Carly Phillips - Lucky Break

Lauren blinked in surprise. “I can’t do that!”

“Of course you can. And you will.”

“First tell me what is in the diary that’s so important?” Lauren asked, needing to understand all the unanswered questions. “Why did it freak you out so much that I found it? And what are you looking for in the house?”

Brody groaned. “I’m tired of all this yapping. Her boyfriend’s waiting out in the car. Just give us the diary!” He waved the gun at her, his frustration and intent clear.

Shaking, Lauren glanced at her sister.

“Put that away, you imbecile!” Beth’s tone allowed for no argument.

Brody lowered the gun but he remained vigilant.

Beth met Lauren’s gaze. “Look, I know you’re upset…”

Lauren couldn’t control the shrill laugh that escaped her throat. “You don’t know anything about me or you wouldn’t have put me through the hell of visiting you month after month in that psych ward, thinking you were lost forever!” Lauren wiped the tears in her eyes with her jacket sleeve.

Beth shrugged almost apologetically. “If it’s any consolation, I was out of it until two months ago. But once I came to, I had to look out for myself, just like I’ve always looked out for you!”

Lauren’s head began to pound, and with every bizarre word her sister uttered, the pain grew worse. “You think you looked out for me?”

“Of course! Look at the mistakes you made. Going out with Jason Corwin when you were seventeen. If I hadn’t shown Grandmother your diary, who knows where you’d be today! Not on your way to Paris, that’s for sure.” Beth folded her arms across her chest, proud of herself.

Lauren couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You showed Grandma my diary? How could you?”

Beth waved away Lauren’s question. “You don’t have to thank me. I’d do the same today if I could, but I have more important things to do. You’re going to have to come to your senses and get rid of Jason Corwin on your own this time.”

“Beth, listen. I have your lawyer working hard on getting you transferred to a good private psychiatric hospital. I sold my car to add to his retainer. Turn yourself in and this will all be okay.” She reached for her sister, but Beth stepped away.

“The diary. Where is it?” Beth asked harshly.

Startled at the change in her sister, Lauren merely pointed to the nightstand.

“Liar! We already looked there.” Without warning, Brody slapped her across the face, sending Lauren sprawling backward.

She righted herself before she fell to the floor. Hand on her cheek, she glared at him, choking back tears. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Don’t you ever touch her again.” Beth glared at him, then turned back to Lauren, who didn’t have the time to sort through her sister’s oddly protective behavior.

“You were never like Grandmother or me,” Beth said. “We’re the ones who understand what it means to be a Perkins. We know we have to protect the legacy. Keep the curse going. I need the diary,” she said, her tone too calm. But her eyes were growing more vacant, reminding Lauren of the day she’d set the fire at The Wave.

Frightened she’d go off the deep end and leave Lauren alone with a gun-wielding Brody, Lauren started for the nightstand. All the while, she hoped enough time had passed that Jason would begin to wonder where she was and come inside to look.

“She’d better not be wasting our time,” Brody said, pacing on the other side of the room.

“I’m not. There’s a fake drawer in here.” Somehow Lauren maintained her composure. “What’s so important about the diary?” she asked her sister while she struggled to release the compartment with unsteady hands. Maybe if she kept asking questions, she’d kill more time.

“Diamonds. There are diamonds buried somewhere in this house and I think the diary holds the key to where they’re located,” Beth said. “Hurry.”

“That’s why you sent Brody to vandalize this place and knock holes in the walls?” The pieces of the puzzle finally made sense, Lauren thought.

“Exactly.”

Lauren rose, diary in hand. “I’ve read it from cover to cover. Most of it’s not legible, and what is won’t reveal anything.”

“That’s for me to judge. I’m Mary. I’m one of the chosen,” her sister explained to Lauren as if she were talking to a child. “Now hand it over.”

Brody waved the gun in a silent threat.

Knowing she had no choice, Lauren extended her hand, intending to give the book to her sister…

JASON HAD GIVEN HER enough time. He’d even dialed her cell, hoping the ring-if she had it on loud and not silent or vibrate-would help her find the lost phone. She hadn’t answered.

He yawned just as Trouble appeared, leaping onto the warm hood of the car and staring at Jason intently. Damn cat unnerved him sometimes.

The cat. Jason clearly remembered he and Lauren had left the cat inside the house when they’d left the first time. He’d watched Lauren go in for her keys and Trouble had not run out the front door.

Yet here he was now.

Watching.

Staring.

Yawning.

His gut churned uncomfortably, and he didn’t know why. So he was going inside.

LAUREN KNEW Jason would show up soon. All she had to do was bide her time. And hope that Brody didn’t turn the gun on Jason when he arrived.

She shuddered at the thought and kept her focus shifting between Brody, who stood near the bedroom door, and Beth, who was immersed in reading the diary.

“Well?” Brody voiced the question on Lauren’s mind. “Anything in there that’ll lead us to the diamonds? We have to get the hell out of here fast.”

Beth shook her head in frustration. “So much of it is ruined, but on the same page it mentions the curse it mentions an offering-in the heart of the house.”

Lauren knew better than to remind her sister she’d already told her as much.

Beth glanced up, a dazed look in her eyes. “Think, think,” she said, pounding her hand against her head.

“I say we take whatever money she’s got on her and get away while the getting’s good.” Brody leveled his gun at Lauren’s heart.

Panic washed over Lauren. She looked beyond Brody toward the door and caught sight of Jason standing there. His eyes locked with hers, conveying all his strength in that one look before he backed out of view once more.

