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The deranged glow in his eyes softened, and he ran his thumb along her lips again. “Shhhh. We’ll be together.”
She yanked at her hands. The ties were loose, but not enough for her to slip free.
“Please. Help him.” Her desperate words fell on psychotically deaf ears.
He got intimately close to her face and rubbed his lips back and forth against hers until she turned her head away. He moved his mouth to her ear. “No.”
Frantic, she searched for something, anything, to use as a weapon. Nothing.
Movement near the sink caught her attention.
Mitzy.
She wrenched her hands again. They had covered this in the self-defense class she took months ago. She pressed her wrists to face each other, like the instructor had demonstrated, and tried to force her hands free.
Nothing.
Lucy gulped back a sob as Mitzy snarled at Robbie and jumped on him from the counter, teeth bared.
He grappled with the cat and threw her against the window above the stove. Mitzy clutched the curtain with her claws, and it tumbled to the stovetop on top of her. She screeched a long wail and scampered from the counter. Lucy gasped in horror when Mitzy’s back leg struck the loose knob, and it turned with a click. Fire erupted from the gas burner, melting the polyester curtain.
Robbie wiped blood from his head with the end of his T-shirt. He set his gun next to the sink and removed a large knife from the block on the counter.
She nodded to the stove and tried to keep herself calm. “The cupboards are on fire. Cut me loose. I’ll put it out.”
He ignored her.
She pressed her wrists together harder. The tie scraped over her knuckles. Frenzied, she wriggled her wrists to move the plastic farther. One hand barely slipped through, and then they were free. She tucked them against her legs so he wouldn’t notice.
The saddest excuse for a smoke alarm chirped weakly as the smoke increased.
“Why do you fight me?” He turned the knife to the side, examining it. He ran the blade against his thumb, drawing blood. “I’m here to help you. Always here to help you. Now we can have everything together. You’ll see.”
Lucy gulped.
“You’re mine now, and you’re very…touchable.” He moved his gaze purposefully along her body.
She held her hands together, hating how he stopped at her breasts and pursed his lips.
“Shouldn’t have gone on television again. You know how that makes me feel.”
“You’re right. I made a mistake.” Her gaze flitted to the curtains turning to flames on the stove. Hysteria tried to overtake her, but no way would she let Neilson bleed out in the other room because of her.
Robbie barked a crazed laugh. “That’s why I have to teach you. You have so much to learn from me.”
She rubbed at the raw skin on her wrist. “Don’t make this worse. Please.”
He lowered the knife a bit, and the way he looked at her, like he could see right through her, slashed her open, exposing every vulnerability she ever had. “Should’ve been mine. Everything’s ruined now that the police are involved. Should’ve listened the first time I told you to stop sharing yourself with the world. I don’t share.”
“I-I’m sorry. I can still be yours.”
“No. Not like I wanted. But we’ll still be together. This time forever. No more people. No more running. I’ll send you first. It’ll be quick. Then I’ll follow.” Flames licked across the counter, rising up along the wall to the cabinets. Robbie didn’t seem to notice. He kept his eyes fixed on her. “I’ll be quick. Together forever. Like it always should have been.” He raised the knife once more, his pupils huge and his face disturbingly blank.
Lucy glanced to the living room. “Please. Let me help Neilson. He’s a good person. This doesn’t have to end this way.” Her heart hammered against her chest. She had to get to Neilson.
Neilson.
She blinked against reality. Neilson was bleeding. Damn if she would go out without fighting.
