Chapter 25
Maggie finally had her husband’s attention.
She pushed away thoughts of how sad it was that it had taken the threat of bodily harm to do so.
Luke had loosened her bonds enough that she’d been able to free herself while Luke held Sean’s attention, and she’d snagged his gun from the floor.
Now she stood there, battered, bruised, cold, and probably concussed, with the gun pointing straight at the floor.
She needed to get Sean away from Luke before she pointed it at him.
Sean stood up from where he’d been pummeling Luke and sneered. “You don’t even know how to fire that.”
Luke, smart man that he was, scooted away from her target. Maggie held her husband’s gaze as she slid the bullet into the chamber without looking. His smug grin fell flat, and as she raised the gun, he raised his hands.
“I mean it, Sean. I’m done.”
“But, Margaret…” He tried to turn on the charm, but she wasn’t having it.
“Too late, Sean. The day you hit me was the beginning of the end.” She stared him down, a sense of satisfaction blooming in her gut. This man that made her so afraid she’d run to the other side of the country, was now afraid of her.
“I gave up everything for you. My friends, my career. My identity.” Talking was hard after he’d tried to strangle her, but she persisted. “I tried to make it as clean a separation as possible. I didn’t even ask for the house. Or the car. No alimony. I didn’t even mention the abuse in the petition.
“All I wanted was out. All I wanted was away from you,” she spat. “But you couldn’t accept the easy way, could you? No, you have to do this the hard way.
“My lawyer tried to warn you. She has all the evidence I gathered over the years. I documented every burn, every bruise. She has the medical records from the time you finally agreed to take me to ER when you broke my wrist, three days after the fact.” She shook with years of rage, fear, and frustration.
“They knew, Sean. The doctors and the nurses noted in my file that the injuries indicated domestic violence. But because you played your part so damn well, and wouldn’t even leave me alone long enough to go take a piss, I couldn’t get away from you. ”
She shook as she remembered sitting in an exam room and lying to the nice nurses and doctor because her abuser had been right there, play-acting at being a doting husband.
“Until I ran. And if Alex doesn’t hear from me? She knows what to do. If you think me filing a protection order is embarrassing, you should see what happens when I stop checking in with her. She has the paperwork ready to go. Even if you killed me, she would get justice for me.”
Watching him cower before her felt poetic, now. Yet it wasn’t enough. She needed him to feel the same amount of fear she had, every day. “But maybe I should get justice for myself. You said it yourself: you won’t ever let me go.”
Could she go through with her threat if he called her bluff? The gun trembled in Maggie’s hands as her pulse pounded in her ears. Aiming at an actual person instead of a paper target drove home Luke’s lessons about not aiming the gun unless she was sure.
She was sure Sean would kill her, though, so what choice was there?
Her husband scoffed. “You still wouldn’t dare. You think your life is ruined now? You kill me, and you’ll die in prison, bitch.”
“No DA would even charge her.” Luke drew Sean’s attention, but Maggie didn’t dare look away. “After what you did? It’s clearly self-defense.”
Sean’s eyes widened, the implications finally sinking in. “Margaret, love, let’s not get hasty, now.” He ran a hand through his limp, dark blond hair. “We can work something out.”
“No, Sean. For once, you’re going to do what I want. You’re going to do what I say.”
“Alright, alright, dear. Just… put the gun down.” He took a step towards her, and she raised the gun up to aim at him once more.
When had she lowered it? Damn it, she felt like she’d fallen out of a tree and hit every branch on the way down, but she didn’t dare let Sean know that. Immediately, he backed away.
“Even if she puts your gun down, asshole, I’ve got mine.” Maggie’s eyes flitted over to Luke, who had his firearm drawn and pointed at her husband.
Her heart soared, but she turned her attention back to Sean. She’d deal with the emotions that display caused her later.
Sean’s head swiveled back and forth between the two of them. And then a siren whooped outside.
“Detective Callahan, this is the Centre County Sheriff’s Department. Come out with your hands up!”
Frozen in place, Sean tensed as if to run.
“Don’t bother,” Luke told him.
Looking first at Luke, then at Maggie, Sean’s shoulders slumped in defeat. But she wouldn’t trust it until they cuffed him. “Get moving.” Maggie gestured with the gun. Her hands were starting to shake again, and she needed him to get out of here.
