Page 37 of Cruel Secrets

“I will.” I hesitate before pulling her into a tight hug. “Thank you, Zo.”

Her body stiffens before she relaxes into me.

I don’t remember the last time we hugged like this, but if everything is going to go to shit, I don’t want there to be tension between me and my sister.

After a moment, Zoe wiggles out of my arms and heads out the door.

As soon as she’s gone, I turn to Bianca.

Going back to Royce is going to be better than staying with Noah. I know without a doubt that Royce would never do anything to harm Bianca.

Which means that somehow, I have to get Bianca out of here and back to her father.

My jaw clenches as I look out the window at the setting sun. By the time I get a diaper bag packed and her strapped to my chest, it should be dark enough to climb out the window.

Bianca hums to herself, and I think it’s supposed to be one of the songs Mom likes to play all the time, but I can’t quite make out the tune. It sounds more like a soft screech than anything else.

“We’re going to get out of here.” I crouch down in front of her, my voice barely more than a whisper. “And then when we do, your dad is going to make sure that nothing ever happens to you.”

I take a deep breath and stand, turning on the speaker and blaring some punk music, hoping the noise is enough to keep anyone from coming to look for me.

Noah will assume that I’m in my room and sulking like I used to when I was a teenager. He’s always had a hard time seeing that I’m a grown woman now and not some child.

Hurrying around the room, I pack up a diaper bag, slipping a few toys into it. I grab the keys to a car I have hidden at an abandoned house a block over, stuffing them into my jeans.

After the diaper bag is filled, I grab the carrier and strap it to my back before nestling Bianca inside.

“No.” She digs her little fingers into my back as I go to the window and open it.

I check the straps on the carrier one last time, making sure they’re tight before stepping out the window and onto the little roof of the back patio.

There aren’t any men wandering around this side of the house right now. The patrol should be just beyond the gardens, walking the perimeter of the property. Within the next five minutes, a small group of them will break off and start their walk closer to the house.

Five minutes isn’t a lot of time to disappear, but it’s going to have to be enough.

Bianca murmurs something in the carrier, her head resting against my back.

I lob the bag down to the ground first before walking to the edge of the roof.

Turning, I grab on to the trellis there, climbing down it quickly. I can’t remember the last time I snuck out of the house this way. It feels like a criminal, and if I get caught, Noah is going to treat me as such.

As I hit the ground, I turn and standing by the garden is Royce. He’s just hidden behind one of the large rosebushes as two men pass by sooner than expected.

I duck behind a couch on the patio, holding my breath and hoping that by the time someone looks at the cameras, I’m going to be long gone.

The second the men are gone, I grab the diaper bag and take off running through the shadows to where Royce is standing.

He doesn’t say anything, jerking his chin deeper into the winding bushes that line the garden.

I have no clue how he got onto the property, but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see him.

Royce takes the diaper bag from me. We creep through the bushes, thorny branches reaching out and scratching my arms as I shield Bianca from them.

There’s a hole in the wall on the other side of the bushes not far ahead. Royce steps through it first, waiting for me.

When we reach the other side, a car flies up to the curb.

Skyla sits behind the wheel, grinning from one ear to the other. “I told him that you could get out of there on your own, but he didn’t want to listen.”

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