Hard as Stone(104)
“So, you’re spreading your legs for some pendejo, are you, Harmony?” he asked against her ear. “I hope you’re enjoying him. Lucky for you, I don’t give a shit. I only want what’s mine.”
“Tanner, stop this,” Harmony hissed as she watched Heaven begin to hop off her stool. “Baby, stay still,” she cried out when Tanner lifted the gun toward her child.
“I wanna go, Momma! I go now!” she sobbed, pointing toward the door. “Pwease, we go!”
“Get control of that little snot nosed brat, Harmony,” Tanner hissed, yanking on her hair again.
“Then let me go to her,” Harmony ground out, struggling against his unforgiving grip as she watched Heaven’s chest move rapidly up and down, tears coursing down her pale cheeks.
“Then fuckin’ go and shut that little bitch the fuck up,” he growled, shoving her viciously toward her baby with a savage flick of his wrist.
He pushed her so hard, Harmony fell on her floor in front of Heaven. Ignoring the shooting pain in her knees as she snatched her daughter against her, she felt her girl bury her face in the crook of her neck. “Shhh, baby, Momma’s got you,” she consoled her little girl, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tightly.
“We go home, Momma. We go Jake’s house,” Heaven babbled, her arms like clinging vines as the squeezed Harmony’s neck.
“Soon. I promise, baby, soon. But you’ve got to be quiet while Momma talks to this man.”
“He not my daddy,” Heaven insisted, drawing back to stare at Harmony with wet eyes. “He never be my daddy.”
“I know, sweetie, but you have to be quiet like a church mouse right now. This will be all over soon,” she whispered before twisting around to face Tanner. Scooting across the floor, she pushed her wiggling daughter into the corner between the refrigerator and industrial stove and shielded her with her body. Glaring at Tanner, she hissed, “Stop this, Tanner! You’re terrifying her!”
“You might wanna pay attention to that. Right now, though, you’re the one that needs to be scared. I can see that you love my daughter a lot…”
“She’s not your daughter. You have never been her father and you never will be,” she retorted, growing angrier. “Stop confusing her.”
“I didn’t get a choice. You took her from me before she was even born. You sent your redneck goons and forced me out of my town. But I’m back now,” he snarled, reaching out his free hand to grab Harmony’s chin. “And now there is nothing you can do but sit in front of me and flinch.”
“You’re still a bastard,” Harmony bit out, clamping her lips together to keep from screaming as he tightened his fingers on his face. His touch would leave a bruise. It always did before when he’d touched her.
“Listen to how your mama talks to your father, hija,” Tanner sneered at Heaven. “You never did learn to respect or honor your husband, Harmony.”
“Ex-husband,” Harmony spat automatically, pushing her hair off her face as she shifted on her knees. “You signed divorce papers. I have a restraining order, Tanner. You need to leave. Now. Go and I’ll forget I ever saw you. We won’t say a word,” she promised, willing to make a bargain with the Devil himself if it meant she got this animal away from her child.
Squatting in front of Harmony, Tanner smirked. “Who says I want you to forget me, bonita? I want you to remember. If you remember and obey me, you might just get to live a long life with the daughter I helped you make. If you don’t,” he continued with a careless shrug, “All kinds of things could happen. To you,” he remarked dangerously, nuzzling her under her chin with the gun, “Or, to the little one cowering behind your back.” He nodded at Heaven over Harmony’s shoulder.
“Don’t threaten her, Tanner,” Harmony replied, pushing her back against her daughter and forcing her deeper in the corner.
“So protective. You love her,” he noted blandly. “It’s in your eyes, bonita. You’d die for her.”
“In a heartbeat,” Harmony agreed quickly, nodding.
“Do not worry. I wouldn’t kill you, Harmony. That would be too easy for you and I’d want to enjoy watching you suffer. I bet you would be inconsolable if she just disappeared?” he asked softly. “If one morning you got up and poof!” He snapped his fingers. “That fast. Your hija is gone. It could happen, you know. I know many powerful men now that could help me do this. You get up and she isn’t in her bed. You go to her school, and she is no longer at her desk. This tragedy happens every single day, I’ve heard. It would be so easy to take back what is mine.”