Devotion Page 23

  "I need a minute," he says, releasing his grip on the knife and stepping off to the side.

  "It's okay," Annette says as she too moves away from me. I get a moment to breathe as she follows Corey over to a workbench that is pressed against the wall. His head hangs low as he places both palms flat on the surface of the dusty table.

  Annette walks over to him with the knife at her side, ignoring me like I can't hear a word she's saying. "Take a second to get your head straight but understand that if we are going to do this, time is against us."

  "Okay, okay. I need a minute to think this through," Corey mutters with his back facing the room.

  Annette paces over to him and places her arm on his shoulder. "There's nothing to think about. Follow my lead and help me put an end to this nightmare." She turns him around and guides him in my direction before stepping ahead with the knife up and ready.

  Annette comes face to face with me and leers over my body with absolute control. Never have I seen such a demonic look in her eyes. She glances over her shoulder at Corey and says, "I'll do it. For us both."

  He nods.

  "I love you," she says. Her gaze locks on to his as she waits for a reply.

  A tear trails from Annette's eye as a grin breaks through her determined face. She raises the blade up high and grabs me by the shoulder to steady her aim. "You brought this on yourself," she whispers with a sneer.

  The knife comes down hard. I flinch and tense my core, but nothing hits me. When I open my eyes, I see Corey holding Annette's wrist with both hands as she tries to push the sharp metal into my chest. The hunting knife is only three inches from stabbing me.

  "What the hell are you doing?" Annette asks my husband.

  76

  Annette

  Corey's eyes stay locked on to mine as I try to plunge the knife into Katherine's body. He hasn't answered my question, so I remind him what's at stake. "You agreed to this."

  "Put down the knife," Corey says.

  "No. Not until she's dead. You know we have to end this."

  Corey's nostrils flare. "It's not happening. Put down the damn knife."

  My head snaps away from Corey's as my brain registers the extent of his reaction. Is this more than him having doubts? "What are you saying?"

  "Let go of the knife. It's over."

  My eyes close as a fear sweeps through my body, weakening my grip. "You can't mean that. This isn't you talking."

  "Don't make me hurt you, Annette. I swear to God I'll…"

  The dismay in my heart fades away, allowing my mind to accept what Corey has done. Katherine's power is still too much for him to break. My failing control of the situation disappears as an overpowering rage takes over every muscle in my body. I grab the hunting knife with both hands and push down. "She dies now."

  "Stop!" Corey yells. He slams his shoulders hard into me and breaks my grip on the blade. I fall sideways and feel the weapon follow. The sharp edge of the metal cuts my arm before it topples to the floor. We both fall to our knees in the scuffle.

  I lock eyes with Corey. As one, our focus drops to the knife sitting between us. Corey snaps at it first and scoops the weapon into his hands. Within a second, he jabs the blade out in my direction, leveling it at my throat.

  "It's over, Annette."

  "What?" I spit out at him.

  "Come on. Did you really believe I would kill my wife just to be with you?"

  I stare at him as I remain sitting on my knees while an external force rushes into my body and tears my soul apart. Blood leaks from my arm but I don't care. Has everything I've worked so hard for all been for nothing?

  "Don't move from where you are. The police will be here soon."

  I shake my lowered head. "When did you call the police?"

  "Not long before I came here. You had me convinced that Katherine had lost it with all the hell you put us through, but you made one mistake."

  "No, I didn't. I planned this all to perfection. You're lying."

  "It was almost perfect, but you should have wiped the school's security footage when you left to go to your own house to mess with Katherine."

  "What? No, I—"

  "I only saw it by dumb luck. I requested a copy of any recordings made during the timeframe Katherine thought I was at your house terrorizing her. I wanted to have more evidence to prove to Katherine that I would never do such a horrible thing. The security company only emailed me the footage an hour ago. You should have seen my face when I saw you sneaking out of school."

  "No," I whisper.

  "At first, I tried to tell myself you were only leaving work to go to the shops or something far less sinister, but you didn't walk up to your car the way a normal person would. You stayed down as low as you could to avoid the cameras."

  "No, no, no. I was careful, dammit. I'm always careful."

  "Maybe you thought you were, but what I saw got me thinking about you and everything that'd happened between Katherine and me. It didn't take long to piece it all together once I remembered our history. Why aren't you over me?"

  "I will never be over you," I scream at Corey. "Don't you understand? I love you more than she ever could. All she brings you is disappointment. I can make you happy and show you perfection."

  Corey shakes his head at me. "This thing you've imagined between us isn't going to happen. I'm sorry you feel otherwise, but I don't love you, Annette."

  He might as well stab me in the heart with the knife. The pain in my chest feels like he has, but I remind myself of the truth. "You're lying," I say, "to protect Katherine."

  "No. I'm not. And like I said, the police are on their way to arrest you for everything you've done to us."

  "No. It's not true. I don't hear any sirens. You're testing me. Why else would you have kissed me before?"

  "This isn't a test. That kiss wasn't real. I don't love you."

  "Yes, you do. You—"

  "I called the police straight after you rang me," Corey yells over the top of my voice. "I knew your story about Katherine running away with Ava wasn't true and that their lives were in danger. Why do you think I was trying to drag you away from the house?"

