He doesn’t belong here, Mama.
This house is love.
My little man who thought it was his job to defend me when I would give my life defending him.
I took a step back, herding Evan with me. “Stay away from us or you’ll regret it.”
Incredulous, his eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “You think I’m going to regret it, Harley? You have it all wrong. You should have known better than to think you could play me. Now tell that kid to get in my car before I make him regret it, too.”
“I’ll die before I let you get anywhere near him.”
I meant it.
But that didn’t mean it wasn’t the wrong thing to say.
Because rage lit on Dane’s face. A match to gasoline. Two quick steps forward, and he had me by the upper arms. As if I weighed absolutely nothing, he tossed me out of his way and went straight for my son.
Panic seized every inch of my body as I flew across the living room.
It was an awareness taking hold. A deep-seated knowledge that I’d pushed Dane over a line. The same way as he’d done to me a year before. When he’d left me without a choice. When there’d been nothing else I could do.
All I’d wanted was to stop the torment.
To give my son the chance to live the life he deserved to live.
And this man was again exerting his horrible, brutal control. This time . . . this time, he was doing it with the force of his hands.
I screamed out as an excruciating pain splintered through my left side when I crashed into the sofa table set up behind the couch.
Frames that showed off Evan’s innocent face fell to the floor. Glass shattering as it struck the wood.
Our best memories scattered across the floor.
I tumbled down on top of them. A wave of helplessness took me over. It was never supposed to be like this. I didn’t know how to stand up against it. Fight it.
But that helplessness was eradicated the second I saw the horror blanket my son’s face when Dane yanked him by the shirt. He started to drag him through the living room and toward the front door.
Evan’s eyes went wide. So wide with an overwhelming terror that I scrambled to find my footing, my words screeching from my raw throat. “Let him go! He’s just a little boy. Let him go!”
Dane didn’t slow, he just issued his command into the air. “You’re coming home with me now. Both of you. You no longer make the decisions. Do you understand me?”
Running after them, I grabbed at Dane’s arm and tried to break his hold. “Let him go. He’s just a little boy. I won’t let you hurt him. Not anymore. Not anymore.”
Dane spun around. With a single arm, he locked Evan’s back to his chest. He stood there as if my son was a pawn. A twisted ransom held between us.
Contempt dripped from his tongue. “What does it fucking matter, Harley? Why are you clinging to nothing? Nothing.”
How could he say that? This was a little boy who was made up of flesh and bones and the brightest spirit. Made up of the biggest heart that beat life through his veins. A boy who was everything.
Hopeless tears streaked down my face, my soul fragmenting as I watched Evan kick and flail, frantic as he clawed at Dane’s arm.
“Evan,” I whimpered.
His feet kept giving out from under him as he struggled to break free.
His weight held in the palm of Dane’s malicious hands.
Dane started backing through my house, his eye on me the entire time as he dragged Evan away. Expecting me to follow. This vile, horrible man using my child as bait.
“Dane . . . don’t do this.”
“You’re out of chances, Harley.”
“Why are you doing this?”
My steps were lurching as I moved toward them, and the words flooded from my mouth in a pour of desperation, “Dane . . . please . . . I’m begging you. Let him go. He doesn’t deserve your anger. Your hatred. He never has. You are free. We are no longer a burden to you. A worry for you. I don’t want anything from you except for you to let us go free. Just let him go and let us live our lives and you can live yours.”
At my words, Dane’s jaw clenched so hard I could hear his teeth cracking. “I will never be free. I will never be free of this.”
“What does that mean?” I begged.
For the beat of a second, I wished I could go back to a time when I’d thought I understood this man. When I’d thought our hopes and dreams had been one. Before he’d become this.
A monster.
“Please.” It ripped through the foyer. Breaking on my pain.
It didn’t even touch Dane’s rage. He jerked Evan through the door and out onto the porch.