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H e’s coming for me. Oh my god. What do I do? Why isn’t he scared of me? I look like a crazy woman. Surely, he should be running.

As the hulking man stalks into my room, tall and looming, his black mask and clothes remind me of lethal mercenaries from movies, sending a chill down my spine.

Why would my parents send this man in to take me to Daniel?

Are they scared of me?

Are there cameras in here and they saw me paint myself in my own blood, so they called in reinforcements?

My gaze darts around my room, looking for said cameras, but it’s too late. The man is closing in.

“Put the shard down,” he demands, and hell, I almost drop it. Not from fear, though. More like the tone in his voice has some sort of control over me .

“N-no.” I shake my head, holding the shard out further, readying myself to stab him if he gets any closer.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Drop it.”

Again, I shake my head but freeze when a second man steps into the room.

“Right behind you, Sarg,” he calls, and shit. I can’t take on two of them.

“P-please. D-don’t.” I start sobbing, desperate to get free. Why won’t they just let me go?

“We’re not here to hurt you. Just put down the glass,” the first man orders, his hands held up in front of him as if he’s trying to calm a beast.

“Stop!” I scream, and without second guessing myself, I press the tip of the shard to my neck. “I’ll do it! I swear I will!”

Both men freeze in place, and the guy at the back shoots his gaze to the back of the other guy’s head as he speaks. “Sarg. What do we do?”

The other man, Sarg, doesn’t answer him, instead he speaks to me.

“You don’t really want to do that. What you want is to escape this house. Am I right?”

My chest heaves as my hand trembles, and I feel the sharp tip scratch the surface of my skin.

“Think about it. If you hurt yourself, you’ll just end up in hospital with doctors telling you what you can and can’t do. Maybe they’ll even put you in the looney bin. Is that what you want?”

My head shakes in answer, but no words leave my lips. I can’t make sense of this situation.

What’s happening here?

What’s right and wrong in this moment ?

“Then put the glass down.”

The deep baritone of his voice keeps me in place, my eyes locking with his as we stare at each other. When did he get that close?

I blink a few times, trying to rid my eyes of the tears as his intense gaze stays on mine. His eyes are brown too, but maybe slightly lighter than mine. They remind me of the whiskey my dad swirls in the bottom of his glass when he’s deep in thought. Like a rich and vibrant amber.

“Put it down. Now!”

The demand is loud, falling from Sarg’s lips as he lunges for me. I’m so shocked by the abruptness that on reflex, I drop the shard, lurching backwards so hard I practically wind myself on the wall behind me as I collide with it.

In a matter of seconds, he and the second man are on me, strong hands cuffing my wrists so I can’t fight them, and even though I struggle with everything in me, I’m no match for their brute strength.

I scream as the three of us go crashing to my bed, and I hear them grunting orders to each other as they wrangle me. But really, there’s no need. I’m helpless to fight them.

Somehow, I end up face down on the bed, the heavy weight of one of the men on my back, pressing me into my mattress.

Memories start rushing to the forefront of my mind, and I squeeze my lids shut.

No. Don’t think about it, Abbey. Don’t think about it.

I try to ward off the trauma I have no idea how to deal with, willing the flashes of memory determined to force their way in and consume me to stay back. They aren’t welcome here .

“Please d-don’t.” I beg, hoping he’s not here to do that . Please, anything but that .

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” The deep rumble comes from the one called Sarg, his rasp against my ear, his breath warm across my cheek as he speaks. “We’re going to go and see your parents. And then we are going to leave. You will do everything I tell you, without argument. Do you understand?”

I nod into the mattress, even though I want to defy him and say no.

Suddenly, the heavy weight is off me, and I go to push myself up, but realise my hands are tied behind my back.

My heart thrashes wildly, terror washing over me at being bound, the beating organ in my chest pounding so violently I fear it will stop at any second.

This can’t be happening.

Why is this happening?

With two firm hands gripping my upper arms, I’m hauled off my bed, the sudden movement forcing a gasp from my lips.

“Jay!” He booms from behind me, and I whimper, shrinking in on myself as he holds me back against his chest.

The other man, who was doing nothing but staring at me, quickly moves out into the passage, gesturing to someone else, and he steps out of the way as another man steps in.

“Sarg?”

Wait.

That’s not a man, I realise, the voice feminine, and that’s when I notice the shorter stature of this black clad person, who definitely has boobs under those clothes.

“Find a bag and pack her stuff. Make sure you get all the girly shit you chicks like. We leave in five. ”

“Yes, Sarg.” She nods, her gaze lingering on me for a moment before she heads for my wardrobe.

I don’t get a chance to see what she’s getting as Sarg urges me forward and I stumble over my feet when he tries to move me.

“Ouch,” I cry as a splinter of glass stabs into my bare foot, and the man curses before sweeping me up in his arms.

I’m trembling in his hold, terrified of what’s about to happen. Terrified for the moment he delivers me to Daniel. Because when that happens, my life will be over.

I was so close to getting out of here. Another two days and I would have been free. Another two days and I would have had the safety of my Uni accommodation to protect me while I prepared my final escape plan, but thanks to my sister, everything has changed.

The man’s thick arms feel strong as he carries me, and I hate how I get the urge to curl into his hold, exhaustion starting to make itself known, probably an effect of the one pill still in my system.

When I’m carted through the doorway of my parents’ bedroom, it takes me a moment to comprehend what I’m seeing.

My parents, on their knees. Black smudges of mascara have run down my mum’s face, and dad’s cheeks are nearly purple as he sobs. Beside them, are two other men, tall and strong, dressed all in black with their faces covered as well.

