Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
My jaw tightens. It sounds over the top, but the way he’s looking at me right now, I believe every word. Tears are pooling in Mom’s eyes as she slowly backs away from Daniel. She looks terrified. Like she’s been hit by a meteor.
I can see it now—the destruction of our family causing me to loss the most important thing in my life. Her.
Before anyone can move, I grab Eliza by the wrist and pull her into her bedroom, locking the door behind me. Daniel beats on it. If he hits it any harder, we’re going to have two broken locks in this house.
“You’re not leaving,” Eliza says, almost pleading, her voice strained as she looks up at me, her eyes fragile.
Reaching out, I gently stroke her cheek with the back of my hand. My chest is tight. Nothing hurts me more than seeing her in pain. “If I stay, they’ll win. If I leave, I’ll control us.”
She freezes. I see the realization come over her as she takes a step back.
“So…you are leaving?”
This is a moment I never wanted to put her through. I reach in and wrap a hand around her, cupping her lower back. Goddamn it, this is where I belong.
“I’m not leaving you, my love,” I tell her. “I’m leaving so they can’t take you from me.”
Tears spill from her eyes. She shakes her head and tries to wriggle out of my grip, but I hold her steady. Grasping her hair with both hands, I pull her lips to mine and kiss her with everything I have. I put my heart and soul into my lips, stamping her with a promise.
“I’ll come back with a plan,” I whisper. “You’re mine. Don’t forget that. They don’t decide who you are.”
And like that, I unlock the door and step back into hall. Daniel nearly strikes me, but I push past him and head for the stairs. “Get out of here!” he shouts after me.
“I am. But this isn’t over.”
He walks behind me like a bouncer escorting me from his establishment. I’m right on edge. If he was anyone else, I’d have dropped him by now. But I need to keep this family together. Not destroy it.
Just as I reach the door, I hear Eliza’s footsteps upstairs. I look back to see her chasing after me, pain streaking across her face, tears coating her cheeks. “Caleb—!” she shouts, but my mom catches her, holding her back.
“No, sweetie,” she whispers. “Let him go.”
It’s a punch to the gut. I know this image will be burned into my mind for as long as I live. I want to swing out, shatter everything around me. But I can’t. All I can do is grab my keys and step out into the night.
Each step I take to the truck feels impossible. Like trudging through eight feet of snow. My heart pounds like a drum as I wrench the driver’s side door open and get in. My hands are shaking as I start the engine, and just before I pull off, I drive my fist into the steering wheel, letting the pain distract me, even if it’s only for a second.
Daniel thinks he won. Thinks he got rid of me.
But I’m coming back for her. And next time, there’ll be no negotiating.
She’s mine.
10
ELIZA
The house feels wrong.
I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling deflated. My dad is doing what he’s been doing since Caleb left yesterday. Pacing. Around and around the downstairs. He’s probably worn a path in the hardwood by now.
Sara has been quiet. She hasn’t even come in to see me. I skipped eating breakfast and lunch with them but finally gave in and came down for dinner, where neither of them said his name.
I keep telling myself that he left because he had to. He promised he’d be back. I saw the look in his eyes, and I know he meant it. But it’s absolutely killing me. Because underneath my certainty, my trust, my love, there’s one thing that’s chewing a hole in my soul.
Fear.
He said he’d come back to me, and he doesn’t lie. I can’t stay here waiting. If he doesn’t come for me, I’ll go find him.
I can still see his eyes as he said the words that have been replaying over and over in my mind.
“I’m leaving so they can’t take you from me.”
I saw the truth there. I believe him, but believing hurts, and I’m still scared—terrified of losing him.
A knock on my door nearly sends me to the floor. Clutching my sheets, I call out. “Yes?”
“We need to talk, Eliza.” It’s my father’s voice, cold and controlled. Just the tone I never like to hear. I actually prefer it when he’s yelling. At least then I know what to expect. “Come downstairs now.”
I know he’s my dad, and I know I live in his house, but I resent the way he speaks to me like I’m a child. I’m nineteen. I can make my own decisions now.