I had made myself look harmless so that he would stay arrogant, stay careless, stay certain he was winning, and keep showing me exactly who he was and what he intended, right up until the day it could all be used.

The quiet daughter had never been the defenseless target he took her for.

She had been the one thing in that house he never thought to be careful around.

And that, in the end, was the mistake that undid him.

I did not feel triumphant, pinning him there and watching him understand.

I want to be honest about that, because a story like this invites you to enjoy that moment, and I did not.

What I felt, mostly, was tired, and sad, and a kind of grim relief that it was nearly over.