Pain seared Chad’s shoulder like someone had stabbed him with a red-hot poker. Even as he fell, he saw Lauren kicked Tom in the back of the knees and grapple for the gun.
His right arm not working properly, Chad dragged himself across the floor, the six feet between him and his weapon a chasm wider than the Grand Canyon. Using his left hand, he opened the drawer and felt around inside until his fingers closed around the barrel of his Glock. He rolled over just in time to see Lauren’s head snap back. Blood spurted across the room, splattering over the sheets. Lauren’s body toppled sideways.
FUCK! Chad aimed his gun but Tom dragged Lauren to her feet and used her as a shield. “Stay back! I didn’t want to hurt her but I had to. You saw-she was fighting me.”
Lauren’s head lolled onto her chest and he couldn’t see her face properly, but from the blood trailing down her shirt, the bastard had probably broken her nose. Hopefully that’s all he’d done. “Set her down, Tom. Please. Let me look after her. Let me make sure she’s all right.”
“Uh uh.” Tom shifted Lauren’s dead weight to one arm and lifted the gun, aiming it at Chad. He tilted his head until his mouth was less than an inch away from Lauren’s ear, but his gaze never left Chad. “You shouldn’t have come back, Mrs. Miller. You should have stayed away. He was miserable when you left. I was sad too but at least I knew you were safe.”
Chad held his own gun steady but couldn’t fire without risking Lauren’s life. At least the gun was aimed at him, not at Lauren’s head. Though the rest of Lauren didn’t move, the fingers on Lauren’s right hand made the “OK” sign. It was all he could do not to heave a sigh of relief. She was all right. If they kept their heads, if he could get control of this situation, they could still get out of this. Maybe. Tom still had that fucking gun.
Tom’s eyes went unfocused, dreamy, his voice soft and distant. The arm holding the gun dropped a few inches but not enough. If Chad moved now, he’d still be gut-shot. “I loved you so much, Mrs. Miller. You were such a good mother to Emily.”
“She was; you’re right.” Come on, Lauren, move. Drop to the floor. Something that’ll get you out of the line of sight and give me a clean shot at him.
Tom’s gaze cleared and the black barrel of the gun stared at Chad again. From this distance, a two-fingered monkey couldn’t miss hitting him. “Don’t you talk to her. You’re not good enough for her. That’s why I had to keep her away from you. Keep her safe.”
Chad held up the hand he could move, spreading his fingers wide. “All right. Let’s just calm down.”
“I kept her safe from you. I checked your mail box every day so you couldn’t get any of the letters she sent you. I deleted all her messages from your answering machine. You didn’t even know I was there. You thought you were so good with your security system. But you couldn’t stop me.”
Shit, he’d given Tom the security code and asked him to check his mail and water the plants when he was away. The whole time the little shit was the reason Lauren hadn’t come home?
With a move so fast it startled even Chad who had been looking for a sign, Lauren dropped to the ground, taking Tom with her. As Tom swung around with a curse, aiming Lauren’s own gun at her, Chad aimed and squeezed the trigger.