Page 72 of Knot Forgotten

“Go!” my mom yells. She steps forward, swinging the bat at him. The hard tip hits his hand, the gun explodes, and a loud popping sound I will never forget fills my ears. Then my mom screams in pain, blood blooming on her shirt as she collapses to the ground.

“Mom!” I fly across the space to her. My dad forgotten behind me, I drop to my knees at her side and put pressure on the wound. “You are going to be okay.”

Blood seeps through my fingers, and my aunt is on her other side. Then I’m being wrenched to my feet by my arm. Fingers dig into my flesh, and I cry out as my dad drags me toward his car.

“Time to go,” he mutters, tossing me into the vehicle. By the time I’ve righted myself, he is in the driver's seat, throwing the car into drive. I reach for the door, but it is locked from the inside. It won’t open, and the window has a child lock on it as well. “You thought you got away from me, didn’t you? That you ran far enough? Nothing will protect you from me.”

Worry about my mom and fear over what he is going to do with me war inside of me, making tears flow freely down my face. Hope flees me like fog being burned away at first light, and I sink down into the seat, sobs working my chest.

Sirens sound behind us, and my dad swears, his speed becoming erratic as he takes turns trying to lose the police. It is an all-out police chase; only I’m in the vehicle being pursued.

He takes a street, swerving around a garbage truck before slamming into a tree. I smack into the back of the seat before bouncing back again with the impact. My dad is slumped over the wheel but still breathing when the cops yank open the door and drag him out. Another opening the backdoor to check on me.

I watch as they put him in cuffs and read him his rights. This has to put him away for more than a night, right?

I blink, pulling myself out of the memory. The fear is distorted by time, but I can still feel the tightness of it in my chest. My mom had surgery and recovered, and my dad went to jail. When he went up parole my senior year of high school and was released, my mom, my aunt, and I moved again. Some place remote. A place he would never find us. A new school. Leaving my friends for a second time, not that I let myself get close to any of them besides Nikki over the three years I went to that school.

Now none of it mattered because I was exactly where he wanted me all along.

A whimper works my throat, and I push it down. I am not helpless. Just because he thinks he has won doesn’t mean he has. I can fight this. Right?

I straighten my legs and push off the cot. Going to the bars, I hit them, attempting to make any sound possible.

“Hey! Let me out!” I yell. Not that I expect anyone to waltz down the hallway and release me just because I demand it. I’m not stupid. My phone is dead in my bag, probably the only reason they left me with it, and books aren’t going to get me out of here. It is hopeless.

Voices carry down the dark hall, and I strain to hear what they are saying. It is a woman and a man. My heart pounds in my ears, making it impossible to hear them. Then, the woman from earlier appears.

She approaches the cell, her eyes darting to a camera focused on my cell. “I’m sorry. I wanted to get you out before he showed up. But–” she trails off and looks back down the hall. “We only have a couple of minutes before the cameras are recording again. So listen closely, Todd will bring you two different pills. One is to counteract the blockers you take, and the other will encourage a heat so you are more pliant when they try to sell you. You have to take them. If you don’t take them, they will inject a stronger drug.”

I shake my head, denying her words. I’m not taking anything they give me.

“Erin, you do not want them to inject you with the drug. Trust me. I’m working as fast as I can,” she whispers, the plea in her tone making my stomach flip. Her fingers curl over the bars. I can only read honesty in her eyes.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know what it's like to have a father who thinks you're disposable because you presented as an omega.” She releases the bars and steps back seconds before an extremely well-dressed man appears.

“What are you doing here?” the man barks.

Raven's shoulders stiffen, but she ducks her head in submission. “I'm sorry, Father, I was looking for Todd.”

He scoffs. “Todd is no longer your concern. Where is your guard?”

She presses her lips together and gives a diminutive shake of her head. “He is otherwise occupied, I'm afraid.”

He rubs the bridge of his nose as if she is pushing him too far. “Do you want to be in the cell, Raven?” He looks at me like I'm a bug on his shoe before dismissing me just as quickly. “I'm sure there are alphas that would pay good money.”

Raven sucks in a breath of hurt that I feel all the way to my soul.

“No, Father.” The confident girl she was shrinks in front of him. She barely looks at me before she slips past him and down the hall. It is a contradiction I don't have time to examine.

He turns to me once she disappears, and his eyes drop down my body appreciatively as he whistles low. “Garrett was right, you will fetch a hefty price. Pity he didn't bring you in to pay his debts years ago.”

My stomach tosses, threatening to expel the water Raven gave me earlier.

Footsteps sound from the other way, and the man turns toward the sound.

“Todd, has she taken the pills?”

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