Page 56 of Marked For Revenge

The woman could make sure all four of them died right here, right now.

Ava tried not to look at Caleb. Hard to do, though, but if she focused on him, it would be a huge mistake. She had to push all thoughts of him aside and try to treat this like any other hostage situation.

Marnie leaned her head out just a fraction from Caleb’s, and Ava kept her gun trained on her as Marnie ripped off her mask. Something inside Ava unclenched. The situation was still as dangerous as it got, but it sickened her that Marnie was doing all of this while wearing the image of Ava’s face.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Marnie said, groaning in pain and cursing. “I should be gone now in the Hummer.”

“Gone with Caleb?” Ava asked. She stayed behind the cover of the tree but kept watch for any chance of a clean shot. Beside her, Harley was no doubt doing the same thing.

“Of course gone with Caleb. I shouldn’t have to be crawling around in the woods. You weren’t supposed to die here. I wanted that to happen in front of Aaron. Where is the SOB? Did I kill him?”

Ava debated how to respond. She wanted Marnie to keep talking, but if the woman found out Aaron had only been injured and wasn’t dead, that might cause her to start shooting again.

“I’m not sure if Aaron is still alive,” Ava settled for saying. “He was bleeding out when I left him.”

“Good,” Marnie spat out. “I hope he dies a slow, painful death, and if there’s any life in his worthless body when I find him, I’ll show him pictures of his dead son and his ex-lover. I’ll kill you both and show him what I’ve done.”

Ava had already guessed all of this was to get back at Aaron. Marnie obviously hated the man.

“Aaron has to pay for killing my sister,” Marnie went on, and this time her wail turned into a sob.

The woman was quickly losing control of herself. Again, not good. Because it would be impossible to bargain with a woman who felt she had nothing else to lose.

Harley didn’t say anything, but he moved away from her, heading toward the other side of the clearing so he could no doubt try to come up from behind Marnie. Ava covered his movement by shifting her body just enough to step on some twigs and leaves beneath her boots. The sound might not fool Marnie, so Ava went with what she hoped would be a distraction.

“Your plan was organized,” Ava said, making sure to sound like a cop. “Until tonight, we had no idea you were the one who murdered those women.”

“Of course it was organized,” Marnie snapped, groaning again. “I worked hard on the details, and it shouldn’t have come down to this. You should be dead, and I shouldn’t be bleeding. Hell, this hurts. I should hurt your son to make you pay.”

That felt as if Marnie had punched her. There was nothing else the woman could have said to give her that jolt of fear. Oh, mercy. Her son could die.

“Caleb didn’t do anything to Christina,” Ava tried, hoping to give Harley time to get to Marnie. “That was all on Aaron. He gave her the drugs, didn’t he?”

“Yes. He killed my beautiful baby sister.” That caused Marnie to start crying. “He killed her, and I had to pretend to be friendly with him. Every time I saw him, I wanted to shoot him in the face, but that would have been too easy. I wanted him to pay.”

“And then you were going to set him up for the murders,” Ava finished for her.

“Oh, yeah. I chose women who’d been pregnant. I figured that’d convince the cops that Aaron’s targets were to get back at you. And then he would have been arrested, convicted and paid and paid and paid by being locked up in a maximum-security prison where the inmates could make his life a living hell.”

Ava didn’t spell out to Marnie that her plan had also made others’ lives a living hell. There were four dead women, and their families were dealing with the pain and grief Marnie had caused. In that moment, Ava wished Marnie as much pain and misery as she’d planned for Aaron.

Ava finally spotted Harley, but her chest muscles were too tight for her to feel any kind of relief. He was only about ten yards behind Marnie and Caleb, and he was inching his way toward them.

“You killed your explosives expert.” Ava threw it out there. She purposely raised her voice to try to cover the sound of Harley’s footsteps.

“The fool,” Marnie spat out. “I hired him, and then he tried to milk more money from me. He had no idea who he was dealing with.”

No, he hadn’t, and it’d been a costly mistake. Marnie was capable of anything, and that was especially unsettling since she still had the gun aimed at Caleb’s head.

“And I’m guessing you chose the women to kill because you knew they wouldn’t put up much of a fight,” Ava said, knowing that wouldn’t be true.

“I’m not a coward,” Marnie practically yelled. “I chose them because they were connected to you. So that the fool cops would think Aaron killed them so he could get revenge on your father.”

Yes, Ava had figured that out. And it sickened her to think that it might have worked.

Since Harley would be closing in on Marnie soon, Ava went with what she hoped would be a step closer to saving Caleb’s life. She made eye contact with him and then sharply cut her glance to the ground to his left. She waited, praying that Caleb understood. He did. He gave her a slight nod.

Caleb’s movement caused Marnie to tighten the chokehold, but he was still able to move. He jerked to the left.

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