Chapter 6 - The Breach
I watched the glowing laptop screen in absolute terror.
The black-and-white night vision camera showed Liam gripping the hammer tightly.
He was not coming back to my door.
He walked toward the adjoining bathroom that connected my room to the guest bedroom.
I had completely forgotten about the shared bathroom doors.
“He is coming through the bathroom,” I whispered to Chloe.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the connecting door.
A deafening crash shattered the silence of the dark house.
Liam swung the hammer directly into the wooden panels of the bathroom door.
Splinters flew into the dark room.
Another swing.
The cheap hollow wood gave way immediately.
Liam stepped through the jagged hole, breathing heavily.
The faint glow of the laptop illuminated his face.
He looked nothing like the charming brother who fooled our parents.
He looked completely unhinged.
“You ruined everything,” Liam sneered, stepping into my bedroom.
“I was taking care of this family.”
“She needed to learn respect, and I was teaching her.”
I shoved Chloe behind me and held up the metal flashlight like a club.
“You are sick, Liam.”
He lunged forward faster than I anticipated.
He swung the heavy hammer, knocking the flashlight completely out of my hands.
It clattered across the dark floor.
He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall.
I gasped for air, kicking frantically at his legs.
“Leave her alone!” Chloe screamed.
She jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Liam roared in anger and spun around, throwing Chloe violently onto the mattress.
Before he could turn back to me, a blinding beam of light hit him directly in the face.
“Get away from my daughters!” Mom screamed from the doorway.
She had used the master key to open the hallway door and pushed the dresser aside.
She was holding Dad’s heavy hunting rifle.
Liam froze, dropping his hands from my neck.
Mom’s hands were shaking, but the barrel of the gun was pointed directly at his chest.
“Mom, put that down,” Liam said, trying to regain his confident tone.
“Dad is going to wake up.”
“He is not going to wake up,” Mom said coldly.
“I put three of his sleeping pills in his coffee after you threatened me.”
Liam’s eyes widened as he realized his leverage was gone.
“You would not shoot your own son,” Liam challenged.
“You do not know what I am capable of to protect my girls,” she replied.
“Now drop the hammer and back away from them.”
Liam slowly lowered the hammer to the floor.
He raised his hands in the air and took a step back.
For a brief second, I thought we had finally won.
But as he stepped backward, his foot caught the edge of my desk chair.
May you like
He stumbled, and in a flash of desperate rage, he grabbed the glowing laptop.
He hurled it violently at Mom’s head.
