Stanton Box Set

“You make me sick, Natasha Marx.” She sneers and something inside me snaps,

I close my eyes and pull the trigger three times. She falls to the ground as she starts to bleed.

“My name is Natasha Stanton, bitch,” I whisper. I stand over her and gasp for breath, the gun drops from my hand to the ground with a thud and I fall to my knees next to her body. I raise my face to the rain as the dam of tears breaks.

It’s over… it’s finally over… I did it… I did it.

I lie in the hospital bed late at night and the last of the police officers takes his final notes. Adrian and Cameron are at the end of my bed and haven’t left my side since they found me this afternoon. Thank god they found me. I’m so grateful they were there with me when it ended. I won’t let them out of my sight because I’m worried if I take eyes off them for even a second they are going to disappear and none of this will be real.

“Is there anything else you can think of, dear?” the officer asks.

I shake my head. “No,” I reply and my eyes flick back up to him. “Actually yes,” I reply. “Are you sure he’s ok?” I ask.

The officer smiles sympathetically. “Yes, like I told you the last three times. The only person who died today was Amelie Richards and she had another gun under her jacket and without a doubt was going to kill you. It was self-defence, Natasha. You did the right thing. The other offender, Carl, is under police guard in hospital but he will make a full recovery. There is another young man in police custody and we have arrested a guard that used to work for Joshua Stanton,” I frown. “What do you mean? Who?” I ask.

“The house was leased in his name and we think that he is the person who planted the cameras inside your house and the one who rowed on a boat out to your yacht that night and took you. The other two men involved were working as waiters at the wedding and spiked your drinks.

I hear Cameron tut to himself.

My mind flicks back to when Joshua’s cars got stolen by the guard. That was a decoy all along. They didn’t want the cars; they wanted to put the cameras in. Shit.

The police officer smiles warmly. “You’re very brave, Miss Marx.”

I smile softly. “Not really,” I whisper. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Your family are on their way. Enjoy your time with them.” He smiles and walks out the door.

Cameron immediately stands and comes to my bedside where he picks up my hand and holds it.

My eyes search his. “I didn’t mean to kill her, Cam,” I whisper.

“I know,” he replies as he swipes the hair back from my forehead gently.

I shake my head as my confusion hits crescendo. “I should have picked this up. How did I not pick up that she was so unstable?” I question. “Cameron, I’m a psychologist. I should have known.”

He shakes his head. “Me and you both, Tash. She wasn’t even on our radar. We had no idea she was involved in any of this,” he replies.

“Why?” Adrian sighs. “I just don’t understand why she would do this?”

Cameron’s eyes flick to Adrian. “She wanted Joshua to feel the same loss that she felt when he went away and then she wanted him to suffer,” he replies. “Revenge at it’s worst. She spent all of the money that Joshua gave her on the ultimate revenge. The cameras were a powerplay to make Natasha pay too.”

“She didn’t hurt me,” I whisper, mortified at what I have done.

He nods. “She was going to, Tash. Deep down you know that. It was never going to end well,” he replies.

My eyes drop to the bed and then back up between the two of them. “Thank you so much for finding me,” I stammer.

Adrian smiles warmly and stands and comes over to the bed and cuddles me. “No, thank you for being alive,” he whispers into my hair. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Adrian

We wait in the office at the jail as Vincenzo goes through the relevant paperwork. It is 1 am in the morning, Natasha is still in hospital and we are waiting to be led in to tell Joshua the news.

“It will be twelve hours,” the duty officer states flatly. “You will need to get an injunction in the courts tomorrow morning.”

“I want him released immediately,” Vincenzo replies.

“Get in line. Lots of prisoners want to be released but we don’t have the authority so take it up in court,” he snaps.