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I screamed, my throat aching raw as I bellowed with everything I had.
I shot my arms up over us, went straight for my dagger, and ripped it off my arm. Bringing it down to my side, I lurched it forward and dug it into his body, on the side of his torso.
“Oh, shit!” he howled, pulling his hands immediately off me and launching backward. “Shit! Fuck! She stabbed me!”
I scurried away, my legs and hands going as fast as they could to get away from them. The blade fell out of my fingers, and my shirt was hanging down my arms, leaving me in my tank top. I spun around and got to my feet.
And ran.
I didn’t look back, and I didn’t hesitate. I raced through the house, entered the solarium, and threw open the doors, diving out into the night. My heart hammered in my chest so hard it hurt, and I felt eyes on me as I hit the grass and bolted across the vast backyard and through the trees.
Something wet coated my shirt, but I didn’t have to look down to know it was blood.
Droplets of rain hit my skin, my feet slid on the wet grass, and I fell to my knees a couple of times as I bolted. I had no idea where the hell I was going.
My mother was in danger, and I had no money. Who did I have to turn to?
The garden shed appeared ahead, and I slowed, suddenly feeling despair take everything I had left.
My mother.
They had an endless amount of money and power to hide this. There were no videos of their deeds this time to get them arrested.
I’d never find my mom, and I’d never get everything my dad left me back. Michael didn’t care about his father or Trevor. He wouldn’t listen to them when they eventually came back, and by that time, it might be too late for my mom.
I had nowhere to go. There was no one to help me.
Running my hands up and down my face, I wiped away the tears, wanting to scream in anger.
What was I supposed to do? Find a phone and call Noah? The only person I could probably reach?
And then what? Where would I go? How would I find my mom?
There was no one to help me.
There was no one to help me but me. You’re not a victim, his words came back, and I’m not your savior.
I turned around, looking back at the house and seeing the lights inside slowly come on. They were in there.
And once…I was one of them. Once, I ran with them, kept up with them, and stood next to them. I wasn’t their victim, and I had their attention. I’d learned how to fight.
This was on me, and while I wouldn’t make it easy for them, I wouldn’t run.
I would never run.
I was built for this.
Present
“FUCK!” DAMON GROWLED. “I thought you checked her, man!”
“Just get in the kitchen!” Kai barked. “Goddamn it.”
I stood on the upstairs landing, my arms crossed over my chest and my white mask sitting on the small table next me. I looked out the window over the large lawn, watching the small wooden building buried in the trees.
She was there.
I knew she wouldn’t go far. Rika was a smart girl. She was scared and in survival mode, but she wasn’t stupid.
After she’d fled, we’d grabbed Damon off the floor and sat him on a chair. I’d raised the shutters to let in the moonlight again, and then I’d gone upstairs to watch her run.
She’d scurried and fled, disappearing into the trees, but she didn’t leave. There was nothing but cliffs back there and then a huge drop to a beach on the Atlantic Fucking Ocean. She was barefoot, cold, alone, and without a cell phone.
What was she going to do?
And right about now, she was just realizing that.
“I’m going to go get her.” Kai came up to my side, breathing hard.
But I shook my head. “Just leave her. She has nowhere to go.”
“She’d be crazy to come back here!” he burst out. “After we just terrorized her like that?”
“Calm down,” I bit out. “I know her better than you do.”
I could see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye.
He lowered his voice, but it was still thick with anger. “Michael, she could make it to a phone,” he pointed out, “She could call a friend and eventually get a hold of your mother or father for all we know. The money isn’t a big enough incentive for her to be pliant. We underestimated her.”
I inhaled an aggravated breath and reached behind my head, pulling off my sweatshirt and T-shirt and dropping them to the floor. A layer of sweat covered my back.
“If she doesn’t come back,” I replied, “then keeping the money will have to be big enough incentive for you and the others to accept that we’ve lost. We agreed that she had to agree to this.”
I stared out the window, my heart creeping into my throat and my body growing hotter.
Don’t come back, Rika. I knew she wouldn’t run far, but I wanted her to. I’d fucked up. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
We were going to make her ours. That was the plan. We’d make her feel what they felt when she destroyed their lives and tore us all apart. She’d be alone and have no control. We’d make her suffer.
But as soon as Damon jumped on her, I was on his back, prying him off.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them have her.
And then when she stabbed him and ran, I let her go, even knowing she wouldn’t really have any place to go. I knew she would realize there was no other way out of this and that was simply the end of round one.
But I held out a small hope that she’d evade us. She’d make it off the property or hide or something until I figured shit out. There was no way I was going to be able to go through with this. She was mine.