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The last thing I see is Mitch on top of me, laughing as his fists come down on me. Then everything goes dark.
Chapter 22
Zoey
Mitch ison top of Ryker punching him over and over again. Ryker isn’t moving. What the hell do I do? I’m not going to survive. My hands are shaking, and my cheeks are wet with my tears.
Shaking my head, I take a deep breath. No. I need to survive. I need to get out of this. Mitch doesn’t win, I do. Fuck him.
Ryker’s gun isn’t far from me, so I slowly reach for it. Grabbing it, I stand and point it at Mitch.
I walk back around from the bathroom, my back to the front door. Mitch hasn’t seen me; he’s too focused on Ryker.
I could run. I could take off and try to get help. But I can’t leave Ryker. He didn’t leave me. He came for me. He fought for me, and now he needs me.
I cock the gun. “Get the fuck off him or I will shoot you,” I say through gritted teeth.
Mitch’s head snaps up, and a sinister smile stretches across his face. “You’re going to shoot me? Really?” He stands, giving Ryker one last look before taking a few painstakingly slow steps towards me. He wipes his bloody knuckles on his shirt, laughing.
The gun shakes in my hand, and I try to hold it steady. “Trust me, I have no problem shooting you, Mitch. Just like you have no problem hitting me or abusing me. Raping—” Choking on the last word, I step back as he slowly moves forward.
“Tsk. You know you deserved it. Don’t blame me for your failures. You were there for me. Mine. I took what I needed.” Mitch’s eyes grow wide, almost crazy looking. He tilts his head to the side, grinning. “I’m waiting, Nicole. Pull the trigger.” He stops several feet away from me, holding his arms out wide. “Pull it. I know you don’t have it in you, so prove me wrong.”
My hands shake so hard that I almost drop the gun altogether. Right here, right now, I can end this. I can make him go away forever.
“See? You can’t. You can’t do what you need to.” His eyes lock on mine. “You’re no one without me, Nicole. Can’t you see that? Everything I have done for you was to help you. Your parents gave up on you. They used you for what they needed. But I gave you a home, I gave you my love. So, I had to smack you around a little bit. Big deal. I was never really going to hurt you.” He shrugs as if my pain was nothing. “Well, up until now. Now you’re just a problem I need to get rid of.”
He laughs, and I cringe, my finger trembling against the trigger.
“My family saved you from a life of poverty. Your real mother was a prostitute. A drug addict who surprisingly stayed clean while pregnant with you, but she would have gone back to drugs. Then where would you have been, Nicole? Who would’ve loved you then? Do you know she killed herself? My family saved you when they took you and gave you to the Moores. You would have ended up in the system, in poverty. Instead, you were given a life of luxury.
“You were given me, a man who would love you even though you were a whore’s daughter. I gave you years of love. Love no one else wanted to give you!” he yells, his face turning red.
“It was years of abuse!” I argued, my entire body full of adrenaline, in fight or flight mode. “That’s not love! Being forced to do things, being scared out of my mind that you would kill me!That’s not love!You’re a fucking psychopath! A fucking monster!”
He moves towards me again, and I step back, but this time I hit the wall between the window and front door. I’ll never make it out of the front door in time. And in this place, no one’s coming to help me no matter how loud I scream. He laughs, knowing I’m stuck. My only choices are to shoot him or give in and let him win.
I won’t let him win.
I steady the gun, biting my lip in determination. My eyes line up my shot, aiming for center mass. I grit my teeth together. My finger wraps around the trigger as I get ready to pull.
Bang!
A shot rings out. Mitch stands there with his mouth open. Suddenly, his eyes roll back into his head and his body goes limp as he falls face first into the floor.
My body freezes. I didn’t pull the trigger.
I snap my head to where the shot rang out from and see Ryker sitting up with another gun in his hand, his face bloody and bruised.
My body’s frozen, and my mouth hangs open as my eyes go from Ryker to Mitch’s body and then back to Ryker. My legs start to weaken, and I drop to the ground.
“Zo!” Ryker stands in front of me. I watch him place the gun he just killed Mitch with back in the ankle holster. Once it’s secured, his face turns back to me. “Zo, give me the gun, darlin’.” He slowly removes it from my hands, and he places it back in the holster on his hip. My eyes leave Ryker’s face and I zero in on Mitch. He’s dead. Gone.
My breathing starts to come in rapidly, my heart rate rising. I become dizzy and lightheaded.
“Zoey, I need you to focus on me. You’re panicking and going into shock. Listen to me, listen to my voice.” Ryker places his hands on my face. He positions himself in front of me. “Feel me, Zo. I’m right here. Listen to my words.”
His warmth. I feel his warmth. His calloused fingers. I look up and see his eyes. His blue eyes. Lost in blue. Without warning, my mind catches up, and I let out a cry. Ryker pulls me into him.