afterlife and he was a ghost. She had been sent to hell, just as she had always feared. She would live all of eternity with the brother she so despised.
The gun stared her right in the eye. Lester’s finger hovered on the trigger.
What did it matter, if she was dead anyway? What did any of it matter? She closed her eyes and waited. The strength ebbed in thick, spooling waves from her shattered body.
A small voice came to her.
I refuse to die here. I refuse to let my baby die.
She opened her eyes. ‘Listen to me,’ she said. ‘You don’t understand.’
‘I don’t understand?’ Lester waved the gun around. ‘Oh, I understand everything. I understand perfectly!
‘We can still be a family,’ she said, thinking quickly. ‘You and me. Just like when we were young. We can still be,’ she swallowed her revulsion, ‘together.’
He laughed bitterly. ‘Don’t insult me, Laura.’ He grimaced. ‘You think I’m stupid enough to fall into that old trap?’
‘Anything,’ she implored, spreading her hands for mercy. ‘Just don’t kill me, please. I need to live.’
He came closer, the gun inches from her face. ‘Funny how I never got to put that request in myself.’
‘There’s something you should know,’ she said urgently. ‘It’s important—’
‘Shut your fucking mouth, whore!’ he shouted, the gun shaking. ‘You don’t get to keep shit from me any more, you got that? I know everything about you, just like I said. I’m the one with the facts this time, you got that? Me!
She nodded. ‘OK,’ she said, ‘I got it. Please, Lester, put the gun down.’ A trickle of blood seeped into the corner of her mouth. It tasted of metal and salt. ‘I’ll give you anything you want. You want money? I’ve got plenty of it. Take everything, I don’t care—’
‘Take your clothes off,’ he commanded. ‘Now. And do it slowly.’ Foam spluttered at his mouth.
Lana knew she would not. She could not be that frightened child again.
Suddenly she saw her chance.
His attention wavered for a split second, imagining how he would claim her body. Catching him off guard, she lunged at his knees, bringing him to the floor. The gun spun into the air, knocked into a lamp and landed with a thump beyond both their reaches. He twisted her round, getting her on her back. Grabbing her wrists, he pinned her down. She screamed out and he slapped her hard, once, twice, three times round the face. Greedy hands ran across her chest and down, down to that place she had denied him once, and then he was pushing her legs apart, the terrifying rip of material filling her ears.
Summoning all the strength she had left, she raised her knee and plunged it into his groin. Lester fell backwards, shouting in pain.
She threw herself in the direction of the gun, her fingers outstretched. But he was too quick. Taking care to tread on her hand with his full weight, he bent to retrieve the weapon, handling it tenderly like a pet. She went for his leg and opened her mouth, sinking her teeth into his flesh. He kicked her off, grabbed a handful of her hair and knocked her to the floor.
Get up. Get up. Do something.
She hauled herself to her feet, desperately trying to fill her lungs.
That was when he hit her. A brutal, final blow to the stomach.
Lana bent over, choking on the pain. It was spreading: a terrible, inevitable, unstoppable pain.
And then everything went black.
98
Robert grabbed one of the organisers.
‘No sign of Lana and Cole?’
The man shook his head, but looked unconcerned. ‘Due any minute. Kate diLaurentis is arriving about now.’
Sure enough, a sleek black limousine pulled up and out stepped a show-stopping vision in pale pink Versace. Paparazzi swooped in and the crowd went wild.
‘Kate, this way! Kate! Kate, over here!’
Like a pro Kate turned, her smile on full beam, lapping up the attention. Behind her trailed Jimmy Hart, especially drainpipe-ish in a tuxedo, who allowed his wife to be photographed on her own before joining her for the couples shots. Kate gazed up at him adoringly and they shared a kiss. They made an odd pair, Robert thought. She so concerned with image, he a gauche Englishman who looked slightly uncomfortable about the whole thing.
As Kate and Jimmy made their way down the line, Robert craned his neck for any approaching cars. The anxious feeling he’d had earlier clung on.
He went back inside.
‘Everythin’ OK?’ asked Bernstein, who had been posing for photographs with Jessica.
‘Fine.’ Robert smiled tightly.