Silent Child(84)

The sparkling glint of anger in his eyes had changed to a dull, grim determination. I knew he was stronger and bigger than me, but I also knew I wanted to live—for both of my children. I quickly checked around me for weapons, but there wasn’t anything, only a TV remote and a magazine. Even the lamp was on the other side of the room with Jake blocking my way. He came at me again, throwing his force against me and pushing me back, colliding with my pregnant belly in a way that made me gasp for breath. But I managed to throw my weight to my right side, duck beneath his armpit, and then push him full force with both hands, hissing with pain as my injured hand made contact with his side.

Jake tumbled to the floor but he still had hold of the knife. I knelt down on his chest and pressed on his wrist with my full weight, but my fingers were slippery with blood. Jake hit me across the face with his free hand, a blow so hard I felt a crunch in my nose. I ignored it, and sank my teeth into his wrist. Jake beat the back of my head and roared with pain. My mouth filled with the rusting taste of warm blood. I sank my teeth deeper and deeper until I felt his grip loosen on the knife.

He finally managed to throw me back, but I took a chunk of his wrist with me and a spray of blood hit me in the face. My bloody fingers couldn’t grip the knife and it flew from my hand to the back of the room. Jake, face sweaty and contorted, lifted his leg and I recognised that he meant to kick me in the stomach. I rolled to the right and struggled up onto my feet.

“Aiden, we need to go!”

My son was sat on the sofa, his eyes wide and his face set in horror. I quickly wiped away some of the blood from my mouth as Jake climbed to his feet, holding his wrist.

“Just let us go, Jake,” I pleaded. I was prepared to do anything to keep myself and my children alive.

“I can’t do that, Emma.”

As he ran towards me, I saw the bloodied statue that Jake had used on Rob. I ducked down and scooped it up as Jake’s punch missed my face by inches and connected with my shoulder instead. The force almost knocked me off my feet, but Jake was sporting a deep injury on his wrist and that had slowed him down, so I was able to lift the statue and throw it at him. Jake’s expression was filled with surprise as the heavy, stone figure hit him squarely on the chin before falling onto his foot. He was still screaming from the pain as I threw myself sideways at him. We tumbled to the carpet, Jake pushing my face up to the ceiling away from him, groping for my neck. I managed to find the warrior statue and took it in both hands as Jake’s fingers wrapped around my throat.

I lifted the stone figure and a pop of anger exploded inside me. I wanted him dead. This was the man who had lied to me every day. He’d violated my trust. He’d stalked me when I was a vulnerable young woman. He’d murdered my parents and tried to murder my son, all so he could break me and mould me into whatever he wanted. He had controlled me and hunted me. There was a lot of hate inside me and a lot of anger, and the taste of his blood in my mouth wasn’t enough. I wanted to see him suffer.

I brought the statue down onto his head and his hands loosened. I lifted it and did it again. This time, Jake’s hands fell from my throat. A trickle of blood rolled down his forehead until it pooled on the carpet and in his ear. I lifted the bust again.

And then I stopped.

Aiden was singing.

It was the same song I’d heard while I was arguing with Rob. His voice was soft. He sang high notes with ease, rising and falling with the melody. He had a beautiful voice, like a choir boy’s voice, and it made me cry. I dropped the statue and climbed off Jake whilst holding my pregnant bump. Jake was still. I’d killed him. I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to calm myself, before I bent down and searched for Jake’s mobile phone. It wasn’t there. I glanced across at the house phone on the corner table of the room. The wire had been cut.

“Aiden,” I said. “We need to go now.”

But Aiden wasn’t on the sofa anymore. He was standing by the door of the room staring at me. His mouth opened and closed to sing the quiet song, and tears trickled down his face. I stepped towards him, holding out my hands for him to take.

“Aiden.”

He backed away from me. That was when I realised that Aiden wasn’t scared of Jake anymore—he was scared of me. His eyes flicked from me to the corridor and back to me in rapid motion, and I realised he was thinking of a way to escape.

“We’ll go together, Aiden,” I said. “I’m going to find a phone and call an ambulance and the police, then I’m going to see if your dad and Josie are okay. Then we’re going to go and wait in the car for the police to come. Is that okay with you, Aiden?” I didn’t want to spend a second longer in this house.

But his song only grew louder. His body was trembling and he shook his head. He glanced back to the corridor.

“You can’t go out that way,” I said. “The door is locked.”

Aiden clenched his fists and ran at me. His sudden movement took me completely by surprise, which was why he managed to knock me off my feet. My stomach cramped with another contraction, which gave Aiden time to search through Jake’s pockets and retrieve the key for Josie’s front door. By the time I’d managed to sit up, Aiden had disappeared from the room and I could hear the key in the lock.

“No!” I called, but it was no use, the door was open.

I hurried over to the corner where Jake had kicked my broken phone. The screen was smashed, but I could still scroll through the options. I pulled myself up onto my feet and hurried through the corridor where Rob was laid out on the carpet. I bent low to check his pulse.