I glanced over at the driveway, double-checking to make sure I had somehow not noticed Chase’s truck there, I guess he could have parked in the garage wanting to surprise us. I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside gripping Caleb’s hand behind me tightly.
I gasped when I saw the inside of my house. I wasn’t the greatest housekeeper, so it wasn’t like my house was ever really tidy, but I definitely didn’t leave it like this.
Throw pillows were thrown all over the living room floor, along with all of the contents of the coffee table. Numerous picture frames lay cracked and broken on the floor. I stepped over glass and picked up Caleb before doing so, not wanting to risk the chance of it going through his shoes. “Mommy, what happened?”
“I don’t know, buddy,” I answered quietly. I glanced into the other rooms of the house but didn’t notice anything else out of the ordinary until I opened Caleb’s room. It had been completely torn apart. Toys lay broken in a heaping pile. Framed pictures that I had lined up were broken and pushed face down. The sick bastard had even cut off the heads to all of his favorite stuffed animals.
I pushed Caleb back into the hallway before he could see the damage and crouched down, lightly gripping his shoulders. “Buddy, I need you to go into Mommy’s room. Lock the door behind you and then go into the bathroom and lock that door. Only open the door if you hear Mommy’s voice, okay?” He gave me a small nod and backed up to our room, I could tell he was trying to be brave for me even though his bottom lip was trembling.
I had to make sure he was safe though. Whoever had done this might still be in the house and I had a pretty good idea who it was. I made my way quickly back out to the living room to get my phone out of my purse when I heard a crunch of glass behind me.
“Caleb, I told you-” A sharp pain radiated through my head as I felt something slam into the back of it with such a force it immediately dropped me to my knees. I thought when people said that they saw stars they were just being dramatic, but now I knew exactly what they were talking about.
I shook my head slowly back and forth, trying to clear the haze, but just as that was happening, I heard another loud crack and that time it managed to turn everything black.
I woke up feeling groggy and had no clue how long I had been out. I felt like I had the worst hangover in the world and then my head had been trampled over repeatedly by a herd of elephants. Over and over again.
I moved to put a hand to my throbbing head but realized that I couldn’t move my hands. They were trapped behind my back and when I was finally able to peel my eyes open, I realized that I was tied to one of the dining room chairs. I tried moving every inch of my body to loosen the hold of the ropes that were holding me down but they didn’t give at all.
“Oh, don’t even bother, honey. Trust me when I say you won’t be going anywhere for a long, long time. You and I need to have a nice little chat. Woman to woman.” I cringed when I heard that voice. I had only met Shelia a few times, but her voice was familiar enough. And when I thought about what she had done to Caleb, it instantly made my chest burn with a red hot anger.
I slowly lifted my head to look her straight in the eyes. No one would have ever expected something like this out of the woman standing in front of me.
She was more petite in size than I was, barely taller than a twelve year old child. Her blonde hair was always in perfect order, not a strand out of place and her clothes reeked of money, the silk business suit she had on probably cost more than my whole wardrobe.
This time when I looked at her I saw all of that, but I also saw something in her narrowed eyes that I had never seen before. They looked almost animalistic, like a rabid pit-bull, out on the loose, looking for its next victim. And unfortunately, I was the one she had picked.
“I have nothing to say to you, Shelia,” I hissed. “You are a monster. Obviously, something’s wrong with you. Who abuses small, defenseless children? This is no one’s fault but your own. Roy just finally saw you for the bitch that you really are.”
Her ruby red lips curved upwards into a cruel smile. “Well, see that’s where you come in. You’re going to help me out with that little predicament. I finally found the perfect man for me and that little nuisance went and tried to destroy everything. I almost had him talked into marriage. I was this close.” She moved to crouch down in front of me, her face just inches from mine, I felt like spitting in it.