Chapter 60 Jade

60 JADE

NOW

I unlock the kitchen door with trembling hands and open it slowly, peering gingerly through an inch-wide gap. Rob is still on the floor. I watch him carefully, nervous in case he might spring up at any moment, arms swinging. But there’s no movement. No rise and fall of his chest.

I step outside, inching toward him. He’s lying on his left side, his arms sprawled awkwardly on the floor beside him, the long rug between the kitchen and living room darkening with his blood. Camilla is on the ground behind me, not moving.

I can’t believe what’s happened.

He looks like something out of a horror movie, stark naked and streaked with blood. I kneel down carefully, looking at his face. His mouth is open a little, and his eyes are, too, staring straight ahead. I move my hand in front of them. He doesn’t blink.

He’s gone.

I feel numb, and at the same time I want to fall to my knees and sob my eyes out. But beneath both feelings is an undeniable sense of relief, sweeping through me like a calm sea breeze.

Upstairs there’s a scream, and a thud. Kate , I think. Darcy’s lost it. I’m terrified, but I have to help Kate.

I head up the stairs, shit scared. This feels like a dream, not real. Oh God. Where are they? Blood streaks across the wooden floor of the bedroom, leading to the en suite.

Inside, Kate is on the floor, Darcy straddling her, kind of crouched over.

I could try to reason with Darcy. And had I never experienced Rob’s abuse, that’s exactly what I would have done. I would still be the sort of person who believes that everyone is reasonable to some degree, that most issues between people can be resolved over a cuppa and a chat. I would still believe that what I’m seeing is the result of an argument gone too far, that I could simply ask Darcy to get off Kate and separate them while I mitigated both sides, eventually bringing each to see the other’s perspective.

But that isn’t who I am.

I reach for the curtain tie by the window, move lightly on my feet toward Darcy, and loop the cord over her neck.

“Let her go,” I shout, pulling the rope as tight as I can.

The scissors fall from Darcy’s hands. Kate rolls over and vomits on the floor, gasping for air.

Suddenly, my head is yanked down, and I see Darcy with a fistful of my hair, pulling with all her might. She forces me to my knees, then plunges her elbow into my nose, hard.

The pain is blinding. An arc of bright-red blood shoots into the air, and I hear myself scream.

Darcy grabs the scissors from the floor and lunges at me. I rock back, and she misses. Then, holding on to the shower door, she pulls herself to her feet.

“Please,” I say. “Don’t do this, Darcy.”

She grins, and for a moment I think she’ll relent. I still can’t work out what’s going on. I see her swipe at me with the scissors, but something snags at her neck, making her gag.

Kate is standing behind her. She’s picked up the curtain tie that I dropped, and is yanking it around Darcy’s neck. But Darcy kicks backward, catching Kate’s knee. Kate looks like she’s going to fall, and the scissors are on the floor, close enough for Darcy to grasp.

I’ve never hit another person in my life, but before I really understand what I’m doing I’m swinging all my weight behind a punch, landing it hard in Darcy’s belly, making her fold forward against the curtain tie around her neck.

“No you don’t!” Kate shouts, but Darcy is crazy strong, kicking out. I feel her hands reach for my hair again, her nails in my scalp.

Then her grip loosens, and she finally falls still.

I can feel myself going into shock, like I’m leaving my body. None of this feels real. None of it.

Kate looks down at me on the floor.

She’s a mess, vomit all down the front of her dress and in her hair, the bottom half soaked with urine and blood from my nose. Her front teeth are chipped, and her lips bloodied. But on her face is something close to relief.

“It’s over,” she says.