The Intruder

The Intruder

Sofia pov
It was just a normal day, that was what I thought before everything happened.
It happened so fast. Today most of the staff were off and it was only Matteo and a few guards that were present. They were currently taking their break.
One moment, I was in the kitchen, setting Alyssa’s glass of milk on the counter and wiping my hands on a towel. The next, I heard a thick thud from upstairs. Maybe Alyssa had dropped her toy, I didn't hear any word from her. Or was it something else that fell?
As I made up my mind to check on her, I heard Alyssa scream.
“Mummy.”
I didn’t think. I just moved.

I sprinted up the stairs two at a time, heart already pounding, the echo of my name sharp and terrified in Alyssa’s voice.
The bedroom door was half open.
And in that half-open doorway, everything fell away as my brain tried to comprehend what I was seeing.
A man dressed in black, masked, armed was dragging Alyssa from the bed, one hand clamped over her mouth. Her eyes wide with terror, little legs kicking wildly.
“Get your hands off her!” I roared, jumping in action. How had he come in?
The masked man turned toward me. Gun already rising to shoot at me.

I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on, a brass lamp from the hall and threw it with all my strength.
It hit his shoulder, which made him loosen his hold a little on Alyssa who tried to get away. But he tightened his grip on her at the last moment.
That throw was not enough to stop him but was enough to slow him down.
And that was the window I needed.
I tackled him.
We crashed into the dresser, Alyssa falling free and scrambling under the bed, sobbing.
The man swung hard, elbow catching my ribs. Pain shot through me, white and sharp. But I didn’t let go, I fought back slamming my forehead against his nose.
He yelled out and countered with a big blow to my cheekbones.

“Shit.” My eyes watered in pain. Where were the freaking guards when I needed them?
We continued grappling and he got the upper hand, sitting on top of my chest and strangling me.
“Leave my mummy.” Alyssa tried to help me but the man backhanded her that she fell to the floor. The sight made me saw red and I started fighting with everything I had in me.
Alyssa sobbed harder while I battled for my life.
“Matteo.” I screeched, hoping he would come to help me.
My hands were trying to slap the masked man's hand from my throat because at this point I was getting lightheaded.
My hands were flapping moving randomly when I found something, at the first touch I guessed it to be a knife.
It was on his belt. I didn't hesitate. I dragged it out with the the little strength that my fingers could muster.
He tried to stop me but I moved faster.

The blade slid into flesh. Once. Twice. Three times.
The masked man's eyes widened with shock as he realized that I had stabbed him. His hands fell from around my throat as hot blood splattered across my arms, chest and face.
His body went slack and he fell over groaning in pain and disbelief as he bled heavily on the floor.
And then it was over.
For a second, all I could hear was my own ragged breath and the sound of Alyssa crying.
I didn’t realize she was shaking until my knees gave out.

Marco got the call from the security team and he didn't think. He left the meeting he was in and drove here straight.
He drove in as the car turned into the gate
One intruder neutralized. His daughter was safe and Sofia was injured in the proof protecting her. The intruder was lucky he was dead, else he would have wished he hadn't been born.
He was out of the car before it stopped fully, sprinting inside, ignoring the shouts of the guards swarming the property.
He found them in Alyssa’s room.
The man was still on the floor, eyes open. Dead. A pool of blood beneath him. Alyssa was in the arms of a guard, being carried out. Her face tear-streaked.
But Marco’s world narrowed when he saw Sofia.
She sat against the wall. Blood on her hands, her dress, her face.
Her eyes were glassy. Her chest heaving.
Her neck was bruised, filled with hand prints. Her cheek was bruised so badly, he gulped. That bastard had touched his wife.
And when she saw him, something inside her cracked.

“I didn’t mean to, I just, he was going to take her.” Her voice broke as the first sob escaped. “I couldn’t let him, I couldn’t let him take her.”
Marco dropped to his knees beside her and pulled her into his arms.
She was stiff for a moment.
Then she collapsed against him, sobbing
She clung to him like she was drowning. Her blood-covered hands fisting the fabric of his shirt.
“I don’t want to do this alone,” she whispered, brokenly. “I don’t want to be strong all the time. I don’t want to be alone.”
His arms tightened around her.
“You’re not,” Marco said fiercely. “Not anymore. Not ever again.”
She shook in his arms, not from cold but from the weight of what she’d done, what she’d survived.
“I killed him.” She whispered. Marco understood how she felt. The first time that he had killed a man was even he was 12. He had vomited the contents of his guts out.
“You saved her.”
“I killed him.”
“He was going to take our daughter.”
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Our.
But Sofia didn’t correct him.
She only cried harder.

Moments later, the body was gone. The security doubled. The estate sealed.
The intruder had knocked out most of the guards on duty and Matteo had been the one to walk in after Sofia had killed him.
Marco was livid with their slip up, something that had almost destroyed his budding family. He would be doling out punishment to them after handling this issue.
Alyssa was asleep in Marco’s bed, guarded, wrapped in layers of comfort and calm. She had a nasty handprint on her face. The two important ladies in his lives were hurt because someone was after him. Kristoff would be hearing from him soon. He had alerted Giovanni to start checking other suspects.
Sofia sat in the bathroom, still in her blood-stained clothes, staring into nothing.
Marco entered quietly.
He knelt before her again, a towel in hand, and gently began to wipe the blood from her hands, her arms. He didn’t speak.
And neither did she.
But in the silence, something deeper passed between them.
He kissed her knuckles when he was done, then pulled her into his lap.
She didn’t resist.
She only whispered, “I’m scared.”
Marco rested his chin on her head.
“So am I.”