"You're driving," Jack said as he walked Nathan to his car.

"Where are we going?" Nathan was relieved they were out of the house.

Hopefully Elisa was calling the police right now. Even better if Luke Foster was around the corner.

"To save Kate's life if you're quick, to find her body if you're not."

"What?"

"She's with my father, and by now he'll know who she is. Head for Boerne." Even without Jack's gun leveled at his stomach, Nathan had no intention of trying anything. Not until he found Kate. It sank in then, what Jack had said.

"What do you mean he'll know who she is?"

"Our mother had an affair with Kate's father." Nathan's hands tightened on the wheel. "Jesus! More lies?" His heart rate soared. He didn't know what to believe anymore. "She had an affair and you killed her?"

"I didn't kill her."

The gun pressed into Nathan's stomach. "Put your foot down." Nathan accelerated.

"She said she'd take me with her. Do you have you any idea how happy I was about getting away from my father? Mom was going to leave Steven and take me.

I was the one she wanted. Why would I kill her?" Jack pressed harder with the gun.

"Okay, okay," Nathan said. "Take it easy with that thing."

"I found her on the floor." Jack exhaled hard. "She'd been butchered. Blood everywhere. Bits of her everywhere. I thought she'd been attacked by a bear." He paused. "I tried to put her back together. Then something thumped me and next thing I'm under the ice."

Nathan's mind transformed images of his dead mother into pictures of Kate.

God, he hoped she was all right. He needed to keep Jack talking.

"Who do you think stabbed you?"

"Steven. He must have seen me covered in blood and thought I'd killed Mom." Because the prick probably had, Nathan thought.

"Why would he think you'd killed her?"

Jack gave a short laugh. "Apart from the fact that I sat there with my hands inside her body? I'd told him earlier Mom let me fuck her. I wanted to make him mad, but I didn't think it would make him crazy." Jack pressed the gun into Nathan's balls and he stiffened.

"Afterwards, when it was just me and Dad, I thought, well, he only has one son now, he's going to love me like he loved Steven. Wrong. He sent me away. Never visited. When I got out of the hospital, all that concerned him was finding a school prepared to accept me. If I behaved myself, he ignored me. So I was as bad as I could be. He noticed me then." Jack gave another short laugh. "Second exit." Nathan knew he had to be ready to take him. He'd only have one chance.

"It took me a long time to realize I'd never make him happy. He was too obsessed with David Evans, who still had his family, his wife, and his child- Olivia Katherine Evans. My Kate."

Nathan's grip on the wheel tightened.

"Right here and second on the left. Dad waited until she was older and then unleashed his psycho son. I did what he said because I was too stupid to see I could never make him love me. One day, when sweet little Kate was on her way home from orchestra practice, I dragged her into some bushes and fucked her." Nathan strangled the wheel, wishing it was Jack's neck. "Christ, Jack. You knew it was wrong. You could have said no."

"If I'd refused, he'd have sent me back to Hoopers. Wasn't going to happen." Jack's voice was cold as steel.

Nathan wondered what they'd done to him.

"Dad promised I wouldn't get caught. He watched to make sure. I covered Kate's eyes. She had no idea someone else was there." He grunted. "And you know what? Dad was pleased with me. For the first time in my fucking life, I'd made him happy by raping a kid. He waited for their family to fall apart, only Kate didn't tell anyone. I don't think that scenario had occurred to him. He took it out on me. Said I must have frightened her into not speaking. Next left." Nathan turned. Until they'd reached the house, he could do nothing.

"One day, Dad opened champagne, slapped me on the back, and told me I'd done a good job that night after all. He said Kate had a breakdown. Only he lied. I found out later from Kate's mother that Kate had a baby boy and it died. My son died and he opened fucking champagne."

"Why did you go after Kate again?"

"Have you fucked her?" Jack pressed the gun into Nathan's groin.

"No."

"Liar. Well, I guess Mom would be pleased with me. She used to tell me to be a good brother and share my toys."

Nathan's jaw tightened. "What's your problem, Jack? Why do you hate me so much?"

"Mom did talk about you. We used to wonder what you were doing, what you looked like. Our secret. Dad made it clear she was never to contact you. After she died, I used to dream you'd come and save me. When you did turn up, you were several years too late. But you could have tried to make things right. You could have picked me as your best man. I wasn't good enough to even be a groomsman."

Nathan's mouth was dry. "I'd only just met you. I was getting to know you."

"You threw Alison into my arms."

"I wanted you to be friends, not lovers."

"It didn't take much to get the slut into bed. One touch on her thigh and I had her."

Nathan wanted to keep him talking. "I still don't understand why you went after Kate again."

"When I met her mother in Ashlands and found out about the baby, I realized how much Dad had used me. He never cared about me, but he went on and on about me settling down, getting married, having kids. I was no use to him, but a grandchild would be. The only person in the world he wouldn't have wanted to be my bride is Olivia Evans. So that's who I married. Remember I am married to her, Nathan. You've been fucking my wife. I have every right to kill you." Nathan flinched when the gun pressed into his stomach. "What went wrong?"

"You turned up. I wanted to see my father's face when he realized who I'd married, but you decided to interfere. Turn left here."

"Do you really think Don will kill her?" Nathan asked.

"She's probably already dead."

With Don striding toward her, Kate ran back to where they'd come in. She twisted one of the thumb turns and yanked at the door but it didn't open. When Don reached for her, she screamed and spun away, dashing into the room on her right. Shit, no way out. She fled to the opposite wall, grabbed a ceramic bowl from a side table and made for the window.

