Chapter 37
ELSIE
She twirls before me, giggling while her pink poofy skirt spins right along with her. I play another song on the radio, both of us in the music room Michael set up for me, having the best day. It’s been like my little oasis, and I love sharing it with her.
“This is sooo much fun!”
She shakes her hips to an upbeat jam while I swivel on the reclining chair, sipping on an iced coffee I made.
“Come on, Elsie!” She bounces on her feet and grins. “Dance with me!”
Laughing, I turn up the music and place my drink on the side table so I can join her.
My heart skips a beat when her little palm grabs on to mine, and just like her father, she fits perfectly in my messy life. I love her fiercely. She’ll never have to doubt that she has someone else who’d lay down their life for hers, because I would, time and time again.
I slip my hand into her other, and together, we dance, we jump, we laugh.
We dance and laugh like we’ve never done before.
It’s magical and beautiful. And in this moment, I truly realize I’m finally happy.
I’m finally free. I’m reunited with my family, my friends are alive and safe.
I get to video chat with all of them whenever I want. Things are good.
Best of all, I can be with the man I’m falling for. And falling for him has been like dipping your toes in the ice-cold waters and realizing it’s pretty warm inside. Once you get used to it, that is. And sure, his life is not one I’d have blindly chosen, but now there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
“Are you my mommy now?” she suddenly asks over the music as we slow, one song leading into another.
I jerk back at the question, but I do what I can not to show the shock on my features. The problem is, I don’t know what I am to her. I mean, I’m not her mother, though the thought makes me sad somehow. Because I want to be.
“Would you like me to be?” I lead her back to the laptop connected to the speakers so I can lower the music.
“Ugh, duh! You’re the best.” She rolls her eyes playfully, her lips turning up with a wide grin.
We both settle into the sofa and she jumps into my lap, her thin arms holding tightly to my neck, her face buried in my chest.
“I—I love you, Elsie,” she whispers.
My heart literally flips and my eyes water over. “I love you too, sweetie.” I hold her closer. “I want us to be a family too.”
“Really?” Her voice grows with excitement, her eyes dancing with a glint as they take me in. “You really want to be my mommy?”
“I really do. I—”
But the words die in my throat at the sound of glass shattering. A bullet fires seconds later from somewhere in the house.
“Elsie?” she cries, her eyes widening with sheer terror, her body shuddering. “W-w-what is that?”
A gasp stills in my lungs. The pulse in my neck spikes.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” I quickly rise, holding her in my arms as I take her to the walk-in closet. “Hide in here.”
I open the door as quietly as I can and place her down inside.
“No!” she cries just as a hail of gunfire rings out from somewhere in the house. “I want my daddy.”
Oh, my God! What’s happening?
“Shh. You have to stay quiet,” I tremble out. “Don’t move, baby. Okay?”
I squeeze her hand; my heartbeats explode into a thundering gallop.
I have to call Michael. Where’s my phone?
I scatter a gaze around the room, not finding it.
Then it hits me. I left the damn thing on the couch when we were watching a movie earlier.
No! No! No! How the hell will I reach him?
“Daddy,” she wails. “Daddy.”
More bullets crack through the air, closer now.
“I know you’re scared, sweetheart, but we have to try and be brave, okay? You have to hide in here like a big girl. And I’ll call Daddy. But you have to stay here.” I try to close the door, but she slams her palm against it.
“No, please, Elsie, don’t leave me alone,” she pleads with an endless river of tears pooling in her eyes.
My breathing labors as panic swells within me. Shouting from multiple voices rises from the distance. Things smash somewhere beyond, clattering against a hard surface, causing both of us to jump.
My stomach heaves and my entire body shudders. “I’ll hide with you, okay?”
A gasping inhale flays out of me when footsteps catch behind the door. I tiptoe into the closet and close it just as floorboards creak. Sophia gasps, and I cover her mouth with a palm. Our breathing is labored and chaotic in the sheer darkness we’re cast in.
“There’s a drink in here,” a man gruffly remarks. “They’re definitely still in the house.”
His croaky voice is curled with darkness and vile intent, his footfalls threading right beside us. Sophia’s hand clutches mine so tightly, I fear her fingers will break.
“Look everywhere and find them. We need them alive.”
I don’t hear a response, just another person’s stomping. My chest tightens, and my body tremors while I try to keep it together for Sophia. I’ll keep her safe with my last dying breath. I won’t let them hurt her.