  This isn't happening. Corey loves me. I saw it in his eyes when we kissed. You can't fake that.

  "Like I said, Annette, this is over. Why don't you come with me upstairs and hand yourself in to the police?"

  I chuckle. "You can drop the act, Corey. There's no need to spare Katherine's feelings anymore. God knows she deserves this. Do you have any idea how long I've had to sit by her side and be her inferior friend? All she ever does is take from me. Finally, that's over. We don't have to let her hold control over our lives. We can be together."

  "You don't get it," Corey says as he walks over to me. "This isn't about Katherine's supposed control over me. I don't want you, Annette. I never called you back when we first kissed for a reason. There was no spark. No desire to be more than just your friend. Please understand we will never be together no matter what."

  "Yes, we will!" I scream. I squeeze my eyes closed and feel the veins on my temples throb. "You don't mean any of that."

  "It's the truth. You know I'm not lying, so get up and come with me." Corey steps over to within a few feet of me and offers a hand to help me up.

  I stare up at Corey, feeling every muscle in my body tense at once. "Just tell me one thing and I'll do as you ask."

  "Okay. Name it."

  "Why?"

  "Why what?"

  "Why did you really choose her over me? And don't give me some line about us not having a connection."

  Corey glances to Katherine tied and gagged in the chair and back to me. "Does it really matter?"

  "Look around you. What do you think?"

  Corey tries to dodge the question as his eyes move from one corner of the room to the next. "Let's go before the police arrive. I came here ahead of them for a reason."

  "No. Not until you answer me."

  "There's no point."

  "Te
ll me!" I yell, standing up. "I want this bitch to understand how she's tricked you. I want her to see again what she's done to me."

  "Annette, please. Come with me and—"

  I charge at Corey and reach for the knife. He turns his body sideways at the last second, forcing me to collide into him as he attempts to move the blade away from me. He isn't prepared for my advance and stumbles back, tripping over the plastic sheeting on the floor. Corey falls onto Katherine, hitting her torso with enough energy to topple over the chair I bound her to.

  Within a heartbeat, I realize I've hurt Corey as I see a small amount of blood on his hands when he climbs off Katherine. What was I doing? I would never hurt him. He's under Katherine's control and doesn't know what he's saying to me. But before I can think of the words to say to Corey to help him forgive me, I notice something: the blood isn't his.

  "Honey, I'm so sorry. Don't move," Corey says to Katherine as he stares at the knife handle sticking out of her chest.

  Blood wets through Katherine's thin layer of clothing and spreads out wide as shock registers on her face. But that surprise soon fades along with her eyes.

  "No, no, no. Baby, please. Stay with me." Corey holds Katherine's head in his hands, yanking her eyelids open as they give up their fight. With every second that passes, another piece of Katherine leaves her body.

  I take a few steps toward the couple and hold my gaze on Katherine's dimming vision. I offer her one last smirk as she fades into oblivion. This is it. She can't lie her way out of death.

  "Honey? Open your eyes. Stay with me, please. Don't do this."

  "She's gone," I utter.

  With his back facing me, Corey's body slumps to the sound of my voice. His knees buckle.

  "You can drop the act now," I say to Corey. "Finally, we can be together."

  A sigh escapes his lips. He half turns and glances at me over his shoulder. "You killed her."

  "No, my love. We killed her. We had no choice."

  "Police!" a man calls out from the top of the basement stairs. "Nobody move. We're coming down."

  "We're free now," I say to Corey. "No longer can she keep us apart."

  Corey doesn't say a word and continues to stare at me while he holds Katherine's head in his palms.

  A commanding voice shouts out behind me, ordering me to my knees as more footsteps rush into the basement. I do as I'm asked while never letting Corey out of my gaze.

  Corey's mine now. No longer will Katherine get in our way.

  77

  Corey

  Katherine's gone. It sounds impossible to hear those words form in my mind, but the truth cannot be ignored. My wife is dead, and it's all my fault.

  I have to keep reminding myself what has happened. On a loop, I blame myself for everything. If only I'd worked things out sooner. I should have seen Annette for the person she really was. Instead, I was off in my own self-centered world and kept doubting Katherine at every step, playing into Annette's hands exactly as she wanted me to. She used our weaknesses to her advantage with little effort, and Katherine paid the price.

  It's been a week. Seven days of numb existence. I'm sitting in the living room of our rental watching Ava as she stares at the TV. I can see behind the despair in her eyes that she's not taking in anything on the screen. Not even the sound of the happy cartoon voices seems to make a difference.

  When Katherine kicked me out, all I wanted to do was come back home, but not like this. Not to this empty soulless place. Now I have to continue on and somehow give Ava a decent childhood. How can I possibly do so when all I feel is misery and pain?

  The nights have been the hardest. Ava struggles with me putting her to bed now more than ever. My heart snaps in two every time she wakes up after only a few hours to call out for her mommy.

  My cell vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to see a reminder I'd set earlier before telling me to prepare some food for Ava and me. It sounds absurd to do such a thing, but neither one of us wants to eat anymore. The three meals we're supposed to enjoy per day have joined the list of mundane tasks I have to achieve to keep us both in good health.

