A noise startled me waking me from my dream. My heart pounded in my chest… I felt someone staring at me. I had drifted off to sleep hours ago. I could see a fuzzy black figure standing at the end of our bed. My breath came faster know the person had been watching me sleep. My heart pounded so hard that I could almost hear it.

“Hello?” I said in a whisper, my hands shaking. I didn’t know what else to do. I had nowhere to run; the doorway was behind them, and I was naked.

“He’s mine, Sophia,” she said in a calm even tone.

I covered my mouth with my hands as alarms went off in my head—Lisa. She’s bat shit crazy, and I’m alone with her. I squinted trying to get a better look. I could see something in her hand, but I couldn’t make it out. A lump formed in my throat as I laid in the dark waiting for her to act.

“He doesn’t want you, Lisa,” I said through trembling lips.

“You bitch! What makes you think you can take Kayden from me?” she said in an acidic tone. I could see her figure start to sway a bit.

“Lisa, you threw Kayden away a long time ago. I didn’t take him from you.” Butterflies formed in my stomach. Should I have told her that she could have him?

“I didn’t throw Kayden away, Sophia. I was seeing him until you came into his life. I went to New Orleans and spent time with him.” Lisa started to move from the foot of the bed.

“Lisa, you had him arrested. You ruined his life. He loves me,” I said as I started to shift in the bed. I needed to get away from her. Think.

“He’ll always love me. Kayden and I were meant to be together. You just occupied his time. You were his bank. He used you,” Lisa said moving closer to my side. She switched on the light and momentarily blinded me. I reached for my glasses and she swatted my hand. “I didn’t tell you to move,” she said as I whimpered from the sting.

“I just wanted to grab my glasses,” I replied.

She grabbed my glasses off the nightstand, tossing them on the bed into my lap. I grabbed my glasses and pulled the sheets up over my chest. I sat up slowly, sliding on my glasses. I saw a gun in her hand—she didn’t want to talk. Was she going to kill me?

“Kayden and I have a long history. He loves me and always will. He begged for my forgiveness. He said he couldn’t live without me. Kayden always comes back to me,” she said as she sat down next to me on the bed. I shook my head as she spoke. They were like fire and gasoline when together. But now, Kayden loved me; he picked me. I didn’t believe a word that was spewing from her mouth.

“He’s not coming back to you. He’s erased you from his heart,” I said through a clenched jaw, unable to hold my tongue.

I saw her hand move quickly and then everything went blurry. I felt a searing pain in my cheek and heard a loud crack. I winced in pain, and my heart began to thump so fast I thought it would burst from my chest.

“Kayden isn’t here with you right now. He doesn’t want to be with you. Where is he?” she asked.

I sat back up gathering my hand into a fist. “He went out with friends after work,” I said through tears. The pain had faded, but I didn’t want her to know.

“He’d rather be with friends than home with you. Don’t you see he’s not happy with you, Sophia.” The sound of pity was oozing out of her.

I punched her squarely in the jaw, my fist crunched against her bone. Her head flew to the side and I jumped from the bed heading towards the door. She grabbed my hair before both of my feet touched the floor. I continued to move forward my scalp throbbing, trying to resist her attempt to stop me. She hit me in the side of the head so hard that I saw different colors dance in my vision, more tears forming in my eyes. I fell back on the bed, dizzy from the impact.

I blinked a couple of times, but without my glasses, I couldn’t see worth a shit. My eyes adjusted slightly and the gun filled my line of sight. “I’m taking him with me. You’ll see who he chooses. Don’t move or try to fight me. I won’t hesitate to shoot you,” Lisa said to me, waving the gun in my face. My body trembled as I tried to slow my breathing.

I heard a key in the front door—Kayden.

“Sophia, are you still awake? You left the door unlocked,” Kayden said from the living room. My heart pounded as I heard his footsteps in the living room. I could see his figure enter the doorway and he froze. I held my breath, trying to feel around the bed for my glasses.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Kayden said in a seething tone, his veins popping out on his neck. All I could do was sit there and stare. Every muscle in my body felt like rubber.

