Page 109 of Bad Situation

“Shut up! I’m so fucking tired of taking orders from you.” She turns her attention back to her phone. “We’re in the back room. Just follow the light, but hurry. I can’t move them on my own.”

“Who are you talking to?” I keep on.

She disconnects her call and her normally kind, yellow-brown eyes are now glaring at me with nothing but disdain. “You’re done. I did everything I could—everything he told me to—but then that damned FBI agent fucked-up and you got off scot-free. I might as well’ve hand fed the information to the feds and she still found a way to screw it up. But I’m done waiting.” She turns her eyes on Ellie. “And I’ve fucking had it with you.”

Ellie cringes next to me and the pain in my head is staggering when I frown.

“You.” My possessed assistant takes a couple staggering steps toward us and doesn’t take her eyes off my sister. “You don’t deserve him. I’ve waited too long and, after hearing you rant about another man today, I couldn’t take it. You don’t even deserve to be the mother to his child.”

“What?” Ellie breathes and I, all of a sudden, don’t feel any pain. Griffin. Does she have Griff, too? Ellie comes to life at the mention of her son and scrambles to her feet. “You bitch! Don’t you dare touch my son!”

I don’t know where my strength comes from, but I grab Ellie’s arm to hold her down because Callie is white-knuckling another syringe like a dagger. We have nothing to fight back with besides our lethargically-drugged selves.

A sneer spreads across Callie’s face—a look I’ve never seen on her and one that scares me more than anything that’s happened so far. “You mean, my son. Today took a turn. Robert and I weren’t planning to get rid of both of you at the same time—it’s a bonus I wasn’t planning for.”

Oh, fuck.

Robert.

Ellie screams and writhes next to me and it’s all I can do to hold onto her.

“What?” Callie eggs her on. “The rich and almighty Montgomery sisters aren’t so powerful now, are they? You’re going to lose your husband, your son, your house, and your fucking life so we don’t have to deal with you. Robert and I won’t have to share custody, either. How does it feel to end up with nothing?”

“You have no fucking clue,” Ellie cries.

“What do you want?” I demand. It’s either the nervous energy or my body really is coming back to me. I push to my feet and Ellie follows but I keep us pressed against the wall. “There’s no way Robert will hurt the mother of his child.”

“Think again.” Callie smiles and it makes my stomach roil because, at this point, I’m afraid she might be right.

“What the fuck?”

All three of us turn to the doorway and there he is. The controller of MI and my motherfucking brother-in-law.

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Ellie screams and I hold her back again but this time she almost pulls out of my grasp. “Where is he, Robert? What have you done with Griffin?”

Robert looks from Callie to his wife and back to Callie. “What have you done?”

Callie exhales and her grip on the damn syringe loosens. She almost coos as she speaks to him and everything becomes clear. “I know this isn’t what we planned. But, baby, you didn’t hear the way she talked about you. Your wife,” she doesn’t take her eyes off Robert but points to Ellie, “she was disrespecting you—talking about another man. I would never do that to you. I know we didn’t talk about this, but she needs to go. They both do. It can be just you and me and Griffin.”

“No!” Ellie sobs.

“Robert, please,” I beg. “If there’s something you want, it’s yours. Whatever you’re doing, this is the wrong way—"

Callie turns and screams at me. “Shut up!”

“Dammit.” Robert rakes a hand through his hair, as if what’s playing out in front of him is more of an irritable rash than the nightmare it is. “Callie, you’ve really fucked things up.”

Callie starts to move toward him but he holds up an irritated hand, halting her in place.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. But this will be better.” Her voice rises. “They’ll both be out of the way, not just Jen. You can take the CFO spot, we can get married, and Griffin will be ours. It will still work out, just not the way we planned—but better, now that we won’t have to share custody.”

“I told you, I don’t give a shit about custody.” He reaches behind him, under his suit jacket. Ellie screams and I gasp when he produces a gun. “Told you I could’ve gotten a divorce and not been strapped with raising a kid.”

“Robert, no,” Ellie sobs. “Please don’t do this. I’ll do anything.”

Robert shakes his head and raises his gun. He’s five feet from us, but I know from target practice at the ranch, he’s a shit-shot unless he has about a month to line it up. Ellie screams and I push her behind me, ready to duck and charge because it’s our only chance, until he shifts his eyes, his gun following the same path…

*****

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