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I take off and don’t look back.
I manage to cut through lawns and side streets. The only people outside at this time of day are kids. Their parents are watching their cell phones, not them, so when they tug on their Mama and say a lady covered in blood ran by, no one believes them. Nice.
It’s all adrenaline now. I don’t consciously choose where I’m going, I just go.
The Ferro mansion isn’t far from here.
I have to get to Constance before they find me.
Chapter 16
I can barely breathe when I press the bell. My body is screaming at me, begging for a moment’s rest. I made it here on foot. I’ve spent the past few hours jumping fences and avoiding major roads. Leaves and dirt are stuck to my clothes, and there’s dried blood on my face. My hands are still screaming with weeping wounds as I fall against the door. I can’t stand anymore.
I expect the housekeeper will answer, as she has so many times before. I’ll ask for Constance and tell her everything. This is the best way. I keep telling myself that as I try to keep my eyelids open. The burning on my palms forces tears in my eyes. I slide down the front door until I’m nearly on the ground.
That’s when it opens. I fall inside and slam my head on the marble foyer floor. My vision goes fuzzy and I blink, trying to focus on the male face. Dark hair, blue eyes. “Peter?”
He laughs. “Nope. Wrong brother, Miss Smith.”
“Sean? What are you doing here?”
“I live here.” He leaves me on the floor at his feet. “The question is, what are you doing here?” His voice is cold, like he couldn’t care less that I’m bleeding all over his mother’s perfect marble.
“I need to talk to your mom.” The words come out in a hushed whisper. The world goes blurry and I blink again. The lack of sleep and the fierce fear are catching up to me. My stomach knots and I dry heave twice before curling into a ball. A tear tries to escape from my eye, but I don’t want him to see so I wipe it away, smearing warm sticky blood all over my cheek.
His stance shifts from heartless to hurt. “Shit, Avery. I wish things didn’t have to be this way.”
I cough as a shiver rakes through me. “You get to choose the way things are.”
“If only things were so simple.” He kneels down and scoops me up. “Lean into me.” Sean barks out an order for someone to clean up the mess I just made. He carries me away, cradling me in his arms like a child. Effortlessly, he walks up the grand staircase and navigates the winding halls of the mansion until he opens a door. We slip inside and he drops me on a bed, then turns and locks the door. My body tenses as I see the look in his eyes.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
COMING SOON:
THE ARRANGEMENT 18
THE FERRO FAMILY
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COVER REVEAL
Turn the page for a free excerpt from
Secrets & Lies
A Ferro Family Serial, by H.M. Ward
Secrets & Lies, Chapter 1
Is he serious? What an assface! I stumble through the quad, accidentally bumping shoulders with someone.
“Watch it, bitch.” I look up to see a pointy-nosed girl surrounded by a pack of nasty friends, all sneering at me. I have no friends here, not yet.
The truth is, my life sucks. It’s sucktacularly fucked up and I refuse to cry on the first day of college, but I’m having trouble swallowing the plate of shit my wonderful boyfriend just force-fed me. Excuse me, force-texted me. The asswipe texted me. He didn’t even call. The more I think about it, the more my throat tightens. Breathing is overrated.
I mumble, “Sorry,” and get the hell out of there, before they hogtie my ass and toss me down a flight of stairs. Not that I’ve ever seen anyone hogtied, but this is Texas, right? I’m out of my element, by far.
As I hurry away, I hear my roommate’s voice ring out, “That’s right, Bacon! You better run!” The girls all giggle like Chelsey just said the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. Great. She’s leader of the bitch pack. Why can’t I ever attract a psycho sans backup? My luck sucks. Have I said that? Well, bad luck is my key feature and the bane of my existence.
As I haul ass across the quad, my phone chirps. Don’t look at the screen. Don’t look at it! I chant to myself, but I can’t. I have to see what he said. It might be an apology. He might be breaking up with his other girlfriend and texted me by accident. Uh, wait. That’d be worse. I think.
The thing is, we’ve been together since we were kids. Our parents used to
joke that we’d be married one day, as if it were meant to be. It even felt like fate brought us together. On the day we met, I was playing outside when a terrified bunny chased Matt the two blocks from his house to my front yard. Running blindly, Matt mowed me down, leaving me for the bunny to attack instead of him.
Okay, this bunny was the size of a small dog and had a hunger for marigolds. In an effort to save their gardens from becoming rabbit food, the sweet little old ladies in the neighborhood were actively trying to poison it. I saved that rabbit from the wrath of the grannies and my prize was Matt. He called me cool names like Rabbit Slayer. Okay, it sounded cool in grade school, and much better than the normal nicknames kids give each other. Boogerface or Rabbit Slayer? Please. Like that’s even a choice.
Matt and I have been together so long, I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be apart. Now the unthinkable has happened and I’m two thousand miles from home, completely on my own. Matt is everything to me.
I pluck the phone from my pocket and scan the screen.
There’s this other thing…
Fuck. Like it could get worse. He already broke up with me. What’s worse than that?
I type back, I doubt it.
No, you need to know. There’s someone else. I’m in love with her, Kerry.
The prickling sensation hits the back of my eyes hard and fast. As I push through the door, I turn right and search for a bathroom. I can’t fake my way through this. I can’t sit here and pretend that he didn’t just rip my heart out. How can there be someone else? I was his and he was mine. We were a couple. I have his damned ring on my finger. We were going to give this long distance relationship thing a chance.
