Page 77 of His Obsession

My heart stopped, and my breath caught in my lungs. His gaze from his good eye quarreled with mine, and I backed out of the room, quickly grabbing the knife on the table beside the door. I held the knife to his throat, my hands shaking, rage consuming my thoughts.

I had him helpless before me, as he did to me, and I could end him right here and now. I ground my teeth and fought back the urge to run the knife across his neck and watch the life leave his vacant eyes.

“Do it,” he whispered, begging me to end his suffering.

I wanted to, not to take away his pain, but to eliminate mine. What every victim would give to have their aggressor at their mercy. I didn’t have to imagine he was here, alive but barely.

“Do it,” he repeated, pressing his neck forward into the blade.

“I should, you bastard, but you don’t deserve compassion.” I snarled, baring my teeth.

I pulled the blade from his throat and dug it into his cheek, watching the blood bead at the tip. Judging from the wounds on his body, I was sure this was peanuts compared, but it felt good to inflict what minor damage it was to his body.

Pounding footsteps came down the hall and stopped at the room I was currently occupying. I kept my knife to his face, never taking my eyes off him.

“Liz, don’t do it,” Alek whispered behind me. His hand touched my shoulder, pulling my attention from Jimmy’s swollen face.

“Don’t touch me!” I yelled, shrugging off his hand.

Alek put his hands up to show me he didn’t mean me any harm. Which was silly. I knew he would never hurt me. Or, maybe, he was afraid that I would hurt him? I was the emotionally disturbed woman with a weapon.

“You don’t want to do this, Liz,” he said, his voice calm like he was trying to talk me down from the ledge.

“Yes, I do.” I pushed the blade deeper into his skin and moved it across his cheekbone, forcing a cry from his lips and a smile from mine.

“No, you don’t,” he said, interrupting Jimmy’s cries. “You kill him, and you’ll never be free of his memory. Killing him will only haunt you more than you already are. Trust me, I know.”

“What do you know?” I said, anger stinging my eyes.

“I know that when you kill a man, his face will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life. You will see his face everywhere you go,” he said, pausing. “You’ll never be free. You can walk away and work through your fears. But if you cross that line, you’ll be a slave to him forever.”

I paused, receiving what he had to say, and tried to understand. He knew this because he had killed a man before; I knew this for sure. He had a basement full of torture devices and rooms built to imprison people, for Christ’s sake. If I thought that killing Mr. Mohawk was his first kill, I’d be a fool.

He needed to pay, though, for what he did to me. I wanted to snuff out his life like a candle that was throwing away. Rage resurfaced, and I moved the shaking knife back to his neck. I saw nothing but red, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I noticed Alek inch forward, and I allowed him; I wouldn’t hurt him, I would never do that.

“Please,Liz. Don’t.” Alek was pleading with me.

It was hard to tell if he had an ulterior motive for me not to end Jimmy or genuinely trying to keep me from crossing that line and destroying any chance of ever coming back from the dark side.

Could I live with his face haunting me more so than it already was? I knew that answer. I couldn’t stand to look at him now, even though I had him at my mercy. I was in control, and I still couldn’t bear being in his presence. I knew I couldn’t live through it if what Alek said was right, and it would be worse than it is now.

I stepped away, ready to drop the knife.

“I knew you couldn’t do it, you fucking cunt. You’re just as worthless as his mother!” Jimmy yelled.

Alek lunged forward, as I did, and caught my hand. My knife took deadly aim at his throat in an upward angle directly to his brain—one more solid inch, and I would have made contact. Alek squeezed my wrist, forcing me to release the knife, and I watched as it clattered to the floor.

The tsunami of emotion broke through the dam holding back my tears, and I crumbled. Alek drew me into his arms, where I sobbed, while Jimmy screamed wordlessly, angry he couldn’t manipulate me.

∞∞∞

Randall stood in the doorway, bare chest, hands in his pockets, just watching, observing it all.

“Take your sweet ass time until you go back,” Lucy said. She had been trying to convince me to milk it for as long as possible. “It’s not like you aren’t getting paid.”

“I cannot stay cooped up in this house any longer. It’s been four weeks, and I’m going insane.”