Page 53 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

He hadn’t bothered to pat me down when I came in, though there hadn’t been much time for that.He was so happy to see me that once he saw no one was with me, he closed the door and set the knife down.It was out of my reach, but it didn’t matter since I had something more powerful anyway.

“You don’t mean that,” he said, glancing at the wall where I’d put a bullet through his head in the picture he hung up.It was of Mike and me on our wedding day, but he’d blown it up to poster size and covered Mike’s head with a picture of him instead.

“I do mean that.Take one fucking step and it’s over.”

“After all that I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”he growled, face scrunched as anger washed over it.“I dideverythingfor you.I went out of my way to make sure you had everything you needed after your husband died.I took care of you and Daisy as if you were my family because you were.And this is how you treat me?You stupid, fucking bitch!”

“Don’t talk to my mom that way,” Daisy said, popping out slightly from behind me with her eyebrows furrowed.

Before I could process what was happening, Joel sprang forward, lunging at Daisy.I put my body in between them, blocking her from him as his body hit me, knocking me to the floor as the gun slid out of my reach.

“Get out of the cabin, Daisy,” I said loudly, using the tone that she knew meant I was serious.“NOW!”

She looked at me with terrified eyes as she shook her head.I didn’t want her to see what was about to happen.She had already known so much loss at a young age; I wasn’t going to ruin her life by letting her watch this monster try to kill me.I vowed to do everything in my power to protect her, and I wasn’t going to give up now.

My head and chest hurt from the impact of him falling on me and knocking me to the hard floor.I struggled as I pushed him away, grunting with the effort to lift his weight from my body.His fist collided with my ribs as he punched me repeatedly, creating an immense amount of pain.I exhaled sharply and continued trying to fight him off of me as I brought my knee up, landing a hit right against his groin.He buckled and rolled off of me for a split second as I tried to move away.

I turned and looked at Daisy, hating the horror I saw in her eyes.I didn’t have long before he would be on me again, so I had to make it count.

“I’m okay.I need you to go, NOW.Find Gage or Uncle Pat and do not come back to this cabin.Do you understand me?”

She nodded, her lower lip trembling.I wanted to get up, hug her, and tell her everything would be okay, but I couldn’t.Before I could get myself up off the floor, I felt Joel’s hands on me, pulling me back to him as I held in a scream.I didn’t want her to know the fear that I held onto, knowing what he was capable of.

“I love you so much, sweetheart.Go!”

A single tear slid down my cheek as she whispered she loved me too before running out the front door and slamming it shut behind her.

“You think you can say no to me?”Joel growled, his eyes as dark as pure evil as he squeezed his hands around my throat tightly.I knew I didn’t have long before he cut off my air supply and forced me to lose consciousness.I didn’t say anything as I continued to squirm, extending my arm as I tried to reach the gun.

“You will never be anything without me!I gave you everything!I did what it took to give you the life you have, the life you deserve!I even went as far as taking care of getting rid of that stupid husband of yours so we could be together!”He let go of my throat and backhanded me across the cheek, the pain immediately stinging my skin.

My eyes snapped to his, processing his words.While we suspected he had something to do with Mike’s death after finding everything he left in my apartment, hearing him confirm it made my stomach drop.

“You what?”I asked, my tone changing and softening.

It wasn’t that I was happy about what he had done—though it certainly seemed that was how he was taking it.It was the sheer shock of hearing his admission that caught me off guard and drained all the anger from my body.

He pulled back slightly, studying me as he climbed off my body and sat beside me.

“I did what I had to do for us to be together,” he said softly, his entire demeanor changing.

“What exactly did you have to do?”I pressed my lips together to keep them from trembling as I attempted to sit up.My entire body ached and hurt in ways I hadn’t felt before.

“I took Mike out of the picture.”

“How?”My voice cracked as my nose stung from the tears that wanted to spill over.

He waited a few seconds, letting the tension in the room grow thick.

“How!”I screamed, my body beginning to shake with anger.

“I was at the bar that night and paid the bartender to slip something into his drink.When he left, I got in my car and followed him.He was swerving and struggling to stay in his lane, so I gave him a littlenudgewith my car.It was ridiculous how quickly he lost control of the car and how, even after it flipped that many times, he was still alive when I got out to check on him.All it took was one final blow to the head, and he was out like a light.”

My lip trembled as I let him continue talking.I remembered that night so vividly because I hadn’t been able to shake the gut feeling telling me he shouldn’t go.I didn’t want him to mistake my anxiety over something bad happening for me being insecure about him going out with his friends so I didn’t say anything.He had gone to the bar with a couple of friends to celebrate a promotion.Shortly after he got to the bar, he texted me to say he wasn’t feeling well and was heading home.Mike was never a drinker, so I knew something else had to have happened to make him ill.I never would have guessed that he had been poisoned somehow.

“He begged me to help him.Said that he had a wife and daughter at home that he loved and didn’t want to leave.It was almost sad how pathetic he acted.That’s what made it so easy to end things for him.You deserved better than that, and I knew I was the man who could give it to you.I was more of a man than he could have ever been.You just needed time to see that.”

Knowing this was my only chance, I scooted over, out of his reach, and stood up.It took a few seconds to get my balance, nearly stumbling when I felt his hand grab my ankle.I turned and bent slightly, throwing my elbow down as it made a sickening thud against the side of his head.It was enough to get him to release my ankle as his hands flew to where I’d hit him.