“What can I say? I’m the light in my mother’s eyes. I’ve loved computers since I was tiny.”
Jessie was running out of things to inquire about, and she sensed Samantha was about to return to her monstrous work. “Why me? Why do you want me dead, Sam?”
“Austin Wilde is why.” The girl turned back to her wires and began wrapping them furiously. “I hate that fucker.”
Jessie’s hunch was right that Sam had it in for Austin. “What in God’s name did he do to you?”
Samantha jerked back around. “He fucked up my dream. I’m supposed to be the one with the Wildes, not you. Everyone in town expected that. My mom. Everyone. Since Jackson and Phoenix were closer in age to me, I did everything to snag them. But they held back. I knew it wasn’t them. Someone else was pulling their strings. Dallas and Denver, though sexy as hell, I didn’t even try to seduce. I knew if I was to get the five brothers to marry me, I had to prove to Austin that I was the one. So, I broke into his office. It wasn’t hard at all to get a key to it. I’m a girl who knows how to get men to do her favors.”
“That’s how you unlocked the door tonight.”
“Give this woman a certificate. Right.”
“What did you do after getting into his office?” There can’t be more than a strand or two left on this damn rope.
“I took off my clothes and waited. I tried to unlock the door to his secret room but couldn’t. Tonight I saw it was nothing more than a naughty closet. He’s a fucking fraud.”
Jessie knew arguing with her would probably set the little monster off. Instead, she continued, “What happened when he found you in his office?”
Jessie’s fingers were sore, but the final strand broke. I’m free. Her ankles were still tied to the chair, so her only chance to push the laptop down the chasm was to lunge with all her might.
“He rejected me, Jessie. The motherfucker rejected me. Told me to put on my clothes and go back home. He wouldn’t even listen when I told him I knew a thing or two about being a sub. I am perfect for the Wilde brothers. Why can’t they see that?”
Jessie watched tears stream down Samantha’s cheek. “You poor thing,” she lied. The bitch had killed two people at least, and who knew how many more, and Phoenix’s horse. She didn’t have a right to cry.
“I know, right. I deserve to be Mrs. Wilde.”
When Samantha placed her head in her hands and sobbed, Jessie didn’t hesitate to act. She burst forward with every speck of muscle and energy inside her, lunging to push the laptop into the shaft. It worked! The metal clanged to the bottom, and Jessie guessed it was at least twenty feet deep.
“Bitch!” Samantha pulled Jessie’s hair. “That didn’t change a thing. I already started the clock. In ten minutes, this whole place will explode.”
Jessie punched, clawed, and bit her captor, but with her ankles restrained, she was no match for the deranged woman. Samantha was able to pull her and the chair up onto the place the laptop had just been—the two boulders on the side of the chasm that the silver computer had fallen into.
“You’re going to die next to my laptop, Jessie!”
Samantha reached for her, and Jessie realized the insane woman was going to push her into the shaft. On instinct, Jessie reacted. She sent a glob of spit into the girl’s eyes, temporarily blinding her.
Blinking, Samantha grabbed her hand. Jessie tried to pull her hand back from the crazed female but couldn’t.
“If I can’t have them, Jessie, neither can you. Let’s die together, and make them all suffer.”
Horrified, Jessie felt the girl tug on her hand and fall back into the shaft. This is it! This is how I die. Still hoping to break free, Jessie closed her eyes and prayed for a painless ending.
But then she felt a jerk, and Samantha’s hand slipped from hers.
I’m not dead. The chair had lodged on the other side of the boulder, keeping her from the fall. Still, she dangled precariously over the rock, looking into the gray below.
The droplight hanging from the bolt sent enough light for Jessie to see her captor and would-be killer was dead. Samantha’s body was twisted into the shape of a pretzel.
She started the clock. How much time do I have left before the explosion? Maybe ten minutes? No more.
Jessie tried to pull herself back over the boulder but couldn’t. Only the chair kept her from falling to her death. Images of the Wilde brothers came to her mind. She wished she could say good-bye and tell them how much they’d meant to her. They’d changed her and made her see herself in a new way. She wasn’t the virgin who’d shown up in Wilde several weeks back. Now she was a confident woman who knew what being loved by such amazing men meant.
Even knowing it probably was fruitless, she continued trying to free herself.
Then instinctively, she also began to scream. “Help me! I’m in here!”
Please, God, I don’t want to die.