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CHAPTER 1
PEYTON
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Easy.
Fun.
Full of laughter.
Those were three things I’d never thought my day-to-day life could be…but it was. There was no darkness surrounding me, Kian, and Reed. No walking on eggshells. No answering to anybody.
Four months.
That was how long it had been since I’d walked out of the house I shared with my husband.
One hundred and twenty-one days.
That was how long it had been since someone had laid their hands on me.
Two thousand, nine hundred, and four hours.
That was how long it had been since I started my new life.
I wished I’d done it sooner, but I knew I wasn’t ready for it before that night. It wouldn’t have stuck, and I wouldn’t have made sure I was a four-hour drive away from anyone that knew me. I’d gone as far as I could without leaving the state, and settled in a nice, but normal, neighborhood.
I hadn’t created a new name for myself, or for the boys. I wasn’t hiding, I was just starting a new life. Even though the thought of Travis finding us played over and over every night in my nightmares, I refused to be anything other than the person I’d always been.
Walking around the front of my new car, I smiled, remembering how I’d gotten more cash for the top-of-the-line car that Travis had bought me when I’d given birth to Reed. It was a bribe, one that said, “forgive me for strangling you only an hour before you went into labor.”
The vehicle held memories that I refused to be reminded off, plus there was no doubt that a tracker was in it. So I’d sold it the next morning, then bought this one, a small silver car, costing a tenth of what I’d gotten for the other one. Which meant I had more money to go into the pot, allowing us to really settle in before I had to find a job.
Luckily, Kian was already in school and Reed was going to daycare twice a week to run off his crazy energy. Ever since he turned one two months ago and learned how to walk, he’d been a little terror.
I lifted the lid on the trash can, then deposited the bag of trash from the kitchen into it, not looking up until the last second. The neighborhood was always quiet and settled, so when I looked up, I jumped out of my skin. “Fuck,” I grunted, my hand flying to my chest as I stared at the woman who was putting her trash out too, only ten feet away from me next door. “You scared the shit out of me.”
She was like a deer caught in headlights, her face shadowed, her eyes pools of green. She couldn’t have been a day over eighteen. I tilted my head, trying to place her face, but I’d never seen her here before.
Frowning, I glanced around, realizing she’d come from the house where the Mafia guy lived. Yeah, I knew he was Mafia, I’d known it the first moment I’d met him when he helped carry Reed’s new crib to my front door. Romeo Pagani had been a man of very few words, but I’d known who he was instantly. If it hadn’t been for the vibe he gave off, then the name would have confirmed it.
I may have grown up in the next state over, only moving into this state when Travis decided we should get away from the chaos that I’d grown up around, but the Pagani name was renowned across the country. And it was in that moment that I knew the only reason Travis had moved us into a different state was so that he could hold his control over me even more. It made no sense to live where we had because he had to cross state lines daily to work for my big brother.
He hadn’t wantedusto be away from it all, he’d wantedmealone so he could do whatever the hell he wanted. And he had. Over and over again.
Shaking my head, I pushed the thought of him out of my mind. I couldn’t go there, not today, not any day, not if I wanted to survive.
“Sorry,” she whispered, her shoulders tightening as she stared at me.
“You’re all good.” I waved my arm in the air, hyperaware that I had to leave to get Reed from daycare in the next few minutes, but also trying to shake off the anxiety bubbling inside at remembering my husband. I should have walked away, cleared my mind, then got into my car, but something kept my feet glued to the ground, telling me I needed to stay. “Are you okay?” I asked. I had no idea why it slipped out of my mouth, but if the widening of her green eyes was anything to go by, then everythingwasn’tokay at all.
“I…” She trailed off, blinking as an engine came closer—no, two engines—then abruptly stopped.
“Bailey,” a deep voice snapped, followed by the slamming of a car door. I swung my head around, staring at the driveway and to the man who owned the house she was standing in front of.Romeo Pagani.“What the hell are you doing?” I bristled at his words, but the part of me who had learned to keep my mouth shut when a man was angry had me frozen still. “Get back inside. Now.”
She stumbled back a step, like Bambi not quite sure of her legs. “I was just taking the trash out,” she murmured.
He wasn’t listening to her as he growled, “Get inside.”
