Free Christmas Bliss by A. S. Fenichel

her
haughtiest voice. “You have no business here.” Even to her ears, the effect
fell flat.
    He advanced until he was so close she could feel his stale
breath on her face. “You are a bothersome piece of dung who my brother never
loved and I shall dispose of very quickly.”
    “My father loved both of his children.”
    He laughed and the sound made her cringe and the hair on her
neck stand up. Her stomach roiled in protest.
    “August often lamented to me about his foolish mistake at
having you and that bastard brother of yours. He would have changed his will if
he’d lived long enough.”
    “You lie.” He blocked her path toward the house. She took
off running in the other direction and dashed into the maze. She didn’t know if
she could find her way out, but it was her only option. Her boots clomped
loudly on the hard ground. It started snowing again, but it was not enough to
soften her footfalls. Her heart raced and she gasped for air as she made turn
after turn in the high-hedged maze.
    “You can run, Emma, but eventually I will find you.” His
voice carried through the shrubs. He wasn’t far behind.
    She turned another corner and found the fountain where she
and John had kissed. She ran passed. The shrubs parted in three places. She ran
down the one farthest to the left and hoped it would bring her out near the house.
If she could get inside and scream then someone would help her.
    The path ended at a wall of evergreen. Emma turned around to
find another way, but Drake had already found her.
    “I told you running was foolish.”
    She backed up, but the shrub stopped her.
    He closed in and lifted his hands toward her throat.
    The man who had terrorized her for the past year and
threatened Oliver’s life, was going to kill her in John’s garden. No one would
find her. Her heart sank. Oliver would not be saved. “You’ll be hanged for
this.”
    He was red-faced from the run and covered in sweat. He
breathed in gasps and the most terrible sneer marred his already repugnant
face. “No one will ever know. You see, I am going to strangle the life out of
that scrawny neck of yours and then I’m going to dump your body in the river.
You shall never be heard of again and all will assume you ran away from a
forced marriage.”
    “John will know,” she protested. “He will hunt you down.”
    Drake shrugged. “He will have no proof, and since he is an
upstanding member of society, he will do nothing about it. After all what can
he do? He can’t very well kill me.”
    “What does it benefit you to get rid of me? I have no money
to bequeath to you.”
    He raised his right hand to strike. She tried to back away
from the blow, but the large shrub jabbed her in the back. His hand slammed
down across her cheek and pain exploded across her face and eye. Then both his
meaty hands closed over her throat.
    Drake continued to speak as if they were having a social
call. “Your marriage is not convenient for my future. Pity that. Once you are
gone, I will petition for custody of my dear nephew, Oliver, and I shall have
all that I desire.”
    He laughed then and his hands tightened around Emma’s neck.
She struggled and kicked, landing a blow against his knee. He cursed and
squeezed harder. Her nails bit into the flesh of his face. She tried to cry
out, but her breath was nearly gone.
    Emma’s world darkened. She reached back and tore a stick
from the brittle bush behind her. With one last effort, she stabbed forward,
aiming for the general area of his eyes.
    She could no longer see his face, but he cried out. For an
instant, his grip loosened and she collapsed to the ground. She climbed to her
feet and used the little energy that remained to stagger toward the fountain. A
moment later, she was grabbed from behind and those meaty hands gripped her
neck again. She kicked her legs, hitting his soft flesh. There was a crash, but
everything was cloudy and gray.
    Darkness surrounded her and she thought she heard voices,
then