“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 apiss, 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 herears. 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 whatIwant. You’re going to do whatIsay.”
“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 cuffedhim. “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?”
