From Here to Hidden

CHAPTER 10

 He wasn't home yet. How suiting. She would just walk right in, take his family, and pretend that she cared. He'd seen that before. Had been a part of that little game that they played. The girl didn't have any idea who he was. She'd never even seen him. He wondered what Beth had even told her about him. Had she told him he even existed? Had she told him about how they stole everything from him? How they had ruined the life that he had built?

Of course not. Beth wouldn't do that. She would place the blame elsewhere. It was him. It had always been him. Every issue. Every problem. Every fight and frustration had been because of him. Every broken promise; every lie. Every ounce of false hope and every story that hinged on anticipation that things would change. All snatched away from him because of them. They had ruined it all. What infuriated him most was that they had no idea.

He drove slow enough that he could see as she closed the door, her shadow playing off the curtains in the living room. There were kids inside. He didn't have anything against them. He would never hurt them. This wasn't even her home. He'd been inside her house. Scouted every room. Knew every dip in the floors and nook in the wall. He had memorized the location of the furniture and knew where she kept her gun. He'd unload it when it was time; ensuring she'd never get a shot off. It would be simple. She was too predictable. She always had been.

Even coming to Alabama was predictable. He'd followed the job openings nationwide trying to predict where she'd go. She'd never go too far from home. Mommy and Daddy might need her or want to see her. She was too close to them to move too far. He'd known that. The opening in Alabama was a no brainer. Same predictable Beth. The same need to pacify everyone and make sure that they were all taken care of. It made him sick. Even as she stepped inside another man's house, he knew that she wasn't doing it for her. She was doing it for him. He'd asked her and she didn't have the gall to tell him no.

She'd never had a unique thought of her own. She'd always played right into what everyone else wanted. He'd witnessed that first hand. No ability to make her own choices. Soon enough, she'd have to decide for them. Make the choices that would affect everything.

It wouldn't be long now.