Her Boss's Baby

Her Boss's Baby-Prologue

September 5th, Five Year's Ago

The light turned yellow and then red but she didn't notice. Even when horns honked, and tires squealed she sailed across the intersection. 

Tears marred her vision; her breath came in gasps sobs shook her body. The tires screeched as she turned into her driveway, and the car jerked to a stop. She shifted into park, mindlessly grabbed her purse and the keys. 

Her neighbors were standing outside on their front porches as she climbed out of the car. She ignored their glares, and taunts. Thanks to the reporters at the courthouse, they already knew.

She slammed the front door, twisted the lock on the door handle and flipped the two dead bolts closed.

The incessant beeping from the security alarm pulled her to the wall. Her hands were shaking, and her vision was impaired from the tears. After four tries, she finally got the code in to shut the alarm off, and then immediately reset it. 

Going back to the front she reached for the three chains and after fumbling a few times, she finally got them into place. 

The windows! She had to check the windows. Hurrying around the house, she checked each lock. At the back door, she checked the three slide locks, and tightened the deadbolt. 

Inside the single bedroom in the house, she slammed the door, and twisted the three deadbolts before sliding the five chains into place. From the bedside table drawer she pulled a small black handgun. She checked the clip, and then the chamber to ensure it was loaded. 

She backed into the corner facing the door, and slid down the wall. The handgun was clasped between her hands, pointed towards the door. 

Careful to keep one hand on the trigger, she reached into her purse which she had dropped at her side, and found her cellphone. The sun was setting outside her window as she dialed a number. 

"Hey, sis. It's been a while. How you doing?" 

"He's going to kill me!" She exclaimed. 

"Who? What are you talking about?" 

"I couldn't keep it together in court. I cried, I screamed." Tears were flowing freely own her cheeks. "His lawyer called me a liar." 

"Who's lawyer, sis, I don't understand. You gotta calm down and tell me what happened." 

Tears choked her, and she almost dropped the phone as she collapsed on her side, curling into a ball. 

"Come on. Talk to me." 

Finally getting control of herself, she sat up, and lifted the phone to her ear. "He's going to kill me." She sobbed. 

"Who?" He was frantic for an answer. "Where are you? Are you safe?" 

"I'll never be safe." She told him, "I went to the police. I told them what he was doing. I told them about the pictures, about him hitting me with his car. I told them everything. They arrested him for assault, but he got out. His lawyer got him out." 

"Where are you?" 

A loud shrill alarm sounded throughout the small one bedroom house. "He's here." She whispered. Fumbling in the dark for the gun she had dropped, she managed to get a hold of it and huddle back into the corner. 

"Who? Who is it? Where is he?" 

"He's going to kill me." 

Something slammed against the bedroom door, but the deadbolts held. The hit came again, and again. 

"What is that?" 

She couldn't answer. Fear had robbed her of her voice. This was it. He was going to do what he had threatened to do so many times. 

"I love you..." She finally whispered and dropped the phone as her bedroom door splintered and finally opened. 

He stood in the doorway. A hulking man with a large metal baseball bat in one hand, and a rifle in the other. 

Raising the handgun with shaking hands, she squeezed her eyes closed and pulled the trigger over and over until the chamber was empty. Only then did she open her eyes and see she had been aiming too high. She had missed. 

"Please." She whispered, "Please don't hurt me." 

*****

SEPTEMBER 6TH 

UNITED STATES NAVAL OFFICER 

LIEUTENANT JAMISON MICHAEL RIVERS

STATUS: A.W.O.L.