Page 119 of Cooper

“I don’t care.” He presses the blade of the knife, and the tiny trickle of blood makes my vision blur with fury.

This ends now.

Before I realize it, I yell to my mother to drop, and when she does, I take out one of his knees. The knife goes flying but he comes up swinging. Luckily, I spend a lot of time sparring with guys much bigger and stronger than him, so the blows glance off my shoulder and the side of my jaw. Then I pull back my fist and catch him in the chest, in just the right place to knock the wind out of him.

As he leans over trying to get his breath, I move in with a knee to the groin that sends him to the floor.

Finally, as he’s writhing around in pain, I put my foot in the middle of his back and push. “Papa, do you have any rope?”

“I do!” He runs out the back door while my mother calmly gets to her feet, grabs a dishtowel and then, instead of using it to wipe up the blood from her neck, she rolls it up and snaps it at Pieter’s head.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she yells.

Then she continues yelling, cursing, and snapping him with the towel until my father gets back. Her anger is almost comical, but I’m not taking any chances.

I yank Pieter to his feet and throw him into the nearest chair, where Papa and I tie him up.

“Give me a minute,” I say, walking over to the ancient landline. I dial a familiar number, and Joe answers on the first ring.

“Natalia. Everything okay?”

“I need someone to take care of something,” I reply. “We don’t want to involve the local police.”

I give him an overview and disconnect.

Then I sink into the nearest chair and close my eyes.

* * *

Once the adrenalinefades and my breathing steadies, I look up to see that my mother has also gagged Pieter, wrapping the dish towel she’d used to snap him around his mouth. I can’t help but burst out laughing and she grins back at me.

“He was talking too much. It’s exhausting.”

Pieter is crying and grumbling now, but we ignore him.

“Do you still want me to take you to church?” I ask.

“I think God will understand if we take today off,” Mama says. “Frankly, this was too much. I need a nap.”

Mama never takes naps. Ever.

“I cannot believe I allowed this piece of shit to marry my daughter,” Papa mutters.

“It’s okay. She’s done with him now,” I assure him.

“Good.” He makes a face, before glaring in Pieter’s direction again.

“Well, it’s going to be a few hours until someone can drive up here to pick him up, so we’re just going to have to keep him quiet until then.”

“What will they do to him?” Mama asks.

“He’s going to prison,” I say, “but aspecialprison. Maybe the one in Braksa.”

That’s a lie, but it’s fun to see Pieter’s face go pale.

He’ll probably be taken to the city jail until Sandor or Erik decide his real punishment, but the local police would just let him go and that’s not going to cut it after the years of abuse my sister suffered. Not to mention him breaking into our home and attacking my mother.

Fuck that and fuck him.

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