Page 90 of The Library on Plum Island
“Who are you?” Daniella asked, raising her arms as she walked backward into the suit.
“Is that Alex?” Harriet rushed into the living room and skidded to a halt. “You!“ She breathed.
“Hello, Harriet!” The person sneered. “I guess it’s my lucky day as I get to get rid of two birds with one gun.”
“Actually, it’s two birds with one stone, implying you’d have to kill both of us with one bullet.” Daniella knew the moment the words left her lips that she’d been hanging around Harriet too long.
“I’m the one with the gun, so I’m the one that can bend things however I please,” the person sneered.
“This is all you’re doing!” Harriet’s eyes filled with realization, and she gaped in disbelief. “Of course it is. I should’ve realized sooner. You always were crazy.”
“I’m notcrazy!”The person’s voice rose angrily.
“Harriet, don’t antagonize the crazy person with the gun,” Daniella could’ve kicked herself for not holding her tongue as the barrel of the gun connected painfully with her cheek, and she was knocked to the ground.
“Not so snide now, are you?” The person glared down at Daniella as Harriet rushed to help Daniella up.
“What do you want?” Harriet helped Daniella, who was feeling light-headed, get onto the sofa.
“How about both of you dead and out of my way for good!” the person spat angrily.
“How about you put the gun down, and you may still get to see daylight again,” Alex’s deep voice came from behind the person who swung around.
“Alex! You must understand I wasn’t going to hurt you. But you needed to realize that what you were doing was wrong. She’s not your destiny.” The gun was pointed toward Daniella.
“Put the gun down,” Alex said, holding up his hands. “Then we’ll talk.”
“You’re not going to listen to me until these two are gone.” The hand with the gun was flapping the weapon about like it was nothing more than a laser pointer.
“Let them go, and I’ll stay here so we can talk,” Alex reasoned. “Come on, Monica. Remember how we used to talk for hours before?”
This is Monica?Daniella’s eyes widened.Wow. She was even more obsessed than Ron had been with Daniella.
The word obsessed hit a nerve and sparked Daniella’s anger. She was tired of having people trying to manipulate her life and now Alex’s. Red dots blurred her vision as her anger turned to fury. Her eyes landed on the vase filled with pretty colorful daisies in the center of the coffee table. While Alex tried to reason with the crazed person, even though Daniella hated the turn crazed or crazy, she’d seen the glazed look in the gun-toting person’s eyes before-there was no other way to explain it except crazed. She inched forward and grabbed the vase, ignoring the blood rush to her head or the ache in what she could only assume to be a fractured cheekbone.
“I can’t do th…” Thawk. Daniella landed the vase on the woman’s head.
“You crazy obsessed lunatic,” Daniella yelled with all the pent-up fear, anger, frustration, and pain, having had to hide away for years because of people like Monica. “That’s for my house, my husband’s boat, and thinking you could come between love!”
She was so enraged Daniella had no idea how she’d managed to stop herself from kicking the woman when she was down. But that would’ve made her like Monica the Maniac.
“How dare you bug my houses and put my loved ones at risk.” Daniella couldn’t stop herself while Alex and Harriet stared at her in awed disbelief.
“Daniella!” Harley’s bark from the door snapped her out of her tirade.
The next minute, the suite was filled with cops. Her eyes met Alex’s, and they flew into each other’s arms.
“Your cheek!” Alex hissed, his eyes widening as he gently kissed it before pulling her closer to him. “I’ve never been so scared in my entire life when I saw Monica pointing a gun at you.”
He kissed her head and her forehead. “I’m sorry about all this.” He looked into Daniella’s eyes. “While we were thinking I was saving you, you were the one saving me from my own stalker.”
“Well, then, let’s make a pact that from this day forward, we never date anyone else,” Daniella told him. “Well, technically, we’d be having affairs if we did date anyone else as we’re married.” A grin split her lips, making her wince as it hit a nerve in her tender cheekbone.
“We need to get your cheek looked at,” Alex said before he gave her a sideways look. “What are you saying?”
“That I don’t want to have to date anyone again.” Daniella swallowed, knowing she was making a complete mess of getting out what she wanted to say. “I guess what I’m making a complete mess of saying is, I don’t want to be with anyone else, Alex.” She saw the surprise and relief flood into his beautiful blue eyes. “I love you and want to stay married to you for the rest of my life. And I know if I didn’t, my daughter would probably disown me.”
Alex stood staring at her wide-eyed for a few seconds before his lips swooped down and crushed hers. Daniella ignored the pain in her cheek as her arms entwined around his neck, letting him pull her closer. When they finally came up for air, they were surprised to see that the police were already carting Monica away.
