Page 56 of Like An Animal
She’s less likely to come down here if she doesn’t hear anything.
I’ve worked hard to make sure she has had the best childhood without all the trauma I endured. I’ve been successful so far, but all that hard work will have been for nothing if she comes down here.
Maybe if I wait until Jeremy is distracted, I can slip away and get Lottie in the car. We don’t need anything but us. He may have found me this time, but he won’t be able to find me again. I’ll hide under a rock if I have to.
If Jeremy kills me, Lottie will have no one left. Her words from when I got her in the car earlier haunt me as I watch my shadow stalk toward Kyle with murderous intent.
“Mommy, where is my daddy?” she asks while playing with her doll she left in the backseat. My eyes go wide from her question.
“Your daddy? Why do you ask, baby?”
She frowns. “My friends have daddies. Where’s my daddy?”
It’s a question brewed from curiosity, but I’m not ready to answer it. She’s not old enough to understand the truth. All it would do is confuse her.
I can’t explain about the cult we escaped or how I ended up there. I can’t tell her about Jeremy or my father. Even if she understood, it would traumatize her.
“I thought you liked Kyle, baby.”
What else can I say? This is the first time she has even hinted at not being happy with how things are. Maybe she is happy and just wants to understand.
She shrugs. “He’s not daddy.”
Ain’t that the damn truth.
Kyle isn’t her father. He likes her and cares for her, but he will never be the kind of man her father is. That was the appeal behind him.
Kyle is easy to appease and control. He’s docile at best.
All I can think to tell her is a white lie. “Your daddy is a very busy man. I know he wishes he could be with us, but things just didn’t work out that way. Maybe one day, baby.”
She nods and goes back to playing with her doll like that conversation never happened.
She doesn’t have a father. She has a sperm donor. He doesn’t know he contributed to her DNA and I’d like to keep it that way.
Her father is a dangerous man.
I just have to wait and I can get her out of here without Jeremy interfering.
Jeremy walks right over to Kyle as my stupid husband tries to crawl away from him. He looks truly pathetic, especially with Jeremy towering over him.
“Listen, man. It was just a misunderstanding.”
Yeah, Jeremy won’t believe that. Not for a second. Even if he did, he has never been the forgiving type. I’ve seen him absolutely destroy someone over just looking at me and Kyle just tried to kill me over money of all things. The protectiveness that has always resided inside of Jer should be gone from the hatred I’m sure has taken residence in his mind, but based on the tension in his back and shoulders, I don’t think it is.
Maybe it’s one of those “only he can hurt me” type of things. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Lifting his foot, Jeremy kicks Kyle right in the face, hard enough for me to cringe. Then with the crowbar in his hands, he rains hell down upon Kyle’s body. The screams that he releases makes me worry that he’ll wake Lottie and my gaze darts to the stairs.
This would be the time to make my move. Kyle has his attention.
Jumping to my feet, I dart out of the living room, heading for the stairs, hoping that if I’m quick he won’t notice me trying to make a run for it. The second my foot lands on the stairs, my head is yanked back at an awkward angle and I scream from the pain tearing through my scalp and down to my neck.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He yanks me back into his body before claiming my throat in his hand. This reminds me of stolen moments I would rather forget, ones that only cause heartache.
“Let me go,” I demand, but it falls on deaf ears.
“Do you think you can go up there, grab your bastard child, and run for the hills?” he whispers the lethal words in my ear and sweat breaks out across my brow.
