Wails echo from upstairs.
Rose.
My daughter needs me.I can hear she needs me.But the threat isn’t gone.I won’t lead this man to her.I push to my feet, staggering against the radiator, missing Andrew Black and the man who has come to mean the world to me when they come barrelling toward me.The cupboard under the stairs is the first door I come to, and I know there has to be a weapon in there.I pull it open, but all I see in my panic haze is coats, shoes, paint and cleaning supplies.
Something glints in the light and I reach for it, finding the ice skates my dad bought me for Christmas one year.Tears spill down my cheeks as I hear Barry’s pained grunt.I pivot to face the two men, hoping this is all a dream and I’ll wake up any second.There’s no such luck.Andrew is between us, his back to me, and Barry is closer to the door.His eyes are wide, filled with anguish and pain as he watches me in horror over Andrew’s shoulder.There’s clarity behind the anguish and pain.It’s like he’s silently telling me he’s sorry.He disappears, collapsing from sight, and I don’t think.I lift the skate up and use the blade as a weapon, hitting Andrew in the shoulder as a shriek pierces the air.
He moves quickly, spinning whilst holding his hand out, hitting me square in the face.The skate drops from my hand as I topple to the floor, hitting the bottom step.I cry out at the pain in my back.Panic swells in my stomach as breath explodes from my mouth.
Blood flows from his eyebrow and his lip is cut, his jaw already swelling as he takes a step in my direction.I let my gaze fall to the floor behind Andrew’s legs when I hear a whimper.I inhale sharply at the knife embedded in Barry’s shoulder.My chest rises and falls in rapid breaths, a silent scream slicing through my head.
No, no, no.
Barry’s okay.He’s okay.This isn’t his time.He’s still trying; still fighting to help me as he struggles to reach for the bat lying near the door.
My gaze snaps to Andrew when a boot connects with my ribs.A squeak falls from my lips as I hold my hand out.My hair clings to tears and sweat on my neck and face.I’ve never felt pain like this before.It is rooted in my breath, each beat of my pulse, with every movement.
He’s going to kill me.
Hatred in its purest form spills out of Andrew when he looks at me.My entire body trembles as I try to lift myself up from the floor, bile burning the back of my throat.He stomps on my foot, and I wail, trying harder to escape when I feel the bone crunch.A wave of dizziness consumes me as a stabbing pain shoots up my leg.“Stop!Stop!Please, stop!”I choke out.
“It’s too late for that,” he sneers, gripping the front of my dress.I hear it tear as I watch his fist coming at me.I turn my head, trying to avoid him hitting my face.My jaw throbs as my teeth snap together at the hit.My vision blurs as he tugs me up, like I’m nothing but a rag doll.“I won’t stop coming for you.Not until I have you and that brat upstairs.Or maybe I will drown it and just keep you.”
“No,” I hoarsely reply, lifting myself up to the next step when his sneering gaze runs over my legs.“I won’t let you.”
Everywhere throbs.My foot.My back.My face feels like it’s on fire.I’m pretty sure I can taste blood.
“You don’t have a choice,” he promises, kneeling slightly.“Maybe I’ll make your husband watch.Watch the life drain from your daughter.Watch the life drain from your eyes when I fuck you over and over.Then when there’s nothing left, when I break you, I’ll slit his throat.”
A ferocious, loud scream pierces the air.It takes me a minute to realise it’s coming from me.My body trembles, my face heats, and a pressure so extreme, so tense, surges inside of me until my face feels like it’s going to burst.
Too many people have tried to take from me.
My birth mum took away my family.My brothers.
The men she brought into my life took my childhood.
They took away what could’ve been.
I will not let this man take my future.I will not let him destroy what Jaxon has given me, the happiness we share, the life we’ve built.
I kick out with strength I didn’t know I had, using my good leg.I’m still screaming, and despite the spots blurring my vision, I watch Andrew stagger back into the side table that is now half broken in the middle of the hallway.
“Lily,” I hear someone yell, coming from the back of the house.
Drew.
The voice stops me from lunging at Andrew and tampers the surge of violence running through my veins.
I sag against the stairs as the backdoor crashes in.I glare at the man to blame for all the destruction and chaos.“I will always have a choice,” I choke out, my throat burning.“And my husband will find you.We will never stop fighting until you’re gone.”
“I’ll be seeing you.”
He jumps over Barry’s limp body and races out of the front door before Drew reaches the hallway.
“Holy fucking shit,” Drew breathes, staggering to a stop to scan the scene.
I point to the door.“He went that way.Andrew Black,” I tell him, feeling my throat throb.It’s never felt this raw.I don’t even recognise my own voice.
