Mary closed on the deal in time to catch the Red-eye flight home. John never heard the cab from the airport pull up nor Mary entering the house. In fact, John was so shit-faced drunk, he never felt the kitchen knife slice into his chest.

Mary had to lean all her weight into the handle to break the chest bone. Once through, the blade easily slid through the left ventricle and into the lung. She fell backwards off the bed as John’s body convulsed in pain. Finally, with a wet sickly gasp, his body relaxed. A small stream of blood ran down his cheek.

Mary turned to see tears well up in 6 year old Bethany’s eyes as Bethany tightened her grip on her teddy bear. Mary crawled past the tiny blood stained panties and pulled Bethany to her bosom.

“Don’t worry baby, daddy’s never going to touch you again”, Mary whispered. They both started sobbing.