He put his hand around her neck and pressed against her pressure points.
Lydia’s mouth opened with wide eyes as little gasps erupted from her throat. She fell to her knees.
“I am working.” Elijah pulled a jagged knife from the inside of his tux jacket, “I don’t want your eyes, I want—”
“Elijah, what is going on?”
He looked and scowled as Scarlett came through the entrance. His hand fisted around the knife.
“They’re waiting for her to come back out.” Suddenly, she focused on the knife he held against the woman’s throat and looked back at him. “This is not part of the plan,” she hissed.
The blade pressed against Lydia’s jugular vein. Her eyes widened as she looked at Elijah, and he felt her swallow against the pads of his fingers. His lips curled as he stared down at her. “This is the new plan,” he announced.
“P-p-p-please,” Lydia gasped. Her hands came up, trying to pull against the pressure he increased around her neck. “Don’t kill me, I-I-I can give you m-m-money! I swear, take whatever you want.” She swallowed again, and her brow wrinkled.
“I don’t want your money,” Elijah said as he pressed the blade against a pulsing vein. His eyes met Scarlett’s, whose skin turned ashen as she watched him. “I’m teaching a lesson.”
“Why…” Lydia Esposito’s voice turned childish as a sob tore from her throat.
“Because it’s necessary.” Elijah pressed the blade harder as a line of blood dripped from the cut he had made. If he pushed any harder, there would be blood gushing from her neck. His aim wasn’t to kill her. He could give mercy when he wanted to.
Elijah had more pressing matters to attend to.
Someone called out for Lydia, and footsteps came from the doorway. From the corner of his good eye, Elijah saw a shadow on the wall in the doorway.
“Lydia, what’s the fuckin’ hold-up? They’re getting’ antsy out there.”
“Elijah, let’s go!” Scarlett’s hands fisted at her sides, and her lips pressed firmly together. “They’re going to find us!”
Elijah looked down at the woman in his grip, one hand still around the back of her neck, and the other continuously pressed the blade harder. He moved it up the side of her neck to her ear. The point of the blade lay just beneath it as drops of blood welled.
He leaned down and crouched in front of her. “If I had more time and you played nicely, you wouldn’t still be staring out of those pretty eyes. You’d be strung up on a bed, your eyes removed, and you’d be dead.” He licked at the droplets of blood on her neck and smeared it on her skin. “Consider yourself lucky you survived a meeting with the Forget Me Not Killer.”
He dropped the woman to the ground just as they heard more voices and footsteps coming down the hall.
Elijah knew Scarlett had a contingency plan in case these goons figured out who he was. He’d sent his video to that detective from an anonymous email account. He’d known the asshole would get it to Autumn right away. And that little tidbit from the Boston PD…he just hadn’t expected Autumn would go to Boston.
Then the gallery had extra security. Who else did Benjamin Hererra send that information to?
“Elijah!” Scarlett’s harsh whisper had him moving down the next dimly lit hallway and then out a fire escape. Of course, an alarm blared when the door popped open. Why wouldn’t it?
Seconds later, a taxi was waiting for them. They exchanged no words before getting into the cab. Scarlett gave the address of the little abandoned home in which they were staying.
It wasn’t until they swerved out the back Elijah turned back to see three men in black suits piled out of the fire exit with guns drawn.
He smirked. It really was a close call.
“We have to talk.”
He slowly turned to his partner in crime. Her eyes bounce around the enclosed cab, never looking him directly in the face.
Oh, they were definitely having a…talk.
It didn’t take long to get to the abandoned house, since it wasn’t far from the art gallery. Elijah sat on one of the broken chairs. He leaned over his knees and inspected the knife. Little patches of blood started drying on it. He had to clean it—
“Why didn’t you stick to the plan?”
Elijah didn’t look up at Scarlett as he inspected his knife. Was that a catch in her voice as she asked the question? Or was it a demand?
