Programmed for Peril

on it.
    His moon face broke into a grin. “Surprise!” he said. He broke the strings on the box and opened it. Trish saw a round layer cake with black frosting. On it red letters spelled Trish, Carson, and Melody—together forever! “Time to celebrate!” He smiled at Trish so intently that she felt herself color.
    “I didn’t order this to happen!” Carson’s face was stony.
    “You waited more than three years for this moment, brother. What can it be but joyous? She’s yours again!”
    “Since when do you act without my instructions?”
    In Trish’s eyes Carson’s altered face seemed to switch between his former features and Dino’s. One moment he looked his old obsessed self, the next the character he had desijpied and acted solely for her deception. She couldn’t readily adjust to the kaleidoscopic personas. Could he shift to other faces and shapes for her further torment?
    Champ lowered his eyes. “I’m delighted for you both,” he muttered.
    “That’s not your place—delight!” Carson spat. “Your place is obedience. ”
    “I have been obedient, Master.”
    Carson raised his brother’s face with stiffened fingers under his chin. “Not wholly. I saw your recent tears of adoration. Besides, you know I can so nearly read your mind. Can’t I?”
    Champ nodded.
    Trish hugged Melody reassuringly. She whispered into the girl’s ear, “It’s going to be okay.” Her daughter sniffled and looked on with wide gray eyes.
    Carson shoved his face toward his brother’s. “You’ve been seduced by Queen of My Heart, haven’t you? Just as I was once.”
    “No!”
    “You dare he to your master?”
    "No!”
    “You do!” Carson snatched up the cake and smashed it into Champ’s chest. Some icing and devil’s food crumbs clung with the stars to his soiled shirt. The rest fell onto his size fourteen shoes. He made no effort to clean himself. He whimpered and lowered his eyes.
    Trish said, “I’m ready to go with you, Carson.”
    Carson stepped away from his brother. He turned to Trish, crossed his arms. She had been trying to read him since the moment she understood he was Carson, not Dino. At that moment she succeeded. She saw...
    Hate.
    She tightened her grip on Melody.
    “I wanted you with me for life, Queen of My Heart,” Carson said. “Until you confessed that your unfaithfulness made another man Melody’s father.” He jabbed a forefinger at her. “No matter what you said, I didn’t believe it. I thought you were lying to drive me away. So I checked with the clinic, the way oiled by your instructions.” He stepped closer and gripped her throat. Melody shrank away, dragging at Trish’s arms. “From the moment I hung up the phone your new destiny was decided.”
    Champ was puzzled. “What new destiny? Her destiny lies side by side with yours, Master.”
    “No.”
    Dread rose like fog in Trish’s mind. “What are you saying, Carson?”
    “You died the moment I heard the truth about who Melody’s father really was.”
    Trish’s heart sank in a flood of dread. She had struggled hard to finally break his domination. Through pain and panic she had succeeded. Carson had been totally in the grip of his obsession until she had broken it, too, with the truth about Melody’s paternity. At long, long last! The irony was that...
    Carson turned to Champ. “She dies for her lies and deceptions.”
    “No!” Trish sprang up, knocking Melody sprawling. She tried to rush to her purse. Her legs tangled with her daughter’s. She tripped and sprawled on cake. The scent of devil’s food rose amid the reek of festering Nicholas like a flowered vine around bleached bone.
    Carson’s foot ground in between her shoulder blades. “Champ, get your wire! I’ll hold her head and be the last human face she sees.”
    A wire into her brain, too! Trish tried to squirm free, but Carson’s foot was heavy as a pillar.
    “And... get the pruning shears, too, I think.”
    “Master..
    “Champ!”
    Melody was bawling loudly. Trish twisted her neck to see the girl pressed up against the side of the bed. She was terrified. Small wonder! Even in her desperate peril Trish’s heart went out to her child. “Please don’t hurt Melody!” she shouted.
    “Melody, Shmelody,” Carson cooed. “Champ, the wire!”
    “You can’t kill Queen of My Heart,” Champ said softly. "You will kill Queen of My Heart. As a punishment for your infatuation. And you will use the shears.”
    Champ stood unmoving. Carson’s