Page 1 of Fighting Shadows

Chapter 1

Autumn

“Ifound you, Little One,” Charlie’s manic smile shines in front of me as he looms over my half-unconscious body.

He hasn’t changed much since I last saw him; his salt-and-pepper hair has only gotten lighter, but his face is still the same.

Brown eyes that are the color of mud shine with mania as he stares at me; his nose is still bent with the scar running up the bridge from where Jane hit him with an ashtray when she was drunk.

“I’ve missed you,” He says, his rough hand stroking down my cheek.

I desperately try to pull away from his touch, but my body is still numb; the only thing I can move is my eyes.

My eyes burn with the effort to try not to cry, wanting to show him he does not affect me, but the tears come unbidden as heruns his hand down my face and along my neck, tracing the scar he left on me when he ripped my innocence from my body.

Possession gleams in his eyes, the manic smile on his face somehow getting wider when he sees it.

“Why?” I manage to rasp out; my mouth feels like it’s stuffed with cotton.

“Because we are meant to be together. I’ll let you out of the chains when you don’t try to run back to the men you’ve been whoring yourself out to,” He spits at me.

“What about if I need a toilet?”

“I’ll help you go, but you’ll be tied up the entire time, and if you try anything, I’ll leave you to soak in your urine all night, so you learn.”

The feeling is slowly coming back; moving my head side to side, I can feel my arm stretched above my head, shackled to a bed, my wrists chained to the metal headboard in a room covered in wooden walls.

A cabin, maybe?

“I know you never meant for Chloe to die. We could have been a happy family, you, me, and her. All of us away from Jane. She could have always called you mommy, but it’s ok, Little One, we can always make another one. How does that sound?”

“Like hell,” I rasp out.

“You’ll see Autumn. We’ll be happy once I put a baby in your belly, a happy little family. Just like I always promised you,” His hand splays across my stomach, his eyes possessive.

Where’s Dominic when you need him to remove someone’s appendage?

“Don’t touch me!” I grit out, the feeling of his hands on me feels like fire ants crawling across my skin, “I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

“You belong to me, Autumn. You may not want me near you right now, but your body remembers every touch I left on you. I’m branded into your skin, and I won’t ever leave.”

“I willneverbelong to you!”

The sting from his hand connecting with my cheek burns, and the sound of the slap rings out in the room.

“You already do, Little One. You’re here where no one can find you.”

“They will.”

“They won’t. I’ve made sure of it.”

A tremor of fear runs through my body. What if they can’t find me?

“They will find me, Charlie, and then they’ll kill you. You’ve seen them while you lurked in the shadows; you’ve seen what they do to people who’ve hurt me,” I force out, refusing to back down.

I’m stronger now. I faced Jane and killed her, and I can’t let memories of what he did to me paralyze me now.

They will come for me, and they will save me.

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