Page 3 of The Beast Between Us (Once Upon A Forever #2)

Ella

“Ella, where are you, child?”

Oh, no. He’s angry.

Closing my book, I jump up and grab the broom, sweeping furiously at an already clean floor, hoping it’s enough. Hoping, just for today, I’m enough.

“In here, Father,” I call, grabbing at the hem of my apron to look busier. “Did you come home early for lunch? I can prepare you something.”

He storms into the room, the door slamming against the wall. My shoulders flinch before I can stop them.

“I told you to pick up my coat from the tailor this morning.” His voice is slurred with sleep or drink…I can never tell which anymore.

“I…I’m sorry. I thought it wasn’t ready until tomorrow.”

“Don’t talk back.” His words snap like a whip. “Lazy, ungrateful girl. Always got your nose in that damned book while there’s work to be done.”

He grabs the book from the table and hurls it against the wall. The binding cracks. Pages scatter.

My chest tightens, but I don’t move. Don’t cry. Crying makes it worse.

“I can go now,” I say softly. “To the tailor. Right now.”

“It’s too late.” He waves me off and stumbles to the table, slumping into the chair like a sack of stones. “You never listen. Just like your mother.”

I turn quickly so he can’t see my face. The comparison always burns.

Behind me, the chair creaks. He’s already drifting, head nodding. He’ll pass out soon. That’s how it always goes. The storm, then silence.

I bend to pick up my book and pages, fingers shaking. Luckily, the pages are numbered, so putting it back together shouldn’t be an issue.

I clutch it to my chest and glance out the window toward the woods.

They say the Beast kills anyone who enters his land. That his castle is cursed. That the wind screams warnings if you get too close.

But the wind here screams, too. And the walls in this house feel more cursed than anything in that forest.

Maybe the monster is kinder than the man who raised me.

Maybe if I wander onto his lands, he’ll kill me.

I smile at the thought.

Death.

Peace.

Freedom.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll take a little trip through the woods.