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Ash lunges for Damian, one hand gripping the knife, which I now see is the one from my kitchen. I slide across the floor, huddling against the fridge, too afraid to move. What do I do? How do I save him? I don’t have my phone to call for help and there’s no house phone in my apartment. I watch helplessly as Ash swings the knife around, aiming at Damian, who jumps back.
“I hope her pussy was worth dying for because I’m going to enjoy killing you,” Ash spits out through gritted teeth. Damian doesn’t respond, instead he jumps back, and kicks Ash in the stomach causing him to tumble to the ground, the knife slipping out and crashing to the floor.
He grunts painfully, while Damian runs over to me, kneeling. “Lilah, you gotta get out of here, now.” I sob, my body shaking. “No, I’m not leaving you.”
“Baby, listen to me. I’ll be fine. Go get help,” he demands. He gives me his hand to pull me up and as I look behind him, I scream, “Watch out!” But it’s too late, Ash punches him hard on the back of the head, sending him crashing down.
He doesn’t waste a second as he climbs on top of Damian. “I’ll gladly go to prison for killing you both,” Ash admits, punching Damian, who manages to get some in too. They continue to fight as my urgency to do something grows.
I start crawling away, intending to reach his apartment and get to a phone, but just as I make my way across the floor, I notice the knife, its blade glistening in the sunlight creeping through the kitchen window. I stretch out my hand, picking it up. The paring knife is warm as I cling to it tightly in my clammy hand. I rise, quietly dragging my feet until I’m behind the man who continues to take everything from me. I won’t let him take my life. I won’t let him take Damian’s. He has taken enough.
I kneel and don’t hesitate as I stab him right in the middle of his neck, pulling the knife out on instinct. Blood splatters from the wound, hitting me everywhere, and in that instant, I don’t feel relief, the only things I feel are shock and panic.What have I done?
His punches begin to still, then they stop as he starts falling on top of Damian, who pushes him off to the side. He sits up, wiping the blood away from his face, not his, but Ash’s. The blood doesn’t stop squirting out, it’s like an angry fountain, as Ash lays on the floor, not moving. Damian swiftly removes his shirt, pressing it into Ash’s wound.
“Lilah look at me,” he demands, voice low. I stare into the eyes that always seem to calm me, but they don’t have that effect right now. “We don’t have much time. You have to listen. You’ll tell the police that I did this. I stabbed him while we were fighting after he attacked first. Tell them that he broke in and threatened to kill you.”
I blink the fog away and shake my head, “No, I’m not doing that.” I won’t let him take the blame. I picked up the knife. I stabbed him.
“Goddamn it, Lilah, do what I say!” he demands. “Please baby. We don’t have time to argue. Tell me you’ll do it.” How do I let him take the blame for me? I can’t take the chance that he could end up in prison. I can’t lose him.
“Lilah, Fuck. Say it! I'll be fine. I’ll claim self-defense.” I look back and forth between Ash and Damian. I don’t know what to do.
He presses into Ash’s neck with one hand and checks his pulse with the other. “He’s gone.”
I grip my hair and pull. “Oh my God. I killed him.” I should’ve walked out and called the police, instead I created a mess. I did this. Me.
Damian picks up the knife and wipes the handle vigorously with his shirt. He picks up Ash’s hand and places it against the handle, then grips the knife with his own hand. “Your prints should be gone now. We have to call the police. Do what I said, baby. You’re mine to protect, you hear me?”
I press my fingers into my temples, the panic screaming inside.What have I done?“Fine—I, okay I will,” I cry, my hands shuddering with fear.
“Good baby, good. Now, go back to my apartment and call 9-1-1.” And I do.
Chapter 28
Damian
They had me checked out at the hospital before bringing me to the station. The doctor said I was fine; just some lacerations on my face and then the police took me away. All the while, I thought about Lilah and how I almost lost her. Again. That motherfucker got the upper hand once more, and if I hadn’t gone to her apartment the minute I realized she was gone, or if I was in the shower a little longer, who knows if she’d be alive right now.
I had failed her enough. I’m done failing. It’s time I finally protect her. Maybe not from Ash anymore, but from the police and especially this woman before me. I don’t want Lilah anywhere near this situation, she’s suffered enough to last a lifetime. That’s why I had to tell her claiming self-defense would get me off, even though I don’t think that’s true, not with my combat training. They’ll hold me to a higher standard, so I’m probably fucked; but I’d do it all over again.
“Did you hear what I asked you, Mr. Prescott?” I look up at her and glance to the camera in the corner of the small darkly lit room. The two-way mirror stares at me and I wonder who’s behind it. Never in my life had I imagined I’d be in one of these rooms, but here I am.
“I’m sorry, would you mind repeating the question, ma’am?” I ask Mrs. Thompson, the assistant district attorney assigned to my case. My foot bounces underneath the table. Man, can they turn the air on higher in this damn room? It feels like a sauna in here.
“How did you come to be in Ms. McDaniels’ apartment?”
“Lilah was at my place first. I don’t know what caused her to go back to hers while I was in the shower, but once I got out and saw her phone on the nightstand but found her missing, I began to worry. I exited my apartment and when I saw the keys on her door, I went inside. That’s when I saw him.”
“By him, who are you referring to? You need to be specific for the video, Mr. Prescott.”
“Ash Davis. He was inside Lilah’s apartment, gripping her from behind, holding a knife to her stomach.” She sits across from me, mouth in a tight line, eyes cold enough to melt steel. “She was already bleeding from her stomach, and with him beating her to the point of death days ago, I knew I had to intervene.” She writes something in her yellow notepad and glares.
“How long have you and Ms. McDaniels been together?” There’s judgment in her brown eyes and I’m afraid to answer, it may make us look like the ones who’ve done something wrong. But I decide to go with the truth. One lie is enough.
“We met a little over a month ago. Initially, at a pub called, Whiskey, and the next day we ran into each other as I was looking at renting an apartment across from hers.”
“So, you two were in a relationship throughout the month while she was still with Mr. Davis, the deceased?”
