Another heavy strike. The top hinge of the bathroom door gave way with a sickening crack. A sliver of light from the hallway cut through the darkness of the bathroom, illuminating the haze of dust motes dancing in the air. Through the crack, I could see a sliver of Daniel’s face. His eyes were wide, manic, completely devoid of the man I loved. He looked like a predator staring into a trap.
“I see you, Rachel,” he whispered, his voice dangerously close to the splintered gap. “I see the shadow of your feet. Open the door, honey. Let me help you. It’ll be quicker that way.”
“Daniel, look!” Vanessa suddenly shrieked from the living room. “On the counter! Her purse—her keys are still here, but her phone isn’t!”
“Damn it!” Daniel roared.
He didn’t throw his shoulder against the door this time. Instead, he kicked it. The heavy, solid wood shuddered, and the bottom latch tore completely out of the drywall. The door swung inward by a few inches, blocked only by my body weight and the heavy wicker laundry hamper I had dragged in front of it.
The gap was now wide enough for him to see us clearly.
Daniel’s eyes locked onto mine. A sickening, cruel smile spread across his lips. “There you are. Look at you. Look at what you’ve done to our son, Rachel. If you had just signed the divorce papers and let me have the trust fund, we wouldn’t be here.”
“You… you monster,” I choked out, my voice raspy, my throat burning as if filled with acid. It was the first time I had spoken, and it took every ounce of my remaining strength.
“Call me what you want,” Daniel said smoothly, reaching his arm through the cracked door, his fingers straining to reach the inner handle to push the obstruction away. “But in an hour, the police will find a tragic murder-suicide. A depressed mother, unable to cope with an impending divorce, poisons her own son and takes her own life. And me? The grieving husband, comforted by his loyal assistant, miles away on a business trip.”
“The police… already know,” I wheezed, lifting the phone just high enough for him to see the glowing screen.
Daniel’s smile vanished. His face contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
“You bitch!” he screamed.
He threw his entire weight against the door. The wicker hamper crushed into splinters. The force slammed the door into my shoulder, sending a bolt of agonizing pain down my spine. I was thrown backward onto the cold tile, losing my grip on Noah.
The phone flew from my hand, skittering across the floor and sliding directly under the clawfoot bathtub.
“Ma’am! Ma’am! We hear him! Units are turning onto your street now!” the operator’s voice echoed faintly from beneath the tub, but it sounded like it was underwater. My vision was tunneling. Black spots flared at the edges of my sight. The poison was shutting my body down. My muscles felt like lead; I couldn’t lift my arms.
Daniel stepped into the bathroom.
He looked immaculate compared to the horror on the floor. His crisp blue button-down shirt was barely wrinkled. He looked down at me and Noah with an expression of profound disgust, as if we were a pair of spilled drinks on an expensive rug.
Behind him, Vanessa hovered in the doorway, her hands pressed over her mouth, her eyes darting frantically around the room. “Daniel, we have to go! If she called them, they’re coming! Let’s just take the money and run!”
“Not until I get that phone,” Daniel growled. “If there’s a recording, the insurance won’t pay out. The whole point of this was the payout, Vanessa! I’m not leaving empty-handed.”
He knelt down, his expensive leather shoes stepping right into a puddle of Noah’s spilled bathwater. He reached out to grab my hair, pulling my head back brutally. I gasped, a cry of pain escaping my lips.
“Where is it?” he demanded, shaking my head. “Where did it roll?”
I looked past him, my fading vision focusing on my son. Noah wasn’t moving. His eyes were closed, his face dangerously pale, a thin line of white foam forming at the corner of his lips.
No. No, please. Take me, just let him live.
A surge of primal, maternal adrenaline flared through my dying nervous system. It overrode the paralysis. It overrode the pain.
With a guttural scream, I drove my fingernails into Daniel’s face, dragging them down his cheek. I felt his skin tear, warm blood instantly coating my fingers.
Daniel shrieked, letting go of my hair as he clutched his bleeding face. “You miserable whore!”
He backhanded me. The force of the blow cracked my head against the porcelain base of the sink. Sparks exploded in my eyes, and I collapsed onto my side, completely paralyzed this time. I could feel warm blood trickling from my temple, mingling with the cold water on the floor.
“Daniel! Red lights! I see red lights through the trees!” Vanessa screamed from the front of the house, her voice rising to a panicked shriek. “They’re here! The cops are here!”
“Get the car started!” Daniel yelled back, wiping the blood from his cheek and looking down at his hand in disbelief. He looked back at me, his eyes burning with a demonic hatred. “You think you won, Rachel? Look at your boy. He’s gone. And you’re about to join him.”
He didn’t look for the phone anymore. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, silver object.
A lighter.