She held her breath as Sean opened the door of the cabin and the flashing blue and red lights from the sheriff’s vehicle filled the room. He put his hands up over his eyes, but shuffled onto the front step. The deputy Luke had eaten lunch with cuffed Sean’s hands behind his back.
As he recited Sean’s rights and led him away, Maggie’s arms dropped. The pistol clattered to the floor, and then Luke was in front of her, holding his arms out.
A sob broke free, and she fell into his embrace, clutching his vest like a koala cub. Her frame shook as she released all of her terror over the last several hours, as well as the emotions suppressed for the years she’d been married to that monster.
Luke pressed his lips to her temple and stroked her back, murmuring words of praise and comfort into her ear.
“It’s over, sweetheart. Gabe’s got him.”
“You were amazing, baby.”
“I got you, let it out.”
Her face stung as her tears ran into the cuts Sean’s fists had left behind. It felt like it took her ages to pull herself together. But Luke never wavered, holding her up as she fell apart.
Eventually, the tears stopped, for now, leaving only her shaking breath.
“Maggie?”
She turned her head, still in Luke’s arms. The deputy stood there, hat in his hands.
“Deputy Gabe Delgado, ma’am. Can you tell me what happened?”
She nodded, then looked back at Luke.
“You can stay right there, Maggie, I just need to take your statement.”
She swallowed, turning to face him while leaning her back against Luke. He wrapped his arms around her loosely, as if to say, “I’m not going anywhere.”
The story spilled out of her, through the broken glass lining her sore throat, and the dryness in her mouth. From when she’d discovered her ransacked room to Sean hitting her outside the Haven, and waking up in this cabin.
“He… he wanted to lure Luke here, kill us both, and make it look like a double suicide.” Luke’s arms tightened around her.
She described the fight between Luke and Sean, and how she’d freed herself and grabbed Sean’s gun.
“Did you fire it?”
“No, sir. I didn’t have to.”
Gabe nodded and kept writing. “Thanks, Maggie. Do you need me to call an ambulance?”
“I’ll take her to the hospital.”
Maggie shook her head. “They’ll think this was you.”
“I’ll text you the report number,” Gabe said to Luke. “They won’t give you any trouble.” To Maggie, he said, “I want all these injuries cataloged, Maggie, so I can throw the book at him.”
She snorted. “I’ll give you my attorney’s number; she has all the evidence from before I filed for divorce.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. Maggie pointed at her face. “This isn’t the first time he’s hit me.”
“Noted.” He wrote something else on his pad, then tucked it away. “Take care, you two. I’ll be in touch.”
“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Another deputy joined Gabe to take photos and collected the gun in an evidence bag. Luke led Maggie out to his car, holding on to her so she didn’t trip. Neither of them spared a look for Sean in the back of Gabe’s SUV.
She fell into the passenger seat like a marionette whose strings had all been cut. Luke leaned over and buckled her seatbelt.
“Luke…”
“Yeah, sweetheart?” He turned his head to look at her.
Her voice came out so soft she wasn’t sure he’d hear her. “Kiss me.”
But he did hear her, smiling as he cupped her face in one tender hand. He leaned forward to press his lips chastely to hers. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Mags. You were incredible.”
“Thank you for coming for me.”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
“Even if it was a trap?”
Luke stroked his thumb over her cheek with a barely-there touch. “If the Devil himself came for you, I’d chase him into Hell.”
Tears sprang to her eyes again, though how her ducts had anything left Maggie had no idea. “I love you, too.”
He kissed her again, longer this time, then pulled away. “Let’s get you checked out, then I’ll get you home.”
Maggie sighed. Home sounded amazing. Luke rounded the car to get behind the wheel, and she breathed out, “I could sleep for a week.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He turned the motor over and his headlights lit up the woods. “I’ll take it slow, but it’s probably going to be bumpy until I get us back to the main roads.”
“Okay.” Maggie leaned her head back and fell into a dead sleep as the exhaustion took its toll.
Maggie had a mild concussion. That meant she had to take a couple weeks off from the diner, and limit her screen time.
Thankfully, a quick email to her clients explaining the delays took care of them.
Her other injuries were mostly cosmetic, no broken jaw or orbital fracture.
Sean pleaded no contest to the charges of kidnapping and assault, and after Centre County sentenced him, he’d be off to Oklahoma to face charges for what he’d done there.