A Dangerous Widow (A Dangerous Series) (25 page)

I was so excited to see my girls, I waited
by the door after Ben left until the knock came.
 
With one quick look into the peephole, I
saw Laura standing just beyond it.
 
I
flicked the locks and flung open the door.

And that’s when everything went wrong.

A woman suddenly appeared at Laura’s side
who wasn’t Jennifer at all—it was somebody else.
 
Somebody of Asian/Caucasian descent with
long black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.
 
She was wearing a black jacket, from
which she removed a gun with a silencer fitted to it.
 
She pointed it at Laura’s head, raised
her eyebrows at me, and then led Laura inside as she shut the door behind them.

“Scream or talk above a whisper, and I’ll
kill her,” she said.

I was so stunned by what was happening, my
mind raced.

“You’re ‘W’…” I said.

“What a brilliant observation, Kate.”

“Kate, I’m sorry!” Laura said in a shrill
voice.
 
“She jumped me when I left
my apartment.
 
She’s been waiting to
do this—”

“Shut up,” ‘W’ hissed into her ear.
 
“Not another word or I’ll kill you.”

When she said that, Laura looked at me with
wide, terrified eyes.
 
She’d just
been so loud, I had to wonder if Ben had heard her.

“Where is he?” ‘W’ said to me.

“Where is who?”

“Here’s the deal, girl.
 
You’ve got two choices, because this
ends here.
 
If you cooperate with
me, all of you can die quickly and easily.
 
If you make this difficult for me, then I’ll make sure that all of you
suffer for it.
 
You already know I’m
talking about Ben.
 
So, where is
he?
 
The living room?”

“If he was, don’t you think he already would
have intervened?”

“Not necessarily.
 
He could be waiting me out.
 
Where is he?”

Try to buy time…

“He isn’t here.”

“The hell he isn’t.”

As rattled as I was, I forced myself to keep
my composure.
 
Otherwise—if I
made a misstep—all of this could shatter in an instant.

“It’s the truth,” I said.
 
“If you want, you can search the
apartment for yourself.
 
After last
night, neither of us had the energy to make lunch, so he went to Pret a Manger
fifteen minutes ago to get us a couple of sandwiches.
 
It’s just a block from here.
 
He should be back soon.”

“Bullshit,” she said.

“It’s not bullshit.”

Outwit her.
 
Even if Ben didn’t hear Laura raise her
voice, he’s going to start questioning why he can’t hear me talking with Laura
and Jennifer.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.
 

“Here’s what I want,” she said in a taunting
voice.
 
“I want you to call out to
Ben.
 
I want you to tell him that
the lock on the door is jammed and that you can’t open it to let your friends
inside.”

I felt a bracing chill overcome me when she
said that.
 
Because if I did what
she asked, Ben would realize why he couldn’t hear us.
 
I wouldn’t just be setting him
up—I’d be leading him straight into this woman’s trap.

And by the hard look on her face, she knew
it.

“Do it,” she said.

Had he heard Laura…?

“Do it now, Kate, or I kill your friend in
front of you.
 
It’s your choice.”

“He’s not here.”

“Then why are you hesitating, Kate?
 
If that’s the case, call out his name
and ask him to help you with the door.”

I was cornered.
 
But what choice did I have?
 
All I had was the hope that Ben had
heard Laura earlier.

“Ben!” I called out.
 
“Can you help me?
 
The lock on the door is jammed and I
can’t open it!”

The silence that stretched at that moment
was so intense, I expected it to snap.
 
But when he didn’t reply to me, a crashing sense of relief overcame me.
 
It told me everything I needed to
know—Ben
had
heard Laura.
 
Already, he’s on to this and likely figuring
out how to handle the situation.

“I told you,” I said to her.
 
“He isn’t here.”

She nodded her head at Laura.
 
“Either that, or he heard this one a
moment ago and is just biding his time.”

“Look,” I said to her.
 
“You came here to kill me, not
Laura.
 
Not Ben.
 
Before Ben comes home, take my life.
 
Isn’t that what you’ve been paid to
do?
 
Leave Ben and Laura out of
this.”

She nodded at Laura.
 
“It’s already a bit too late for this
one.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s seen my face.”

“She’ll forget it.”

“No, she won’t.”

“She can.”

“But she won’t.”

“Ben hasn’t seen it.”

“I’ll give you that.
 
But imagine if I did kill him,
Kate.
 
I shoved Michael down a set
of stairs and broke his neck.
 
How I
wish you could have seen it, because it was something to behold.
 
But what should I do to Ben?”

“You’re sick.”

“And you’re about to get a bullet in the
face.
 
Just so you know, Kate, the
‘W’ I signed that card with stands for Widow, because—believe
me—I’ve created my share of them over the years.
 
People call me the Widow for a reason.”

“How proud your parents must be.”

“Don’t fuck with me, girl.”

“You also killed Lydia?”

“I did.”

“How?”

“I poisoned her.”

“So, it’s true.
 
Bill Witherhouse
is
behind this.”

She furrowed her brow when I said that and
then just shook her head at me.

“Bill Witherhouse?” she said.
 
