Prologue
Lia
“Shh, shh. Please be quiet. We’re almost there. Don’t make any noise, sweet baby. You can sleep soon. Please don’t cry, Aurora.”
My little girl hiccups a whine into my chest. She’s only two but she feels so heavy in my arms. I’ve been carrying her for over an hour, stumbling down the road, my hands and knees scratched from the metal fence I had to climb over, my eyes straining to see in the stifling darkness.
I’m exhausted, in pain all over, but I would do a lot more to save her.
She doesn’t deserve this life. She deserves to be in a happy home, with two parents who love her. She didn’t ask to be born into darkness and gloom. She didn’t ask for any of the things that have been her fate since she was born.
I once thought I’d despise her. I once thought I’d hate her for what she symbolized. But the minute I held her in my arms, I knew I would do anything for her.
Right now, anything means getting the hell away from the monster who makes every second of our life hell. Even though I know he has a pack of feral dogs, and he wouldn’t hesitate to use them.
But it’s one thing to be married to that monster. It’s another to leave my hometown behind.
Not that I carry this place in my heart. But I know what happens to lonely women in strange places.
If I’m gone, who will protect my Aurora?
Still, the road is neverending. It leads to a range of mountains that border the wealthy neighboring town of Astley. I don’t have much of a plan apart from reaching those mountains, and climbing as far away from Carmelo Moretti as I can.
But I’m starting to wonder how I can possibly make it. Each step I take feels increasingly difficult with the weight of my baby burning my arms. Sweat sticks at my back, making my shirt cling to my skin, the beads of perspiration itching.
“Almost there, baby Aurora,” I croon. “Almost there.”
She opens her mouth to protest, but her whine is drowned out by a violent detonation.
Fuck.
They found out I left.
They’re hunting us.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Sudden, sickening fear overwhelms me, and my stumbling footsteps give way to frantic running. I didn’t know I had it in me to run, and yet, this new danger gives me an adrenaline rush. I clutch my baby to my chest, scrambling off the road and down the steep cliff that leads to parched shrubbery and not a single place to hide.
I no longer feel the achiness in my muscles, and my eyesight is sharp, despite the contact lenses I didn’t have time to put in.
I would do anything to save her. Anything.
But even my desperate will has its limits. At last, I stop, panting hard, the world around me tilting in a way that makes me want to retch.
It’s all I can do to lie on the ground, holding myself justinches away from the dusty vegetation so I can hide Aurora under me. Useless. All my efforts are useless. I don’t believe for one second anything I do can possibly help us.
A miracle is the only thing that can save us now. I know what Carmelo will do if he finds me. Shooting me would be a mercy. No, he’ll sic the dogs on me. He’ll have them tear me apart.
I love animals, but I’ve always hated those dogs.
Tears prick at my eyes as I look down at Aurora, but they don’t fall. I don’t think there’s an ounce of moisture in my body anymore. I’ve sweated it all out.
“I’m sorry, little Aurora,” I whisper in her ear. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
I squeeze her, and she seems to sense what’s about to happen, because she doesn’t protest at the way I nearly crush her to my breast.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I repeat, as I hear footsteps grow closer.