I can only stare at him, my mouth wide in horror.
“You don’t need to answer,” says papa, planting a kiss on my head. “I’ve already answered for you. All you need to do is behave, daughter, and everything will be fine.”
With that, he stands up and walks out of the room, leaving me alone to realize that maybe, my lifewasn’tover, before.
But it sure is now.
Part Two
Two years later
8
Lia
Eighteen years old
“You!”
I stare up at the man I thought I’d never see again. He’s a ghost, that’s what he is, only he doesn’t look anything like one, with his tan skin and close-cropped brown curls.
Two years have certainly changed him. He’s packed on about twenty pounds of pure muscle, and the cute boy I used to insult and secretly yearn for has been replaced by someone who can only be described as… hot.
Hot, and incredibly dangerous. There’s no softness in his eyes as he grips my arm, pulling me to my feet. I know better than to protest at the rough treatment. I’ve memorized his threat over the years, and seeing him now does nothing but further convince me that he has every intention of carrying through with it.
Please, throw me to the dogs, Carmelo. Throw me to the fucking dogs. Anything, as long as it means not getting killed at the hands of the boy who makes my heart hurt.
Logan doesn’t breathe a word as he half-pulls, half-drags me through the shrubbery back to the main road. He doesn’t even seem to notice the child in my arms. And after a single, whisperedmama, Aurora stays quiet. Maybe she has a better sense of self-preservation than I do. I sure hope she fucking does, because she’s going to need it.
By the time we reach the car parked on the side of the road, my shoes have entirely fallen apart, and my feet are bleeding. But I don’t make a sound as he opens the car door and practically throws me inside, then climbs in after me. A strangled sound does escape me when he sits beside me, and I find myself squeezed between him and a murderous-looking thug on the other side.
I recognize the thug. One of Carmelo’s hangers-on, always ready to do his bidding,
I can’t count the number of times one of them has backhanded me for failing to serve them a beer fast enough, or for talking back. I’ve spent much of the past two years protecting Aurora from them.
They’re dangerous. Very dangerous.
But no one is more dangerous than the man who found me, who seems to be breathing cruelty from his every pore.
I’m too scared to even glance up at him, and search his eyes for a sign of the old softness. I know I wouldn’t find it anyway.
I squeeze my Aurora to my chest, keeping my eyes trained to the ground, my mouth forming a silent prayer.
Please don’t hurt her… Please don’t hurt her… Please don’t hurt her…
“Well, well, well,” chuckles the thug to my left. “What’s with the runaway bride gag?”
I keep my head and eyes down, focusing on Aurora in my arms to keep myself from losing it.
I am not going to let them see me cry. I am not going to letthem see me cry.
I guess I do have some pride left, where Logan is concerned.
The latter doesn’t say a word, just stares out the window as Carmelo’s gang continues to taunt me.
“Hasn’t Carmelo been treating you well, princess? Why’d you want to run out on him? Huh? Cat got your tongue?”
“Guys,” cuts in Logan at last, and my heartbeat picks up as I wonder if he’s going to stand up for me.