Vivian looked up at it. If Charlene had been closer to her, this would have been a perfect distraction, an opportunity to attack and try to wrestle the gun out of her hand. Hell, if she'd had anything that she could throw, the knock at the door might have saved her life. Instead, all it did was buy her enough time to take a couple more steps back.

The knocking continued. More of a pounding now.

Vivian didn't lower the gun. She squeezed the trigger.

Missed, though not by much. Charlene took another step back.

Vivian fired again. This shot took a piece out of Charlene's shoulder. A few inches to the left and it would have struck the same place that Jared slashed her neck.

She hadn't won yet. Charlene wasn't going to give up until she was dead.

Vivian took a few steps forward, to get better aim.

"Please..." Charlene repeated.

The pounding continued.

Charlene cried out and doubled over as Vivian shot her in the stomach.

She fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Blood was already pooling beneath her.

Vivian wiped the blood off her mouth, then turned away from Charlene and walked into the room with the cages.

Charlene wanted to shout out a warning to Gertie, as worthless as that would be, but right now, and possibly forever, there wasn't a damn thing she could do.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Vivian almost wanted to sob with relief as she turned away from that bitch. If she was quick, she could kill Gertie, then finish off Charlene if she wasn't dead already. She'd have to figure out a narrative that made sense, but if she acted hysterical—that is, if she continued to act hysterical—nobody would expect her to share her story right away. She could go mute until she'd worked things out.

She almost dropped to her knees as she saw the gory corpses of Jared and Ken, but forced herself to look past that. She just needed to kill Gertie, a helpless unconscious girl in a cage, and everything would be all right.

She took the long way around to avoid stepping in any blood.

Gertie, obviously, hadn't gone anywhere.

Vivian walked up to the cage. Gertie's eyes were closed but she was still breathing. Vivian didn't get too close, in case it was a trick, but she pointed the barrel of the revolver at Gertie's forehead and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened. Just a click.

Was she out of bullets? She'd only fired five times.

Wait, she'd forgotten about Ken shooting Charlene in the leg. Yes, the gun was out of bullets. She tossed it onto the floor. Her fingerprints were all over the weapon, but she'd probably have to admit to shooting Charlene anyway, since their blood was mixed together out there. She'd just claim self-defense.

Gertie's death would obviously not be self-defense. She'd blame this one on Ken.