“You liar!” I scream. “You said you would help us get out of here, and you killed him! You killed my husband! I hate you more than I have ever hated anyone or anything in my life. I hope both of you are happy now, because-”

“Because what, princess?”

James is now up in my face. The smell of his body odor and breath make me gag and I do nothing to disguise it. Trent wrenches me into a standing position as James moves in closer.

“I said, because what?”

I feel spittle all over my face as he is standing not even an inch away from me. Trent is now behind me securely holding my hands together. I am trapped. Sandwiched between two of the world’s biggest frauds, pretenders, fakes, murderers.

“You lose, you fucking deadbeat!” I spit back in James’ face. “You come out of whole thing empty. You orchestrated a senseless crime in hopes of getting your hands on money that never belonged to you in the first place. You’re worse than scum and you will pay for what you have done and in the worse way.”

I fling my hatred at him, and then I spit right in his face. I watch him stand there as his eyes change from mad to downright furious.

“You got a lot more heat and determination in you than what your husband had, I’ll give you credit for that. But before I put a bullet through that pretty head of yours, I am going to fuck every hole in your body.”

I feel Trent clench at his dad’s words.

              “Take her into your room and tie her up, then go into town and get me some coffee. I have a raging headache and this bitch is making it worse, boy. I ain’t fucking around with this cunt anymore, or you either. You better have killed your sack of shit brother, boy, or I swear to God I will tie you up by your balls and beat you to fucking death.”

Trent stands still for several heartbeats and says not a word as his father threatens him. Jesus, he is either brainwashed or scared of this man; most likely both. Well, I have a few words for this coward when we get alone, too. I know now that no matter what I say or try to do neither one of these two will listen to me, but I will not die before I make sure every word I have to say penetrates and wounds Trent in any way I can.

I let my head sag down, pretending to claim defeat as Trent brushes us both beside his father in a hurry and scuttles us down the hall toward his room. I close my eyes and desperately try not to open them as I know my husband’s dead body is directly across the hall. He shoves me inside brutally hard after opening the door, and slams it shut behind him.

“Get on the bed,” he demands.

              “Fuck off! I will not get on that bed, you lying asshole!”

“Clove. Get on the bed. The longer you stand here and argue with me, the longer it takes for me to save you.”

He’s lying. Every fucking word he has ever said has been nothing but a damn lie. My life has been nothing but a fucking game of whiplash right to the fucking core.

“Since you stole my husband’s life right out from under him, your warped mind thinks you can make me fall in love with you? Man the fuck up, Trent. Your father is a fucking chicken shit son of a bitch who has manipulated you your entire life. He has robbed you of a good home, a kind mother, and one hell of a brother who would have done anything for you if he would have known about you. And this is how you have repaid them both, by killing him at your father’s command. And now you say you want to save me?”

I laugh.

              “You want to save me, huh?” My finger pokes him in the center of his chest as tears of heartbreak roll down my face. “You just killed my husband, so there is no saving me.”

“I didn’t shoot him,” Trent whispers.

It takes me a moment for my brain to register what he just said. And I don’t believe him for one second. My sobs are uncontrollable now as I grieve the loss of the only man I have ever loved.

              “You really expect me to believe you when all you have done is deceive me from day one?”

Tears are streaming down my face. My heart has been ripped out of my chest and I can’t breathe.

              “Just kill me, please. I beg you. I can’t take this anymore,” I plead, dropping to my knees.

“You have no reason whatsoever to believe me, Clove. I am telling you the God’s honest truth here. I did not kill him.” I study him closely as he stands before me with determination written all over his face.

              “But I heard the gun!” I cry.

              “Yes, you heard a gun, but I didn’t shoot him. I opened the window and fired a shot outside. Now pull your shit together and listen.”

I sit there and search his face trying to decipher if he is lying or not. This man before me lies so much I don’t know whether this is a lie as well or if it’s just another ploy to get me to be quiet. I have no other choice but to believe him, or at least pretend to.

“Now I am not going to tie you up. But you will sit on this bed until I come back.”

“No! You can’t leave me here with him. You heard what he said out there; he’s going to rape me and then kill me.”

My mind flashes back to yesterday remembering exactly what Trent did to me. I scurry back away from him until my back hits the wall. I see it clear as day that he is remembering what he did to me, too. Good.

“Fuck.” He runs his hands through his hair and starts to pace the floor. “Listen to me for one goddamn minute. I am not leaving you for more than five minutes, I swear it. I am going to go out there and get into my truck and pull down the drive until he thinks I am gone. Then I am going to come back and tap on the window and get you out of here. We’re both getting out of here.”

“No! I am not leaving without Turner. He needs to get to a hospital before he really does die. Besides, what reason do I have to believe you anyway? You came in here last night and hit me with your gun. Why? Why would you do that?”

I plead with my eyes for him to give me an honest to God answer for once. Finally, he sighs.

“Fuck, Clove. He was ready to come in here and do all kinds of sick and twisted things to you. So I sat with him and made up all kinds of bullshit about how I would come in here and make you pay myself. He was so drunk when we got here he could hardly stand up straight, but when he got up and said he was coming in here to finish you off, I told him to wait and that I wanted you one more time. When I came in here, I knew by the look on your face that you had seen all of the pictures of you all over the place. You’re a feisty one, Clove, and I knew you would panic and start throwing your sassy mouth all over the place. So yes, I hit you. I am sorry for it, but I had to because it was the only thing I could think of to do at the time to save you from the sadistic things my father would have done to you.”

Even though his voice sounds sincere, I’m not buying a word of it. Not one fucking word. Trent Calloway was sewn from the same damn cloth as his father, and in my judgment of character he’s the spawn of Satan himself. I will play along, though, until I get the chance to slice his fucking throat.

“Hurry the hell up and get me out of here.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

I cannot hear a damn thing as I press my ear to the door and try and listen. Trent made me lock it from the inside just in case his dad tries to come in. It’s not going to do me any good if he shoots a damn hole in it, but it will buy us some time. Yeah, you assholes. I am going to find a way to kill you both.