I’d never crack under pressure if I were being interrogated by the enemy, but this is breaking me, and I need to get the fuck out.

“Fuck whomever you want,” I reply.

Her jaw drops and eyes widen, filling with tears, but she pulls herself together and narrows her eyes on me again.

“You’re a fucking pussy,” she growls.

“I told you I’m done and I’m leaving, Brynna. What do you want?” I ask in anger, raising my voice for the first time.

“I want to be someone’s fucking first choice, goddamn it!” She yells back at me. “I want someone to want to stay with me. To choose me!” Her eyes are wide and pissed as she stomps her foot and glares at me. “I thought you were that man.”

“You thought wrong.”

You are my every choice, Legs.

She turns away just as I hear Bix jump off the girls’ bed and begin barking. One bark, about every three seconds.

“I’m so fucking…”

“Stop.” I hold up a hand, making her stop mid-sentence and listen. The house is quiet, except for Bix’s measured bark.

“Why is he…”

“I said stop talking,” I interrupt and she covers her mouth with both hands, watching me with wide eyes. Suddenly something shatters the back picture window, next to the sliding glass door, and I spring into action. I pull the pistol from my waistband and push it into Brynna’s hands.

“Take this and get upstairs with the girls,” my voice is low and hard. “Get all of you, including Bix, into the bathroom and lock the door. Do not open it unless I say to. Do you hear me?”

She shakes her head, eyes wide with fear and just stares at me.

“Go!”

“I love you,” she whispers and runs up the stairs.

***

~Brynna~

Get the girls. Get the girls. Get the girls.

I repeat it to myself, over and over, as I climb the stairs two at a time and race to their bedroom. Bix is standing at attention at the foot of their beds, hackles raised, teeth bared. He whines when he sees me.

“Mommy!” Maddie cries and launches herself at me just as I hear Caleb’s hard voice downstairs, swearing and grunting.

Someone’s in my fucking house!

I quickly grab both girls and pull the comforter off the bed as I hurry into the bathroom. Bix joins us and I shut and lock the door.

“What’s happening?” Josie cries.

“There’s a bad man downstairs,” I say as calmly as I can. There could be more than one!

I throw the blanket into the tub and lift the girls inside, then join them. Bix stands a few feet from the door, growling, hackles still raised and teeth bared, standing guard.

I fucking love that dog.

I pull my cell out of my pocket and dial Matt.

“Yeah,” he answers.

“Matt, we need you here,” I begin and Maddie lets out a loud wail, scared to death.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Someone broke in. Caleb’s downstairs alone. We’re in the upstairs bathroom.”

“I’ll be there in thirty seconds.”

He hangs up and I dial 911, fill them in on the situation and set the phone on the side of the tub, still connected to the operator, as we wait.

The girls huddle against my sides and I grip Caleb’s pistol in my hands, aimed at the door, and wait, panting and shaking in fear.

Oh, God, what is happening down there?

More glass breaks, and I hear furniture being toppled over.

I can hear muffled voices and more grunting in pain, and I pray with everything in me that Caleb is whole and safe.

After several seconds of no noise at all, there are two gunshots, and then a third, and then silence.

Tears run down my cheeks. I wipe them on the arms of my shirt and keep the gun trained on the door. Bix is still growling and barking, but suddenly, he stops and tips his head to the side, as though he’s listening carefully.

“Bryn?” Caleb calls from the other side of the door.

“Caleb!” Maddie cries as I stand and reach over to unlock the door and let Caleb in.

“Where is he?” I ask through my sobs.

Caleb simply shakes his head and pulls us all into his arms, squeezing us hard.

I pull away, and the girls cling to him, crying, afraid, and I want to follow suit, but the words he spoke moments before our world came falling in are still here between us.

He’s leaving us.

I’m not who he wants.

When the girls are calm, he whispers for them to hug Bix, and as they do, he pulls me against him, buries his face in my neck and holds on tight, but I still don’t wrap my arms around him.

I hold still and wait for him to finish.

“Brynna,” he whispers.

“Where are you?” Matt calls out frantically.

“We’re in here!” I call back.

Matt rushes into the room, other cops following close behind him, spreading through the house to be sure there is no further threat.

“You’re hit,” he announces to Caleb, his eyes hard, and I glance down to find blood running down Caleb’s arm.

“Oh my God, I missed this!”

“It’s just a graze,” Caleb shakes his head, his eyes still on me, full of worry and fear, but I ignore him and launch myself at Matt, hugging him tight.

“Are you okay, honey?” He asks me.

I nod, and turn back to Caleb. “You need to go to the hospital.”

“No, I’m fine,” he shakes his head and pats Josie’s back, who has latched herself around his waist, hanging on with dear life.

“The ambulance is on the way,” Matt informs us just as sirens come from the driveway. “They can patch you up.”

We finally all move downstairs after the coroner comes in and removes the body. The girls and Bix huddle together on the couch while Caleb is cleaned up by a paramedic and I give my statement to Matt and his partner, distracted by the mess surrounding us; broken furniture, glass littered on the carpet. Even the loveseat is sitting on its back. Blood is pooled on the hardwood floor in the dining room.

The process is long and exhausting, and as we all come down off the adrenaline from the break in, it’s all the girls and I can do to keep our eyes open.

“We can’t stay here until the window is fixed and this place is cleaned up,” I murmur to Matt.

“I’ll take you to a hotel,” he responds with a smile.

“They can stay at my place,” Caleb replies as he joins us.

“We’ll take the hotel,” I mutter, not meeting Caleb’s gaze with my own.