Chapter Fifty-nine
Caleb slammed the door open.
"It's over, Olivia. We are done playing nice." He said as he stared into her eyes.
"What happened?" She asked.
"He killed Marcus. I don't know how he did it – unless." Realization washed over him. "Ah ha. I see it now. It was one of the kids. They've both been itching to take one of us down."
"Do you really think they did it?" Livvie was shocked.
Caleb nodded. "It wasn't Rafe – it wasn't Lucy – it had to be one of the kids." He sat on the couch and looked at her thoughtfully. His eyes began to glow. "They'll have to pay."
Livvie began to panic. "Caleb. We need to focus. You can't be sure that's what happened."
Livvie was through listening to him. He was so hell bent on revenge he wasn't thinking clearly. She whirled around and started to speak, her voice dangerous."What's the goal now - Caleb? Tell me so I can keep up. Do you want to go after our son? Do you want to go after Rafe's kids? You tell me when you've decided. I'll sit and wait."
She turned and walked across the room, sitting on chaise lounge and glaring at him. He was driving her crazy. She had broken down and decided to turn against her son - but now she was having second thoughts. This would never end unless someone figured out a way to please everyone involved. It scared her to think she didn't have the first clue how to make it happen.
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"You saw her do it Grant?" Kate sat on the couch in Cam and Abby's family room, wondering what was going on at home. Though it scared her she needed more details.
Guilt washed over him as he replied. "I was just a few seconds too late. She threw so hard Katie - and so...perfectly. The guy literally didn't know what hit him. He had just killed this blond girl...it freaked me out because she kinda looked like you."
"Ariel..." Kate said in a whisper.
"Huh?" Grant asked, confused.
She got a faraway look in her eyes as she gazed at him. "I met her. Her name was Ariel. The plan was for her to turn Colin but it didn't work. He was punishing her for not doing her job I bet."
Kate looked at her brother with tears in her eyes. "I can't believe she was the one to go first. I was sure it'd be me or you."
He pulled her close and gave her a hug. "It happened so fast. I don't know if she really knows what she did exactly. I think she'll be OK, Katie. I really do. She doesn't really know what she's done I don't think."
"I hope you're right." Kate said with a sigh as she lay her head on his shoulder and hugged him back. "I really hope you're right."
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He brought a hand to the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tight. She was giving him such a headache. "Olivia. I'm getting tired of this. You fight me at every turn."
She stood and glared at him. Livvie knew that if he touched a hair on one of Rafe's children's heads it would be over. She'd lose him for sure. She struggled to keep her voice steady as she replied. "You always give me reason to. Just calm down for five minutes and stop to think. We're going in circles here. You say you're here for Colin but I think you miss this war with Rafe. I think that's what it's always been about. You can't live with or without each other. Please. I'm begging you. Relax for a minute."
"I can't..." He sighed.
"Yes you can." She said with a sexy grin. She sauntered over towards him and ran a hand up his arm, curling her own around his neck and pulling him to her. "I'll help you."
"Olivia..." He drew her body against his and ran a hand down her spine.
She pulled him closer, her lips ready and waiting for his, her fingers curling into his hair and tugging none too gently. "Relax..." She said again, hoping he'd obey her.
He tried to resist, but she was clouding his senses.
"Don't think about anything else. There's just you and me." She kissed a path to his ear and she whispered, "Just us."
One taste and he found himself caught up in her despite the way his mind raced. Though it cost him, he did what she asked.
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Rafe didn't sleep at all. He held her until she fell under and then carried her upstairs. He didn't stay with her, but came back downstairs and paced the floor.
He could barely breathe, guilt strangled him. He didn't know what to do. Rafe was terrified to know how Becky would be when she finally woke. Would this really change her? Had he ruined his own daughter?
"She'll be OK." He said to himself and if wishing made it so it would be true. "She'll be OK." He said again.
Dawn was breaking and he moved outside to sit on the porch swing. They had had a good run. Nearly twenty years of peace and Rafe knew in the back of his mind it was too good to last. His mind went back to the time he was Becky's age. He had an experience so similar it gave him chills.
The truth was he should have warned Alison. He had known all along it was possible for something like this to happen.
Because it had happened to him.
He remembered the feeling. He was walking along the street with his mother at dusk. She stopped to talk to someone and turned her back to him briefly. He was tired of shopping. He wanted to go home. Bored, he began to wander a bit, still in her sight but just far enough away to suit him. It was then he felt it. The feeling that crawls up your spine, the knowledge that evil is near. He walked past an alley way and saw a scene so horrible that he had no other choice. He took the stake his mother had taught him to carry and lunged straight ahead without a thought to his own safety.
It was that night that his mother told him everything. It was almost like that was night that his life before was mapped out for him. If he thought back it only came to that night....
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Alison had woken when he carried her upstairs but she was still too upset to talk to him. She didn't want to say something she'd regret and right now she didn't know what to say. She was angry and frightened and shocked at the knowledge that her youngest child had done something so dangerous.
In the back of her mind she knew it could happen. She knew that there was a possibility that one of her children would have to do it someday but she never imagined it would be Becky.
She knew he was beating himself up but at the moment she wasn't able to help him feel better and that, amidst everything else, was truly what was killing her.
She'd tried to punish him. She lashed out at him and he just stood there and took it. He must be going crazy, Alison thought, nearly rising from the bed and running to him at that moment. She almost did, but she still didn't trust herself to do the right thing, to say the right thing, to comfort him the way he'd tried to comfort her.
Things would be better in the morning. She thought with a sigh. They always were. Alison began to make plans. She'd get up early and make breakfast. She'd do whatever she could to be there for her precious little girl.
Once the sun rose again she'd knew that she'd also do what she could to help the man she loved. Despite the jumble of emotions swirling inside her, she knew he was punishing himself far more than anyone else ever could.