Chapter 3

VIOLET

Something woke me up. It took a minute to orient myself and remember what had happened earlier.

Daphne had stopped crying after thirty minutes and had been embarrassed about breaking down, but I was able to put her at ease. She didn’t want to stay in her room, so I took her over to my room after making sure she had something to eat.

My sister had clung to me even in her sleep. Her whimpers hurt to hear because it showed her distress even in the land of dreams.

I gently extricated myself from her hold and pushed my pillow into her arms, hoping that it’d be enough to keep her asleep because she definitely needed it after the night that she had.

I heard the front door shut and footsteps that were clearly from more than just Ron.

My heart was hammering away in my chest as I opened my door and slipped into the hallway. Something was compelling me to find out what was going on. My gut twisted just like it always did when something bad was going to happen. I had learned long ago to always trust that feeling.

I made certain to tiptoe through the hallway so as to not alert anyone of my presence.

Voices met my ears when I got close enough to the living room. I had no idea how many people there were, but I could hear three distinct voices not including Ron’s.

“What do you want done with her?” a man asked.

“Like I give a fuck.” Ron chuckled. “Once the money lands in my hand then Violet is no longer my problem. Do whatever the fuck you want with her.”

My blood ran cold, and a shiver of fear wormed its way down my spine. He was literally selling me off. I shouldn’t be surprised that he would do something like this because the fucker had no moral compass. All that he cared about was whatever benefited him.

“And you’re certain she’s not human?” another guy asked.

Why would he ask such an absurd question? Of course, I was human. We didn’t live in a fantasy world like the ones portrayed in my favorite books. As much as I often wished for those stories to be real, they weren’t. This was the real world that we were living in here and now.

“No human can make someone else go flying without even touching them. Her mother was a monster too, which was precisely why I’d brought you all in to take her too,” Ron told him.

Wait a fucking second! Did he really have something to do with Mom’s death? Had he been responsible this entire time?

It was silent for a couple of beats before a low chuckle was heard.

“Ah, yes. Subject 671-R. It’s been quite interesting to study her. She’s also a looker if you can get past the whole monster aspect. If her daughter is anything like her then we’ll have fun experimenting with her. Perhaps we’ll even put them together for a few rounds. Two heads being better than one and whatnot.”

I immediately retreated to my room, trying to remain as calm as possible but failing miserably. The news of Mom was shoved to the very back of my mind for now because there were far more important things right now. Life and death type of things.

My mind was running ten miles a minute as I attempted to figure out the best course of action. I had a very limited window in which to act. It was to either throw up a white flag and surrender to them or get out of here before they got their hands on me.

My heart was ripping in half because I knew that a choice had to be made.

I wouldn’t have enough time to wake Daphne up and leave with her. Each second that ticked by was like a noose tightening around my neck. I knew that I was the target right now, which only put her in more danger. She was safer without me.

A tear rolled down my cheek when I realized that there was only one option that would work. I just needed to find a place where I could hide enough. I wouldn’t go far. Then I would circle back around once the coast was clear.

We’d leave here and never have to worry about Ron ever again. I would do whatever it took to keep her safe no matter what that entailed. I was done allowing him to have the upper hand.

I made sure that the door was locked before I opened the window. Luckily, we were on the first floor, so it was easy to climb out the window. Then I took off around the back side of the house, making certain to move about low enough so that nobody would see me if anyone looked out of the windows.

There was an abandoned house on the other side of our neighbor’s house. Daphne and I had explored it when we moved into our house, so I knew that it had plenty of hiding places that could be utilized.

I wished that I could’ve told Daphne what was happening and that I’d be back for her, but there hadn’t been enough time. I just prayed that she remembered that I’d never leave her behind and would always come back for her. It was the first thing that I promised her after Mom died or went missing or whatever the fuck actually happened.

I screamed when arms wrapped around me. A hand clamped over my mouth, cutting the sound off. There was no way in hell they wanted anyone to know what they were planning to do with me.

“You’re good. I’ll give you that,” a man whispered into my ear.

My heart was pounding harder than it ever had before. I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke out of my chest entirely.

“Who knew that a beastie could be such a pretty little thing,” he murmured.

Something warm and wet ran up my neck, causing tears to blur my vision. He was establishing a fact to me right now – I was at his mercy, and he could do anything that he wanted to.

I had never felt so violated in my entire life. My gut churned as dread settled deep inside of me.  

My teeth bit the inside of my cheek to give me something to focus on. I needed to be strategic with how I responded because I wouldn’t get a redo. That idea went straight out of the window the moment that his hand groped my tit.

I threw my head back as hard as I could. Pain burst in my head when it collided with his face. The sickening crunch of his nose was something that I didn’t want to hear again. However, the cry of pain was a balm to soothe my soul.

I ripped myself out of his grasp and took off, running as fast as I could.

Unfortunately, luck didn’t remain on my side. I was weaving in and out of trees, at record speed mind you, when I was tackled to the ground. My face took the brunt of the fall damage. I tried to move, but the fucker was too heavy. A hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pushed down, pinning my face to the ground.

“I’m going to enjoy breaking that spirit you have. I can’t fucking wait to punish you for that little stunt you pulled with my nose. Don’t worry because I’ll enjoy every fucking minute of that punishment.”

Tears fell from my eyes, but I refused to sob. I wouldn’t let him know how terrified I actually was. I needed to be strong and unyielding. I would not break because Daphne needed me to find my way to freedom so that I could free her too. I wouldn’t give in no matter how long it took.

He zip-tied my hands before he yanked me to my feet. Rude much?

Accomplishment wove its way throughout me when I saw just how much damage I had done. His nose was very broken. He was definitely a bleeder, the red making him look marginally better.

A black SUV stopped in front of us. Any hopes of it being a good Samaritan went right out the window when a guy dressed in tactical gear jumped out of the front seat to open the back door for the asshole behind me.

Aww. Who said that chivalry was dead?

“Aren’t you a rabid little thing,” he taunted me with a deep smirk on his face.

“Yes, I am,” I said defiantly.

I might be scared out of my fucking mind, but I’d do everything in my power to keep that fact hidden for as long as I could.

Something that Mom used to tell us was for us to stay strong. Things would get better. It might be stormy now, but it won’t rain forever. I would find a way out of this no matter what it took to accomplish.

I was shoved into the backseat as the men laughed their asses off. They were complete douchebags.

The vehicle started moving, taking me further away from my sister. My heart was breaking right now, knowing that she was going to freak the fuck out.

Where were they taking me? What was waiting for us once we got there? I was doing my damnedest to be brave, but I felt weak, so damn weak.

I was pulled from my thoughts when the vehicle fishtailed before it flipped twice. Any pain that I had felt today was nothing more than flea bites compared to the vehicle flipping. Glass exploded on contact, some of it embedding into my skin.

A loud ringing in my ears and the fuzziness in my head made it damn near impossible to focus. My entire body felt like it had been trampled in a stampede.

Despite knowing that the question should never be uttered, I couldn’t stop myself. Could anything else go wrong today? I would’ve facepalmed myself if I could actually move.

Footsteps drew closer to where I was, the glass crunching underneath the person’s weight. Was it too much to hope that this was a passerby who just wanted to help out of the goodness of their hearts? Of course, it was.

“Take care of them,” a gruff voice spoke up.