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And there went my fight. I couldn't breathe. I grasped at my throat as if I could claw the air in there myself.
Then she punched me in the gut and launched herself at me again, hitting me with an elbow. And when I fell backward, barely able to brace my fall, she dug her elbow into my shoulder and grinned down at me.
"You stupid bitch. Why won't you just die? When I had Reeser shoot you, I thought that would be it. I thought for sure you were going to die. But oh no, because you have the luck of the Irish themselves, you didn't die. And there was Atticus, proclaiming his love for you all over the place. I saw him on the news. He was worried. He used to love me like that, you know?"
I could barely breathe, only getting a little of my air back. And this time, she levered herself up and then bounced on my sternum, sending out whatever air I’d managed to take in. But still, I croaked out, "He never loved you."
I groaned and tried to dislodge her again. But her delicate hands were on my throat as she attempted to squeeze the life out of me. "Lying cunt. He did love me. You just got in the way and distracted him. I've been told about girls like you my whole life. The ones that the boys shouldn't want but can't help themselves. You are nothing but a whore. I thought he would get over it like they're supposed to. I am the proper wife. Me. Not someone like you."
She pulled me up and then smashed my head back into the tile floor. My mind went fuzzy for a moment. Then I tried to raise my arms up over my head like Sven had taught me to draw in a longer breath. I made C-shapes with my hands and brought them down right at her thumb, and dragged in a breath. With that, I raised my hips and rolled her over. Finally, I was back on top, and I delivered an elbow to her face. She screeched. "Fuck you."
I shouted again, "Avalon." And I kept shouting the code word as I delivered blows to her face then began choking her.
But she had some skill, and she was able to dislodge me, kicking me against the wall, making me bang my head again. And then she scrambled for the knife. I only had seconds before she reached it. Staggering, I ran toward her and shoved her down.
"Avalon!"
I grabbed the back of her hair, hard, and then smashed her head down into the tile floor. "Avalon!"
No one was coming. I was on my own. I was going to have to incapacitate her if I wanted to make it to the panic room.
Suddenly, Lucy was tugging for something inside her belt at the small of her back.
"You stupid bitch. You are going to die today. I wanted to carve off your pretty face first, but I'm happy to shoot you just the same."
When I realized she had a gun in her hand, I fought for it.
One shot rang clearly in the penthouse, and my breath caught.
I am not going to die today. I am not going to die today. I am not going to die today.
At that point, I was able to bang the gun against the floor and kick it away.
She scrambled for it, and I ran after her.
Then suddenly, Atticus was there. He was coming through the door in the kitchen. The one that connected the two penthouses.
And as Lucy raised her gun, he ran in front of me. "That's enough, Lucy."
"No, that isn’t enough."
Behind him, I sagged, but I wasn't going to let him take a bullet for me. Instead, I stepped to the side.
"I said, that's enough,” he repeated.
"You should have chosen me, Atticus. We were perfect together, but instead, you threw me away."
Atticus raised an insolent brow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you fuck Jefferson behind my back?"
Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. "No. When I was with you, I was with you.”
“That's why I broke up with you. If you want to fuck some McKinsey reject, fine, I don't care. But I'm not going to be with someone who likes to fuck other people. It was that simple."
Lucy’s eyes narrowed to slits. "You married a slut."
Atticus’s voice was sharp when he spoke again. "You will not talk about my wife like that."
"You should have fallen for me, but I'm going to make the choice for you. When she's gone, you'll learn to love me again like you did before. You and me, we're supposed to be together. You know how good we look. You look wrong with her. With her skin and her hair, she doesn't fit, Atticus."
