“We should get drunk,” Sophia challenges, an evil glint in her eyes. “Since Daddy is off golfing with Miles and Dane, it would be fun. Our little secret.”
I self-consciously pull at my oversized shirt. “I’m not really in the mood. Plus, you’re too young,” I admonish.
She rolls her eyes. “Is that really the reason? Or is it because you’re pregnant?”
My mouth pops open. Max promised he’d tell the girls this weekend over dinner. We just haven’t gotten that far yet.
“I, uh, oh my God.”
A smug grin crosses over her face. “I fucking knew it!”
“Language, Soph!” I shriek and my hand automatically goes to my belly when our son jumps from my outburst. Before I can pull it away, I notice her gaze on me.
“Just tell me,” she whines. “I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
I chew on my lip for a second before letting out a huff. “We were going to tell you this weekend. I’m pregnant. A boy.”
Her screech makes me laugh.
“This is so exciting!”
We giggle and hug in the kitchen. Sophia may be much younger than I am but we’ve grown really close. Over time, I divulged every dirty detail that Carson did to me. Stuff I couldn’t even bring myself to tell her father. She knows he still stalks me from time to time too. Together we cried and she viciously vowed to hurt him one day. I love her like I would a sister. I may have lost my family when Dad died, but I gained a new one. I’ve never been happier.
Ding-dong!
“You stay and watch the sauce. Keep cutting the mushrooms. I’ll get the door,” I tell her, my voice breathy from laughing. I’m all smiles as I flit through the house. My house. A few weeks ago, Max had one of his judge friends marry us at the courthouse. It was small and perfect. I’m officially Mrs. Rowe now.
My smile gets impossibly wider.
The moment I open the front door though, it melts away like butter in a frying pan.
“Well if it isn’t the little princess moving from one fucking prince charming to the other,” Carson snarls, staggering slightly toward me.
I go to slam the door shut but he pushes right inside. His hand catches me by the throat and I’m slammed against the nearest wall. He leans forward and I get a disgusting whiff of hard liquor. It’s barely five in the afternoon and he’s wasted.
“And you got yourself knocked up too,” he snarls, his hand squeezing my throat. “I bet you’re so goddamned happy!”
I flinch when he screams at me. My fingernails claw at him so he’ll release me but stars are beginning to glitter in my vision. When I see Sophia behind him, I implore her to run and get help with my eyes.
He starts shaking me and my head bangs against the wall. Blackness swarms around me. Just when I think my perfect life will be over as quick as it began, I’m released. His howling is loud but I slide down to my knees to try and catch my breath. Glass shatters and I hear grunting. When I come to my senses, I see Carson straddling Soph as he tries to strangle her. A kitchen knife sticks out of his back.
Oh God.
I bolt into Max’s office and look in the drawer he told me about. Once I pull out my weapon, I rush back in there. Since he’s sitting on top of her, I easily take a shot at him, knowing I won’t hit her. The bang is loud and scares the baby in my belly because he rolls hard in my stomach.
Carson howls again and releases Sophia. He falls onto his side cursing. It’s not a fatal wound from what I can tell but at least he’s let her go. She scrambles to her feet and hobbles over to me. I’m supposed to be the one consoling the teenager here but I’m crying so hard and my hands are shaking too badly. She whispers assurances to me as she takes the gun.
“Sit, Dorian,” she demands, her voice authoritative like her father’s.
She disappears and then returns with her cell phone to her ear. I can hear her talking calmly to someone. Sheriff McMahon. Then she calls her father. His bellowing can be heard all the way over here.
Carson sobs from the floor but neither of us move to help him.
Either he’s going to die or go to prison.
Either way, I’ll be glad.
My nightmare will finally be over.