"And?" The rapist grinned. He held his hands up. Steven went for the knife. The rapist swung his other arm toward him. He c.o.c.ked the gun.
"Steve!" Brianna screamed. Steven ducked. She kicked the rapist off the bed.
He shot the ceiling. He rolled on the floor. Steven held him up by his collar. He punched the rapist in the face. The rapist kneed Steven in the gut. Steven fell over in pain. Brianna couldn"t tell them apart!
"Think you"re so smart, huh?" The rapist kicked Steven in the chest. Steven"s gun fell from his hands. The rapist grabbed it. "f.u.c.k! A little p.u.s.s.y like you should have been flattered they thought you were me!" He kicked Steven again.
"Ahh!" Steven held his stomach.
"d.a.m.n, we really could be twins, huh?" The rapist cackled. "Maybe we are brothers, you know?"
"f.u.c.k you." Steven spat. "I"m nothing like you!"
"No, you"re not." The rapist pointed Steven"s gun at him. "There"s a major difference. I"ll be alive and you won"t!" He c.o.c.ked the gun. It jammed. Brianna crept behind him. She held her gun firmly. She pointed it straight into his back.
"You were saying?" she whispered.
He turned around. "No one will believe any of this! I"ll disappear like before!" He ran to the hall.
"s.h.i.t, get him, Bree!" Steven held his stomach. Brianna heard footsteps charging upstairs. A group of uniformed officers stood smack dab in front of the Albany Predator. He twitched and turned as if he couldn"t believe he"d been cornered. Brianna rested against the bedroom door. Two cops grabbed the rapist by his arms. They turned him around where he faced Brianna.
It seemed all over. For some reason she couldn"t celebrate. The rapist smiled.
His eyes searched her body like they had many times before. He flinched while the cops snapped the handcuffs on him. She walked toward him. Steven limped from the bedroom. The group of officers gasped. Some did a double-take at the lookalike cop and rapist.
Brianna stared into the Predator"s eyes. "Guess you didn"t get me like you hoped. Sorry things were messed up for you." She snickered.
"I still won, Brianna. Because I"ll be in your life forever from now on." He looked at Steven. "In both of your lives. You"ll never forget me. You probably won"t be able to look at each other the same way again." Brianna looked at Steven. "I put a doubt in your mind that will always be there, Brianna. Even you can"t change that. I may not have left my mark on your body, but I have left it on your life. I left it on all of their lives! They"ll never forget me! So whose work is more important, hmm?"
"I just can"t understand why after all you"ve done, I still feel sorry for you," Brianna whispered.
He licked his lips. "You would"ve loved it, sweetheart. Every time you close your eyes you"ll think of me kissing you. You"ll think of how you almost made love to me." Steven gaped. "I can handle being in prison, being behind bars. I can handle anything!" The cops stared at him. "But tell me, Brianna. Can you live with your memories of me?" He grinned. ""Cause I don"t think you can."
"Get him out of here!" Steven ordered. Brianna turned to Steven when the others left. Brianna lifted her arms to hug Steven. He moved away. She watched him in awe.
"So uh, it"s over." She smiled. "That"s great, huh? At least now we can resume to our normal lives." She crossed her arms. "Until our next case." She chuckled. He stared at her. "Steven, what"s wrong?"
""Kissing you," "making love to you."" He scoffed.
"Steve." She touched his face. "Are you jealous?" she whispered. "Steven, I had to do those things to get him."
"I"m not talking about that, Bree." He moved her hands from his face. "I"m talking about the fact that he could do those things and you not be able to tell the difference."
"Steve."
"Yeah." He sucked in tears. "You couldn"t tell his kisses from mine? As close as we were?" She looked away. "Bree, how is that supposed to make me feel?"
"Steven, I never meant to hurt you," she whispered. He limped downstairs.
"But I guess I did." She sighed.
"It looks so beautiful on you, Sarah." Keith looked over his shoulder at the diamond bracelet on Sarah"s arm. They slow-danced around his bedroom. Sarah couldn"t believe how emotions could change in just a day. A day earlier she had yearned for Keith"s touch. She depended on his kisses. She lived for his veneration. Tonight she simply felt dead. His touch meant nothing more than being with a stranger on the street. She moved away from him. He seemed to sense the distress in her eyes.
"You don"t like it, do you?" He turned off the little stereo on his dresser.
"The bracelet is beautiful, Keith. But I"m still not satisfied with what you"ve told me. I"m also not satisfied by how you cooked all of this up."
"I haven"t cooked anything up, Sarah." He sat on the edge of the bed. "I love you. Why can"t that just be all that matters?"
