BEVERLY’S POVA bleak world greets my eyes the moment they open, followed by an onslaught of pain in every part of my body. A groan follows the realization that I can’t move any of my limbs as it seems like they have been forced tightly together by the force of a rope that can break through skin to
He crouches in front of me and lets his fingers graze the skin at my ankles that is all red and angry from the rope tightened around it. I shiver at his touch, whimpering at the memory of the terrible things it has done to me in the past. He sighs. The psychopath fucking sighs like he empathizes wi
LESLIE'S POVHeartbreak doesn’t begin to describe this feeling inside of me. No, it is not enough to quantify the depths of the pain I am going through. It hurts, badly. Not the false sense of security I was lulled into; not the lies told to my face and the secrets kept from me. It is how weak my
LESLIE’S POVOf all the things that already don’t make sense, this very one tops the charts and breaks the scale–this one where I am being told I am siblings with a man I have never seen in my life. A man that looks nothing like the one lying unconscious on that bed, save for the color of his eyes.
“Excuse me?” My eyes snap to his.He shrugs, “Did he really look around the entire country and beyond for you?” “He did and then he found me and–” “Correction, you found,” he points to me and then to my unconscious father, “Him.” This man is getting in my head and I can’t even stop him. “What d
BEVERLY'S POV(TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT)I must have blacked out again. Because when I wake up this time, it’s in the trunk of a car so small my entire body is curled into a ball to fit into it. The acute pain on one side of my head signifies that my abductors didn’t consider druggi
“Stupid bitch.” He grunts. He doesn’t stop. Roman hits me over and over again, until my lips burst and my mouth bleeds. “You’re not going to beg for your life? You are not going to fall to your knees and ask me to spare your life?” He asks after dealing me another blow to the face. “Just…kill…me.
LESLIE'S POVIn just a matter of hours, my entire life was turned upside down. Life as I knew it suddenly changed and a man I had never met until yesterday is at the center of it all–with a signed document that I still can’t bring my brain to comprehend its existence. It was just yesterday but it f
CHAPTER 99 ~SOPHIE~ The moment Sebastian disappeared down the street, a crushing silence fell over me, broken only by the unsteady rhythm of my breathing. My fingers twitched at my sides, my entire body locked in place as if moving would make the moment real, as if accepting that he had been
CHAPTER 98 ~SOPHIE~ In between the endless nightmares that were triggered by the events of the past week and waiting for Travis to reach out to me again, I had been pushed to the edge of insanity. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but it did. It got worse. And now I was bolting out
CHAPTER 97 ~JUSTIN~ I’ve never been anyone’s first choice. Never. No matter how hard I tried, Jac always had the spotlight. He was the golden boy, the prodigy, the one with all the medals and accolades. Meanwhile, I was the kid bringing home crayon sketches and piano recitals that no one car
CHAPTER 96 ~SOPHIE~ There were many questions; like how on earth she was in a place that was at least an hour's drive from her family’s mansion, and why she was chugging down cheap beer when I have only ever seen her enjoy the finest wine. The longer we stood there, wordlessly staring at ea
CHAPTER 95 [ Punching Bag ] ~ELAINE~ (6) The moment I slipped through the gates and caught sight of my father’s car parked neatly in the driveway, dread curled deep in the pit of my stomach. I stopped dead in my tracks, my pulse quickening. They were home. They were never supposed to be hom
CHAPTER 94 [ The One Who Needs Saving ] ~SOPHIE~ I didn’t even blink when the words fell out of Justin’s mouth like he'd been holding them in for years. I just sat there, watching him like he had told me the most obvious thing in the world. If I felt remotely surprised, it was simply because I
CHAPTER 93 [ I’m Gay ] ~SOPHIE~ My scream echoed down the street, loud enough to wake the dead or at least give someone a mild heart attack. But the hand gripping my shoulder was barely even settled before instinct took over. I spun around, grabbing the wrist tightly and twisting it with all the
CHAPTER 92 [ Little Contradictions ] ~SOPHIE~ The faint neon lights from the cinema flickered on and off as I stood by the curb, watching the stream of people moving in and out of the building. I couldn’t remember the last time I watched a movie—couldn’t even remember the last time I did somethi
CHAPTER 91 [ The Man I thought I knew ] ~SOPHIE~ He said no. I never imagined that would be his answer. I sat there, stunned into silence, blinking at him like I hadn't heard him right. His fingers were still wrapped around my wrist, firm and unyielding as if he could anchor me to him by sheer