I was grateful for once that he had my mouth occupied so that I didn’t have to answer his stupid questions, but when his fingers twitched near the trigger, I froze.
No, it couldn’t happen like this. Before I could pull away, he pulled the trigger.
I sagged in relief as I heard the empty click of the gun and Jon pulled it out of my mouth, glee in his expression. “Look at you,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you terrified of me?”
I felt something warm trickle down my leg and realized I had wet myself, the puddle growing under my knees. He had humiliated me, making me think that my life was about to be over!
“You are a fucking asshole!” I shouted, wanting to lash out with my fists.
Jon chuckled, his hand going into his pocket. “Maybe,” he replied, producing a single bullet. “But I have the upper hand here, Naomi. Don’t you fucking forget it.”
I spat at him, not caring about what he was going to do with the gun now, and he jumped back, his eyes flashing with anger. “You will pay for that,” he snarled, shoving the bullet into the gun and cocking the chamber to slide the bullet forward.
He reached for me, and though I tried to wrestle out of his grip, Jon was too strong. His hand grabbed my hair and pulled me forward, pulling at the roots. “You never know when to quit, do you?” he asked, rubbing the gun over my cheek roughly. “I can deal with you being defiant, but I can’t deal with you being disrespectful, Naomi. Don’t you know what I can do to you?”
Heedless of the tears that ran down my cheeks, I clenched my jaw and met his gaze head on. “You will have to kill me,” I whispered, apologizing to the child that would never see the light of day. “Because I will never do anything you tell me.” It was a choice I had to make, a painful one that was going to destroy Gavril in the end, but I couldn’t let myself or our child be at the hands of a madman.
Not like this.
Jon’s expression darkened and he let me go abruptly, causing me to fall onto the bed. “Fine,” he gritted, waving the gun around. “Then you will spread your legs willingly so I can fuck you with this loaded gun.”
“Never willingly,” I forced out. He thought that he could scare me with that gun? I had faced much worse over the last few months, and I wasn’t going to let Jon win this time.
I was tired of him being in control. My mind had shifted from when he first entered the mansion, and had I been braver before, Vera might still be alive. “Do your worst,” I egged him on, knowing that I was probably going to pay for it in the long run. “Because I will never let you do anything willingly to me again. I will fight you to the very end, Jon. I will make you pay for all the pain you have caused me, and even if you kill me in the end, know that whatever power you thought you had over me is gone.”
“You little bitch,” he sneered, pointing the gun at me.
I closed my eyes, expecting the bullet to penetrate my body, when I heard the sweetest voice ring out.
“Get the fuck away from my wife!”