“He has no connection to this.”

“You’re saying that he’s innocent?”

“I am.”

“But Lydia died in his home.”

“She might have died in his home, but that
doesn’t mean that she was poisoned
at
his
home.
 
Lydia had other clients.
 
On the day of her death, she was
poisoned at another person’s home just before she left to clean the
Witherhouses’ mansion.”
 
She made a
clucking sound.
 
“Poor Bill and
Maxine,” she said.
 
“Questioned for
something neither of them is responsible for…”

“Then who is responsible?”

“I bet you’d love to know that…”

“If you’re going to kill me, what’s the harm
in telling me?”

“Actually, I’ve been instructed to tell you,
because the person behind all of this wants you to go to your grave knowing who
killed Michael, Lydia, and soon you, Laura, and Ben.
 
It’s Mark Dodd.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“Mark Dodd?” I said.

“Yes—the man your husband screwed to
the wall and left there to hemorrhage.”

Where is Ben?
 
Buy time…

“What are you talking about?” I asked.
 
“Dodd didn’t lose a dime on that deal.”

“You and I both know better, Kate.
 
Mark and his team of investors were
planning on taking StoneTech public.
 
Because Michael denied him of that, Mark lost billions on that
deal.
 
He was so furious, he wanted Michael
dead for his betrayal, and so I was hired to kill him.
 
Since Lydia witnessed his death, I had
to threaten her for six months so she’d keep her mouth shut.
 
And I have to give it to her—Lydia
followed through, likely because I told her that I’d kill her husband and
children if she said anything.
 
But
since she always would have been a threat to us, she was targeted for death.
 
We waited several months and made sure
it looked like she died of natural causes so that it wouldn’t look
suspicious.
 
Then, with her gone,
Mark and I were free.”
 
She narrowed
her eyes at me.
 
“And then you
stupidly, publicly decided to second-guess Michael’s death, which Mark and I couldn’t
have—and that’s the reason why you’ll die today.”

“Jesus,” Laura said.

The Widow pressed the gun harder against
Laura’s temple and looked at her.
 
“It is complicated, isn’t it, dear?”

Laura didn’t respond.

“I’m sorry, Laura,” I said.
 
“I had no idea that it would come to
this.
 
If Ben had been here, he
would have protected us.”

“Shut up,” the Widow said.
 
“We finish this now.”
 

She shoved Laura toward me and trained her
gun on us.

“Move forward,” she said.
 
“Out of the foyer—away from the
door.
 
My gun is fitted with a
silencer, but that doesn’t mean that someone won’t hear it when it goes off and
then question it.
 
So, move deeper
into the apartment.
 
And Ben?” she
called out.
 
“If you are here and
even dare to make a move, know that I will kill each of them in front of you
before I kill you.”

As we moved out of the foyer and into the
living area, the intercom buzzed.

My lips parted as I turned to face the Widow
and two scenarios struck me—either I had a legitimate visitor, or Ben had
called down to the doormen from my office and had told them that there was a
situation unfolding in my apartment.

“It’s him,” I said, hoping that was the
case.
 
“I told you he was out.”

“If it is him, then your boyfriend has shit
timing, because now he’s about to die.”
 
She nodded toward the foyer.
 
“Answer the intercom, but hear me on this, Kate.
 
If you say one word about this, I’ll
kill you and Laura right now, I’ll kill Ben when he arrives, and then I’ll find
my way out of here.
 
Trust me on
that.
 
Now, answer.”

With my heart pounding against my chest and
my body thrumming with a fistful of nerves, the three of us walked back into
the foyer.

Please let this be Ben…

“Yes?” I said when I pressed the button.

“A Mr. Benjamin Cade to see you, Mrs.
Stone.”

Thank God…

“Please send him up.”

“Does he have a key?” the Widow asked.

“He doesn’t,” I said, wondering where Ben
was.
 
Was he coming down the
stairs?
 
Was he moving closer to
us?
 
He must be, but where was
he?
 
I knew that he was using this
distraction so he could make his move, but since I didn’t know what he had in
mind, I didn’t know how to manipulate the moment to help him.
 
The only thing I could think to do was
to keep the Widow’s focus on the front door.

But then the Widow changed all of that.

“Stay by the door,” she said to me.
 
“Laura, back up with me—right to
the edge of the foyer.
 
Kate, when
he knocks, swing the door open wide so he sees my gun and me first.
 
If you don’t, I’ll make certain that
Laura’s death is particularly painful.
 
Once I order Ben to step inside, shut the door behind him and lock it.
 
He’s going down first.”

“Please don’t do this,” I said.
 
“I don’t know what Mark Dodd is paying
you, but I have the means to pay you so much more.”

She lifted her chin at me when I said that,
and her emerald-green eyes flashed at me.
 
“How much more?” she asked.

“Name your price.”

“A billion sounds good to me—not that
I’d ever take it, Kate.
 
You’ve seen
my face.
 
So has your friend.
 
And I can’t have that kind of threat
lingering over my head.
 
Besides, I
have plenty of money—more than you could imagine—and my life is
worth a hell of a lot more than your billions.”