Redemption: AmBw Romantic Suspense

Searching the space, I couldn’t find Jalen. Somehow he’d disappeared.

Did he run out and go to the car?

I had no time to think. I attacked Wyatt, punching his head and kicking his leg.

He pushed me away.

I slapped him.

“Bitch!” Wyatt’s hands went to my throat. Squeezing tightly, he screamed, “Fucking bitch!”

Unable to breath, I clawed at his face. My throat burned.

Kia hit the back of his head.

He jerked away, hit her again, and pushed my baby down.

“No!” Panting, I charged for him.

Wyatt spun back to me, reached in his jacket, and came out with a gun. I froze. The gun was dark metal gray. He pointed it at my chest.

All I could do was stare at it and pray in my head.

God, don’t take me. I’m all they have. I’m all they have. Please!

Wyatt growled, “Come here.”

It took everything in me to move toward him. “Please, Wyatt. Please, don’t do this.”

“You take my kids from me? You talk shit to them about me, and now they hate me.”

“I-I. . .didn’t.” I slowly raised my hands in the air and stepped forward. “I can—”

“You can what, Ebony?” Wyatt leaned his head to the side. “You can run? No. Every time you run, I find you.”

“I-I’ll stop running—”

“Liar! Fucking liar!” The gun shook in his hand. “Come here.”

I got right in front of him.

He punched me in the face.

I stumbled back.

A shriek came from Kia. “Please, Daddy. We’re sorry. We’re so sorry.”

He wagged the gun at me. “Come back over here.”

Blood dripped from my nose. I could feel my top lip swelling. I sniffed, stood up straight, and prepared myself for the next hit. Tears left my eyes. “I. . .don’t want the kids to see this.”

“They should.”

One day. . .one day, I’m going to kill you. I’m going to find that part of me. . .and I’m going to use it to kill you.

I stared into his cold face. Long ago, our friends called us Ebony and Ivory. Wyatt had pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Now scars marred some of his chin. One eye was hooded under an eyelid as thick and coarse as a thumb. The other was cold and unblinking. He’d gotten the injuries from his time in the military.

I stared at the gun. It was a foot away from my chest. Terrified, I took a quarter step forward.

“You can’t run from me, Ebony.” His good eye was webbed with lines. The right eye blinked. He moved toward me and pressed the gun pressed between my breasts. “Are you scared?”

“Yes.” I shuddered.

“Good.” The metal was pushed harder into the softness of my flesh, crushing the side of my breast and pulling my nipple sideways. “I should shoot you right here.”

A strained cry came from Kia and then she went silent.

“Please, don’t,” I begged.

“I should.”

I stood immobile within horror.

Wyatt moved the gun a little.

I swore he was close to pulling the trigger. For a second, I turned my face an inch and stared at Kia and Poppy, fixing their faces in my mind before I died.

Wyatt growled, “What should I do?”

I gritted my teeth through the pain. “Let’s go in the back.”

He gazed down at my breasts. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“Last one down the hallway.”

He turned his attention to the girls. “Y’all go in the living room. Daddy brought presents too. They are in the car. I’m not mad at you two. It’s just your mama.”

Kia kept a straight face. Poppy had gotten into her big sister’s arms.

I nodded. “Go ahead.”

Kia widened her eyes.

I knew she wanted to dispute it. I shook my head.

Wyatt looked around. “Where’s my boy?”

Kia kept her mouth shut.

“I think he ran into his room.” I hoped Jalen had rushed off to the car to wait. Somehow, I’d get out of Wyatt’s grips. Kia knew that as soon as I went into the bedroom with her daddy, she should take Poppy out to the car too.

The girls left the hallway but kept their bags with them. Seconds later, the sound of the television never came on.

They would be waiting for a time to run.

Escape was always the plan, when it came to their Daddy. Survival would be the only thing on their minds. There would be no family time. No reunion. Three years ago, I’d had enough of the abuse. And although I couldn’t figure out how to properly hide from him, I would never accept defeat. We would always run. Always hide. Always fight back when we could.

As if he heard my thoughts, Wyatt brought the gun to my face. “Don’t even think about it.”

I remained silent.

“Where’s Jalen?”

I swallowed. “I don’t know. I think he went—”

He pressed the tip in the center of my forehead and then dragged the cold metal along the arch of one of my eyebrows.

I didn’t move, not an inch, too afraid to even breathe.