  It's lunchtime, so I decide to make sandwiches. It's funny, my stomach used to churn the closer the time got to the next meal in the day and remind me to eat. Now, there's nothing. No expression. No animal instinct begging me to do what's necessary to survive. Just a void.

  As I stand from the sofa, not pulling Ava's gaze from the droning screen in front of her eyes, a second reminder flashes up on my phone telling me to check the mail. I have an entire list of day-to-day jobs programmed into my cell to help keep this place afloat. If I didn't, I'd probably lie around all day long and stare at the nothingness until Ava said something.

  Before I make lunch, I walk to the front door to check the mail. On a normal day, I'd only find an empty box when I came home from work. We email most things these days. But with Katherine gone, there's a mess of legal documents and proceedings being communicated to me the old-fashioned way through the mail.

  I don't even know where to begin with it all. Katherine's funeral was hard enough to deal with. Why is it the second we lose a person we care about more than anything else in the world we're expected to have them honored and buried in the ground within a few days? There's no time to think or allow the shock of the truth to sink in.

  Katherine's funeral didn't seem real. It was a bad dream my mind wouldn't release me from. I didn't shed a single tear until I had to get up in front of the crowd of family, friends, and coworkers to talk about my wife in the past tense. Only then did my brain accept that she was dead and would never come back. Never again would I hear her laugh or feel the warmth of her lips.

  I run my hands through my unkempt hair to remind myself where I am and what I need to do. It's so easy to get bogged down in these horrible thoughts and fall into a spiraling stupor. All I can do is keep moving.

  The cold ocean air doesn't register on my skin as I head down the driveway to the mailbox. Either I've gotten used to it, or I'm forgetting how to feel. It's hard to know which possibility is worse. Finally acclimatizing to the town after my wife dies seems cruel, while the latter is cause for concern.

  I open the mailbox to see a new pile of legal hell to go through. Mixed in the stack are some handwritten notes I assume are condolence cards. They've been flowing in all week, each saying the same useless things I don't want to hear.

  As I walk toward the house, I notice one of the letters is for Ava. So far, they've all been sent to my name. When I get back inside, I give Ava her letter, hoping it might be a note from a close relative. Maybe it will do her good to pull her head away from the TV for a minute or two.

  "Ava, honey," I say once I shut the front door.

  She doesn't react or show me any sign that she's heard me speak.

  "Ava. There's a letter for you. Why don't we open it and give it a read?"

  This time she turns toward me. "Okay," she mutters.

  I sit down beside her, knowing that I'll need to help her read the words. The thought gets me thinking how badly all of this will affect her education. Losing your mom at the start of your schooling years can't be good.

  Ava slowly tears open the envelope, leaving the paper a jagged mess. With rough hands, she slides out the letter and unfolds it upside down. I assist her to bring it the right way around and point my finger at the first line of the note then I read it to her.

  "Dear Ava. I hope this letter finds you well. Words cannot express the pain your young heart must be feeling. Without a doubt, this will be one of the most trying times in your life. But I know you'll pull through to the other side, especially if you take the right path moving forward.

  "By now, you and Corey will have been swamped with letters and care packages from family and friends who have all offered you their love and support. I'm not sending you a letter to add to the wave of empty promises. I have something more substantial to offer you."

  I pull the letter away.

  "Wait. W
e're not finished," Ava says.

  "Sorry. Just a second." There's something off about the writing. Like it was never meant to be read by a child. Whoever wrote this shouldn't have sent it directly to Ava. I continue reading but to myself, not aloud.

  Right now, you're being taken care of by the greatest man who ever lived, one your pathetic excuse of a mother never deserved. He may feel obligated to raise you and pay back a false debt his mind has generated, but the truth is Corey owes you nothing.

  You came into this world against your will at the hands of a pair of contemptible lowlifes who didn't deserve the honor of creating life. I don't hold that against you, but if you think for one minute that I'll let you carry on the burden your mother forced upon Corey then you are gravely mistaken. You are not his problem. Considering you have a grandmother close by, there's no need for you to weigh Corey down.

  "What the hell?" I blurt.

  "What is it?" Ava asks.

  "Nothing. You keep watching the TV, okay. This letter wasn't meant for you, sorry."

  "But it says, 'Dear Ava' on it." She tries to point out her name on the paper.

  I yank the screwed-up note away. "Watch your show, please," I say as I stand. I scoop up the envelope and realize there's no return address. How did Annette send this letter to me? She's supposed to be locked up tight at Oregon State Hospital, alongside hundreds of other criminally insane individuals. I continue reading her letter as a rage swells inside.

  I don't want you to share the same fate as your mother, but I will do whatever it takes to get Corey back. No one, and I mean no one, will come between us ever again. As soon as I find a way out of the hellhole they've put me in, I will come for anyone who tries to impede our love. I will—

  The letter continues on, devolving into nothing but a series of threatening rants, the handwriting becoming rougher and pressed so hard into the page there are holes throughout each line. It ends with a single line 'I love you, Corey. More than you can ever comprehend. Sincerely yours, A.'