What the…

“Put her down!” my mum screeches, snapping her teeth like a rabid dog. “You can’t have her!”

The man carrying me chuckles, even as he lowers my feet to the floor .

“Oh, I can, and I will,” he snickers, and I don’t miss the insinuation in his tone, my head snapping in his direction.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, confused as hell.

“Nothing. Just reminding your mummy dearest that she can’t have you anymore. You’re mine now.”

“W-what?” My mouth drops open as I turn my gaze to my parents. “Daddy?” I beg, hoping he’ll fix everything, just like he did when I was little.

Sarg chuckles again. “Sweetheart, the only man you’ll be calling Daddy from now on is me.”

What?

“No!” My dad roars as my eyes widen and I take a step back, only to crash into the other man that was in my room before.

“Steady,” he says quietly, not sounding as menacing as the huge man they call Sarg, who I’m pretty sure just said I’ll be calling him Daddy.

Uh-uh. No way!

I spin on my heel, trying to make a run for it, but strong arms wrap around my waist and haul me backwards, my legs kicking out as I panic.

“Calm down, kid. We ain’t gonna hurt you.”

I want to scoff and argue with the man pinning me to him, but his hand slaps over my mouth, stopping any words from coming out as he turns back to face us towards Sarg and my parents.

“Mr Delany. Mrs Delany. I hereby relieve you of your duties of the care of your daughter. She is now my responsibility. I will be the one to discipline her from now on.”

“No! You can’t have her. She belongs to me. She’s to be married— ”

Sarg lurches forward, fisting the top of my mum’s hair, much like she did to me earlier tonight when she forced pills down my throat. I can’t help it, when he tugs her head back and my mum cries out in pain, I start to relax, and I even think I smile behind the hand still covering my mouth.

Not like a lot. Just a bit.

And shit. What does that say about me?

Am I just as evil as she is?

“You will not be choosing who she marries. I will,” Sarg hisses in my mum’s face. “And if I find out either of you so much as try anything similar with your other two daughters, I’ll make sure the both of you go missing. No one will ever find your bodies, or what’s left of them, anyway.”

My dad’s sobbing should upset me, but a part of me just doesn’t care if he’s scared right now. After the things he’s let my mum get away with, standing back and watching her dole out her punishments. I suddenly feel safer with these brutes trying to kidnap me.

They’re still men, Abbey. They can still do all that stuff Daniel did to you.

Even as I tremble knowing that’s true, in a strange way, I’d rather they do those vile things knowing they are people my mum doesn’t want me to go with. No, she’d rather send me to Daniel, knowing how he treats me. Knowing what he does.

“You brought all of this on yourself, Abigail. If you spread your legs like a whore, of course he’s going to treat you like one. You reap what you sow.”

I’ll show her reaping what I sow.

Okay, so maybe I won’t, but going with these men, even if it is unwillingly, feels like a big fuck you to my parents. And an even bigger one to Daniel.

“Time to go,” Sarg calls, shoving my mum sideways to the floor, and for the first time, I notice her hands and feet are bound behind her.

A gasp flies from my lips when the other guy is the one to hoist me in his arms this time, and my parents disappear from view as I’m carried down the hall, past my open bedroom door, towards the front of the house.

As we pass by Tahli’s room, her door opens, and I see the flash of her blonde hair, panic slamming into me as I fear for her safety.

These men might hurt her.

I start to struggle in the man’s hold, desperate to get free and protect her.

“Abbey!”

Her voice, so scared yet somehow strong, shows me she’d do just about anything to help me if she could. She’s so little, though. I couldn’t bear it if she got hurt because of me.

“Tahli!” I call back, wanting to reach for her, but with my hands bound behind me, I’m absolutely useless.

The man carrying me stops and turns, though, and I see Tahli take a step back just inside her doorway as Sarg looms over her.

“Stay away from her!” I protest, trying to wriggle free, but the man holding me is too strong. I can’t get to my little sister.

To my surprise, Sarg lowers down onto one knee, and pulls up his mask, revealing his face to her. A sob escapes me when I think maybe he’s about to kill her, but then I see her nodding, and she speaks quietly to him as he does to her.

They both glance at me then, and for the first time, I get a glimpse of the man’s face.

I’m not sure what I expected, but a beard definitely didn’t even register as a possibility. Nor is how soft the flushed skin on his cheeks appears.

“Love you, Abs,” Tahli says softly, and hell, my lower lip starts trembling.

“L-love you too, Chook.” I use the nickname I gave her when she was first born. “Stay out of t-trouble, okay?”

She nods, not shaken by the way I sob through my words, and then as if I haven’t been shocked a thousand times already in the last twenty-four hours, my twelve-year-old sister shifts closer to the man and gives him a hug.

What the hell is going on?

“Go back to bed, okay?” Sarg says, ruffling Tahli’s hair. “Your parents are okay. They’ve just been put in the naughty corner for a while.”

She nods, like that’s totally acceptable, before stepping back into her room and closing the door.

All of a sudden, with my little sister now out of sight, I’m scared shitless again. I just want to be left alone to live my life, yet I can’t escape people that feel like they have a right to control everything I do.

“P-please,” I whimper, watching Sarg rise to his towering height as he tugs his mask back down. “Just let me g-go. I’ll run away. I won’t bother anyone, I s-swear.”

Stepping closer, his height forces my head to crane back, before he hooks his finger under my chin, his whiskey-coloured eyes hard and piercing as he leans in closer .

“My orders were to get you out of this house and take you with me, Angel. You best believe that’s what’s happening.”

I part my lips to argue, but a second later he reaches forward, his big hands peeling me from the arms of the other man to cradle me against his chest before he carries me out into the night.