She sighed. "It used to be, Keith. But tonight it"s not. I can"t be with someone who"s not honest with me. How can I build a relationship with someone like that?" She took off the bracelet. He raised an eyebrow. "I think this belongs to you."
"What are you doing?" he grumbled.
She held the bracelet in front of him. "I"m giving you back your..."
He grabbed her hand. "No you"re not."
"Let go." She sighed.
"No. I don"t want the d.a.m.n bracelet back, Sarah! I bought it for you as a symbol of how much I care for you!"
"I don"t want it, Keith!"
He waved his arms. "Why the h.e.l.l not? Sarah, I don"t get this! Things have been great! It"s been the best! Why in the h.e.l.l are you stopping now?"
"Didn"t you hear a word I"ve said, Keith? I don"t want the d.a.m.n bracelet!" She threw it at him. She walked to the dresser. "It"s over."
He smirked. "The f.u.c.k it is. You can"t just walk in here and break this off without giving me a reason. Even then, I won"t let you."
"There"s so many reasons I can"t count them, Keith! The main one is that you haven"t been honest! The other is that being with you has destroyed my sister"s life! I can"t keep hurting her like this. It"s time I finally do what"s best for her."
"s.h.i.t, you"ve done that your whole d.a.m.n life, Sarah! That"s the point! You do everything to suit Melody but she doesn"t give a s.h.i.t about you. If so then she wouldn"t want us to break up! Don"t let Melody ruin this. You said I loved you unlike any other man and that you loved me the same."
"I do."
He grabbed her. "Then that"s the only thing we need, Sarah! We belong together. What about all the plans we made?" She looked away. "We even talked about getting married! What about...what about Europe?"
She rubbed her face. "Keith, stop, please."
"No, we made all these plans to be together, Sarah! Think about the trip, baby."
He held her. "We can go on it even sooner than we planned. We can go this month if you want." She scoffed. "Sarah, we can go there and you"ll see that this is right. That it"s always been right. It"ll just be you and me. No one to interfere. That"s the way it"s supposed to be."
She turned toward the dresser. She"d been afraid that his charm would sway her. G.o.d, she"d never met anyone like Keith before. He could make the worst times seem like blessings. Every word he said ran like a song in her ears. She shut her eyes. Going to Europe with him had been all she could think about for weeks. She thought it would be good to give Melody some time on her own. It would be so perfect. Sarah knew that.
Until she saw the earring.
She batted her eyes. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her. She picked up the little golden leaf. She examined it closely. She"d know this earring anywhere. It belonged to Melody. She faced Keith. His face twisted into what Sarah could describe as only confusion. He didn"t have to bother to explain this. Finding the earring somehow put all the pieces together.
"Sarah..." He held up his hand. "What, what do you have there?"
"Why is this here?" She shut her eyes from disgust. "Why, Keith?"
"Uh, I found it. It was so beautiful that I kept it. I just..."
"Do you ever stop lying? Can you for once just be honest with me? Who in the h.e.l.l do you think you"re fooling, Keith? You did not just find this earring! This is my mother"s earring, Keith!" He gaped. "I know d.a.m.n well it is! My father had these earrings custom made for my mother on their last anniversary before they died! I received these earrings in the will! I gave them to Melody on her sixteenth birthday!"
"Sarah, I..."
"Why is this here, Keith?" Tears filled her eyes. "Oh G.o.d, is it true? Were you sleeping with my sister?"
"No!"
"Then tell me what the h.e.l.l this is doing here, Keith!" Sarah paused. She glanced around. Her mind went to Melody"s description of the rape.
She remembered how upset Melody had been that she"d lost her earring that night. That had been strange. Melody couldn"t give a decent description, though she claimed she saw her attacker"s face. That had been strange. She nearly fell out whenever Sarah mentioned Keith. Sarah held her mouth.
Melody couldn"t describe her attacker or wouldn"t?
"Sarah, what are you thinking?"
"I"m thinking..." The earring shook in her hand. "The worst thing I could ever think in my life. Keith, I"m begging you to give me an answer I believe. Now, what is Melody"s earring doing here?"
"Okay, she left it that night she came over here. Must have been then because she was only here once."
"Why did she take her earrings off in the first place and in your bedroom?"
"She left it by the couch, Sarah. Of course she wasn"t in my bedroom." He sighed. "Sarah, I meant to give it to her but I guess I forgot I had it."
"You forgot with it sitting right on your dresser? Tell me the truth! What is Melody"s earring doing here, Keith?"
"It fell off, okay! I mean, d.a.m.n! I didn"t know she"d left it. By that time you"d banned me from the house."
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Then why didn"t she come back to get it?"
"What?" He stood.
