Page 39 of Keeping Her Secrets

“Hurt her? Why would I hurt my own flesh and blood?”

Mustique’s gaze flittered to Leonie, and she saw the moment the girl realized what was happening. She silently willed Leonie to remain calm and quiet. “What do you want with her?”

“I want her to be my daughter again, of course.”

Mustique was livid. He’d tossed away any chance of them being a family, of her having a relationship with her daughter, and now he wanted to take her because he felt he could? No way was she going to let that happen. “You can’t just pick and choose when you want to be a parent, Ben. You gave her up to a new family. You broke my heart, tore her from me with such cruelty that I never recovered. She has a mother who loves her, and you have no right to do this.” She knew she was trying to negotiate with someone who would never understand the consequences of his actions, but she needed to buy them some time.

“You’re wrong, Sol. I never wanted to give her up, but my parents made me. You know what they were like.”

She couldn’t remember him being so whiny, and she wanted to smack the weakness from his pretty face. “I do remember, and I remember how you drugged me and left me on the side of the road while you let them give my child away. I loved her. She was all I had, except you, and you betrayed us both. We could’ve run away and been happy, but you were too weak and pathetic to stand up to your parents.”

Mustique saw him loosen his grip on their daughter as his anger flooded his face at her insult. “How dare you insult me? You were nothing, a nobody, until you met me.”

“And I’m still a nobody, and that’s how I like it.”

He pointed the gun at her then, and she felt a shred of relief the weapon was no longer on Leonie. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw a figure at the window behind Ben and her heart leaped with joy when she saw Ash’s face. His gun was aimed at Ben, but he shook his head to indicate he didn’t have a clear shot. She needed to get Leonie away from Ben.

“I was going to let you live, so our daughter would know her mother was alive and I wasn’t a killer, but you don’t deserve to breathe.”

Mustique wanted to roll her eyes at the sanctimonious prick, but instead, she looked at her daughter, hoping she would read her intent. “Leonie has a mother, and it’s not me. I gave birth to her, but Kate Craven raised her and loved her when I couldn’t. So whatever happens to me tonight, Leonie’s mother will live.” With her last word, she dropped her head to the floor and shouted, “Drop.”

Leonie took the hint and plummeted to the floor, Ben’s loosened hold allowing her to pull free. As she did, Mustique dove toward her daughter and Ash put a bullet in Ben Rensburg. His aim had been clean and accurate, and he’d ended Ben’s life in an instant. Her childhood sweetheart was dead before he hit the floor.

Ash rushed forward, holding his side and crashing to his knees beside her. “Are you okay?” he rasped.

Mustique held a trembling Leonie in one arm and touched her hand to Ash’s face. “I think that’s my question.”

“Just a flesh wound.”

His words were slurred and then he passed out, his body sliding to the floor with only Mustique to support him. She eased him down and, with a shaking hand, checked his pulse.

“Here.” Leonie offered her a dish towel, and she accepted it with a terse smile. Placing it over the bullet wound in his side, she held it there as they waited for the medics to arrive.

“Is he dead?” Mustique glanced up and saw Leonie staring at Ben.

“Yes, he is. I’m so sorry.”

“Is what he said true?”

Mustique fought tears as she heard the confusion and anguish in her daughter’s voice. “Yes. I never meant for you to find out.”

“I thought my birth mother never wanted me. I love my mom, but I always thought she couldn’t be bothered with a child.” Leonie was watching her, wanting answers Mustique tried to keep the man she loved from bleeding out onto the floor.

“How about you open the door for the police and ambulance, and once all this is settled and Ash is safe, I’ll answer all your questions.”

“Okay.” Her voice sounded so small, like that of a young child rather than the teenager she was.

It wasn’t long before the police and paramedics entered the room, and Mustique stepped aside and let them cuff her as they worked on Ash, her eyes never leaving his handsome face and beautiful soul. She wanted to go with him, but the police wouldn’t let her while they were still investigating what’d happened, and she couldn’t fight them in front of Leonie. The child had been through enough.

“Leonie,” Kate Craven called as she rushed into the house, Jake and Nick behind her.

“Mom.” Leonie burst into tears as her mother bundled her into her arms and held on, both crying.

Jake spoke with a police sergeant and showed his ID. Trident must have some serious pull with the local law enforcement, because moments later, Mustique was allowed to go with Ash in the ambulance.

All the way to the hospital, she held his hand as the paramedics worked on him. She blocked out words that meant she might lose him and prayed like she hadn’t prayed in fifteen years.. She wanted the chance to show him she could do this, that she could be the one for him. She knew now she loved him. From the moment they’d met, she’d known he would be vital to her, and that was why she’d run.

Now, as she watched them inject his line with all sorts of drugs to keep him from dying, she cursed the wasted time. She would give anything to go back to that hallway and their first kiss, so many months ago, and embrace it instead of pushing him away.

“Don’t you dare die on me, Asher Thompson. I can’t do this without you.” A salty drop rolled down her cheek and fell onto the hand she held, mingling with the blood. Mustique swiped it away, not prepared to give in to her tears, knowing once she started, she wouldn’t stop. He’d fought to save her, to save Leonie, and, if God gave her a chance, she would spend eternity making sure Ash knew how much he meant to her.

An alarm on a monitor started to blare as the ambulance came to a jarring stop, and the doors were thrown open.

“He’s coding, get him into trauma bay one.” A female paramedic straddled his hips and performed chest compressions as they wheeled him away.

Mustique ran after them, not wanting to let the man she loved out of her sight for even a second, afraid she would lose him if she did. A nurse prevented her from following him into the trauma area.

“You can’t go in there.”

“I need to be with him.”

The nurse looked at her with sympathy. “I’m sorry, but they need to work on him. Why don’t you go to the registration desk and give them his information? I’ll find you when we have news?” The nurse gently directed her toward a closed door leading to the waiting room, and Mustique fought the urge to fight her, to claw and kick until she got to see him but knew it would do no good. She would hold it together for Ash, because what else could she do?

“Mustique?” She looked up and saw Daniel coming toward her looking worried, and that was when she lost it.