Fall To Pieces(65)

“I warned you. I told you time and again, but you didn’t listen, did you?”

Her voice was cold; the look in her eyes was that of feral triumph. “I gave you a choice, but you chose wrong. You won’t leave; therefore, you have to die.”

She pulled the safety, and my heart rate exploded.

“This isn’t going to make Kyle love you, Rachel. Killing me will only make him hate you more. You’re sick, not thinking clearly, I understand that, I can help you, if you put down…”

“I haven’t thought of anything else in months,” she spat. “My only regret now, is that I didn’t do this while you were pregnant.”

Aiming the gun straight at me, she smiled. “But not to worry, when I’m your little bastard’s stepmother, I’ll make sure I remedy that.”

There was a commotion in the hallway and I didn’t have a chance to say another word before the sound of a gun firing went off, and I collapsed on my knees.





Pain…Pain enveloped me.

I was screaming.

Writhing in the sharpest form of physical torture, but I wasn’t dead.

I was bleeding, my hands, my stomach; I could see a river of dark blood spreading over the fabric of my red dress.

In the mist of the red haze and agony, I could hear voices.

Someone was here.

I was going to be okay.

Someone was going to save me.

Voices were roaring in my ears. I could make out one voice. It was her.

She had come to save me.

She is always saving me.

“You crazy bitch,” Cam screamed and I swung my gaze up to see Cam slam Rachel’s head into the door.

Rachel’s head cracked against the heavy oak door and her body crumbled to the floor.

Cam rushed towards me. “Lee, hang on, I’m going to get help.”

I tried to grab her to warn her. But I couldn’t get up.

Everything was getting dark, I was going blind.

“Cam…” I spluttered, blood rising in my throat, spilling from my lips. “Get out of here. Run.”

She ignored my protests.

Pulling her phone from her pocket, she dialed and held it to her ear.

Her hands were shaking.

“I need an ambulance and the police, and a straitjacket. Thirteenth Street, University Hill. Hurry, my friend has been shot.”

She looked down at me and nodded her head. “Yeah, in the stomach, I think. Okay.”

Cam hung up and tugged off her jacket.

“Lee, I have to put pressure on the wound. I need to slow the bleeding,” she said, pressing her jacket to my stomach.

“You need to get out of here,” I coughed. “She could…Wake up.”

“Stop talking stupid,” she replied, holding me to her. “God, I’m so glad I forgot to pack my swim suit when I moved out. That’s what I came over for, me and Mike, we’re taking a trip…”

“Cam, I’m scared,” I confessed, struggling to get air, as Cam wrapped her arm around my shoulders.

“Am I dying?”

“You better not be,” she warned. “You have a beautiful baby, who is depending on you. Do you hear me? Focus on Hope, put her picture in your head and keep it there. Do NOT lose focus.”

I nodded, and pulled Hope’s face into focus.

I concentrated on her dark curls, her huge blue eyes, the cute dimples in her cheeks…



“Get up.”

Oh god, no…

Through bleary eyes, I watched as a very angry Rachel stood over us, aiming the gun once again.

“Get out of the way, Camryn. She has to die.”

I feebly tried to shove Cam away from me, but I was weak and growing weaker by the second.

“You don’t want to do this, Rachel,” Cam said quietly, shielding my body with hers.

“Cam, run…please, move,” I begged, pushing at her hand. “Do it, do it, or she’ll…kill us…both.”

Cam shook her head.

“And what kind of person would I be, if I did that? Who would I be, if I stepped aside and watched you die?” She shook her head again and kneeled up.

“Rachel, if you go now, if you run, you’ll have time. Think of your family, you’re twenty-two years old and you’re going to ruin your life…And for what, a man? Don’t be an idiot. The cops will be here any minute. You’re never going to get away with this.”

I watched in a cocktail of horror and relief, as Rachel grabbed Cam by the ponytail and dragged her away from my body.

“Do you think I care anymore?” She screamed. “I have nothing left to lose. She stole everything from me.”

I was grateful.

Cam would be okay.

She would live, and would be there for Hope and Kyle…Oh, god, I didn’t want to die.

I wanted to hold my baby in my arms again, and smell her soft skin, kiss her chubby cheeks.