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“You can start by telling me what you were doing in your uncle’s cabin the day of the lake party,” I focus on him. This is the first of many fucking tests. I got no hope of talking Prez into letting him stick around if he ain’t gonna be honest.
Tommy looks deflated but he speaks up. “Dad needed the USB drive from his trunk,” he says. “And before you start hitting me again. I have no idea what’s on it. Just that he was real desperate to get hold of it and that he didn’t want anyone else to know about it.”
“And did you get it for him?” I ask.
Tommy’s eyes fill with tears and he looks up guiltily at his uncle.
“He wouldn’t have come back if I did.”
I wait full clothed beneath my covers until I hear Dad’s footsteps on the landing and hear his bedroom door close. He’ll spend some time reading before he falls asleep, so I time another forty-five minutes before I brave moving from my bed.My heart beats frantically in my chest as I go over and over the plan in my head and I can’t help thinking all this would be so much less scary if Nyx was coming with us.
I can’t deal with those kinds of distractions right now though. The moment I’ve spent months planning is finally here, and I can’t afford to mess this up.
Creeping out of bed, I grab my suitcase from inside the wardrobe. I’ve decided to travel light, just my cash and a few changes of clothes. I leave my regular cell on my bedside table and slide the burner phone I bought a few weeks ago inside my back pocket. I can’t trust Father not to have some kind of tracker on that too, especially since he pays the bill.
My case isn’t heavy so I don’t risk wheeling it down the hall, and carry it instead. My heart thumps against my chest and my stomach twists in knots as I open my bedroom door and step out into a pitch-black hall.
I make slow silent steps until I reach the top of the stairs then take each step carefully, memorizing where each one creaks.
I’m almost at the front door, relief slowly replacing my anxiety, when suddenly the room lights up and a calm voice chills my bones
“Going somewhere, Ella?” Seeing Father staring back at me with that wicked glint in his eyes leaves me with only one option.
To run.
I bolt towards the front door, trying to yank it open, but it’s locked. Of course, it’s fucking locked, I even thought about that when I evaluated all the things that could go wrong with my escape.
His heavy footsteps thunder towards me and I quickly reach up to the hook where the key is hanging. He catches up to me and I yelp in pain when he fists at my hair, slamming my face hard into the heavy wooden door in front of me.
My head throbs in agony and I taste copper as blood trickles from my nostrils on to my lips.
“Trying to run from me,” he chuckles against my ear, causing my entire body to shiver. It isn’t just me he can hurt now, the risks are so much greater.
“Please let me go,” I beg, as softly as I can manage. “I won’t tell anyone about what you’ve done.”
“Let you go.” He spins me around so I’m facing him. His dark grey eyes alight with sick thrill. “I haven’t got what I want yet.” He presses his body tighter into mine, and I smell the alcohol on his breath.
“I’ve waited a long time for you, Ella,” his voice sounds almost tender and my stomach rolls with disgust. I can’t fight him from here, there’s no space between us. The moment I’ve been dreading all this time has come and there’s no escape. I’m never gonna survive what he’s about to do to me.
“It’ll hurt less if you don’t fight,” he whispers me a petrifying promise. His hand squeezing at one of my tits through the thick sweater I’m wearing. When his hands lower over my body I know it’s only a fraction of a second before he discovers my secret, and feeling his body relax against mine I strike. I move fast, ducking under his arm and running towards the kitchen to try my chances with the back door. But he comes after me, and while I’m looking over my shoulder my foot gets caught on the rug and I trip, landing hard on my front.
A sharp pain slices through the pit of my stomach, and a loud wail escapes my throat. But I don’t have time to panic, not when his fist is back in my hair, dragging me towards the living room.
“You won’t get away from me,” he yells at me. “All these years, I’ve taken care of you, I’ve given you everything you needed. What have I ever got in return?” He pulls me to a stop and crouches in front of me. “It’s time you paid your dues.” He leans over my body, grabbing my arms and pinning them on either side of my head. I struggle beneath him, fighting to be free, and then fear I’ll pass out when his heavy fist slams into my cheek.
My face feels like it’s shattered in two, but somehow I manage to keep on fighting as he shifts both my wrists into one hand and starts to loosen his belt with the other. My growing panic seems to give me a sudden surge of strength and I look up at him with all the hate I can muster, pull up my knee, and smash it straight between his legs.
His heavy weight falls onto mine, and I quickly roll him off me, scurrying onto my feet and take advantage of thedistraction.
I rush for the front door, my fingers shaking as I reach for the keys and managing to grasp them. I cry out when they fall from my trembling hand, checking over my shoulder as I scoop to pick them up, I see him lifting on to his feet.
By some miracle I manage to unlock the door, but I don’t have time to grab my suitcase, I don’t have time to think about anything other than running for safety. And that’s exactly what I do. I run, out into the black, cold air, and I keep on running until the stitch in my stomach forces me to stop.
I hide behind a tree to rest a few blocks away from my street, my heart slamming in my chest while I try to catch my breath. I can’t worry about not having any money or my car. I just need to get as far away as possible. I’m about to make another run for it when I feel another sharp pain slice across my stomach. One so strong that it makes me double over.
I breathe out, holding on to the tree until the pain subsides. The fall I took back at the house could have hurt the baby. A lot of things could have happened back there that I can’t bear to think about, and now I’m really screwed because I have no money and no vehicle. What am I supposed to do now? I can’t even go to the hospital to get checked out. My father will find me and drag me back.
I manage to stumble another few blocks, constantly checking over my shoulder, before another pain wracks through my body. I’m not an idiot, I know exactly what this is now, and it’s really bad timing, the worse in fact.
