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But I’m not fucking giving up.

“How the fuck did you find me?” I yell in his face.

“Your deadbeat parents gave you away.” He laughs.

My parents?

How could they—

The letter.

A few weeks after I arrived in Hartwell, I sent them my new address. I told myself it was only in case something happened. In case they needed me.

Jerry didn’t know.

No one did.

I should have known they would never fucking need me. They didn’t even bother using the address to contact me themselves.

They gave it to him instead.

Ben lowers his face toward mine, bringing his mouth close to my ear.

“You’re mine, Blair. You’ll never get away from me. Ever.” His breath crawls across my skin. “Now stop fighting like the good little bitch you are.”

He licks my neck.

Fucking disgusting.

I force myself to stay still. Not moving a muscle.

He thinks I’m submitting to him.

Good.

He needs to think that. If I have any chance of getting out of his hold, he needs to believe I’m done fighting.

“Good,” Ben murmurs as his grip on my wrists loosens slightly. “Now let’s talk.”

He brings his face level with mine.

“I missed this fucking body.” He breathes me in. “Still wearing the same perfume, I see?”

I look him dead in the eye. “This is the last time you will ever fucking touch me.”

Then I slam my forehead into his nose.

Ben reels backward with a curse, his grip breaking completely. I roll onto my stomach and scramble to my feet.

Back door.

The front is useless now. He’s too close, and I’ve already wasted too much time trying to reach it.

I run through the house, yelling for help and willing someone to hear me.

My hand closes around the back-door handle. I wrench it open, and cold air hits my face.

Outside.