Ignite

Turning on my heels, I went to go outside when I ran right into someone. Screaming, I stumbled back and looked at the woman standing in front of me. It didn’t take long for me to recognize her.

“Cookie?” I asked stunned.

Her eyes turned black as she pulled out a knife and said, “It’s Becca.”

Swallowing hard, I barely got the words out, “Becca? I thought your name was—” Then it clicked. Becca and Cookie were the same person.

I took a few steps back and hit the bed while my eyes darted between the knife in Becca’s hand and the look in her eyes. My body trembled and I wasn’t sure which one I should be more afraid of.

“Becca, what are you doing here? Why . . . why are you holding a knife?”

Her smile made my skin crawl as she let out a deep, haunting laugh. “It wasn’t hard finding you. After all, I’m best friends with Ashley. All I had to do was mention how cool it would be to do a girls’ weekend in Florida. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together and suggest coming to the race. I was hoping Emmit would win, but I wasn’t counting on you hanging all over him after he won. You were supposed to come back here over an hour ago. Your damn dog will be waking up any minute.”

I glanced behind her only to see Lola laying on the floor in the living room. I covered my mouth and gasped. “What did you do to her?”

Becca reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward her as I let out a small gasp. “Relax, it’s just a sedative. I’d never kill Emmit’s dog. I know how much he

loves that dog.”

Becca gave me a hard push, causing me to stumble and hit the wall. “Go into the living room. Now.”

I did as she asked, stepping over Lola who looked to be just sleeping. I shook my head and looked back at Becca. Confusion swept through my mind as I tried to figure out what in the hell was going on. “Wait, I’m confused, what are you doing, Becca?”

“I’m here to tell you Emmit is mine. He made a terrible mistake by marrying you. I tried to remind him of our night together. I sent him an email and asked him to meet me. He never answered.”

I continued to stare at Becca as my eyes looked between the knife and her face. My heart was pounding in my chest as I felt sick to my stomach.

“Then I sent him another email and begged him to reconsider. I even offered to meet him again in Dallas last November. He ignored me again. But then I got to thinking, maybe it was you deleting all my emails, keeping Emmit away from me.”

My heart dropped as I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.

“You were getting the emails first and deleting them before my precious Emmit could read them. I even sent him nude pictures of me. He wanted me once before, I knew if he saw what he could have, he’d want me again.”

My stomach churned and I covered my mouth. Emmit mentioned nothing to me about emails. “I-I don't have access to his emails. Only his assistant does.”

“Shut-up you lying bitch! Why couldn’t you have just called off the wedding? I destroyed your wedding dress! I did everything I possibly could to ruin that day and you still married him! Even when I gave you the video of us, you couldn’t see how he was looking at me. How much he wanted me. Me! Not you! Me!”

I jumped when Becca screamed out. I was praying someone had heard her and would be knocking on the door.

“Why don’t you just put the knife down and we can talk.”

Becca’s eyes turned evil as she took another step toward me and said, “There is no time to talk, Adaline. You have to get out of the picture. There’s only one way to do that now.” Becca held the knife higher as she took another step toward me.

Closing my eyes, I prayed Emmit would hear me when I screamed.

THE INTERVIEWS WERE FINALLY OVER and I was headed back to my bus. I had been riding on a high all evening. First winning the Daytona 500 and then finding out Adaline was pregnant. This day could not possibly get any better.

I lifted my baseball cap and pushed my hand through my hair as I smiled. Who was I kidding? The day was only going to get better the second I held Adaline in my arms.

“Emmit!”

My sister’s voice caused me to turn and look at my sister. “Hey, Ashley!”

“Emmit!” she called out again as she rushed over to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as she grabbed me and pulled me straight ahead. “Ashley, what in the hell is wrong with you?”

“It was Becca!”