Page 40 of Hunted Innocence

There is silence. Neither of them responds. I guess I don’t get to know where they’re taking me until we get there. Looking out the window, I watch as the trees pass by at an alarming rate. We’re headed back into town, and judging by how fast the landscape is moving and changing, it’s at an alarming rate.

I wonder offhand if we’ll get pulled over. I doubt it. My luck isn’t that great. I just hope that whatever happens, Grayson can find me. I have no doubt that the men of Securus are working overtime to figure out where I’ve gone. I just hope that they can get to me before it’s too late.

I have a feeling that whatever luck I’ve had the last five years has just run out, and I’m about to reach the end of my road. Closing my eyes, I don’t bother taking in my surroundings. My father is driving too fast anyway, and it’s starting to make me sick. Besides, it doesn’t matter if I know where we are.

It’s two to one, and there is no way I’ll be able to get away from them. Whatever they have planned, I know they aren’t the ones in charge. Someone has been keeping them hidden for years. Someone has been ensuring they have whatever drugs they want. And I have a feeling that I know exactly who that someone is.

“You fucked up, girl,” my mother snarls as the truck comes to a stop.

When I open my eyes, I am met with her weathered gaze. Instantly, I feel bad, guilty even. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I know she has lived a hard life. She hasn’t had anything easy. She’s been on drugs as long as I’ve known her, and there’s a reason for it, I’m sure.

But then I remember that she sold me to a man for her own selfishness. My own mother. Tilting my head to the side, I smirk. She frowns at the sight.

“The way I see it, I fought back. So I didn’t fuck anything up.”

She snorts. “You’re gonna get it tenfold. Just wait.”

I lean forward slightly as my smile grows. Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I’m stupid, or maybe I just don’t care anymore. I’m not sure, but looking at this broken woman in front of me, I realize that I’m stronger and better than she ever was. Even though Landon tried to break me, he couldn’t.

“Bring it on,” I snap.

She jerks back slightly, almost as if I’ve physically assaulted her. Then, without another word, she climbs out of the front seat of the truck. The back door opens, and I look up to see my father standing in front of me.

Gaunt doesn’t begin to describe him. He is a shadow of the man I remember. It’s only been a few years since I thought they died, and they appear to actually be ghosts standing in front of me. I’m honestly surprised their legs carry their bodies.

Sucking in a breath, I climb out of the pickup truck. He doesn’t say a word to me, and I’m fine with that. I decide to use this quiet moment to take in my surroundings. It didn’t matter where the truck was driving, but it does matter where I am now.

Now it’s a fight to the death.

A fight for my life.

And I’m not going down without one hell of a fight.

Following behind my mother, which as much as I don’t want to do that, I also don’t have a choice, because my father’s fingersare curled in the back of my blouse, obviously not allowing me to slip away. Although I think I could probably take both of them with their physical deterioration.

We’re in a regular neighborhood somewhere in Nights. The pickup truck is parked in a garage. An empty garage, which is odd, because usually when a person lives in a home, they typically use the garage as storage for tools and outside things.

All of this pointing to this either being an abandoned home or a safe house of some kind.

The most unsafe safe house that ever existed.

That’s about all I know right now. The door into the home opens. My mother climbs the three short steps to enter, and I follow behind her, very much feeling as if I’m being taken to my death.

Tilting my head back, I lift my chin in the air and look down my nose. If I’m going to be taken to my death, the last thing I will do is show fear. Because fuck them all. As I walk through the small kitchen, I don’t look around, but when we step into the minuscule living room, I can’t help but glance over to the front door.

It’s locked.

But it’s not chained.

This could be a good thing if I can get to it, unlock it, and run like hell. But a throat clears from the other side of the room, and as I slowly spin to face the noise, my heart squeezes and my stomach flips.

Chapter Seventeen

NADINE

There,just several feet away from me, is my brother.

It’s Brody.

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