“Well? She’s no good to us anyway,” Brody muttered.

Suddenly, Beth shrieked at Brody. “You won’t threaten my sister again!” She dropped the diary and grabbed the poker beside the fireplace, stunning both Lauren and Brody.

Before either could react, Beth brought the metal down on Brody’s head, the poker connecting with his skull. A sickening crack reverberated through the room and Brody fell to the floor.

Nauseated and stunned, Lauren stared at her sister. A stranger she didn’t know and probably never had.

“I warned him to leave you alone,” Beth said in a monotone voice.

Lauren swallowed hard. If this was how Beth looked after her, Lauren wanted none of it. She spotted the gun lying next to Brody and started for the weapon.

“No!”

Beth barked out her command and Lauren froze.

Slowly, Lauren straightened, her hands spread out in front of her. “Relax,” she said to her sister. “See? I’m not moving.”

“But I am.” Taking advantage of the chaos, Jason chose that moment to silently make his entrance. He couldn’t get near the gun, but he bolted across the room and grabbed the diary, the one thing Beth desperately wanted.

With a shriek, Beth raised the poker over her head, her gaze narrowed on Jason, who visibly braced himself.

For the blow?

Or to take Beth down?

Lauren knew he could probably handle Beth. He outweighed and outmuscled her, but Lauren didn’t want either one of them hurt.

“Beth, don’t!”

At the sound of Lauren’s voice, Beth paused. “Why not?” she asked, as if it were a reasonable question. “He’s standing in the way of everything. And besides, he’s a Corwin.”

“Because I love him!” Lauren yelled without thinking, her sole focus on stopping her sister.

Her words had the opposite effect. Beth screamed as if she’d been attacked and ran for Jason, poker in hand.

Acting on instinct, Lauren dove for her sister’s legs, knocking her down. The poker fell to the floor at the same time Jason took the diary and tossed it into the barely burning embers in the fireplace.

“No!” Beth scrambled to her knees, grabbed the poker and managed to drag the book out, but it was too late.

The journal had caught fire and Beth had jerked her arm back too hard. The book went flying at the old draperies.

Lauren watched in horror as the entire valance and hanging drapes went up in flames.

“The diary!” Beth wailed, and started crawling toward the fire.

“Don’t move!” Jason said, approaching Beth, gun in hand.

Lauren had been so consumed by the scene in front of her, she hadn’t seen him go for the weapon. Neither had Beth, apparently, and even now, her focus was on the diary, which had already burned.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jason said, warily watching the flames and Beth. “Lauren, go!”

She hesitated, not wanting to leave them, then ran for the doorway. At the same time sirens sounded. She paused and glanced back.

“I called the police,” Jason said. “Get going!” He wrapped his hand around Beth’s arm and began to drag her out of the room, kicking and screaming about losing the diary and the diamonds.

She was so hysterical, he needed all his strength to remove her from the burning room.

The one thing he didn’t need was the gun.

DÉJÀ VU, Jason thought as the fire department worked to put out the quickly spreading fire inside the house. Outside, the police had taken over. Lauren and Jason were led to the ambulance to be checked by paramedics, for which Jason was grateful. He didn’t want Lauren to have to watch her sister’s ravings any longer than necessary.

They cleared him first and asked him to leave while they checked Lauren. He started to argue, but she waved him away. “I’ll be fine.”

From the pained look in her eyes, he doubted fine would happen anytime soon, but he gave her the space she needed because he could use some, too.

When he’d seen Lauren with a gun held to her chest, he thought he’d pass out right there. Fury had ripped through him along with frustrating impotence because there was nothing he could do. Any impulsive move could have cost her life. Since he’d already called the police, he’d waited for his opportunity.

Lauren had obviously waited for hers, as well. He couldn’t be more proud of her. She’d stunned him on many levels, not the least of which was her strength-of character, of body and of heart.

It was her heart that scared him most of all. A classic case of be careful what you wish for-the woman he loved also loved him back. And she’d gone on to prove it, tackling her sister in an effort to save him.

Love.

At one time he’d thought it was enough. The Perkins-Corwin differences hadn’t bothered him. His family’s negative feelings about Lauren and her sister had never mattered to him. Not even the Corwin Curse had been an issue. Lauren wasn’t her sister or her grandmother. They might share the same genes but she was her own unique person-giving, warm and special.

And therein lay the problem. She deserved a man who was her equal. Once upon a time he would have believed he was that man. Now when he looked in the mirror, he saw a man adrift and without goals. After the highs of competitive snowboarding, merely earning a living in his contracting business wasn’t enough. Neither was living off Lauren’s money and future successes.

He needed to redefine his own goals and dreams. Only then could he give Lauren what she deserved.

LAUREN PUSHED DOWN her sleeve and reached for her coat. Her blood pressure was fine considering the ordeal she’d just been through. She didn’t need oxygen. They’d escaped the fire in time. And though her cheek was sore from where Brody had slapped her, she had no other physical scars.

The emotional ones were another story.

Her sister was certifiably insane. Crazy. Why hadn’t Lauren seen it before? Why had she insisted on believing the best of a woman who had already demonstrated violent tendencies? At least she knew the answer. Because they were related by blood and someone had to believe in Beth if she were going to get better.

But what had Lauren’s Pollyanna attitude gotten her? She had no money left in her bank account, her beloved car belonged to a beautiful model in New York, and she had been finally and irrevocably disillusioned by the remaining family member she’d tried to have faith in.