“Good thing he won’t be a problem anymore.” He spat as he released my hair and gripped my arm, pulling me roughly into the living room.
The moment my feet crossed the threshold of the main living area, a wave of dizziness washed over me as all the blood drained from my head.
Dean was on the floor, face down, in front of the sofa. He was motionless. I couldn’t see the rhythmic rise or fall of his chest.
My attacker grabbed my shoulders, pushing me toward Dean’s body and preventing me from turning away. Another man stood overtop, as if keeping watch to make sure he stayed put. I was sure that Dean wouldn’t be going anywhere.
I’d never seen a dead body before; the sight was shocking and surreal, the stillness unnatural. I’d never even been to a funeral. My parents didn’t have many friends or living relatives, which had worked to shield me, preventing exposure to life’s harsher realities.
Looking at Dean lying lifeless on the floor in our shared living room, I felt the darkness. I wasn’t inherently sad that Dean was gone, but there was a cloud of dread that satsuspended over the scene. Was I going to be next? What would happen to Charlie?
Charlie…
I fought the urge to look down the hall to our bedroom, where our little girl was sleeping. I didn’t want to bring any unwanted attention towards her. If I could shield her from the destruction and devastation, even for another couple of hours, until a neighbor found our bodies and called for help, I’d do anything to keep her from this.
A cold sweat slicked my palms as I whispered a desperate plea, every breath a tremor in the face of Charlie’s uncertain fate. A mother’s job was to keep her children fed, happy, and safe.
The hulking, dirty man who’d been holding me pushed my shoulders towards the ground. My knees buckled underneath, and I caught myself by my hands, my head dangerously close to Dean’s body. I fought the urge to vomit the contents of my stomach.
“This is what happens to fucking snakes.” He punctuated his words with a kick to Dean’s gut. His head lolled to the side, and I got a glimpse into his wide, terror-stricken eyes.
“Your man here decided to eat through my product that was meant to be sold. He owes me a whole lot of money.”
The lifeless orbs looked through me and I choked out a sob. The sad part was, I wasn’t crying for Dean. The punishment meted out by the thugs was probably deserved, given his past actions and behavior. He was a shitty partner, an absent father, a drug addict, an abuser, and I was relieved that he was dead.
Not knowing what was about to happen, I cried. I was crying for our daughter, who was going to grow up anorphan. I was crying because I could sense death hovering - waiting to take me with him.
“Scuzz, you offin the girl or what? We’ve gotta get the fuck outta here.” The other intruder asked, his eyes just as beady and expressionless as his partner’s.
“I don’t think so,” he replied with a predatory tilt to his head. “There’s still a debt to pay, and she looks like a fun little play thing.”
A door slamming down the hallway had both men looking over their shoulders. The seconds ticked by as they waited for whoever was outside the door to leave down the hall. Sensing that the coast was clear,he crouched down in front of me and used his thick pointer finger to lift my chin, averting my gaze from Dean.
His smile was wicked as he licked his lips and leaned in close to my ear. “I didn’t plan on having a pretty piece of ass like yourself follow me home, but I’ll be back.”
His promise filled my veins with an icy dread. “You can run, but you can’t hide,” he whispered as he licked my earlobe. I found myself fighting against the urge to vomit again, not from the dead body, but from the insinuation of what this man could do to me.
As he pushed himself up to his feet and he and his partner disappeared down the quiet hallway, a choking sob escaped my throat, leaving me in stunned silence.
As soon as they shut the door behind them, I crumpled. The heaving sobs choked through my chest, making it hard to breathe. I scooted backwards on my hands and feet to rest my back against the closed door.
The tears flowed in rivers down my cheeks, my eyes becoming swollen and puffy by the minute, obstructing my vision.
A small whimper came from our bedroom and broke me from my pit of despair. In my desperation to keep myself from falling apart, I’d forgotten that Charlie was still in the other room, completely oblivious to our life crumbling around us.
With one last choked sob, I tore myself away from Dean’s stillness, the desperate need to survive overriding all else, and started packing.
SEVEN
max
Not even thepeaceful warmth of the sleeping child in my arms, her gentle snores a counterbalance to my pounding heart, could diminish the searing rage that consumed me after hearing all that Stella had been through.
A ragged breath caught in my throat; a burning rage ignited within me, the need to hunt this motherfucker down and end him with my bare hands overwhelming.
Although Stella had talked in riddles and half-truths, mincing words because of our current locale, I’d gotten the gist of the danger these two girls were in - and danger was an understatement. I had just inserted myself into something I had no business being involved in, all because a pretty woman had occupied my thoughts.
“Say something.” Stella begged, breaking me out of my rage induced stupor.
