Nicole pressed her body into the wall of the dining room and made her way to where it opened up into the living room. She could still hear her mother humming softly and when she reached the spot where she could see, she almost cried out in relief. Her mother was sitting in one of the recliners holding Liam. He was asleep, or he looked like he was, and she was looking down at him. Nicole let her eyes take in the rest of the room; her mother and Liam were alone. When she looked back at her mom she saw what she had missed before. There were tears streaming down her face. Nicole looked back at Liam and for several long, terrifying seconds she watched his chest, waiting for a sign that he was breathing. Once again, she almost cried out in victory when she saw his little chest rise and fall. She looked toward the glass doors to her mother’s right, that led out to the back yard. There was a fence between the yard and the old barn so she couldn’t see out to where Stacey had taken the Ranger. She just had to pray she made it. She didn’t see anyone out in the yard from the angle she was looking, either. She took another step into the living room with her finger pressed to her lips. Her mother gasped when she looked up and saw her and started to open her mouth. With wide eyes and a pleading look, Nicole shook her head. She could see her mother’s angst on her face, but she didn’t speak. Nicole mouthed, “Spider? Dad?”

Her mother started to hum again as she looked over toward the glass doors. The tears flowed freely down her mother’s cheeks as she hummed, louder. Nicole wished she could tell her mother she was sorry and comfort her, but she knew that they were probably all running out of time. She moved slowly toward the wall opposite her where she could see the other side of the back yard. As she moved, Spider began to come into view. She could see him digging in the back yard with a shovel. What the hell is he doing? Now that she knew for sure that he couldn’t hear her she whispered to her mother:

“Why is he digging a hole?”

Her mother reached up with her free hand and wiped her face. “He’s looking for something. He had your father out there digging all night. Your father’s not well, Nicole. He wasn’t digging fast enough so that maniac beat him with the shovel.”

“Oh God, Mom, I’m so sorry. Where is he? Where is Dad?”

Her mother shook her head. “I don’t know. He locked Liam and me in the back room and only let me out this morning when I begged him to let me feed and change the baby. He told me if I ran, he would kill your father. For all I know, he already has.”

Nicole’s voice was shaking as she asked, “Where is your phone?”

“We were asleep last night when we heard the commotion in the kitchen. Your father got up to see what was going on and told me to stay in the bedroom. I wish I had listened to him. I was worried, though, so I followed him. I didn’t bring our phones and that man…he was like a wild animal…everything happened so fast. We heard you scream as he threw you down into the basement and your father charged him. That man took him down with one punch to the face and then he grabbed me and put a gun to my head. He started demanding our phones and asking where the land line was. He wanted to know where the controls were to the fire sprinklers downstairs. I don’t even know how he knew about them.” Nicole did. She was nineteen years old and her father thought that fixing up the basement for her like an apartment would make her want to stay home, instead of running off with Spider. She had told him that last weekend she snuck off to see him that her father was installing sprinklers down there, in case there was a fire. She wasn’t surprised he remembered. Even when he was as high as a kite, Spider never forgot anything. The sprinklers were probably not only to make her and Stacey miserable down there, but a stark reminder to Nicole that she’d chosen a life with him. “Anyway, he demanded all the cash we had in the house too. I thought he was going to just take it and go, but then he knocked your father out with the gun and he took me out to the car with it held to my head to get the baby. I didn’t know you had a baby.” She started to cry again. Nicole’s heart was breaking, but she had to stay focused.

“Mama, does Daddy still have a gun?”

“His shotgun and hunting rifle are in the gun safe, but Spider demanded the keys to that too. He took all the car keys off the rack by the back door. All the extra ones are out in the barn.”

“Okay. It’s going to be okay, Mama. Thank you for taking care of Liam. I’m going to go out there and see what Spider is doing and distract him. I want you to take Liam and go out to the barn and get the keys to Daddy’s truck.”

Her mother was shaking her head. “I can’t, Nicole. He still has your father…”

“Mama, listen to me, please. You can’t help Daddy by staying here. Please, take your grandson out of here and I swear to you I will do whatever I can to make sure Daddy gets out of here alive. Please, Mama, look at him…look at Liam. He’s your grandson. He needs you.” Her mother looked down at the sleeping baby. She ran a finger along his soft cheek and then looked back up at Nicole and said:

“Where would I go?”

