"Nellie begged me for days to let her plan your birthday, to make you happy. She even stationed herself at the launch site personally to make sure nothing went wrong. And you tried to kill her!"
Jocelyn felt her neck creak under the pressure. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, beyond her control.
"Let... let go! Even if I wanted her dead, I wouldn't use something this stupid!"
Ivor hurled her aside through clenched teeth. "You're beyond saving, Jocelyn. I don't have time for this."
He released her and ran out without a backward glance.
Jocelyn curled up on the ground, coughing violently, her body shaking with the raw relief of survival.
But before she could even catch her breath, a deafening crash came from above. A burning section of one of the illuminated signs plummeted down and slammed into the ground less than two feet from where she lay.
She flinched, instinctively drawing her limbs in tight, and forced her head up. At the far end of her vision, Ivor's silhouette was disappearing through the emergency exit.
A second later, the steel door was locked from the outside, sealing off every way out.