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Fear raced around her body.
It quickly progressed to terror.
She was already injured, she doubted that she could last for days with a brick crushing her chest.
She wasn't going to last until Brian found her.
One day with him wasn't enough. She wanted more. She had wanted to spend an entire lifetime with the man she loved, and yet she’d been given a measly twenty-four hours.
It wasn't fair.
With an evil grin, Jay placed the brick onto the board, and immediately her breathing was hampered.
Hayley wished she had listened to Brian and stayed at the safehouse where the two of them could have been curled up in each other’s arms or making love right this second, instead, she was about to suffer a horribly slow death.
* * * * *
3:37 A.M.
Finally, things were working out just the way he wanted.
Jay was buzzed and not just from the eight cans of beer he’d downed in the last hour.
Although that definitely played a part in his good mood, he thought as he tossed his head back and swallowed the last of can number nine in one gulp. He threw the can onto the couch behind him and then gestured at Maria.
She didn't need to be told what to do, she was well trained and immediately stopped what she was doing, collected the empty can, and took it with her into the kitchen to throw into the recycling. Then she returned promptly with another nice cold can of beer from the fridge.
Pleased with how his day was going, he cracked open the new can and started drinking.
Everything was nice and quiet.
Peaceful.
Hayley Hood was quiet in her room, too busy trying to breathe with three bricks on her chest to worry about making a sound. Maria was sitting on the floor with Kinsley, building with a box of Legos he’d found in the spare bedroom’s closet.
Everything was as it should be.
Soon Hayley would be dead—a slow, excruciating, terrifying death that befitted what she’d done—then he, his wife, and his kid could move on. He was already thinking about where they would go and what they would do. He had a friend from school who ran a garage in a small town about two hours from here. Maybe he could go there and get a job. He knew a little about mechanics, enough to get by. Maria could school Kinsley at home, they couldn’t risk enrolling her in the local school as they’d be on the run, and that would alert the cops as to where they were.
He was going to be keeping his foot on Kinsley. There was no way he was allowing her to turn out like her disobedient, outspoken older sister. Maybe he and Maria would even try for another kid. Hopefully a boy this time. Boys grew into men, strong, tough men, he thought he’d like to have a son, someone to carry on the family name.
Content, Jay stretched back on the couch. This was the life. Lounging around, drinking beer while his wife attended to their child and his every need. The move was going to do them all good. Maybe they’d buy a farm, he liked the idea of a large property, of privacy and seclusion, where there would be no nosy neighbors who didn't understand butting in and sticking their noses where they didn't belong. No one would think to look for them in a small, quiet, sleepy town, and he would be free to do whatever he wanted with his family.
Yes, this was the life.
“Maria,” he said.
She looked over but didn't speak, she knew better than to open her mouth without being given express permission to do so.
“I think the kid should go to bed now. Put her in the room across the hall from Hayley’s. Once you’ve put her to sleep, wait for me in the master bedroom,” Jay rattled off orders. He didn't need to elaborate on how he expected to find his wife waiting for him, she really was well trained.
It wasn't as easy as you might think to train a woman.
Even one as willing to learn as Maria was.
He’d never thought he’d meet a woman like her. It was like she had sensed the evil and violence that lurked inside him and that was exactly what had drawn her to him.
She wasn't like his mother or sister who had feared his father. She thrived from every slap he gave her, lived for every beating, and enjoyed every time he used her so roughly she was left bleeding and barely able to stand.
