“I said, ‘Get out’!”
In a split second, she thought she might have a chance if she was out of the car. And get how far on foot?
The keys were still in the ignition—
As if she realized Rebecca’s intention, Sophia took a step back. “Fine. Your choice.” She fired.
Hot pain seared Rebecca’s shoulder. She fell backward, then was yanked viciously, Sophia’s thumb digging into the wound made by the bullet. Rebecca cried out as she tumbled out of the car, falling deep into the snow. “Get up!” Sophia yelled at her. “Get up!”
Rebecca tried to get her feet under her, stumbled for a second.
“I said—”
Rebecca charged!
Aimed straight for Sophia’s legs. With all of her force, she propelled her body forward, rammed the blonde, and Sophia slipped, the gun flying from her hand, her shoulder banging against the open car door.
Rebecca dove for the gun.
“Stop!” Sophia, sputtering, was on top of her, grappling with her, reaching for the pistol and knocking it away, burying it in the drifts.
“Shit!” Sophia cried, as Rebecca threw her weight backward and Sophia landed on her back. “Ooof!”
The gun! Get the gun!
Pain screamed through Rebecca’s shoulder as she scrambled, trying to dig frantically for the weapon, but Sophia flung herself onto Rebecca’s back again, dragging her down.
No! Adrenaline fired Rebecca’s blood as they fought, tooth and nail, hitting and gouging, pulling hair as their entangled bodies slid through the snow, slowly down the hillside, away from the clearing. They rolled and tumbled, the dark sky and white landscape windmilling behind her eyes as Rebecca strained against the other woman, who was smaller, but strong and uninjured, while Rebecca’s left arm was useless.
Don’t give up!
You can take her.
Together, swinging and kicking, they struggled, screaming and groaning, punching and clawing.
Sophia let go and struggled to her feet.
Rebecca threw herself at the other woman’s legs, and they were snarled together again, fighting, sliding ever downward. Sophia’s lips were pulled back in hatred, and Rebecca flung a hand up, grabbed Sophia’s hat, taking hold of a hank of hair, ripping it by the roots as Sophia howled in agony.
Down, down, down they rolled, sliding over buried roots and rocks and ice. Kicking and punching, Rebecca’s shoulder throbbing, her thoughts only on finding her sister as she slid.
“Stop! Just stop! It’s over,” Sophia said, then her words halted as her leg caught in a hidden root and she had to let go. Rebecca slid on her back, trying and failing to gain purchase, the boughs of the trees spinning overhead.
Bam! She crashed into the trunk of a fir, her head hitting hard against the gnarled bark; pain splintered behind her eyes, and for a second, the world went dark.
Don’t pass out. You can’t pass out. She’ll kill you if you do.
Head whirling, she struggled to her feet and threw herself forward, intent on hiding in the forest, but her feet slid out from under her, and she fell again.
Hard.
Collapsing on a bundle of something—hard and frozen, and oh, God . . . She blinked, saw the edge of what seemed to be a piece of clothing. Something pink maybe. A jacket?
What?
She scrambled back, disturbing the snow from what was obviously a body. Staring in horror, her heart banging wildly in her chest, her brain screaming denial, she stared down at a body, lying face up.
“No!” she screamed, horror gripping her in a choke hold. “Oh, God, noooo!”
Brown hair poked out of a woolen cap; the legs were covered in denim leggings, a pink jacket zipped to the neck. And above that? The frozen face of her sister.
Rebecca tried to scuttle away from the image of Megan’s blue eyes, open but sightless, her face pale and gray, her lips frozen.
“No!” Rebecca breathed again, all of her worst fears congealing. “Nooooo!”
Sophia.
She’d killed Megan.
“You did this,” she charged, her own shoulder bleeding through her jacket, staining the snow, as she leveled her outraged gaze up the hill at Sophia.
The blonde was standing, breathing hard, her face twisted in hatred. She’d scraped away the snow and found her gun.
Incensed, Rebecca said in a low, measured voice, “You killed her.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Sophia aimed straight at Rebecca. “And you, sister, are next!”
“No! Sophia, don’t!”
At that, her attacker gave off a disgusted laugh. “Sophia?” she said and then in a snarky falsetto voice repeated Megan’s desperate request. “No, Sophia, don’t!” Another horrid laugh. “Are you fucking stupid? You really still think I’m Sophia?”
Rebecca didn’t understand, and she was slowly sliding down the hill.
“I’m her damned twin. How about that. Julia. Without the wig and the fat suit.”
What? There were two of them? What was this monster trying to tell her?
“Sophia, she could never pull this off. I probably shouldn’t have brought her into it in the first place.”
“Pulled what off?”
“Oh, you poor pathetic little moron,” Julia said, still aiming straight at Rebecca. “Don’t you get it. Sophia . . . well, no, I’m going to marry James!”
“Marry him?” Rebecca repeated, still stunned and trying to piece it all together.
“Of course.”
“For his money.”
“Why else?” She was shaking her head at how pathetic she thought Rebecca was, how dense. “That’s why I had to get rid of Megan. She was in the way, and then that Charity woman started nosing around, and Willow too, always skulking through the hallways like a damned zombie.”
“You killed them all,” Rebecca said, a lump filling in her throat. “You didn’t have to—”
“Of course I did!” Julia snapped. “Dead women tell no tales. Right?” Again she lined up her shot, the barrel of the gun sighted straight at Rebecca. “You’re looking at the next Mrs. James Cahill.”
“I’m looking at a murdering bitch,” Rebecca said, horrified. She couldn’t let Julia get away with it! But what could she do?
“Where’s Sophia?”
“Here,” Julia said with
