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“Thisplace?”Naomi exclaimed in shock.“You brought me back here?”
The guesthouse.They were right in front of the guesthouse.
Madeline smiled at her.“And who said you can’t go home again?”
Disgusted, Naomi shook her head.“You brought me all the way out here to kill me?Why?”She truly did not get it.“I didn’t kill Hudson.”How many times did she have to say it?Naomi kept the wrench tucked behind her right leg.“Didn’t Brock confess to the crime?”
“Brock was lying.He was saying anything and everything that he thought I wanted to hear.The fool believed that by taking the fall, I’d let him go.”
Naomi stiffened.“I didn’t kill Hudson.”
“I know.”Madeline smiled at her once again.
Naomi really, really hated that woman’s smile.Far too creepy.It never reached Madeline’s icy eyes.
“You didn’t kill him because I did,” Madeline confessed.“I saw you stumble outside of this place on your wedding night.”
Naomi’s gaze jerked to the guesthouse front door.
“Your dog was trying to pull you.You were falling.Crying.Your whole body was shaking.Seizures are a real bitch, aren’t they?”
Yes, they were.And so are you.Naomi pulled in a deep breath as she peered back at her kidnapper.“He attacked me.I was defending myself when I fought back.”
“Um.Yes.I’m sure you were.”Madeline leaned forward, the movement almost conspiratorial.“He wasn’t attacking me.I killed him because he deserved it.”
How was she supposed to respond to that?“Aren’t you like…supposed to be one of the good guys?You work for the CIA.”
“I am good.”Madeline straightened.“I’ve stopped more monsters than you can imagine.I’ve saved people from human trafficking.I’ve stopped arms deals.I’ve stopped wars.I’ve eliminated dictators.I’ve made the world better.”
Naomi’s left hand motioned to the gun pointed at her.“Not to be difficult or anything, but how will killing me make the world better?”
“Hudson should never have married you.I told him that you were a mistake.That you could never accept him—not who he really was.That the moment you saw the person he’d been hiding from you, the moment you saw therealhim, you’d turn away in disgust.”A bob of her head.“Only instead of turning away, I guess you decided to stab him first, huh?”
A lump rose in her throat, but Naomi swallowed it down.She could feel a faint tremble in her fingers, and she was terrified that a seizure would hit.Not now.Not now.She could not afford to be helpless.Stress could bring on seizures, she knew that.One of her doctors had told her that, ages ago, and, hell, yes, she currently felt stressed.Understatement of the century.
Not a seizure.Not a seizure.It’s just fear making me tremble.
“He didn’t belong with you,” Madeline snarled at her.“Not after all I’d done for Hudson.Not after all I’d done to make sure we could be together.He didn’t get to walk off with you.Didn’t get to have a life with you and shut me out.I wasn’t going to stay in the dark alone.”
Okay.Her heart slammed into her chest.“You were in love with him.”
“Since I was sixteen years old.”
Naomi blinked.“What?”
Madeline peered over at the guesthouse.“Let’s go inside.”
Her feet remained rooted to the spot.“Why?If I’m going to die, why don’t you just shoot me already?”
“Because I have plans.”
So do I.The first part of her plan involved Madeline lowering the gun so Naomi didn’t get shot when she attacked the other woman.“You knew Hudson when you were a teenager?”Maybe talking more would distract Madeline.“How?I thought back then he was hung up on Mary Fontenot.The girl who disappeared—” Naomi broke off.
Madeline’s expression had turned smug.
“It’s you,” Naomi breathed.
“Fake name.Fake life.”A shrug.“I’m not Madeline.I’m Mary.I’ve always been Mary.“