“Just go into town, Mama. The clinic should be open today. Go there and have them check you both out and call the police. Please…go now. Mama, he means to kill us all and take that baby. Do you want that monster raising your grandson?”

Nicole could see the strength returning to her mother’s eyes, and she thanked God that her mother wasn’t going to hold Liam’s unfortunate DNA against him. She watched as her mom got to her feet and Liam stirred in her arms. Nicole’s heart ached to touch her baby, to hold him…but she knew there was no time. “I love you, Mama. I’m sorry, for everything.” Her mother looked at her, back down at Liam, and again at her daughter before she nodded and said:

“I have prayed every day since you left for God to keep you safe. I love you too. Maybe this is God’s punishment for all the years we turned our backs on you.”

Nicole felt the tears begin to spill down her own cheeks as she reached for something her father used to say all the time. “God doesn’t punish. He gives us free will and sometimes we make mistakes, but he always loves us and he always forgives. He wants us to love and forgive each other, and as long as we can do that, we’ll all be okay. Go now. I love you both.”

Her mother nodded again, and she cradled Liam to her chest as she went for the front door. Nicole watched them go and then she tucked the knife into the front of her still soaked jeans and braced herself for her confrontation with the monster.

* * *

Zack stopped the bike at the end of the road. The house was yellow but what confirmed it as the right one was Spider’s dad’s red Maserati in the driveway. Levi stopped his bike too and got off it. “What’s the plan?” he asked as he stepped up next to Zack.

“You go in the front, I’ll go around back,” Zack said. “You have a gun?”

“Always.” Levi was a man of few words, but that was okay, Zack liked that.

“Okay. Let’s do this…and Levi, there’s woman and a baby in there that mean the world to me.” Levi reached up and touched the side of his neck where the tattoo of the girl’s name was and nodded.

“I get it,” he said. The two men walked quickly toward the house, trying to stay as low as possible so as not to draw attention if Spider was looking out one of the windows. They split up in the front yard and while Levi went to the front door, Zack made his way around the big fence in back. He was about halfway around, looking for a way in, when he heard them.

“What the fuck?” Spider’s voice was loud, and pressured.

“Spider, what are you doing? I don’t understand. You were doing so well…what happened?” Nicole’s voice sounded shaky, but Zack had to give her props for sounding like she truly gave a shit. His heart hurt and it took everything in him not to kick down the fence and go in after her. He couldn’t see them, however, so he had no idea if Spider was armed or not.

“Shut the fuck up, acting like you give a shit. Where’s the old lady and my kid?”

“She’s in the house with him. Where’s she going to go? You took all the keys. But Spider, you don’t have to do this. My mother just told me that Dad has a big retirement account and you can have it all, if it’s money you need…”

“Fuck that. Your old man is in no shape to go to the bank anyways.”

There was a long pause and then Zack heard Nicole gasp and breathe out, “Daddy.” A sharp cry followed and then Spider’s voice again.

“Daddy,” he mocked. “Suddenly you turn back into that little cock-tease church girl. Leave him be. If he’s not dead by the time we’re finished here, I’ll put him out of his misery.” He heard another soft cry from Nicole and then Spider saying, “Where the fuck is that slut Stacey?”

“I think she’s dead,” Nicole sobbed. Zack almost smiled. He was so proud of her. “I couldn’t see in the basement, but when I touched her she was cold and it didn’t feel like she was breathing. Please, Spider, let everyone else go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“You’ll do whatever the fuck I want either way,” he said. Zack heard her cry out again, and he was finished waiting. Just as he put his boot through one of the planks of the fence he heard a loud grunt and then another, and through the hole in the fence he saw Spider, clutching at his chest with blood draining through his fingers. Nicole stood about six inches away from him, holding a knife. “You fucking bitch!” He lunged at her and Zack fired his gun at him through the hole in the fence. Nicole screamed and dropped down to the ground and Spider fell forward on top of her. As Zack climbed through the fence and raced toward her, so many things happened. Levi came running out the back door, Zack heard the rumble of a pack of Harleys, and Spider rose back up, with the knife Nicole had been holding in his hand. He raised it up and Zack stopped to fire at him again, but before he got off a shot, Levi did. The bullet that hit him this time blew through his back and opened a hole in his chest. Zack got to Nicole in time to pull her out of the way and they both fell back into the hole Spider had been digging in the ground as Spider fell on his face in the dirt, hopefully for the last time.