Rose shook her head. “I am staying with you—”
“I’ll just end this,” Gary told her as he stalked closer. “Put him out of his misery. Then you won’t have to worry about whether you leave him behind or not.”
Rose was on her knees beside War. His chest was burning. Warm blood had soaked his shirt.
Over her shoulder, War saw Gary and the bastard’s sick smirk. He was raising his gun, and War knew the prick was going to shoot him again. So much for hating guns, huh, Gary? Or do you just like to use them when you know your prey is strong enough to kick your ass and you have to shoot him to take him down?
War’s fingers flexed. He had his knife in his boot. If he could just get it—
Gary inched closer.
No time. War wouldn’t be able to get the knife out. “Rose…” he growled.
Her hands flew back and she grabbed Gary’s legs. She shoved her whole body against him, and he slammed into the floor. The gun flew from his fingers and slid under the couch.
“G-get…away,” War forced the words out. The room was getting dark. Weakness slid through him. Rose had to get out of there. She had to escape.
But she was diving toward the couch. Stretching her hands under it as she tried to find the gun—
And War saw Gary grab her.
***
She could see the butt of the gun. Rose stretched her hand to reach it. Just a little bit more—
A hard hand clamped around her ankle and wrenched her back. Screaming, Rose flipped over. Gary—with a triumphant expression on his face and his puffy lips twisted in an evil grin—had a death grip on her right ankle. Her left was still free, so she slammed her left foot into his face. As hard as she could. Twice. Three times. She kept kicking him in the face until he let her go. Then Rose sprang to her feet and ran for the kitchen. “You want me?” she screamed at him. “Come get me!”
Because she didn’t want him in there with War. She didn’t want the bastard anywhere near War.
War is fine. It looked worse than it was. He is fine. Multiple gunshot wounds—he was totally fine. He had to be fine. There was no other option.
War was fine, and maybe she was hysterical and in shock, but who the hell cared?
She grabbed a butcher knife from the knife block and whirled. Gary was steps behind her. “Don’t even think about it,” she warned him.
He smiled. Held up his hands. “Think about what? Killing you? I assure you, it’s all I’ve been thinking about since I was first hired to watch you.”
“You were hired to watch all of your victims!”
He didn’t deny the charge. Instead, he said, “Maybe if they’d been faithful, they wouldn’t have needed to be punished.”
“Don’t give me your bullshit! This isn’t about them—those women did nothing wrong.” Her hold on the knife tightened. “You’re the freak who stalked them and killed them. I saw the photoshopped pictures you had of me. How many times did you lie to your clients? How many times did you invent cheating that never happened?”
His grin stretched. “Those were good pics of you, weren’t they? Thought for sure they’d send your jackass of a lover over the edge.”
Her gaze darted to War. Because the kitchen opened straight to the den, she could see him.
When she looked back at Gary, he’d taken a step closer to her. “Don’t you do it,” she ordered. “I will stab you.”
“But what will one stab do? Because it’s unlikely that you’ll kill me with one blow.”
Don’t count on it.
“Then I’ll have you. I’ll take that knife from you. I don’t like knives. Not a big fan of blood. Messes up the moment, if you will. Though, your boyfriend is currently covered in blood, isn’t he?”
He was trying to get her to look at War again. Her gaze stayed on Gary. “If you didn’t like blood, then maybe you shouldn’t have shot him.”
His smile slipped. “He wasn’t supposed to be here. He left you behind last time. Came to my office alone. He was so worried about you being at risk that I was sure he would make you stay here. I know his blond friend was sleeping above the bar.”
How did he know? Had he put a camera near Armageddon? Been watching the place?
“It should have been so easy. When I was here before, I scoped the place out. Once I figured out the best way to get inside, it was just going to be about sneaking in and getting my rope around your neck.” He lowered his right hand. Reached into the oversized pocket of his coat. Pulled out a black, nylon rope. It was then she realized he was wearing gloves. “War would have come back and found you dead. Quite tragic, but at least he would have still been alive. Now he’s dead, and that’s on you.”
Now he’s dead.
Her stare flew to War. He wasn’t moving. A sob choked from her. There was so much blood on him, and War’s big body was chillingly still. No, no—
Gary grabbed her.
“No!” Rose screamed. She sliced down with her knife, and it drove into his shoulder. Blood spurted and flew at her, and she wrenched back the knife to stab him again.
He shoved her back, and her shoulders slammed into the refrigerator.
“Your boyfriend taught me this trick.” He had her wrist, and he was pounding it into the wall. Over and over. The knife fell as her fingers went numb and pain exploded in her wrist. She tried to knee him, but he’d angled his legs between hers. “Don’t worry.” His breath blew over her face. “I think it will feel good for you. At the end, when your brain is deprived of oxygen, you’ll feel a surge of bliss. I’ll give you that. I’ll give you the most perfect moment of your life.”
No, he wouldn’t. Because he was insane. She went for his eyes with her free hand.
He jerked his head back, and her fingers fumbled over his cheek. She didn’t have any good nails—she kept them too short, an old habit. If she had nails, she would have been digging them into him.
He let go. The move was so sudden that she staggered. Her breath huffed out, and she jerked toward—
He had the rope around her neck. He’d moved so fast. A lightning-quick movement.
“Not the first time I’ve done this,” he said as he leaned in close. His breath blew over her cheek. “You learn how to get your vic where you want her. How to distract, then move in for the kill.”
Her fingers grabbed at the rope, but it was too tight. She couldn’t pull it away, and it was cutting into her throat. Digging into her skin. Rose could hear a frantic pounding in her head.
It was like before…when she’d been in the bathroom of that cheap motel. She’d heard that terrible pounding as she fought for her life. She’d been terrified. Her vision had begun to go blurry…
He was keeping his eyes away from her. She couldn’t gouge out that bastard’s eyes. She—she—
He’s stronger than you. So you have to be smarter.
Her frantic struggles were just egging him on. His breath was fast, and his feverish gaze burned with excitement. He liked her fight.
She stopped fighting.
“What—what are you doing?”
She stared straight into his gaze. He’d stopped squeezing when she stopped struggling.
“Do you want to die?” Spittle flew from his mouth.