I pulled up to the gates, punched in the code, and then rubbed my eyes as I waited for them to open. Abel was next on my list of things to do. Abel needed to feel wanted, or he would slip off the imaginary choker chain I had around his neck.

Pulling up to the front of the house, I expected Sunshine to come out and greet me like she’d done all week, but the door stayed quiet, and nervous energy settled in my body. Jogging up the steps, I noticed only the screen door was shut, but the house was quiet. Too quiet.

Had she taken off? Did she decide she didn’t want this life with me after all?

The screen door slammed as I whipped it open and ran inside. I skidded to a stop in front of the living room and stared at the damage. I zeroed in on Abel’s knife sticking out of the television screen.

I should’ve killed him, was all I could think as I ran through the hall and spotted the small pool of blood by the door leading to the basement. I was going to kill him if he’d hurt her. Abel would end up tasting my blade. A feeling I’d never experienced settled in my stomach as I ran down the stairs and across the basement to the closed door of my work area.

I punched in the code, but the door wouldn’t budge. Son of a bitch, he changed it. Luckily, I’d been prepared for a time this might happen. Not that I thought it would be Abel that I’d have to use the override code for, but in hindsight, he’d always been the ultimate threat. My fingers held down the four buttons that would release the door and override the system.

As soon as the lock clicked open, I was bombarded with Abel’s annoying one-hit-wonder music and an ear-piercing scream. Fear was an emotion I’d never felt, but I felt it now. It felt like an ice bath had been dumped over my head as rage boiled in my gut.

“Cain,” she screamed. “Cain, help,” Sunshine yelled for me even though she didn’t know I was there. “No, get away from me.”

The part of me that I’d locked up tight when I was a child, the part that was a wild and savage creature wanting to rip the hearts from its prey, stormed to the surface as I shoved the heavy door, slamming it open, shaking the thick wall.