"Never!" He gripped her tighter. Shit. Nicky was out of time.
Nicky took in the room, looking for something to spark her imagination, something she could use to get him to let her go.
She looked up. At the moonlight through the ceiling.
Then, it hit her.
Nicky raised her gun in the air. The man frowned. Meghan's eyes bulged as she whimpered.
Nicky fired two shots into the cracked ceiling right above Roy's head.
Crumbled concrete fell down. He was taller than Meghan, towering over her, so it hit him first. A light bit of rubble hit her, but Nicky had hit the perfect spot to only get Roy with the big chunk.
It worked. A chunk hit Roy's head, dazing him.
Nicky didn't waste a second. She dove in and shoved Meghan away, freeing her from Roy's grips. She screamed and ran off.
But it wasn't over for Nicky.
Roy was quick. He went straight for her. The next thing Nicky knew, she was seeing stars. Pain reverberated through her skull.
He'd hit her over the head with something. She was seeing double.
Her gun wasn't in her hand.
When she could see straight again, all she saw was Roy coming for her.
"You'll never get to Meghan," he said. "I'll do anything to protect her."
Nicky went to pull out her gun, but Roy hit her over the head a second time.
She fell over. Still seeing double, she couldn't tell if the pain was coming from the blow to the head or the fall.
She didn't know what was going on. But she knew one thing.
He was responsible for the sudden shift.
The man was getting closer. She had to fight him off, or he'd kill her.
"It's you," he said. With a crazed smile, he mounted her, wrapping his hands around his throat. No. Nicky tried to knee him, but it didn't work. "You're the one I've been looking for," he said. "You're my true love. It's been you all along."
His voice sounded like a nightmare. He was a maniac. He had a look in his eyes that Nicky had only ever seen on one person.
Her own captor.
"I'm not yours!" Nicky yelled.
"You are," he purred. "You will be. Forget the others. It's just you and me."
"That's not how it works," Nicky said. "How do you make a woman love you? How do you force a woman to stay with you? It's not real, Roy!"
"I can't win against you," he said. "There's something inside of you. Something strong. Something I can't take away."
He was talking pure nonsense. Nicky tried to push him off, but his weight was crushing down on her, clamping on her throat, and she couldn't catch a breath. Nicky started to see stars.
"You can't hate me," he said. "You can't hate me."
The maniac was whispering in her ear.