Page 7 of Darkest Desire

Denis doesn’t love us. He just wants to control us.

I look out my window and see that the tree in the backyard should be close enough for me to get to. But it’s still risky. Am I willing to put myself in danger just to not marry Nico?

Instantly, I know the answer. Yes I am.

Once night comes, the guard duty will increase but I’ll have the cover of darkness as my friend. Besides, the guards rotate around the house so I should have a small window of opportunity to sneak out the back gate without them noticing.

That is if none of them notice me jumping to the tree. Or if none of them notice me falling to my death.

Ana and I share a wall. Someone needs to know my plan in case I get hurt.

I knock on the wall and she knocks back. “I’m going to escape tonight.”

“What? Sasha, are you crazy?”

“I’m desperate. I can’t marry Nico.”

“Why not? He’s handsome.”

“Not that handsome,” I grumble though we both know it’s a lie. “I don’t trust him not to hurt me. I’m leaving tonight and will get help. I’m going to get us out of here.”

Chapter Two

Sasha

Idon’t listen to Ana as she tries to talk me out of escaping.

“Sasha, you could get hurt. You could die.”

I crack open my window. The only good thing about having my room on the second floor is that Denis never thought to lock it. Why would he? Dropping from this height could potentially kill a person.

“I’m not going to die,” I tell her. “Now I’m leaving.”

“Sasha, wait. What if Denis catches you? He’ll hurt you. He’ll make it worse for you.”

“You want to get out of here, don’t you? This is the way. Me escaping is the only way I can save us. Aren’t you tired of Denis thinking he can abuse us?”

Ana is quiet on the other side of the wall. I wish I knew what she was thinking. She’s always been an open book but since I can’t see her face, I can’t make out how she’s feeling.

“Just be safe,” she finally says.

“I will be.” I sound more confident than I feel. Looking out my window, I see multiple guards down below. The tree is a few feet away – not that far – but far enough that it could be easy enough to miss. But I can’t be jumping out my window and into a tree, even in the middle of the night, with guards right below me. They’ll just hear me and shoot me in the leg so I’m crippled and forced to go to the wedding. And Nico might hate having a crippled wife. What would he do to me then?

Nico may be a handsome devil but he’s still a devil. I saw him kill Cillian Kennedy right before my own eyes. I know he has darkness in him.

I don’t want to be married to a man like that.

I turn off the light in my room so the guards can’t easily see me and duck down. Now it’s time to wait.

It takes around an hour before they start to rotate around the house. Now’s my chance to jump to the tree.

Taking a deep breath, I ease myself over the side of the window and onto the ledge of the roof. A large tree branch is sticking out. I just have to hope it’s strong enough to hold my weight.

When there’s briefly no guards in the backyard, I take that moment to jump. My body slams into the tree and my hands scramble to find something to hold onto.

I start to fall. My stomach drops right to my toes.

In my adrenaline, I manage to grab onto the branch but my feet are dangling down. The guards will easily see. There’s a light on in the backyard. I need to climb upnow.