Context: My husband and I have been married for about 2 years and have never had any issues with FIL at all.
I(27F) am very much in love with my (32M) husband. We have been together a total of 5 years, 2 of them being married. His mother passed away from a freak accident when he was around 10 and his father has been a single father since. He’s never even looked at another women since she’s been gone. Typically we spend holidays at his fathers, with his 2 younger brothers (both single).
Everything has always been normal besides his father never really speaks too much. That’s the norm for him. His 2 younger brothers are extremely out going and always brag about how great their childhood was and never had an issue with their dad not remarrying. When I started coming around I did notice his dad giving me the side eye but brushed it off as none of the boys have really had women in their lives for a long time. This last Christmas we spent a few days extra at his fathers house because he had Covid and wanted to make sure he would be okay. We are all pretty healthy so it didn’t really bother us.
About a month later, his father had finally started to open up to us, which was weird because nothing crazy had happened while he had Covid. He would call my phone once a day asking how myself and my husband are doing and if we needed anything from him. I always assured him we were okay and didn’t need anything from him. I work from home so I am home almost everyday. My husband, however, works two weeks out of the month out of town. My FIL knows this and knows his sons schedule very well since it’s always the same.
One day, I’m home working, and my husband is away on his usual work Schedule. I hear a slight banging noise from my back door in the kitchen, while I’m in my office on the other side of my house. I know it’s not my husband because he would’ve called to let me know he’s coming home early. I do have a cat so I was really hoping my cat had knocked something over. I ignored it until about 5 minutes later I head that door bust open. I immediately grabbed my phone and ran to the bathroom attached to my master bedroom and locked the door. I tried calling my husband to see if it was him. No answer. I tried again. No answer. I heard footsteps in my kitchen and drawers being opened. I knew it was not my husband now. I immediately dialed 911 but for some reason my signal had stopped working and I couldn’t get through. I usually have a gun in my nightstand drawer but I did not want to risk moving out of the safety of my locked bathroom. I quietly looked for a weapon to fight off my home intruder but all I could find was an eyelash curler and a metal nail file. I hear footsteps getting closer and closer to my bedroom. Then my doorknob is being shook. HARD. I fight the urge to scream out but it sounded like whoever was out there was coming in no matter what. I got behind where the door would open and waited for the door to open so I could attack first.
Then I heard my front door open and the shaking of the knob stopped. My heart sank. What if THAT was my husband that opened my front door coming home early and I still had no signal. What if whoever broke into my house was armed and could hurt my husband? The footsteps started going toward my front door and as soon as I felt clear, I ran to my room and got my gun. I quietly started walking to the front of my house only to hear a my FIL screaming and fighting. Now I’m confused. I ran to the front of my house finger ready to pull the trigger and I see my FIL hitting and kicking a man to the floor I have never seen before in my life. He tells me to call the police and luckily I still have a land line in my kitchen so I call the police and they come to arrest the strange man.
The man had admitted to watching me and decided he wanted to break into my house and rape me and kill me. He had tracked my husbands work schedule for months and seen no immediate family over at our house before and figured how would be the perfect time to strike. I thank my FIL for saving my life and that I don’t know what I would do without him. After everyone left, I sat on my couch waiting for a repair man to come fix my door that the strange man had broken into. And then it dawns on me. Why was my FIL coming to my house unannounced, knowing I was the only one home? And how did he get in without actually breaking my door down? I immediately ran to my keys and noticed my house key was gone. This sent chills down my spine. What were my FIL real intentions?