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I’m going to be sick.
Swallowing the fear-soaked lump in my throat, I put the headphones over Hannah’s ears.
“You love music, right, sweetie? You play piano with my sister Amy?”
She nods, her smile sparking terror in my belly.
“I need you to go to your room. I’m going to turn this music up really loud. I want you to dance. Dance until you’re tired.”
“Is this a game?” she asks, breaking my heart.
My chin wobbles, but I refuse to cry.
Not in front of her.
“It’s a game. It’s so much fun. But you can’t come out of that room until somebody comes to get you. Do you hear me?”
She’s staring at me like she’s seen this fear before.
“Hannah, you need to promise me.” I hold out my finger. “Pinky promise.” She loops her finger in mine as I press a kiss to her forehead. “Remember, don’t come out. Me and your dad are going to talk.”
She returns to me with a watery smile before I turn up the volume.
“Can you hear me?” I shout.
Her eyes narrow before she slips off the headphones. “What?”
Just checking.
“Nothing, sweetie. Go on. Have some fun.” I wink.
She keeps her innocence as she skips away, and I hold my breath until I hear the door close.
Before I look back at the eyes of hell and the fate that surely awaits me there, I roll my shoulders, grasping at courage from thin air.
Smile for me, baby.
With Jake’s voice in my head, I force my lips upward. The smile knocks him back for a moment.
I take a step toward the kitchen. “We should have coffee for this talk.”
With a bruising arm around my waist, he stops me. “For what? For you to pour boiling water over me?” I look away as he tucks my hair behind my ear. It’s the same way Jake does it, but it feels cold. I don’t want him to replace all Jake’s touches.
“You said you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”
He blows out a breath, like this situation is an inconvenience and he’s bored. “I want my family back, but either way, that’s not going to happen now. That stupid bitch went running to the wrong man, and you didn’t help like I thought you would. You didn’t do your job, Claire.” He pokes my nose. Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it down. “Such a disappointment.”
Pumping steel into my backbone, I stand straight and meet his eyes. “So, what does this achieve?”
“Righting wrongs,” he spits, so close his lips almost touch my skin.
“If you wanted to do that, you’d let me take Hannah back to her mother.”
Tsking, he releases me to pace. “That still doesn’t give me my family back, does it?”
He’s rambling, but I hardly hear him as my eyes dart around the room, searching for anything to get myself out of this. I can’t leave this house without Hannah.
I need something to knock this bastard out.
