What if his inexperience got Jamie killed?
Willing away the fear gnawing at his gut, he reached the front door. His hand closed over the door handle. If he managed to gain the element of surprise here, maybe he could end it fast. Sneak up behind Ian, tackle him to the ground and knock him out with a chop to the back of the head. At least he felt confident in his karate chops, grateful for the martial arts classes he’d signed up for at his gym in Chicago.
The moment he slid through the front door, though, he realized he’d never had the element of surprise to begin with.
Ian had been expecting him.
“Come in already. I was waiting for you.”
Cole nearly tripped as Ian’s cheerful voice wafted in from the living room. He let out a sigh of defeat. So much for stealth mode. He suddenly wished the sheriff had given him a gun. Walking into the living room unarmed and at Ian’s mercy was a disconcerting feeling. But for Jamie, he’d walk naked through fire. And for Jamie, he walked through that door.
“It’s about time.” Ian greeted him with a lopsided grin. “The show’s about to begin.”
Cole’s assistant was sitting on the arm of one of the leather couches by the coffee table, his posture relaxed, as if he had all the time in the world. Cole’s gaze absorbed the sight, then sought out Jamie. His heart stopped when he saw what Ian had done to her. She lay on the floor, her long auburn hair fanned out on the parquet. Cole nearly keeled over when he spotted the brown stain beneath her head. Blood. Oh Jesus. Ian had killed—
Dried blood, the remnant of Theresa’s shooting. As he registered that fact, relief swept through him like a tornado, growing stronger when Jamie opened her eyes to give him an apologetic look, as if she were to blame for this lunacy.
He’d scold her about that later. Right now, he was just incredibly happy to see she was still alive.
“So, this is my punishment?” Cole’s voice revealed none of the cold fear plaguing his body. “You’re going to kill an innocent woman to avenge the death of a woman who didn’t even love you?”
Ian’s head shot up in shock. Evidently he hadn’t expected Cole to go on the offensive like that, and rage slowly seeped into his features. “You don’t know a goddamn thing about my relationship with Teri, you bastard!”
Teri?
“She did love me. You’re the one whose guts she hated,” Ian said, tossing Cole a nasty grin.
“She hated everyone,” Cole answered quietly. “You know I’m right, Ian. Teresa was a bitter, angry woman who was incapable of love.”
Ian let out a hearty laugh. “You didn’t know her at all, Cole. The real Teresa, my Teresa, she was warm and loving and—”
“Sleeping with you to piss off her husband,” Cole finished.
“She loved me! She used to call me the second you went out of town, begging me to come see her, to make love to her.” Ian smirked. “She told me how bloody boring you were in bed, that no man made her feel the way I did.”
Cole stared at his assistant with somber eyes, as an unexpected—and liberating—thought hit him. His entire marriage had been doomed from the start. He’d married a flawed, selfish and calculating woman who liked to toy with men, who was skilled at making others see what they wanted to see. His judgment hadn’t failed him—she’d just been too damn good at pretending. Her manipulation of Ian proved that nobody stood a chance in the face of Teresa Matthews’s noxious charm.
“She was the best thing that ever happened to me!” Ian’s rant brought Cole back to the present. “And you took her away from me, all because you didn’t want her to have your money. You threatened her, you attacked her in a parking lot and then put a bullet in her heart! So now—” the man practically cackled with joy “—now I’m going to take her away from you.”
Cole shot a desperate glance at Jamie, who offered a vulnerable look in return. She didn’t have a plan, he realized. How could she, with an injured shoulder and a head injury, which he deduced from the blood caked on her temple. Ian had the gun, the control, the madness.
Determination clamped down on Cole’s chest. As Ian shifted the gun in Jamie’s direction, Cole knew without a doubt that he wasn’t going to let this happen. Screw everything else. Let Ian put a bullet in his brain. As long as Jamie managed to get away in the process, Cole was willing to sacrifice his life.
“You’re right.” He spoke in a loud, clear voice. “I did kill Teresa. I shot her in the heart, right where Jamie is lying.”
With a strangled cry Ian spun around, his brown eyes glittering with horror. The gun in his hand wavered violently. “You bastard! I knew it.”
“Yep,” he said with a cavalier smile. “I killed that bitch.”