“It’s all right, love.” Cain’s voice sounded soothing, but Emma could feel the tension building in the lanky frame. “I’m sorry for not getting here sooner, but it’s all right now.”
“He tried to…” She couldn’t finish.
“I know, sweetling, but you’re safe now.” Cain pressed her palm to her lover’s cheek and offered the only comfort she could at the moment. “And I promise you this
She pulled Emma closer and looked at Merrick over the blond head. “Clear the grounds and bring Hayden upstairs to our room. I want him to sit with his mother while I take care of this. And make sure Carmen sees to Marie.”
Merrick left without a word, and Lou and his charge disappeared into the cellar. With no windows and cinder- block walls, the space made a wonderful wine cellar, but in this instance it would serve as a great place to swallow all of the screams that would issue from it.
“Cain, don’t.”
“Don’t what?” They had started toward the stairs and Cain stopped, confused by the request.
“He just scared me, and I know you don’t think so, but he doesn’t deserve what you have in mind.”
Cain took a deep breath in an effort to control her rage, not wanting to scare Emma anymore, but she couldn’t resist picking up an expensive vase and flinging it at the wall. “This can’t go unanswered, love, you know that. What he did—”
“He did to me,” said Emma. “So I’m asking you to let him live. I won’t have his death on my conscience for a ‘what if.’ God is forgiving, but not that forgiving.” A bit of her mother seeped into her speech, but she really didn’t believe in taking someone’s life. And from what she was seeing in Cain’s eyes, that was exactly what was going to happen to Danny if she didn’t do anything to stop it. “Promise me on what we have together you’ll respect my wishes. I want your word.”
“Why? After what he did today, why?”
She gazed up at Cain, trying to find the right words. “Because this time it happened to me, and I don’t believe this behavior warrants such a rash act. That’s the best way I can explain how I feel about it.”
Emma’s reasoning wasn’t good enough, and the logical part of Cain’s brain told her to send her upstairs with their son and be done with what had to happen. The guy had crossed an unforgivable line, and the price was his life. Cain knew that, but the trust in Emma’s eyes made her turn away from logic and tell her what she wanted to hear. No matter the cost, Cain didn’t want to destroy how Emma felt about her so she answered with her heart. “I give you my word.”
“Thank you.”
Hours passed after the brief conversation, and when Hayden had fallen asleep, Emma went in search of her partner. The house was quiet and the sun had just set, so it was easy to hear the squeak of the cellar door as it opened.
“Get rid of him.”
Cain’s voice and her words made Emma grab the banister to keep her feet. When she turned the corner, she stopped. She felt sick when she saw the blood splattered across Cain’s shirt and pants, and her crimson hands.
In their time together she had never thought of Cain as a liar, but before her stood not only a liar, but also a vicious killer. A killer covered in the evidence of her crime, who had committed the act with her wife and son in the house.
“I promised you, and I kept my word.” The blue eyes never wavered, and she delivered the words calmly.
All her mother’s warnings crashed down on her. She sank into the nearest chair, disgusted with her own naivete. She had wanted to believe so badly in Cain that she had refused to see what was right in front of her. How much more plainly could Cain show her the depth of her deceptions? This time she was covered in the truth of what she was and what she was capable of. Emma felt her heart turn cold at the fact that she was sharing her life, her bed, and her soul with a killer. To make it worse, she had given this devil a child to perpetuate what the Casey family stood for.
She loved Cain, but she couldn’t ignore this evil woman who stood there and blatantly lied to her. Despite their love, she had time to salvage as much of her family as she could. She refused to become as guilty as Cain. She refused to teach Hayden that murder, revenge, and dishonesty were codes to center his life around.
“I said I kept my word,” repeated Cain.
“Thank you.” Those two empty words were all Emma could think to add.
“At a birthday party for your aunt Marie that Cain and I hosted, one of the guests got drunk and tried something he should’ve known better about, considering who I was and who I lived with. But I guess he thought Cain would tolerate it since the Irish whiskey was flowing as well as the ale, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. You were about to turn seven, and I remember looking out into the yard and seeing Cain help you get a piece of cake.”
Emma took her gloved hands out of her pockets and brought them up to hug herself from the sudden chill the memories had brought on. She realized her voice sounded detached and devoid of emotion, which was a lie. With every detail she retold, she relived the anguish.
“I don’t think anyone noticed when this guy dragged me into one of the bedrooms. Just when I thought something horrible was going to happen to me, somebody jerked the guy’s body off me. One second I was in terror, and the next I was in the arms of someone I knew would keep me safe.”
“Cain?” Hayden looked at her for the first time since they’d left the house.
“Yes, it was Cain. I don’t know how she knew, but she saved me.”
“So as her reward, you left her?”
His voice sounded so incredulous his mother almost laughed. Her son wasn’t yet twelve, but he already thought
