Forced to Change

I swept Katie into my arms and kissed her. My mind twisted in confusion and then desire. Then she tried to push me away and I remembered that she hated me. It was like an ice bath over my head, and I reluctantly let her go.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped, her face flushed.

I put on my blank face, my eyes turning to granite as I shoved my emotions deep inside where they belonged. I set her on her feet. "Where is he?"

"I hit the alarm. The police are on their way. What are you doing here?" Katie gaped.

"I disabled the alarm to break in, Katie. Where the hell is he?" I said, looking down at her.

"Upstairs, in my bathroom." She shrugged, as if that should end the conversation.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me. "It was Donnelly all along. He's the one that set up the kidnappings."

"I know," Katie said, pulling on my arm. "I think he knows about you."

I turned and stared at her. "How?"

"He said that you kept getting in his way. That Jorge...Oh God. He's why I ended up there, isn't he?" She trembled as I nodded my head.

"It's going to be okay," I said. "Now, where is he?"

"In there." Katie pointed.

I went in alone, but there was no one inside. Katie stood right where I left her. I put a finger to my lips and pointed toward the corner. Katie moved to where I gestured. I checked the shower, then turned it off and returned to the bedroom. It was empty.

I searched the entire second floor of the house, with Katie in tow. We finally found Donnelly in the master bedroom writhing on the floor, his eyes red and his nose seeping blood. I pointed my gun at him, a bit taken aback at his state. The man had been beaten pretty badly, and if the bright red and purple between his legs was any indication, most of the shots had been directly to his groin.

"You did this?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the bloody mess on the floor. I think I felt something like pride for the way Katie had so effectively disabled him. "How did you know?"

"He tried to drug me and then he started talking crazy." She stared at him. I don't think I'd ever seen anyone literally vibrate with anger before that moment.

Donnelly moaned in agony. "You little fucking bitch! You whore! I should have let Jorge kill you! You ungrateful cunt! You killed his brother! I saved you! If you father hadn't overheard me on the phone with Jorge I could've let you die!"

I spoke to Donnelly, but my eyes never left Katie's face. "Explain that last part. What did her father do?"

"Fuck you! You ruined everything!" Still holding his groin, he sat up and stared at me. I watched his movements carefully out the corner of my eye as I quickly checked Katie over for injury. She looked pissed but otherwise all right.

Donnelly spit out a mouthful of blood, still swearing. I lowered my aim to show where I planned to put the first bullet and he broke like a storm cloud. "Kenneth was here, visiting with my wife. They thought Katie and Paul were dead. Only I knew the truth, that Katie was alive and being raped, for me. I had the call on the speaker and Jorge said that he was going to kill Katie for killing his brother. He didn't seem to understand that I never intended for him to live, anyway.

"I'd already contacted Carter. Kenneth heard everything. He'd just been diagnosed and he wanted to see Katie again. I told him that I'd pay to bring her home if he didn't tell anyone about my conversation or my part in the kidnappings. He swore he wouldn't tell. Carter told you to kill Kenneth, but you wouldn't do it." He spat out another mouthful of blood. "I convinced Carter that you were after him when you refused to kill Kenneth. I set him up and he bought it. But you just won't die. Carter should have killed you."

"I killed him first," I said. "Did Kenneth have anything to do with the kidnappings?"

"No. Lana was supposed to get close to him before, but he never liked her. Originally he was supposed to take all the blame. But he never trusted Lana from the start. He even fired her." Donnelly spit out a pinkish gooey mess and I knew his nose was broken. "Even without Kenneth as a fall guy, it would have gone perfectly. Then Noel messed everything up by killing Paul. Jorge lied and said it was one of his men and that he took care of it. Even my own sister didn't tell me the truth. I didn't know it was Noel until you killed him, Katie. I knew then how much you wanted me. I knew why you did it. You killed Paul's murderer for me. Don't you see? We're connected, meant to be together."

I put two bullets in each of Donnelly's knees. Donnelly screeched from the pain and Katie put her hands over her ears. I took her by the upper arm and pulled her back into the hallway, closing the bedroom door behind us. She pulled her arm from my grasp and faced me.

"Explain. Now! What the fuck happened here tonight?" I snapped at her over the volume of Donnelly's howling.

"Why didn't you just kill that sick bastard? That's what you're good at, isn't it?" Katie stamped her foot and yelled over the noise Donnelly was making, still covering her ears.

I smiled at Katie. "If you want me to, I will. I would gladly kill him for you."

Katie smiled back.

Epilogue

Mr. Drew Tyler's face was priceless. His jaw was about to hit the floor, if a jaw could fall that far. His beautiful green eyes were open wide and unblinking. I could have knocked him over with a feather if I wanted to. Instead, a genuine, heartfelt smile consumed my face. It started on the inside of my body and worked its way out from there. I took his hand in mine and kissed his palm softly. He sank to the ground and pulled me down on top of him, kissing my nose and holding me tightly in his arms.

"I never knew I could be this happy, Karen."

Warm, tingly relief flooded my system as the sunset light in the White Mountains of California bathed my face. I let the gun in my hand fall to the ground, assuming that target practice was over for the day. Okay, so I had been a little worried about telling my husband he was going to be a father. So shoot me. Actually, don't, because he would kill you before you could pull the trigger. He's just that lethal; at least he used to be.

Paul Donnelly Sr. would never walk again. He was alive and otherwise ball-less from all my shots to his groin, rotting in Jackson State Prison. I thought I should probably seek therapy for how much I had enjoyed watching Jared torture him for information, but at the time I really didn't mind. I still didn't mind, even now four months later, if I were completely honest with myself.

He was babbling like a brook by the time Jared was done getting information out of him. Then Jared left and I called the police.

Mr. Donnelly was a sadistic bastard, and death was just too good for him. He'd pretty much spilled all his secrets before the torture started. He told us Jorge Riaz was killed six years ago by Carter. He said that Paul Junior wasn't his but Joe's son and that Natalie had married him because of the pregnancy. Natalie and Joe were working on a reunion while Mr. Donnelly tried to rape me. Mr. Donnelly apologized for the maid comment when I was fourteen. In the end I decided that allowing him to live, unable to walk or hurt another soul for the rest of his life, was a better revenge. After all he had saved my life.

"I thought you couldn't get pregnant?" Jared, uh, Drew said.

I liked the name Drew Tyler, and I thought Drew Tyler would be a good name for a boy or a girl. A different kind of Little Drew—or maybe not.

"Me, too. The doctors said it was so unlikely I just assumed I couldn't." I shrugged.

"I'm glad they were wrong." He smiled brightly, his eyes shining. My heart melted and I hugged him.

"Me too," I said, but that was all I got out before he was kissing me.

It was a lot easier for me not to think about Cantana, Paul Donnelly or things from my past these days. I am Karen Tyler, invisible to the world in a way that Kathryn Rollins never could be again.

As far as I knew, Drew Tyler never killed anyone, and I was blissfully ignorant if he had. I had a child on the way, something I'd never dreamed possible. It had been fathered by the man whose loving kisses were the only things killing these days, even if he was a bit corny.