"What are you doing?"
The click of a lighter.
Seconds later, thick smoke clawed at my throat and I doubled over coughing.
Everything around me turned scorching hot.
I couldn't see. My hand brushed against a burning easel by accident.
Pain ripped across the back of my hand, and I gasped through clenched teeth.
Stephanie laughed, a sharp, taunting sound, and squeezed my hand tight so I couldn't run.
"Today, I'm going to show you exactly who the woman Dominic truly loves is."
The smoke thickened. I couldn't stop coughing.
The oxygen in my lungs was running out. My legs buckled and I collapsed to the floor.
The door shuddered with a deafening crash.
Dominic's voice, frantic.
"Joanna! Are you okay? Don't be scared. I'm coming to get you."
He called my name again and again.
When I didn't answer, his voice grew more desperate.
The instant the door burst open, Stephanie yanked me backward and crumpled to the ground.
"My stomach... it hurts so much..."
A fragile, pitiful whimper.
The footsteps that had been charging straight toward me faltered the moment Stephanie cried out, then changed direction entirely.