belly, she turned and looked through the doorway toward the couch in the living room.
Empty.
She glanced back into the kitchen. “Mitch?”
No answer.
Sweat trickled down her spine. Her skin chilled.
Think, Kate. Don’t be a wimpy girl. She spotted the cordless phone on the coffee table. Scrambling for the receiver, she turned it on with shaky fingers. The line was dead.
A gust of wind sent the screen slapping again. Kate jumped and whipped toward the kitchen.
Her purse was on the far counter with her cell phone and keys. She needed to get it. Taking a calming breath, she stepped through shadow and light.
Her foot slipped in a puddle on the hardwood floor. Grasping a kitchen chair for support, she was able to catch herself before she fell. She squinted through the darkness toward a trail of liquid from the back door that ran around the table.
Okay. That wasn’t good. Something wasn’t right. It was time to just go. She reached for her purse from the counter.
Something hard slammed into her from behind. The contents of her purse went flying. Kate hit a barstool, bounced off the edge of the counter and tumbled to the floor.
Her arm took the brunt of the fall. Pain rocketed through her shoulder. When she tore open her eyes, Hannah Hughes was kneeling over her, holding a gun in her hand. “Welcome to the party, Kate.”
Kate saw Mitch on the floor behind the table. His body was limp, his eyes closed. Blood oozed from his head.
Her stomach churned. Oh, God. That wasn’t water she’d slipped in.
“No, look at me, Kate,” Hannah said. “Do you have any idea what kind of mess you’ve made for me?”
What the hell was she talking about? Kate’s brows drew together. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Don’t play coy with me. I’m not falling for the whole ‘I don’t remember anything’ routine like Ryan and Jake. You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass since this whole thing started.”
This whole thing. Jake. No.
“You,” Kate managed on a ragged breath. “It was you? But you work with Ryan. I don’t understand.”
“Not very bright, are you?” A twisted smile graced Hannah’s mouth. “Must have been all the drugs. Tabofren would have saved Paula. Ryan knew that.”
Kate’s brows drew together. Grasping her aching arm, she tried to sit up. “Who is Paula?”
“My sister. Ryan was so excited about Tabofren, he fast-tracked it into clinical trials. It worked. But he got cold feet when the FDA caught wind of the side effects and pulled the plug, stopped production. Paula died. That drug would have saved her life.”
Kate swallowed. “You don’t know that for sure.”
“Oh, no? I think we do. Do you have any idea what it’s like to lose someone you love, Kate? Or should I call you Annie? Which do you prefer?” Hannah’s menacing laugh made Kate’s nerves jump. “I forget who I’m talking to here. Of course you know what it’s like to lose someone! Or better yet, Ryan sure does. We made sure of that.”
“You—you did this on purpose? Why didn’t you just kill me?”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I was outvoted. Dad and Jake both thought you might be useful down the line. A kidnapping was better. Then that plane you were supposed to be on went down, and everyone thought you were dead anyway. It made sense to let Ryan suffer. And we were lucky that I had a friend working for the airline who made sure your name was listed on the manifest. People will do anything for money.”
“You…you kept me alive on purpose?”
She shrugged. “Jake needed human tissue samples for his research if he was ever going to get the drug approved through a different company. We didn’t really care if you had cancer or not. We were mostly interested in the side effects. Lo and behold, there you were.”
With shaking fingers, Kate reached up and rubbed her scar. “But how did I—”
“That was the best part.” She laughed. “You didn’t go easily. Your struggling caused a car accident. Jake never lied to you about that. You did hit your head. And it did put you in a coma. That’s what gave him the idea to use you in the study.”
“Jake—”
Hannah’s mouth curled in disgust. “Jake was stupid. Who knew he had a conscience? When he found out you were pregnant, he refused to do the tests on you. Did you know Paula was pregnant when she found out about the cancer? They had to choose—her life or