Page 116 of Thick as Thieves
“I should have killed you and that bitch when I had the chance,” she spits out at me. She’s finally lost it, the façade of civility disintegrating. “You, you freak! It should have been you driving the tractor that was out of control and ended up in the village pond. But noooo. You were too drugged up and drunk as usual, celebrating the night before the village fete. You’ve always been useless. Always the spare part no one wanted. But she saved you, as ever. She drove it for you, crashed the party. When it should have just been a crash.” Her voice and face change to vicious cunning. “Same as her on her little moonlight bike ride. Anyone who rides a bike alone at midnight in the dark, no lights, is asking to be knocked off.” She snickers, and it’s the eeriest thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Rowena and Chrissy are both staring at her in horror. “You drove that car into her deliberately. You actually tried to kill her, and my grandson.” Rowena looks pale now. “You told us you lost control, it was an accident,” Rowena says faintly, finally putting two and two together. Probably coming up with a lot more instances of sabotage.
“Of course I fucking did. She was not fit to be in his company. She bewitched him. Took him away from me. He was blind to what she was. Always Evie this and Evie that. What about me! I loved him the most. I was always there. But he never saw me. Always Xander or Evie in the fucking way. My foot slipped, otherwise she would be dead and her bastard son with her. No one would have known.”
Her face has changed again to a mask of hatred, but as she comes nearer to Marcus, her expression morphs to one of total love and devotion. “See how much I love you. I tried to free you. What I would do for you…” She looks deranged.
Mick eyes his phone again. Probably been on to Jonno. Isobel needs help, she’s not right in the head.
Chrissy starts to cry. Bettina is cowering in the corner. Tim is holding onto her, not letting her leave, making sure none of this information can leave this room.
We’re all still in a stand-off position when Jonno strides into the room, power emanating from him. He has a few men dressed in black behind him.
“Do you object?” he asks Chrissy directly. No other question.
She shakes her head. “No,” she affirms, as Issy shrieks, picks up a knife, and goes for Marcus.
I jump in to try to stop her and she sinks the knife in my shoulder, trying to pull it out and go again for Marcus. Jase springs into action and grabs her, dragging her off me. The knife is still stuck in my shoulder, entirely too near my neck.
The men with Jonno take hold of a deranged Isobel. She’s babbling like a brook, her eyes wide and wild, she’s totally flipped. She needs serious help.
Chrissy is crying and follows the men who are carrying her daughter out of the room. I hear Mick phoning an ambulance as I slip down towards the floor. The last thing I see is Marcus shouting like a lunatic, and my Dad trying to pick me up.
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Kellen
I seeher face change and realise too late she’s coming for me. The look of hatred on her face is matched only by the ferocity of the plunging of the knife. I brace myself for the pain, but it doesn’t come. Instead, I hear Xan grunt.
Xander.
No, no, no, no.
I try to stop her as she tries to pull the steak knife out of Xan and plunge it into me. She definitely wants me dead.
Jase grabs her, pulling her off Xander. He looks at me, his eyes starting to become unfocused.
“Get an ambulance, get a doctor, call 999.” I’m shouting any medical things I can think of. Tarron has hold of his son, tears streaming down his face.
“Leave the knife in,” Mick commands just as Tarron is about to try to take it out.
I can hear the sirens in the distance. I’m shouting at anyone in the vicinity to get the paramedics in here as soon as possible. Kneeling down to where Xan is laid on the floor in his dad’s arms, tears are streaming down my face. “Don’t you fucking leave me, Xander,” I shout at him. His eyes are closed and I’m sure he’s passed out.
I stand and run for the door. My mother is trying to clutch at me, but I push her off and shout, “Bug, can you deal with my mother,” before carrying on. I get to the front doors, “Get those fucking doors open and the ambulance people in here asap,” I instruct Casey, who looks as unflustered as if I’ve asked him to show guests into the dining room for dinner.
“I’ll put someone on the street,” he tells me, and starts to command the staff around me.
Mick comes to find me and pulls at my arm. “Xander is in and out of consciousness. Come and be with him. He’ll want to see you.”
I jog back into the chaotic dining room. Bug and Tim have ushered my mother and Bettina into another room. Levi and Gabe are standing back, but I can feel their energy and love coming at me, supporting me.
Tarron looks up at me. “Stay with us, Marcus.” He then looks down at his son. “Don’t go, Xan. Stay with us, son. We need you, boy.” Tarron has his hand on Xan’s beautiful face, stroking back his hair.
The paramedics come in and we all move back, allowing them to work. They check vitals and radio for surgery to remove the knife. They have Xander loaded in the ambulance in what seems to take an age. Tarron gets in and pulls me in with him. I hear him talking about surgeons, and I hear the paramedic say they need him in hospital to stabilise him first.
The machines suddenly start to bleep loudly, alarms starting to shout out. I look around in panic as I see one of the team checking his heart. I’m grabbing hold of my hair, pulling it out by the roots. It was just a fucking steak knife. We were having a family fucking dinner. How could it have got to this?
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