“You’re mine. You belong to me and with me, not Sophia. We’re meant to be,” she said standing on the side of the bed.

“No, Lisa. We ended long ago,” Kayden replied.

“It can be like we were before. I know you still love me.” Her face grew red.

“I don’t love you anymore. I love Sophia,” he replied quickly as Lisa moved towards him. “Stop right there! You drove me mad, and had me arrested. You’ve ruined my life and played with my emotions for the last time!” Kayden yelled at Lisa.

She stepped closer to him, blocking my view.

“Lisa, please leave us alone... please. You have a boyfriend. You don’t want me or need me in your life,” Kayden said in a softer tone, probably seeing the gun for the first time.

“If I can’t have you, Kayden, than neither can she,” she yelled, pointing the gun at him.

“Lisa, this isn’t you. Put the gun down. Leave now and we won’t call the police,” Kayden said.

“Without you I am nothing.” she said.

Lisa tried to kiss him and my blood boiled. I lunged off the bed, landing on her back with a smack. I wrapped my hands around her neck squeezing.

“Stop, Kayden,” she said gasping for air.

“No, Lisa, let go.” Kayden fought for the gun, trying to pry it from her grip. A large bang echoed through the air and my heart stopped at the sound, but I felt no pain. Our bodies fell to the floor in a heap of human flesh. I gasped for air my mouth wide open like a fish out of water, winded from landing on Lisa’s back. She was crying.

“Kayden,” she yelled. “Get up, Kayden!”

Kayden was lying on the bedroom floor, a red spot growing on his shirt. She fucking shot him. I covered my mouth trying to hold back a scream. She killed my Kayden. I finally found a man that loved me the way I wanted to be loved, and this vile bitch took him from me forever. She still hovered over his body, crying and touching his face. She kissed his cheek and pleading with him to wake up and bile rose in my throat. Quiet, be quiet. I grabbed a large crystal candle holder from my nightstand and tiptoed behind her.

“You bitch,” I yelled bringing down the candle holder on top of her head. Her body slumped over him. I didn’t know if she was knocked out or dead, but I didn’t care.

I grabbed my phone dialing 911 as I kicked her body off his. His breathing shallow, but he was alive. “Kayden, hang on. Help is coming,” I pleaded with him. “I love you, Kayden. Don’t leave me.” I sobbed with a shaky voice. My hand shook as I stroked his face and my lips quivered as I kissed him. I loved him, he couldn’t leave me.

“Sophia…,” Kayden said in a shaky voice as I rested my head on his chest listening to his heartbeat.

“Oh, Kayden! Help is coming, stay with me, fight Kayden, please,” I begged him. I bit my lip and stared into his beautiful green eyes, the same ones that had captured my attention the moment I met him.

“I love you, always,” Kayden said in a trembling voice, I whimpered as his eyes closed. The color and liveliness that he had brought into my life was slipping away from me. I rocked back and forth a bit mumbling, trying to hold him in my arms. Where the fuck are the paramedics? Helpless and despair sucked the air from my lungs.

I yelled and sobbed as I heard the paramedics rush through the door. I sat back on my feet… rocking and watching them work on his body.. Everything moved in slow motion. I heard the men talking, barely able to process the words, Kayden’s heart beat sounding on the machine.

“He’s critical, but alive.” My heart fluttered in my chest hearing those words and I bit my bottom lip.

“She’s alive,” said a paramedic checking Lisa’s pulse.

I hadn’t killed her, but she would’ve killed me. If she could shoot Kayden, I’d be a piece of cake. I sat with my knees pulled up to my chest, my face buried, rocking back and forth. Tears were streaming down my face. Kayden can’t leave me—not now.

I sat in the emergency waiting room, covered in blood—Kayden’s blood. I stared at the floor watching my tears splash off the tile. “Ms. DeLuca?” a man said pulling me