Page 55 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men
I hear them too late, cursing myself for being distracted by Sophie’s crying and Lena’s presence. I practically blunder right into the men that we left on the ground outside the burned remnants of our home.
“Oh, hello again,” one of the men says nastily before punching me in the face and grabbing Lena. Lena shrieks out a surprised scream, clawing at her attacker to no avail. Aiden tries to slip back into the shadows, but the other man rushes around me and grabs him, pressing a gun to his head when he continues to struggle.
“Stop fucking around,” the man hisses at us, “or I shoot him in the head. Lord knows I’d like to do it after the way you guys treated us.”
“Boss!” the first man shouts. “They came looking for us, just like you said they would! Your wife is here, too!”
There’s a delay before I hear James’ booted feet ringing out as he crosses the remnants of the cabin floor toward us.
“Lena, my love,” he says with both violence and charm. “I’m so glad that you chose to join Sophie and I. We need to talk about the future, and I need to get rid of these men who’re determined to get in the way of our happiness.”
“You leave them alone!” Lena shouts. “Run, Sophie! Run away!”
I start to creep away from the gaggle of James and his men, hoping that they won’t notice me. Maybe I can get to Sophie and help get her hidden away in the bushes somewhere.
“Not so fast,” the man who had been keeping an eye on me says, kicking me in the ribs. The air shoots out of my lungs in a rush, and I gasp for a moment, trying to catch my breath.
“Mommy?” Sophie’s voice is getting closer to us, not farther away. I cringe, wanting to tell her to run, wanting to force her to leave, anything to keep an innocent child from witnessing anything more traumatic than she’s already been through.
“Sophie, I said run!” Lena screeches, just before James cuffs her in the face. She tumbles to the ground with a cry. I start to lunge to my feet, wanting to protect her.
“Enough of all of this,” James snarls, reaching to the side and wrenching Sophie into view. The child cries out at the pain his grip is causing her. I hear her sniffling as she begins to cry again.
“Lena, these two assholes aren’t needed any more since I have what I want now. I’m going to have my men take care of them,” James tells her firmly as he bends down and yanks Lena to her feet.
“You’re too late!” she shouts at him, struggling in his grip. “Tanner went to get the police. They’ll be back here any minute.”
“You idiots,” James says dangerously, renewing his grip on Sophie’s arm and causing her to cry out in pain again.
“Stop hurting her!” I shout. Lurching to my feet, I shove the man in front of me so hard that he stumbles over a section of fallen fencing and crashes to the ground. I pull out my pistol and train it on James’ head. “Let Sophie go!” I say firmly, my focus narrowing to the horrible man holding the little girl hostage.
“Let my own daughter go?” James scoffs, pulling a struggling Sophie up into his arms. “Oh, I don’t think so. She’s going to stay with me from now on. I don’t think any of you lot are fit to watch over her.”
“You arenottaking her from me!” Lena shouts before lunging forward and grabbing James’ hand. I watch, frozen in shock, as she sinks her teeth into his flesh, biting down until he screams in pain.
Chapter twenty-nine
CHAPTER 29: Lena
James’ blood is thick in my mouth, and his scream of pain is its own reward. I can sense Brody on the move beside me, but I simply cling to James’ hand with all the strength I can muster, grinding my teeth so that I can bite deeper into the spot between his thumb and index finger.
I pour all of my rage at the way he treated me, at the years of neglect and fear I suffered, into the grip of my teeth on his flesh. I want to hurt him badly, I realize, and I don’t feel any remorse about that fact at all.
Moments from my past wash through my mind with painful clarity. The day of our wedding when he told me that I looked fat in my wedding dress, the way that he was too busy golfing to come to the hospital to be there for me when Sophie was born, the time I confronted him about sleeping with my friend, Jessica; he had just laughed at me and waved my concerns away.
I also remembered the first time that I had to cover up the bruise on my cheek, and then, there was the trip to the hospital after he shoved me down the stairs in a fit of rage about something minor that I had done. I hadn’t actually been lying when I told the nurses that I fell down the stairs, but it hadn’t taken away the indignity and pain that James had caused me.
I could still remember the looks that the nurses gave me, filled with pity, as they checked me out and took me to get X-rays. One of them said she could call the police, but I had looked over at James holding little Sophie in his arms with a threatening look on his face, and I had known that I couldn’t put Sophie in danger, too.
There had been more incidents like that, but I had gotten more careful, quieter, less likely to be underfoot when he was angry.
I wonder in a vague kind of way, as I grip his wrist and sink my teeth into his hand, if he is connected with the Mafia in any way. I could remember meetings at all hours with guys in suits. Looking back, that seemed highly suspicious for someone who supposedly ran a loan company.
I had been so foolish and so naïve. I pour my fury into my attack on James, wanting him to feel every ounce of the pain that he had caused me throughout the years of our marriage.
“Mommy!” Sophie shrieks, and I realize that James is about to drop her to the ground carelessly in order to get his hand free of my mouth. I reluctantly release James’ hand and reach up toyank Sophie out of his arms, just before Brody slams into him, knocking him to the ground.
“Baby, I need you to run into the woods. Go that way,” I tell my daughter, giving her a shove in the direction of the thick shrubs that line what used to be the backyard area. “You will get hurt if you stay here.”
