to make her not be able to think again.She’d be doped up for days on end if they kept injecting her with drugs without her permission.

Her Daddy was the last thing she thought of when the drugs took her under.Mother fuckers.She was going to have to do something to get her back on the pills.

When she woke up, she was in a room.There was wallpaper on the walls that looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where it was from.Looking around with just her eyes, she nearly screamed when her daddy was in the room.He was supposed to be dead, damn it.

“You’re not talking to me?I suppose that’s fine.I have a few things to say to you, then I’m leaving here never to return.”She tried to reach out to her daddy, but she was strapped down with both her legs and arms.Jerking on them, she looked at her daddy.“Why did you blow up the house?There was no reason for it.No one was there, so I don’t know your plans.”

“You were all supposed to be there.”Against her will, she told him why she’d taken care of the house.“Why weren’t you there, Daddy?You never do what I want.It’s always about Cass, isn’t it?You love her more than me.”

“You wanted me dead?”She told him that she wanted them all dead.“Why?Why would you want such a thing?We’re your family, Cynthia.”

“If you’re all dead, the attention would forever be on me.They’d have to like me more because Cass was dead and gone.Don’t you see?It’s got to be all about me all the time.You’d want me to have that, wouldn’t you, Daddy?Have the attention all on me?”He didn’t say anything.“Good.Now, here is what I want you to do.I want you to kill Cass and that boyfriend of hers.Kill them both dead.Howie will have to go, too.He’s been having too much attention on him since I killed Margaret and their baby.I thought that people would…well, it matters little now, but you’ll have to kill him off, too.Then you kill Mommy.She’s worthless anyway, never wanting to show me off.After you kill Mommy, then you’ll kill yourself.Or have the police do it.Oh yes, that’s it.Have the police kill you because you killed all the other people.”

“You killed Margaret and her unborn child?I don’t want to believe that, Cynthia.Why would you do something like that?”She said that Margaret was hogging all the attention with her fat belly.He wasn’t paying attention to her, and she told him that.“That’s all you’ve ever wanted was attention, isn’t it?You never wanted anyone to outshine you.”

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