No signal.
I suck in a horrifying breath as anxiety and fear try to take over my being. My heart beats at an alarming rate, almost as if it’s trying to beat itself outside of my chest.
Before I can turn and run for refuge I hear the cock of a gun followed by a dark snicker. “If I were you I’d stay exactly where you are.” His voice hits my ears like acid.
Fear, it has a funny way of showing who you really are.
And much like my entire life has been built on fear I’m no longer a prisoner to it.
And I will not return to being a prisoner to Steven Alexander. He held me in the grasp of fear for long enough.
Carefully, I turn towards him with both of my hands raised.
He looks deranged. Dark brown hair chaotically disheveled from the overuse of running fingers and greasy from days of not showering. Eyes that had always fooled and charmed anyone are wild and crazed. Clothes that have seen better days hang on his body loosely.
If I hadn’t of known him from before I wouldn’t be able to recognize him.
The gun he has stays steady on me, pointing directly at my chest. I see his finger already hovering over the trigger.
He smiles psychotically at me. “Don’t feel so powerful now, do you?”
I keep my tone nice and even, as if I’m talking to a wounded wild animal. “What are you doing here, Steven?”
He takes another threatening step closer and I instinctively take one backward. A large grin slashes across his face. “You took everything from me. Did you not think I wouldn’t come to collect?”
My eyes cut a quick glance back to my phone and I hear him snicker. “Cell phone jammer,” he explains darkly. I stay quiet, in hopes to keep him talking until I can form a plan until Oak comes back. “Made it myself thanks to good old YouTube.” Fucking YouTube. Great for makeup tutorials and home renovations but terrible for ones who are truly mad.
“So, what’s your grand plan here?” I ask him as I inch closer to the kitchen knives I have out on display. I ask him more questions to distract him. “You say I took everything from you but that’s not true. Somehow you were able to post bail. There’s still a hearing. You can possibly still walk away from this with the right lawyer.” It’s a false sense of security I’m giving him but it’s buying me time. I shift my feet again, finally in arms length of the knives.
He narrows his eyes at me. “You and I both know I’m not walking away from this, Grace,” he spits my name with disgust and malice.
“Okay,” I agree. “Then what do you have planned? Because if harming me is a part of your plan then you must know you’re choosing death. Oak will never let you live.”
He crosses the room with maddening steps and I back myself against the kitchen counter. My heart lurches to my throat. I feel the beating of it in my ears. “I’m not planning on walking out of this alive,” he tells me and I swear everything comes to a fucking stop.
To my own horror he pulls the trigger and it whizzes past me, grazing my arm as the bullet lands in the backsplash behind me.
And then everything changes.
Knowing that stalling will not do me any good I spring into action. I reach over and pull out a knife while he fires off another shot. This time the bullet lands in my upper shoulder. I cry out in pain and take cover by hiding behind the island.
“You could have avoided this if you had just given me what I wanted!” He bellows. He fires off another shot and it has me shaking in my crouched position. My shoulder is on fire, the pain making me feel queasy. I swallow down the bile that threatens to rise as tears fall.
Knowing I can’t stay here I suck in a shaky breath and keep myself hidden as I move along the island.
Another fire from the gun goes off and I flinch. He’s just carelessly shooting. And I don’t know if that works to my advantage or not. All I know is I have to slip by him and run for safety.
I reach the end of the island, the knife held tightly in my hand. As I see his shoe come on the other end of the island I make my quick move to the other side.
“The heroin I gave didn’t get rid of your fucking drug whore of a mother but this bullet will fucking end her whore of a daughter,” he promises darkly. His confession doesn’t come as a surprise but it doesn’t hurt any less.
Blood pools from my wound and casts like a shadow behind me. And if I think about the amount I’m losing it will send me into a panic.
“And you,” he laughs maniacally, “you could be a whore for that fucking no good biker criminal but you couldn’t give it up to me?!”
His words set a fire inside me. And the need to defend my man is strong. Which is why I can’t help but bite back, “A criminal who is a thousand times of a better man than you.”
He screams and the power of it vibrates through my body. He fires off another shot out of anger. This time he sends it in the direction of my voice.
