The sound of his laughter made bile rise in my throat. The smell of the smoke threatened to take me back under to the safe place in my mind.
Parker needs me.
He was in bad shape. If I didn’t try to get us out of here, we’d burn, and Charles would get away with it all. Blood soaked his clothing, and his chest was barely rising, but my mind refused to believe he was anything but alive.
You have to fight. Don’t let him take Parker, too.
Her voice came steady and calm despite the chaos around me. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see her.
Don’t let this be for nothing.
Charles began to cough and turned his attention back on me.
“You’re going to burn here, just like dear old dad and lover boy.”
“Will you finally be happy when I’m gone?” I questioned, my voice coming out sluggish.
Tipping my chin up, he grinned. “Very. A life for a life, Evelyn. You stole mine, so I’ll take yours. This chapter will finally close once you take your last breath, then things will be as they should’ve been.”
I smiled, feeling the bite of pain from my broken nose and my cracked lips.
“You’ll never be happy, Charles. You can kill me, but you’ll never know peace. How does it feel to know you killed the last person on earth that loved you?”
Charles screamed, then reared back and kicked the legs of the chair, sending me swiftly to the floor.
The chair splintered and broke. I didn’t have a moment to catch my breath before Charles was on me. Panic overwhelmed me as his body pressed against mine. My body tensed, and I froze. Images flashed in my mind of the last time our bodies metlike this, and again bile rose in my throat, but all that came out was a choked cough.
Smoke and flame billowed around us as the barn became more and more engulfed in flames.
He grabbed my face, his fingers dug into my cheeks as he smiled. His tongue darted forward, gliding across my face, he made me want to rip the tainted skin from my body. I tried to shift away from him, the weight of his body making it hard to move.
“I didn’t always look for her. Sometimes I looked for you. I’m going to enjoy killing you. The others were for sport, but you’re special, and I can’t wait to hear you scream.”
I felt the binds at my hands loosen in my struggle. Hope attempted to bloom in my chest, but it felt false. Beneath my body, the fragments of what once was the chair laid within my reach, my fingers closed around the wood in desperation.
It felt like deja vu. Charles straddled me and began to unbuckle his pants. The burning building had no bearing on his actions. His only mission was to cause pain.
I turned my head away from him, waiting for the inevitable assault on my body, clutching the broken chair fragment like a lifeboat. He was stronger than me, and I was injured, but I had to try.
If there is any way Parker is alive, I have to try for him. For us.
“You didn’t think I would leave without getting a taste, Ev?—”
Before he can finish his statement, I bring my arm forward with all the strength I have. Pain shoots down my arm as I bring the wooden piece down on his head and face. The strike stuns him, and he momentarily releases his weight on top of me. The small window gives me enough time to shift my weight as well, knocking him off of me as he scrambles to hold his face.
I struggled to get to my feet quickly. My world was spinning.
Blood was leaking from his temple and jaw. Rage filled his eyes as he charged toward me.
I couldn’t help the tremor of fear that went through me as he closed the distance between us. I hadn’t thought this through. All I know is that I have to fight.
My eyes tried to scan my surroundings for anything that could help me, but I could barely see through the smoke.
Charles grabbed me by the arm with one hand, jerking my body into him as he pointed his gun at my chest with the other.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Evvie. You know I like it when they fight.” He sneered.
“There is a place for you in Hell, you sick bastard!” I screamed into his face.
