As I reached for the knob, I hesitated, the memory of Victor’s face flashing in my mind, causing fear to snake up my spine.
But it was just a dream.He had no way of knowing where I was.Henry repeatedly assured me I was safe.That Victor couldn’t get to me here.
And I trusted Henry.
I turned the knob slowly, blowing out a relieved breath when I was met with nothing but emptiness.
I slipped down the hall, one hand gliding along the railing as I descended the stairs, my legs still unsteady from the nightmare clinging to me like a second skin.The house was dim and quiet, the only light a soft glow from the kitchen.I headed that way, intending to grab a bottle of water and the flashlight Henry kept hidden in the junk drawer.
But I only made it a few steps before a shape emerged from the shadows, solid and unmistakably human.
My breath froze.
I blinked, once, twice, harder, convinced my mind was still tangled in the dream.“It’s only a dream,” I whispered.“Just a dream.”
Victor’s laugh slithered through the dark, cold enough to ice my blood.
“If this is only a dream,” he murmured, “would you feel this?”
He closed the distance with a swift, practiced motion and fisted a hand in my hair, yanking my head back.
Unlike when he did this in my nightmare, pain exploded, making me realize this was real.
Victor exposed my throat as he secured me against him, his front to my back, the cold edge of a knife kissing my skin.
The same knife that had carved me into someone else.
The same knife that had turned my skin into maps of pain.
The same knife I’d seen in my nightmare minutes ago.
Before Henry, that knife had defined me.
Before he made me feel beautiful.
Before he made me feel loved.
I refused to let this knife turn me back into the woman I used to be.
My eyes darted across the kitchen.Henry had shown me every place he’d hidden a gun before he left.At the time, I’d thought he was being paranoid.
Now I was grateful.
All I had to do was get to the drawer at the far end of the counter.Then I could end this.
Endhim.
Victor’s lips brushed my ear, his voice low and smug.“I bet you’re wondering how I found you.”
“How?”I asked, not because I wanted to know, but because I needed to stall.
I could just picture the grin forming on his lips.He always enjoyed the idea of being the smartest person in the room, even if he wasn’t.
“When I sent my men to retrieve you and someone else answered one of their phones, I knew I’d heard that voice somewhere.Took me a bit to place it, but I always remember people.Especially people who look at my wife in a way I don’t like.”
“I’mnotyour wife.”
I rammed my elbow into his stomach, desperate and sharp.The blow landed hard enough to make him grunt.He released me, and I stumbled away, sprinting toward the drawer with the gun.