"Throw that, I'll throw you through the window. I'll make sure you cut yourself so badly you'll bleed to death before help arrives." Kate launched the blue and orange bowl straight at him. It startled him enough that she was able to dodge past into the hall. Her heart pounded as she struggled again with the front door, twisting the latches and yanking until Don's hands grabbed her wrists.

She screamed and flailed.

"Stop it." Don wrapped his arms around her wriggling body and pulled her tight against him.

Kate kicked at his shins, felt him recoil and screamed again.

The doorbell rang.

Don's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Dad, open the fucking door," Jack shouted.

Kate slumped and his hold tightened. Now she had no chance. Don opened the door with one hand. One stupid latch Kate hadn't touched. When she saw Nathan, hope flared until Jack and the gun came into view.

"What are you doing here?" Don asked.

"Are you all right?" Nathan looked at Kate.

She nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Excuse me." Jack waved the gun. "This isn't the time for private chats. I think we're forgetting something."

"Put the gun down before you shoot yourself in the foot," Don said.

"Move," Jack said. "That includes you." He pointed the gun at his father. "All of you, hands on your heads. Walk down the hall into the family room. Nathan in front."

"Stop this, Jack," Don said.

"Shut up."

Jack held the gun at Kate's head as they made their way down the hall.

"Nathan, lie face down on the floor in front of the couch. Dad, you sit on the chair. Kate, Nathan has a cell phone in his pocket. Take it out. Dad give her yours, too."

Kate took out Nathan's phone and as she went over to Don, and her back was to Jack, she pressed the redial button. It didn't matter who was called so long as they listened in. She retrieved Don's phone and moved away from him.

"You see those cords around the drapes?" Jack said. "Tie Nathan up. Make it tight or I'll shoot him."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Don asked.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here with my wife? You said you'd contact me if she was found."

"I intended to. I was trying to persuade her to give you another chance." Kate put the phones down next to a lamp. She hoped if they were in plain sight, Jack wouldn't go near enough to see one was on. She pulled the cords from the curtains.

Nathan had no idea whether or not Jack was a good shot but from this distance he didn't need to be. Kate approached with the cord.

"You try anything, Nathan, and Kate will be the first," Jack said.

Nathan would have made a grab for the gun at his ankle, but with Kate between him and Jack, he couldn't risk it. He felt her looping the cord, and he flexed his muscles, pulling against it, indicating not to tie it too tight. She wrapped another cord around his ankles. He felt her fingers brush the gun, then return to it as she registered what it was. He shifted his legs.

"No," he muttered.

"Go sit on Dad's knee," Jack ordered Kate.

She didn't move.

"Now!" Jack screamed.

Kate fled to Don's lap. Jack moved forward, keeping the gun on Kate and pulled at the cord around Nathan's feet. It stayed put, but despite Nathan's efforts to keep his arms taut, it was obvious his wrists were loose.

"Bad girl, Kate."

Jack stood up and stepped back. Nathan saw his eyes, knew what he was going to do and tensed. Jack pulled the trigger.

Chapter Forty.

Nathan felt like a bomb had gone off inside him, the pain in his shoulder an intense wave of pulsing pressure. Yet part of him still couldn't believe it. Above Kate's screaming, he heard Jack say, "That's for fucking my wife." Nathan became aware of Kate pressing something against his back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she sobbed. "Oh God, Nathan. Jack, you bastard. Why did you do that? I tied him as best I could. Nathan!" He wanted to tell her it wasn't her fault, that Jack was going to do this anyway, but he couldn't speak. It hurt to breathe. His right arm wouldn't move and blood pooled against his cheek. Nathan knew he should have reached sooner for the G26 strapped to his ankle. Now he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get it, let alone fire it. If Kate touched it, she wouldn't pull the trigger hard enough, she'd get herself killed.

"What were you doing when we arrived?" Jack asked his father. "Trying to kill Kate?"

"Of course not. I was trying to persuade her to come back to you. She's your wife. She's having your baby."

"The scratches on your face seem to suggest she wasn't too keen on the idea." Nathan wanted Kate to get away, but he had no idea how to help her. He should have done something sooner. Bad timing again. He felt himself drifting, everything losing color. He struggled to stay focused.

Kate pressed the pillow against Nathan's shoulder. Blood spread over the tiled floor. Too much. She had to figure out a way to call 911.

"What now?" Don asked. "I presume you broke out of Ashlands at gunpoint.

You going to play Bonnie and Clyde with Miss Pathetic?" Nathan groaned as Kate untied his wrists.

"What the fuck are you doing, Kate?" Jack asked.

She needed to distract him. "This is your fault," she said to Don. "If you'd been a better father and listened to him, maybe Jack wouldn't have turned out like this."

"What are you talking about?" Don asked.

"Hoopers," Kate said and hoped Jack went for it.

"Remember Dr. Stott?" Jack asked. "He promised me I could leave if I let him fuck me. I was thirteen years old."

"You were sick. You wouldn't speak to anyone."

"You put me in there and forgot about me." Jack spat the words out. "I wanted to go home, so I let the doctor fuck me. Only he didn't let me go, he kept on abusing me. I smuggled a letter to you, but you didn't believe me." Jack waved the gun around. "You sent it back to him. You can imagine how he made me pay for that."

Kate slid sideways along the floor toward Nathan's feet. She felt behind her for the knots and touched the gun. Nathan moved his leg. She didn't care what he thought, she needed the weapon.