Passion(White Collared Part 4)(28)

His pleaded with his eyes. “Maybe not now, but it’s in you. I saw it the moment you walked into my office. Together, we’d make history.”

“My feelings for you won’t change. Especially now that I know what you’ve done.”

He waved his knife in the air. “You think you’re in love with Jaxon, don’t you? I can understand why you’d think that, but you’re confused because he gave you your first experiences with BDSM. I can show you pleasure you couldn’t even begin to imagine. Jaxon is a Dom wanna-be. He let Alyssa lead him around by the balls through the entire relationship. You need someone to take you in hand and mold you into the perfect submissive.”

“This isn’t about Jaxon,” she said quietly. “You have to tell the police what you’ve done. You need to take responsibility for your actions.”

He swallowed hard, fear in his eyes. “I can’t go to prison. A man like me has to be free in order to right the wrongs in this world.”

“Like the lawsuit you filed against Reverend Pierce?”

“Miles Joseph got what he deserved. A life for a life. He took Stephanie’s and I took his. Now it’s time for the great reverend to pay. The lawsuit is only the beginning of the hell that waits for the so-called man of God. When I get through with him, he’ll finally understand the definition of pain.”

Apparently, she was as crazy as Nick because she suddenly smelled pine. “I agree that he needs to answer for the abuse. But you are not God. It’s not up to you to deliver retribution. Besides, what makes him any different than you? You argue for your freedom based on the greater good, but how many lives has Reverend Pierce helped? What makes you any different?”

He stabbed the side of his thigh with the knife. “I am different! I’m nothing like him! This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go! Don’t make me hurt you!”

Tears streaked down her face as she closed her hand around the gun. “I can’t let you get away with it. I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “I am too.”

He lunged for her, a wildness in his eyes like a lion attacking its prey. She jumped out of his way and pointed her gun at Nick.

He slowly stalked toward her, his bloody knife raised to the level of his head. “Put down the gun, Kate.”

She kept her trembling trigger finger on the side of the gun. “Don’t come closer. Please don’t make me shoot you.”

He continued his advance. “You won’t. You couldn’t even shoot Joseph, and you didn’t care about him.”

The scent of pine intensified, giving her strength. “Then turn yourself in.”

“I can’t. I love you, but I have to put myself first. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Jaxon. Because once I kill you, I’ll have to frame him for it. You don’t want your lover spending his life wasting away in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, do you?”

Bile filled her throat.

She had no alternative.

Her finger arched the short distance toward the trigger.

Jaxon darted into the room, so quick he was only a blur in her vision. Nick twisted, and Jaxon punched him in the jaw, knocking him backward. The knife flew from Nick’s hand.

Both men dove to the ground. Nick jabbed his elbow into Jaxon’s face and scrambled ahead of him, retrieving the blade.

Kate had never known panic like this, watching as the two men grappled over control of the knife. Her heart stopped as Nick rolled on top of Jaxon and lifted the weapon.

Nick had been wrong.

She could shoot someone she cared about.

She settled her finger over the safety and pushed it into the trigger.

Perfect aim.

Louder than fireworks on the Fourth of July, the sound reverberated throughout the room.

Everybody grew as still as the dead.

Blood spread like an enormous red inkblot on Nick’s white shirt.

The knife fell to the carpet, and Nick toppled off Jaxon.

Beyond the ringing of her ears, she heard Jaxon call his friend’s name.

As her hearing cleared, Nick’s whispered plea reached her. She lowered the gun to her side and went to him. Her mentor. Her friend.

The bullet had gone straight through, staining the front of Nick’s shirt with blood. She sat behind him and rested his head in her lap, smoothing his hair off his forehead. He gasped for air and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Jaxon was on the phone with 911, but he shook his head.

They both knew the truth.

Nick wouldn’t live long enough to make it to the hospital.

No matter what he’d done, she couldn’t desert him. Her eyes leaked tears like a broken faucet.

“Don’t die, Nick. Just hang on a little longer until the paramedics get here.”