This was a standoff that had her life in the balance. She knew Evan wasn’t going to yield and put his gun down, and Jacob seemed determined not to give himself up.
She’d never felt as helpless as she did right now. Jacob was too strong to fight against, and the longer this went on the more she was certain he was going to shoot her.
Mentally she prepared herself to die. She said a silent goodbye to her parents and hoped they would be okay without her. And she said goodbye to Evan, sorry for the three years that had been wasted when they hadn’t been together.
Suddenly she knew there was really only one thing she could do. It was definitely a risk. It might not work, but she had to do something to try to save herself. She gazed at Evan, the man she would always love, the last man she might ever see, and then she opened her mouth and screamed.
She screamed as loud as she could, knowing it was one of the things Jacob hated. “Stop that,” the big man yelled. For a brief moment, the gun slipped from her head and his hold on her loosened. She immediately fell to her knees, and as she squeezed her eyes tightly closed, two shots nearly deafened her.
Oh God, who had been shot? When she stopped screaming, she heard Jacob cursing from someplace behind her. Then strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up to her feet.
She opened her eyes and saw Evan’s beautiful face. “Come on, let’s get you away from him.”
He pointed her toward the sofa and while she sank down, he approached Jacob, who was lying on the floor. Blood gushed from a wound in his chest, and he held both hands over it.
Evan stepped over Jacob and grabbed the gun that the man had apparently dropped when he’d been shot and had fallen backward. Evan then got on his phone and called Chief Cummings. “I need an ambulance at Annalise’s house. I just shot Jacob.”
“On it,” the chief said.
Evan hung up and then called Nick. “I need the three of you to get to Annalise’s house. I want you to escort Jacob to the hospital and stay with him until he’s well enough to be put in federal lockdown. I do not want him going back into local custody.”
As Evan made his arrangements, Annalise shivered on the sofa. She was utterly traumatized by what had just happened. From the moment Jacob had grabbed her in the kitchen until this time she’d been so afraid that she’d get shot or that Evan would be killed.
Now a sickness bordering nausea twisted in her stomach and she’d never been so cold in her life. She continued to shiver as the emergency vehicles arrived along with Chief Cummings and Evan’s teammates.
It wasn’t until the ambulance finally left and everyone else was gone that Evan walked over to her and pulled her up and into his arms.
He didn’t say a word, he just held her tight. She clung to him as emotion began to choke her. “I... I just wanted a drink of water,” she said through her tears. “I came into the k-kitchen and suddenly he was right on me. I... I really thought he was going to kill me...kill us.”
Evan tightened his arms around her. “I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”
She raised her head and looked at him in surprise. “Really? But you seemed so calm and in control.”
“Oh, baby, I was so afraid that I was going to mess up, and I’d have never forgiven myself if anything would have happened to you.” He tightened his arms around her. “It’s over now. He’ll never hurt you again. He’s never going to hurt anyone ever again.”
“Thank God,” she whispered. She continued to weep for several more minutes, and then finally she released her death grip around his neck and stepped back from him. “I’m sorry,” she said as she swiped at her tears. “I’ve just never been so frightened in my entire life.”
“You were amazing under pressure.” His gaze warmed her. “By screaming and then dropping to your knees, you gave me the shot I needed. Thank God his shot went wild.” He pointed to a hole in the far wall.
“When we were in the school, he told us over and over again that he hated whining and screaming,” she replied. “It was the only thing I could think of to do.”
“It was absolutely brilliant,” he replied. He led her back to the sofa where they both sat. “Chief Cummings is coming back to get our official report. Just tell him exactly what happened.”
She nodded and drew several steadying breaths. “Do you think he would have killed me?”
He hesitated a long moment. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I think eventually he might have, but I was looking for a shot before that happened. Thank God your scream surprised him and shook him up.”
It was the longest night of her life. Chief Cummings finally returned to take their statements, and he brought with him a loaf of pumpkin spice bread his wife had baked.
Jacob had come through the patio door, and Annalise was horrified to realize when she’d stepped out on the deck earlier she didn’t remember locking the door behind her. She’d given a killer easy access to her.
Finally it was all over. The terror, the official statements...everything. “Let’s see if now we can get some much-needed sleep,” Evan said.
Together they walked down the hallway. “Evan—” she turned to him when they reached the doorway to the guest room “—I promise I won’t expect anything from you...but could you sleep with me? Could you just hold me in your arms?”
“I can do that,” he said softly.
Once they reached her room, Evan kicked off his shoes and socks, took off his slacks and shirt and then crawled into bed with her and pulled her into an embrace.
It was the first time she’d felt completely safe
