Sweetest Taboo (SIN 3)

I didn't think I had room to be more scared, but my heart starts beating triple-time, the pounding in my ears so loud I'm having trouble hearing her.

"She won't forgive you," Adele says. "Why would she? And why do you need her around when you have me? For that matter, why do I need her around when I have Dallas? He's obsessed with her, you know. And it's always best to break the ties to an obsession quickly, just like ripping off a bandage."

Her words hit my mind in sharp focus, everything hyper-real, and I wonder if that's what it's like for everyone before they die, because she is surely about to kill me, or if it's just the effect of whatever drugs she keeps injecting me with every few hours. Drugs that make my head spin and the world tilt sideways. Drugs that are probably slowly killing me, with just as much certainty as the bullet in that gun.

I squeeze my eyes tight and force my thoughts not to ramble, although why it matters I don't know. I'm gagged, so even if I see some brilliant escape plan, I can't communicate it. All I can do is stand here tied to this post, and bear silent witness to my own demise.

Dallas is to my right, and despite all his promises to protect me, I don't know how that's possible. Even if Adele hadn't taken his gun, he couldn't shoot. Not with her pistol aimed straight at me and her finger on the trigger.

He might not be tied up, but right now, he's as helpless as I am.

And over to my left, I see Quince and Liam creep into the shadows at the far side of the room. I'm guessing they came in through the cellar door, and the reason they're so late is that they either had to get through that asshole Christopher, or Adele's reinforcements to that entrance were solid.

I don't think Adele knows they're there. I can't tell if Colin does, but if so, then that gives me hope, because he hasn't ratted them out. I assume Quince is a good shot, because I always think of him as James Bond. With Liam, I have a little more concrete information, as I know he's an excellent marksman, and almost went to sniper school before shifting gears toward military intelligence.

I've trained with a handgun enough to know that it doesn't much matter. Colin is between them and Adele, and they have no cle

an shot to either her head or her hand, to blow away the gun. More than that, both those shots are risky and require a buttload of skill. Miss, and Adele takes the next shot, and I'm dead.

For the first time, I'm grateful that Adele has been pumping me full of drugs. Without them, I think I'd be truly freaking out right about now.

"It's time to say goodbye to her, Colin," Adele says, and I realize that I was totally wrong about that freaking out thing. Because now that she's looking at me over the barrel of her gun, I am drowning in ice-cold fear. "Janie, you know I adore you. It's not personal. You're simply an obstacle. And when you're dead, none of this will matter. Not even Dallas."

And then her finger twitches and Dallas howls and lunges forward and I'm sure that it's all over, because he's too damn far away to save me. And I close my eyes and then my ears are screaming because the gun has gone off and now everything sounds hollow and far away, but it's not the sound of death. It's just the sound of gunfire, hard against my eardrums.

Scared, relieved, confused, I open my eyes, only to see a furious Adele whipping around to aim at Colin. In an instant, I realize that he rammed her gun arm, knocking off her aim. And in the process, saving my life.

She's furious, and instead of regrouping and shooting me, she's turning that fury on Colin.

She fires, and he falls, a bright red stain growing on his shirt.

I try to scream, but the gag makes it impossible, and I'm completely incapable of doing anything as Adele turns the gun once again toward me.

But this time Dallas is close, and he leaps the final distance, risking her turning the gun on him.

She does, but not fast enough. He tackles her low, sending her tumbling, and as they go down, Liam and Quince race toward them. And even though Adele recovers quickly, moving to turn her weapon on Dallas, it's too late. Liam kicks her arm and sends the gun flying before she's found her aim, and Quince drops down, presses the muzzle to her temple, and says, very low and very slowly, "Bitch, don't you fucking move."

While Liam and Quince take care of restraining Adele and getting her out of the room, Dallas rushes to me. He uses a knife to unlash me from the post, then rips the gag off me.

He pulls me close, his eyes wet with tears, his expression anguished. "Thank god," he repeats again and again. "Thank god."

I'm sobbing openly now, clinging to him, all of the emotion of the last day pouring out of me like Niagara Falls. "You came," I say. "You came."

He pulls back to look at me. "Of course," he says, and then kisses me hard.

"Is he dead?" I ask when he pulls away.

"He's dead," Dallas confirms.

I turn my head to look at Colin's body. The man who tormented me. The man who saved me. The man who didn't figure out how to be a father until the very end.

I turn back to Dallas, then draw a deep breath. "It's over," I say as he pulls me close once more, his embrace trembling with emotion. "It's really, finally over."

Dallas sat on the edge of Jane's hospital bed, stroking her hair.

"I knew you'd rescue me." A weak smile flickered on her lips. "You'll always protect me, right?"

"Always." He closed his eyes and drew in a breath. "God, Jane, I was so afraid I was going to lose you."