AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
The bright halo of flames behind me stretches my shadow across the hard ground, distorting it against the trees and elongating it, morphing it into something girls like me only see in nightmares. But when it comes to girls like me, there’s no such thing as nightmares—only the harsh reality otherwise known as life.
My feet pound against the hard earth, pushing me further away from the flaming cabin behind me, a cabin that not thirty seconds ago was supposed to be my salvation. It was supposed to keep me safe, keep me alive and away from the evil in this world. Only now, it’s in a million broken pieces, just as fractured and broken as the devastated remains of my heart.
Sharp pants tear through my lungs as I focus on nothing but running, desperate to get away. My rapid pulse thumps loudly in my ears, getting faster and faster by the second. I match my strides to its sound, forcing myself on as I fly through the woods, launching myself over fallen branches and cutting up my arms and face from the sharp bushes around me. But nothing matters now, only that I get away.
I can’t … I don’t understand how this is happening. I’m so fucking confused. Why? Why would they do this? How could they do this? One second, I was searching through the cabin trying to figure out the best room to blow their minds, and the next, I’m bolting through the woods, my skin burned, bloodied, and bruised.
How could they betray me like that?
I trusted them.
This isn’t right. I thought they loved me, but all this time, it’s just been a game to them. They led me to believe that I was their world. They spun an intricate, complex web around me, and I fell straight into it, handing over my fragile heart on a silver platter.
I’m so fucking stupid.
I should have known life was never supposed to be that good for me. From the day I was born, the world has been plotting against me. Every single person who has entered my life has proved untrustworthy. I thought Ember was the final nail in my coffin. I should have known.
In this world, there’s always room for another betrayal. People say not to kick someone when they’re down, but Dynasty doesn’t give a shit about ethics and morals. If you’re down, they’re going to stand by and demand you dig your own fucking grave, and only then will they push you headfirst into it, making sure you stay down for good.
I bet the boys are halfway back to Ravenwood Heights already, laughing about the way they took that dagger and slammed it straight through my broken heart and tore me to shreds. I bet they love just how easily they were able to fool me.
The only ray of sunshine in my world is the knowledge that Cruz’s guilty conscience is probably eating him alive, but the darkness in his eyes before he closed that goddamn door … was any of it real? Did I even know them at all?
They told me they loved me. They said they’d do anything to protect me and keep me safe, and time and time again, they proved that to be true, but here I am, my feet pounding against the uneven ground, branches cutting up my skin as I frantically run, desperate to get away.
I was such a fool to believe them.
How many times did they warn me not to trust anyone in this twisted world? How was I to know that they were talking about themselves?
FUCK.
I push myself faster, my hands covering my face, protecting it from the sharp twigs and branches sticking out at every angle. My wrists and forearms are cut up and bleeding while my leather pants are doing a poor as fuck job of protecting my legs.
Why the fuck did I have to wear heeled fucking boots tonight? My old ripped-up Queen shirt is twisted around my body, now showing a shitload more than just a little side boob, and fuck, what I wouldn’t give for a goddamn bra right now … or my fucking phone that sits safely in Cruz’s pocket. I bet that was part of their sick little plan all along—make sure that I don’t have anywhere to go, no one to trust, and no way to call for help.
I’m fucking screwed.
The flames roar from the cabin and I look back over my shoulder, watching how the bright halo spreads out through the woods, but that halo doesn’t reach me anymore. It’s just me, alone in the thickening woods, lost and bloodied. I can barely see two feet in front of me as every step takes me deeper into the darkness.
My heart continues to hammer and the tears flow down my cheeks, staining my dirty skin and mixing with the soot from the explosion.
