The Perfect Family

Terror Reborn

Vincent:

The blood seemed to rush right to my head as soon as Emily opened the door. She wore nothing but a red towel around her body, and droplets of water were sliding from her wet hair down to her exposed skin. My timing was absolutely perfect.

She was completely vulnerable, both physically and mentally, which gave me a rush that I could hardly contain. I pressed the gun to her forehead and told her to get into the house before she could alert any of her neighbors. She did as she was told, and as soon as she closed the door behind us, I pressed my body against hers and pressed my lips to her ear.

"I've missed you so much."  I whispered, running my hand over her hair. "Did you miss me too?"

"I thought you were dead."

"You were lied to. That dreadful phone call you got was from Stella. She wanted you to think I was gone so that she could have me all to herself."

Her knees became weak and I had to hold her up to keep her from falling down. She turned her eyes away from mine and asked, "Where is Stella now?"

"She's dead. You don't have to worry about her."

"Did you kill her?"

"Yes. I did it for us, so that we could be together."

Emily laughed, though there was no joy behind it. 

"I must be dreaming.  This cannot be real."

"Cora had the same reaction."

Her eyes burned into mine when she realized that this was very real.  "Where is she, Vincent?  I swear to God if you have harmed one single hair on her-"

"She's perfectly safe."  I said, smiling.  "Do you still think that I would hurt her?  You know I love her."

"Tell me where she is!" She put her hands on my chest and tried to shove me away, but I was easily able to hold my ground.

I pressed the gun against the side of her head and reached into my pocket, pulling out Cora's purple cellphone and unlocking the screen. I opened the pictures and showed Emily the picture of Cora that I snapped right before I left the apartment.

She was lying on Matilda's bed with her hands tied behind her back, her mouth still covered with tape.

"You son of a bitch!" Emily growled, "You claim to love Cora so much, but then you do shit like that!"

"She needed to be subdued, Emily. She was getting way too mouthy with me, and I didn't like it."

"Do you have any idea how much trauma you caused her, Vincent? She's scared to death of you, and I'm sure it's even worse since you killed her boyfriend."

My eyes widened and she nodded her head. "Yes, I know about Trevor." She said, "His brother found him dead earlier."

"That boy was nothing but trouble. He was abusing her, and he needed to be punished."

"God, Vincent! Why can't you leave us alone!? We were just starting to get back to normal."

"Cora being abused is not normal." I said, "I saved her life. She owes me."

"She owes you nothing! You ruined her life!"

Her disrespectful tone caused anger to surge inside of me, and I backhanded her across the face. "You still think you can scream at me!?  I'll make you-"

I stopped speaking when I heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. I stuck my eye into the peephole and sighed when I saw a police car sitting right outside. Could they have already found me!?