Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

Maggie cried some more once she returned home, having revealed so much of her painful past to Alyssa all at once. She ended
up falling asleep and only waking up in the afternoon the next day. Her mother had gone to work already.
Maggie struggled to get out of bed. She really didn't feel like going out, so she called the shopowner of the tailor shop she used
to work at to order some fabrics. She planned to start making a bag for Xavier.
In all honesty, if it was someone else who'd asked Maggie to do this, she wouldn't have actually gone through with it.
But Xavier's eyes had been so bright and his tone so earnest when he asked. Maggie couldn't help but want to finish making it
for him as fast as she could.
The tailor shop owner called Maggie in the evening and informed her that he'd sent a runner to drop off the fabrics. The runner
was about to reach her home.
Maggie thanked the shop owner profusely and patiently waited.
Sometime later, someone knocked on her door.
Maggie was eager to open it. But when she placed her hand on the doorknob, she still asked cautiously, "Who is it?"
The person outside paused briefly before saying, "Delivery guy. I have something for you."
Delivery? Wasn't this person a runner?
Maggie grew suspicious. "I've made a lot of orders recently. Where is your delivery from? Here or out of state?"
"See for yourself once you open the door."
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong!

Maggie was on extremely high alert, possibly due to her past abuse. She had a strong feeling that the person outside the door
was not well-intentioned at all!
She couldn't open this door no matter what!
"I-I haven't bought anything online recently. Are you sure you got the right place? Why don't you try another house?"
Bam!
Something heavy slammed against the door.
Maggie jolted and trembled in fear. She clasped her mouth tightly and frantically took several steps back.
Bam! Bam!
The door began shaking in its frame as if ready to shatter at any moment.
When Maggie was about to call the police, a tall, dark figure broke into the house.
"Help me!" Maggie screamed, bursting into tears out of sheer fright.
The man had already pinned her to the floor before she could see his face. He tightened his hands around her throat.
"Help... help..." Maggie's face grew purple from suffocation as she tried to tear the man's rough hands away. Despair flooded her
being as the air was choked out of her. Her vision slowly swam. Even the sounds of the man's harsh breathing grew faint.
All of a sudden, Maggie felt the hands on her throat loosen.

What followed was the sound of fighting. Two figures battled it out at the edge of her vision.
Seconds before Maggie passed out, she heard someone yell, "Hold on, Maggie!"
It sounded like Xavier.
In the end, Maggie still closed her eyes and blacked out.
Xavier was furiously attacking the man in black in Maggie's living room.
He had come over to check up on Maggie on Jasper's orders and also to give her some cash to help her. Who knew Xavier
would bump into someone trying to kill her?
Xavier did his best to fight the man, but his skills weren't like Sean's. Pretty soon, he was beaten and bruised on the floor. It felt
like every bone in his body had shattered.
"Fucking busybody. I'll kill you both then!" The killer grabbed a cleaver from the kitchen and aimed it right at Xavier's chest.
Cling!
"Fuck!"
A sharp butterfly knife suddenly cut through the air, slashing right across the killer's arm. The pain made him release the cleaver.
It fell to the floor with a loud clang.
"Mr. Cyrus?" Xavier's eyes widened in disbelief.
Before the killer could react, Cyrus had executed a powerful roundhouse kick, making him crash to the floor.

"Move again, and I'll shoot!" Cyrus snapped, using his knee to press into the killer's spine and pressing the butt of his gun
against his head.
The killer didn't dare fight back. His arm wound was still bleeding, making him grind his teeth in pain.
"Chief Taylor! Chief Taylor, are you alright?"
Two police officers from Cyrus' team hurried over just then to cuff the killer up.
"Send him to the station and call an ambulance. We have an injured female here!" Cyrus instructed swiftly.
"Yes, sir!"
Cyrus' subordinates then arrested the killer and sent him away, eradicating the danger once and for all.
Just then, Xavier pushed himself up from the floor and used all the strength he had left to lift into his arms.
"Hold on, Maggie... you must hold on!" Xavier grunted out.
The moment he took a step forward, he nearly fell from how much pain he was in. Luckily, Cyrus caught him.
"What are you doing, Xavier? Do you have any idea how badly injured you are?"
"I. I need to send her to the hospital!" Xavier panted out, holding tightly onto Maggie. His vision was swimming. "I can drive faster
than the ambulance can. So I need to get her there right away!"
"Leave the rest to me now, Xavier!" Cyrus said, feeling both pitiful and touched by the scene. He gently squeezed Xavier's
shoulder. "As important as it is to protect a case witness, you're an important person to my sister and Jasper, too. That's why I
can't let anything happen to you!"