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There may not be anywhere for me to go, and even if I ran, Douglas would catch me. And I have to think about my baby. So, I don’t run. I stand where I am. I don’t move. I don’t think. I don’t even breathe.
“Good morning,” Douglas murmurs.
I suck in a breath, but my body doesn’t move. It’s incapable, so I don’t even try. I learned a long time ago when I’m in a situation like this to just stay where I am until I have the ability to run or fight.
Right now, I don’t think I can do either. I’m seriously fucked. I don’t respond to hisgood morning. I do nothing but stare at him. I refuse to give him even a moment more of my headspace. If he kills us, he kills us today, but I will not back down from him. I am going to go down protecting my baby.
“You don’t seem too surprised to see me,” he purrs.
Of course, he purrs. The asshole has no problem trying to make me feel completely uncomfortable. He loves it. His goal is to fuck with people’s heads, and it works. At least it works on me.
It always has.
“I’m not,” I whisper.
It’s as if he instantly takes the fight out of me. As if he’s holding my entire being hostage. I hate him, but mostly, I hate the way I feel around him.
Swallowing the knot in my throat, I watch and wait for what he’s going to do next. I can’t even guess what’s going through his head. By now, he’s been watching me long enough that he knows I’m pregnant.
“You knew I would be back. Is this why you do this to me?” he asks. “You like this game? You like to drive me crazy? You want me to chase you?You want me to catch you.”
His last words come out as a statement rather than a question.
When I don’t respond to him, he takes one step toward me. It’s meant to intimidate me, and it works. Mainly because I know what Douglas is capable of, so I want no part of his anger.
Inwardly, I wonder when someone is going to come into this house and check on me. When Lance will be home so he can protect me.
Maybe Lance isn’t meant to protect me here, though.
Maybe this is a lesson for me that I’m supposed to protect myself, my baby. Even if I don’t want to at all.
IwantLance to protect me.
I want him to walk in here and be my knight, but at the end of the day, this drama between me and Douglas, this is on me. I should have protected myself from him, should have fought instead of run a long time ago.
“No,” I murmur.
“No?” he asks, arching a brow.
I shake my head, my eyes finding his before I speak. “I am not playing a game. I do not want you to chase me. I want you to go away. I want to never think of, see, or worry about you ever again. I want you to leave me alone.”
I know I’ve said these words to him before, and I want him to finally believe me, but I don’t know if he will. I’m not sure anything I say will ever stick. He only hears what he wants to hear, or rather, only creates shit he’s decided is the truth in his mind and doesn’t give a fuck what I actually say.
Douglas doesn’t jerk his head back. He doesn’t have any kind of expression on his face as he stares at me wordlessly. Then he rocks back on his heels before he takes one step forward, then another.
I stay planted firmly in my spot, mainly because my muscles are still completely frozen. I try to tell my feet to move, to at least unstick themselves from the floor, but it doesn’t work. I stay where I am, unmoving, unfree, as he shifts closer, one step at a time.
“You talk to me as if you believe you are free,” he murmurs.
“I am not free, Douglas. But I am free of you.”
I watch as his eyes narrow at my words. It was probably a stupid thing to say, even if I was being honest and truthful. It’s been so long, far too long. I’ve forgotten truthful gets you beat up.
He moves closer in a flash, and before I realize what’s happening, his fingers are wrapped around the front of my throat. The baby and I survived his abuse a few months ago, but I’m farther along now.
My belly is protruding. The protective barrier doesn’t seem quite as thick around this new little life. I don’t know how well I can protect it any longer, especially from this man.
“Please don’t,” I whimper. “I’m pregnant.”