"You heard me, Keith." Her tone stayed leveled. "If she simply left it, why didn"t she ever come back? Or better yet, why didn"t she tell me she left it here?"
"She probably didn"t know."
She squinted. "And why would she not know?"
"Sarah, she was raped that same night! You think she cared about an earring? She probably thought she lost it when she was attacked!"
"She did, Keith." He glared. "You see, she told me she lost it when she was raped. She figured she must have." He turned away. "So I guess that explains it, huh?"
"Sarah, I know you"re not accusing me of..."
"I am, you motherf.u.c.ker!" She trembled. "I"m accusing you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You raped her, didn"t you, Keith? You raped her! It was you! All this time!" Tears filled her eyes. "Oh G.o.d! You sick, pathetic b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
"Sarah!"
"I know it was you!"
"I can"t believe you"re accusing me of raping Melody! That"s insane! Sarah, how could you do that?"
"Because it"s the truth!" she shrieked. "I know it! Melody didn"t leave her earring! She lost it when you raped her, didn"t she? You sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Oh!" She gripped her head. "How could you do this? What kind of monster are you? Oh my G.o.d!" She walked around the room. "And I kissed you! I made love to you after what you did...," she wailed.
"Sarah." He tried to hold her.
"Don"t touch me! Don"t you ever touch me, Keith! You are gonna pay for this!"
"I didn"t rape her!" He shook her. "Do you realize how that sounds? Sarah, I love you!" She tried to break free. "How could you say something like this about me?"
"It"s the truth!" She pushed him with a force both couldn"t believe. "These earrings mean the world to Melody, Keith! For her not to come back here, she had to be scared to death! And she said she lost it when she was raped! Stop lying to me! Admit it!" She hit him. "Admit it!"
"All right!" he bellowed. Sarah shivered. He looked at her. "All right. I did it."
"You..." She struggled to breathe.
"Oh, Sarah, baby." He rubbed his hair. "I know it seems horrible but I did it for you. Everything I did was for you."
"You did it for me?" She sighed. He nodded. "You did it for me?" she screamed. She charged him. "She"s my sister, Keith! She"s my little sister! The person I love more than anything and you did it for me? You son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h!" She pounded his face and chest. Keith ducked for protection. "You sick a.s.shole! You son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h! I hate you!" Sarah slapped Keith with her purse, causing him to lose his balance. He fell to the floor and held his arms up for cover.
"I hate you! I hate you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You raped my sister!"
"Sarah!" He tried to grab her swinging arms. She could feel herself going insane every time she hit him. Nothing could ever be enough. She wanted him dead. She wanted him dead for all the pain he"d caused. For all the lies he"d told. For the tentative, painful future that his actions would place upon her sister"s life forever. She wanted him dead for making her trust him. For making her believe in him over Melody. For making her fall so heavily in love, that she couldn"t see what lied smack dab in front of her face. She now hated him with every fiber of her being.
The more he begged, the more she hit. She wanted to inflict the most pain she could, hoping that he"d get a glimpse of what he had caused Melody.
"Sarah!" Keith jumped up. He wrapped his arms around her. "Sarah, please calm down!" She wailed in his arms. "I never meant to hurt you."
"Get away!" She shoved him. "I hate you! I hate you! How could you do something like this, Keith?" Her eyes widened with terror. She held her shaking hand to her mouth. "Oh...I can"t believe this." She cried. "I can"t believe it." She bent over to stop from throwing up. "I swear, this is one of the worst days of my life. And my Melody. My sweet Melody. She has dealt with all this pain because of you. The man I loved."
"Sarah," he sighed. "Just let me hold you."
"You stay away from me!" She held up a fist. "You stay away from me and from both of us." She glanced in the mirror. "I can"t even look at myself," she whispered. "I kissed you. I made love to you. I let you touch me after..." She covered her mouth. "I"m gonna be sick."
"I love you, Sarah!" He shook her. "I didn"t mean to hurt Melody but she left me no choice!" He held her close. "Stay with me, huh? Just stay with me tonight and..." She grunted in his arms. "Stay with me, please," he whispered.
"No!" She turned from his kisses. "Stop, Keith!" He pulled her toward the bed. "You gonna rape me, too, huh?" He moved away.
"How can you say something like that? This is all Melody"s fault! You couldn"t handle the situation so I did!"
"Yeah? Well, we"ll see how the police handle the situation, won"t we?" She slapped him. She ran downstairs. He ran after her. He pulled her back. "Let go of me!"
"No, Sarah, no!" He shook her. "You can"t just leave like this. It"s only us in this world, okay. That"s all that matters, remember? We don"t need anyone else! We never did."