They start marching away, increasing distance between us, and I breathe a small sigh of relief. We can hide here until they realize they can’t find us.
Sophia lets out a small whimper, and suddenly the door is yanked open and we’re faced with a masked man, his teeth stained yellow as he gives us a leery grin.
“There you two are.” His soulless brown eyes slink down my body, and my insides curl with disgust.
“Please, just don’t hurt her,” I beg, clutching a sobbing Sophia into my side with both arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m right here.”
“Don’t worry.” He chuckles at me, patting her head, and she jumps back. “You’re coming with the girl.”
Then, in a flash, another masked guy appears, storming at us and grabbing my arm.
“No!” I scream, shoving at him, attempting to claw my way out, while the other one grips Sophia, pulling her away from me.
“Elsie!” she screams.
Our hands are still holding on, but the more they drag us away, the more they slowly separate, until all we can feel is each other’s fingertips. Until they’re gone too.
“Don’t you touch her!” I holler at them.
But they ignore me, dragging us out of the room and down the hallway until we’re in the den.
Two chairs wait for us there, and my gaze whizzes from the men to Sophia as they push her down on one of them. The radiance in her face from before has been replaced by full-blown panic.
“I’m right here, sweetheart. I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”
But I’m lying. I can’t do a damn thing.
“Gonna tie her up,” the guy says, removing zip ties from his pocket and wrapping them around Sophia’s wrists while she wails, tears caking up her cheeks.
“You animals!” I fight the hands keeping me hostage while he shoves me into the other chair. “She’s just a baby! Let her go. Do you realize what her father will do to you when he finds out what you’ve done?”
“He won’t do shit, because he doesn’t know who we are,” he snaps, gripping my jaw, his breath as foul as his soul. “And by the time he comes home, we won’t be around to say hello.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the other one grits, and he instantly does.
Sophia continues to cry while I do what I can to reassure her.
How the hell will I get us out of this? I don’t even have Michael’s gun with me.
Stupidly, I left it in the bedroom, in a drawer.
I didn’t want Sophia to see it and get scared, but that was a mistake.
If I had it, I might possibly be able to save us.
But there’s two of them and one of me. Maybe I’m fooling myself.
It’s then that I realize Michael’s men are nowhere. Are they involved? Are they dead?
Oh, God. We don’t stand a chance, do we?
The man takes my wrists behind me, and I form tight fists, palms down, while he straps my hands with zip ties around the back of the chair.
Soulless monsters. Savages. I wish Michael was here. He’d make them pray for death. But he’s too far to get to us in time, even if he knew what was happening.
“What do we do now?” the one who tied me asks the other.
“We’ve got some phone calls to make.” He gives me a once-over. “They won’t be going anywhere. Let’s go.”
He gestures toward the front of the house with a tilt of his chin. Together, they wander to the entrance, and when the slam of the door registers, I turn to Sophia.
“Elsie, I’m sc-scared,” she weeps while I work my hands, seeing if I can slip myself out of these ties.
It’s one thing I remember learning at one of those women’s self-defense classes my mom would make me take as a teenager.
They told us to tighten our fists in the palm-down position if someone tied up our hands with zip ties, then turn the palms into a prayer position and shimmy out. It was the one thing that stuck.
“Will we die?” Sophia’s tearful voice whispers out.
“No. Absolutely not.”
My heart breaks from the way her body shivers, those eyes so sad and scared.
“It’s okay, Sophia. Don’t cry, okay?”
But my pained voice gives my fear away.
“We’ll get out of this. I swear we will. Your father will come,” I lie.
She nods, her tears leaking down her face, her brows tightening every time her chest jumps with a pant.
“Please don't let the bad men hurt me.” Her snivels wreck me to tiny pieces.
I’d do anything to set her free, even give up my life for hers if they’d let me. But from the sounds of it, they still want us alive, and that gives me hope.
“I’d never let anyone hurt you. I love you, Sophia. You be brave for me.”
“You promise Daddy will find us?” She sniffles, panting with heaving breaths while I wiggle my hands little by little.
Hurry! They could come back at any minute. And this time, they might kill us for what I’ve done.
“I promise.”
I twist my hands, and somehow a quarter of one begins to slip out.
“Oh my God,” I mutter, working harder, ignoring the sharp stinging pain.
Almost there. Halfway out. Just a little more, and…
I gasp as one hand slides out just when one of the men walks back in.
