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Brynn flinched, then fell to the ground. She turned back. Paul was leaning against the car, face bloody with a gun in his hand aimed at Brynn.
“You bitch! You’re going to pay for this,” he yelled.
She pressed her bare hands into the icy asphalt and stood on shaky legs, straightening her spine, her chin held up. “You’ll have to kill me. Because I’m not going to let you have any more control over me.”
Bang!
She jumped.
Paul laughed. “When I get a hold of you, you’re gonna wish you were dead.”
Brynn’s gaze searched left and right. Evergreen trees lined either side of the deserted road. A thin sheet of snow covered the asphalt, with no tire tracks on the other side. She was truly alone. A crow cawed somewhere above. An omen. Snowflakes fell on her overheated skin as adrenaline coursed through her. Chest heaving, a sense of knowing settled into her bones. This was where it would end.
“No one gets away with embarrassing me like you have. Since you ran off, the prophet wouldn’t even let me have another wife. You ruined everything!” His steps came closer, the sound of the slush beneath his shoes like a countdown to her death. But she wouldn’t run anymore. No, she’d face him head-on. Brynn wasn’t the obedient victim she once was. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Good. It means you can’t abuse any more children.”
“You little—” He aimed the gun at her chest, the metal pressing through her thin shirt exposed by the open coat.
She ground her jaw, her gaze dropping from his like she’d been taught. Only this time it wasn’t out of obedience, but survival. “You’re right.”
He hesitated, the gun moving slightly to the right, away from her heart. “You think you can fool me with this act? You believe I’ll be lenient with you because you change your tune now?” A dark laugh escaped him as he leaned closer and taunted her. “No one is coming to save you, Miriam.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to save myself.” She grabbed the gun and shoved it away from her as she threw all her weight into him.
Bang!
Searing pain lit up her shoulder as they both crashed to the ground. Paul cried out, one hand reaching towards the back of his head on the asphalt. She clung on to the gun, as if her life depended on it—because it did. She took advantage of his pain and leveraged her weight on top of him to twist the gun from his hand.
Scrambling off him, she aimed the gun at his chest as he clutched his head with one hand and rolled to his side.
“Don’t move!” she screamed.
“You’re not going to shoot me.” He stumbled upright, his hand coming away from his skull, his own blood gleaming on his fingers.
“Are you sure?” Her voice was colder than the winter air around them.
Paul froze, his eyes widening a fraction. “What are you going to do? You attacked me when I came to town, trying to find my child who you kidnapped.”
“Liar!”
He shrugged. “That’s the story the cops will believe when they get a phone call from my cousin in the FBI.”
“You bastard! Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?”
Paul smirked. “I told you, Miriam. You’re mine. We took vows that bound you to me for all of eternity. You will be punished for what you’ve put me through in this life and the next.”
“What I’ve put you through? You raped me when I was fifteen, and hundreds of times after that. You beat me. You humiliated me. Because of you I lost my sister.” Brynn shook her head, tears blurring her eyes as her head spun with dizziness. “You tricked me into believing I was too weak . . . but you were wrong. I’m not broken. I’m fucking unbreakable.”
Brynn pulled the trigger.
