“A-Amy,” She said, voice wavering. “It’s okay.” None of them stood a chance if they were dead. She’d get them back. She’d walk through hell a million times to get them away from him.
“Shut the fuck up!” her father screamed. He stormed toward her until the barrel of the weapon met her sternum with a rough jab. “She doesn’t fucking listen to you anymore.”
Rissa screamed, and Emmie called for her over and over. Only Kristy remained silent, moving to shield the girls with her trembling body.
Mak winced at the sharp stab in her sternum but held motionless as could be. If his attention remained on her, it’d be off the others.
“Two years! Two fucking years I’ve wasted searching for your selfish ass.” Spittle hit her face, and her heart threatened to explode, but she stood still as a statue. As terrified as she was that a bullet would tear through her chest at any moment, relief that the girls no longer held his focus had her locked in place.
“I hope you’re not expecting me to apologize,” she said with a smirk. “I hear Roger is dead. We’re going to be throwing a party tonight. I’m finally fucking free of that sadistic asshole.”
Her father’s nostrils flared. Baiting the beast might be stupid, but she didn’t give a shit. Anything to keep his attention on her and off the kids.
In her periphery, Kristy ushered the girls out the front door. She whispered something, hopefully telling them to run to safety, then paused in the doorframe. Mak gave her an imperceptible nod. Kristy wouldn’t be able to help her now. No one would. But Kristy would get the kids out and seek help so Makenna could focus on getting out alive.
Her father continued to rant in her face about the countless atrocities she’d committed her entire life. His tirade made him oblivious to the activity occurring behind him. “You were given everything,” he snarled, bubbles forming in the corner of his mouth like foam from a rabid dog. “You could have been the queen of the fucking compound. But not only are you an insubordinate bitch, you’re also a useless excuse for a woman. Couldn’t even give your husband a child. And now he’s dead because he spent his last years searching for his defective, ungrateful fucking wife.”
Mak couldn’t help it, even knowing how it would end for her. Her lips twitched into more of a sneer than a grin. “I work just fine,” she said, reveling in the way his red face mottled an even deeper purple. “But for the two years I was forced to be married to an abusive man as psychotic as you are, I took birth control pills.”
“W-what?” He stumbled back, though managed to maintain his hold on the gun.
Pressure eased from her chest, allowing a much-needed deep breath. It bolstered her confidence, amped up her strength, and desire to hurt him any way she could.
“Every. Single. Day.” She reveled in the way his face paled and his jaw went slack. “Roger didn’t tell you, did he?”
Escaping the community had been necessary but fighting back gave her a sense of satisfaction she’d never imagined she’d experience. Advancing on him, she took advantage of his momentary shock and shoved the gun away from her. “There was no way in hell I was going to let that man put a baby in me. I’d have died first.”
Frothing with his rage, her father recovered control of the gun and jammed it dead center in her forehead. “Looks like you’re going to get your wish.”
She winced as the metal crunched the bone. It hurt like a bitch and would leave a mark for sure, though the bullet hole would take care of that.
Eyes the same blue as hers met her gaze head on. They shared so many features, hair color, nose shape; they even had the same freckle on their left shoulders. But the evil gleam in her father’s eyes and the blackness of his soul was something they’d never had in common. He’d kill her right then and there without an ounce of remorse.
Mak gritted her teeth and panted through her nose. Her arms and legs shook with violent force. This was it. The culmination of her failures. Her breaths came in shallow pants, making her dizzy.
No! Please don’t do this! I want to live. I have so much to live for!
Screams clawed at her throat, trying to tear their way free, but she gnashed her teeth together so hard the enamel would be dust. She refused to beg him for her life.
“Hope it was worth it,” he said with a maniacal laugh.
Worth it? Her eyes fell shut as the past two years ran through her mind like a film reel on fast forward. Laughing with her siblings, watching them grow and thrive without fear, living without bruises and beatings, happy holidays full of joy and love. None of the fear, struggles, hardships, or challenges came to mind, because they’d been nothing compared to the incredible love and bond she shared with her siblings.