Shit. Keep still.
“Do you two need water or something?” the one with those yellow teeth asks, the grip of his gun visible from his waistband.
If I could just get to it somehow. I could snatch it up, then shoot him before calling the cops and Michael.
“Please, I think my wrist is bleeding,” I cry, faking the tears this time. “Could you check on it?”
“Ah, hell,” he mutters, stomping over to me.
Just as he arrives by my knees and makes that turn behind me, my hand snaps and grabs the gun.
“Whoa…” He raises his hands in surrender when I point it at his dick. Slowly, he backs away. “You don’t wanna do this, lady. He’s about to walk back in, and he’ll shoot you and the kid.”
“You will let us out,” I tell him even as my hand jitters, and I use the other to steady the shaking.
Sophia whimpers, but I can’t look at her. Not until he’s either dead or gone.
“I can’t do that.” He shakes his head. “We have a job to do, and we’re gonna do it.”
“What the hell is taking so lo—” The other one marches in, and as soon as he sees me, he whips out his revolver.
I don’t even blink as I pull the trigger. Sophia screams as the man falls to the floor.
“Jesus hell!” the man before me curses, gaping at his friend with blood pooling around his center.
“Keep your fucking hands up!” I zero the weapon at his chest, my shoulders stiff, my hands clammy.
“Okay, lady. Relax.” He does as he’s told. “Just tell me what you want. I don’t want trouble.”
“How many of you are at the house?” My limbs are shaky, but I fight to keep it together.
“Just us, I swear. The others are dead.” He tries to take a step back, but I shake my head. “Michael’s men killed them.”
“Where are Michael’s men?” My heart thuds so loudly, nausea swirls in the pit of my stomach.
But I ignore it all. My only focus is on getting Sophia out of here.
“They’re dead too.”
Shit!
“I’ll go, and you’ll never see me again.” He picks up his arms higher in the air. “I don’t even care. Not enough money for this shit.”
“Throw your weapons on the ground.” My voice is steady, yet every inch of me is drenched in sickness.
I’ve known a lot of terror in my life, but this is something else entirely. And I think it’s because of Sophia. I’ve never had to protect a child before, especially one I loved with all my heart.
When he doesn’t move, I get off the chair and take a single step forward, aiming the gun at his forehead.
“Weapons. Now.” Venom drips from my tone.
“Okay, okay…” He reaches into his ankle and removes the gun there and throws it to the ground.
“Push it away.”
And he does.
“Show me the other ankle.”
His jaw clenches.
I knew it.
He reaches for it, and there it is, the other weapon. He slowly places it down by his feet and kicks it over.
“Don’t you fucking move,” I warn. “And back away from the girl.”
He listens like a good little soldier while I keep my eyes on him, strutting backward toward my phone, hoping it’s still on the sofa.
Continuing to point the weapon, I start to dial for the police.
“Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”
“Please, there was a break-in and—”
I lose all ability to speak, the phone slipping out of my grasp and tumbling to the floor.
“You little bitch,” he sneers, flipping open a knife he just removed from his pocket. “I ain’t going back to prison.”
He takes a single step toward Sophia, and she screams.
“Get the fuck away from her!” I shout louder, wanting the dispatcher to hear.
I aim the gun at him.
“Ma’am? Are you there? What’s your emergency?” The sound of a woman’s voice vibrates against the floor.
“I will shoot you. Step away from her,” I warn the asshole.
“I bet you can’t even use that thing.” He chuckles. “I’ll kill you both, then off myself before the cops show.”
He continues toward Sophia. Only a few feet remain.
I stop listening to the woman on the phone, only hearing Sophia’s muffled cries. Instinctively, my fingers push the trigger. A little at a time. Until…
Pop.
He groans as a bullet rips through his arm, and Sophia’s shriek abruptly wakes me up from the shock.
I rush toward him, firing another bullet to his thigh, then one to the other, making sure he can’t leave. He will answer for this. Michael will want that.
Blood oozes from his wounds like an unending stream of his depravity. I lower to the ground while he fights to sit up, glaring a hateful look at me. His nostrils flare, teeth bared, chest flailing.
I don’t give him another second of my time, immediately rushing to Sophia and freeing her from the binds.
She jumps off and into my arms, her entire body sagging and shivering.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” I crush her against me as we both fall apart. “I’m never going to let you go.”