It All Started With Hate

lock | part 2 (e)

"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." — Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Chapter 88
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Maggie

Anger surged through my veins like poison. I tried the door handle in frustration, but, of fucking course, it was locked from the outside, too. There seemed to be something else blocking it as well.

What the fuck?

I staggered back on shaky legs. The realization hit me hard – Luke, he never intended on letting me help him or of letting me close to the fight, in order to avoid me getting hurt.

Goddamn it. I should have known better, but I hadn't.

But dwelling on it wouldn't help now; all I could do was hope. Unfortunately, hope was doing little to quell my growing panic, especially with the ominous sounds that followed.

Gunshots, echoing like firecrackers, only much closer this time. I had no idea who they were going into, but just the thought of one hitting Luke....

My hand clutched my stomach, fear gripping me. I was trapped in this room, thanks to fucking Luke.

Sitting here, helpless, though, wasn't a better option. I had to do something from within.

I scanned the room as the walls rattled from impacts and bullets. Amidst the chaos, I heard Luke's voice, strong and defiant, taunting the men apart. It brought me a glimmer of relief.

That relief wouldn't last forever, though. There were seven men left, and one of those was my father. My father who would do anything to get to me. That part had been more than proven over the past half year.

As I took a step toward the door, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It snapped me to attention, and I berated myself for not thinking of it sooner.

I retrieved my phone, forcing my trembling hands to steady. I yanked my phone from my pocket, hissing at myself, "Why didn't you think of this?"

My shaky hands barely maintained a grip around the device, but I forced myself to. As soon as I went to tap at our security app, I recalled myself deleting it just an hour ago.

Shitfuckshitfuck—

Inhaling through my nostrils, I dared myself to push it out with the same force. Panicking wouldn't help anything.

I quickly reinstalled the app, and once it was back, I tapped it with bated breath, the seconds feeling like hours.

Just as the progress circle completed, a loud thump against the bedroom door made me jump.

It was against the bedroom door, so hard that only a couple of more would probably get them inside. That same thump sounded out, again, before the disembodied figure attempted to open the door by the handle, rattling it around until I thought it broken.

Just as I grabbed my gun from my side, it stopped. I didn't lose my aim, either way.

To replace it, though, was a plea from someone who I didn't recognize as Luke, so that helped calm me just for a second, before another gunshot sounded out by the door. It made my ears ring, but through it, I heard something heavy, I assumed the man's body, thump to the ground. Since the door had stopped shaking, as well as the man's pleas, I knew who was behind it.

Luke's footsteps began to grow farther and farther away, again, so I knew he was getting to the others, now.

From what it sounded like, Luke's taunts and provocations had worked like he wanted. My father, as well as his goons had big egos, as most men did when it came to fights. They wanted to take him on by themselves, rather than taking the smart approach and just jumping him together. It was dumb on their part, but heavily beneficial on ours.