Page 78 of Callum
What would Callum find today? That shedidhave a sister? A sister who looked exactly like her?
A twin…that was like having half of yourself exist in the world, one that you knew nothing about. But if this woman was impersonating Fiona, then what was her end game? Why hadn’t she just come and spoken to her?
Those were questions she needed answers to.
She tugged Callum’s shirt over her head, then slid into the tub. The water was warm on her cool skin, and she instantly sank deep below the surface. Heaven. Well, as close to heaven as she was going to get today.
Grabbing her phone, she turned on some music, then just relaxed, giving herself permission to not think about the train wreck that was her life.
She lay there so long, the water was cooling when the doorbell rang downstairs. She planned to ignore it, but a second later, the pounding of a fist on wood started—followed by the distant screams of a woman.
She jackknifed into a seated position, water splashing out of the tub onto the tiles. Jesus, who was that?
Quickly, she climbed out of the tub, dried, and threw pants and a top from yesterday over her damp skin. The pounding continued the entire way down the stairs.
She looked through the peephole to see the neighbor, Kasey, on the other side of the door. Her eyes were wide, and she was holding her stomach. Fiona’s gaze lowered.
Oh God…was thatbloodseeping through her fingers? And through her fingers, Fiona could see what appeared to be the handle of a knife still penetrating her flesh.
Without thinking about anything but the injured woman, she tugged the door open. “Kasey!”
The woman’s eyes flashed up. “H-help!”
The second the word was out of her mouth, something hit Kasey in the neck.
A dart.
The woman dropped, then a person—dressed in black and wearing a balaclava—flew into view from the side of the house.
Fiona screamed and tried to slam the door closed, but they got their foot in before she could. She attempted to kick the foot away, but the person threw their body weight into the door, making Fiona stumble.
The second the person was in the house, she realized the attacker was female. The woman raised her arm. The metal of a gun, presumably the one she’d used to shoot Kasey, flashed.
Fiona reacted on instinct, grabbing the woman’s arm and shoving it to the side, pushing her back into the wall. Her wrist hit the wood so hard, the gun dropped.
Immediately, the attacker threw her head forward and hit Fiona in the temple.
Pain blasted through her skull. She fell back, stars dancing across her vision. She blinked them away as the intruder lifted the gun again and took aim.
Fiona’s heart pounded against her ribs as she kicked her foot forward, catching the intruder’s leg and sending her to the ground. She kicked again, this time hitting the woman in the stomach.
The attacker let out anoofas Fiona rolled over and pushed to her feet. Her knees trembled, threatening to buckle beneath her. She forced them to hold her upright as she threw herself into the office to the left of the hall and slammed the door closed.
When she saw there was no lock, her heart slammed in her chest.Dammit!She needed something to keep the door closed. Desperately, she cast her gaze around the room, spotting the wooden chair by the desk.
With legs that still weren’t steady, she ran toward it, groaning at the weight as she lifted it. When she reached the door, she tilted the chair at an angle and wedged it under the handle. It had just been set in place when a body hit the wood. Fiona fell back, tumbling to the floor, more from shock than anything else.
Her throat closed at the groan of the wood. At the screech of the chair as it moved just an inch across the floor
Would they get in? She couldn’t just sit here and wait. With limbs that felt too weak, she rose and raced back behind the desk, opening every drawer, pulling out the contents.God, Callum, you have to have a gun in here somewhere.
Bang.
Something—maybe the woman’s body—collided with the door. The wood of the chair groaned and inched forward.
It wouldn’t be long. She’d get in. And when she did, Fiona would need a weapon.
She reached the last drawer, crying out when there was no gun. But she didn’t stop. She checked under the wood of each drawer, then under the desk itself—that’s where she spotted the pistol, strapped to the underside of the desk’s surface.
