Page 6 of Dare To Take

I take the last few steps two at a time and follow the hallway to the back of the house. The smile on my face melts away the second I see who it is.

My mother is sitting in the comfortable little kitchen, her face pale, and mouth set in a hard line. Her presence rips the cocoon of safety I’ve been living in into shreds.

“Elena—”

“How dare you scare me like that.” She rises from her seat, her voice shrill. “Two weeks. Two fucking weeks, and not one word from you.”

My chest hurts, and I struggle to speak. “I—”

“Elliot and I have been worried sick about you. Thank God the PI he hired found you here.”

I swallow, my throat thick with tears. “I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head. “Not another word, Arabella. Get your things. You’re coming home with me.”

My heart slams frantically against my ribs at her demand. “But—”

“I am not in the mood for arguments, young lady.”

Mrs. Goldmann gives me an encouraging smile from where she’s sitting. “It’s okay, dear. Do as your mom says while I talk with her.”

I scurry out of the kitchen, and sprint back up the stairs to my room.

My mom is here. She’s going to drag me back to the house. Back to Eli.

Do they know what he did? That we had sex?

I crouch down on the floor, and stare blankly at the side of the bed.

He’s going to use it against me. Accuse me of being a whore like my mother.

I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back. The words chant through my head in a sickening rush.

I glance across the room, and my attention fixes on the window.

If I run, she’ll find me again. If I did, where would I go? I’m out of options.

Defeat envelops me. I pull myself up off the floor, and numbly pack all my things into my suitcase. I take one long last look around the room, the echoes of my childhood bringing bittersweet memories.

Where’s the little girl with a head full of dreams? The one who used to fight dragons and sail on imaginary pirate ships.

She’s gone.

That Arabella Gray doesn’t exist anymore.

The hollow-eyed girl with the pale face who stares back at me in the mirror each morning is a stranger.

I leave the room and my past behind me. My mother and Mrs. Goldmann are waiting for me in the hallway.

Elena sweeps the older woman with a narrow-eyed glare. “Thank you for looking after my daughter. But in the future, if she ever turns up at your door, you don’t lie to me about it when I call to ask you if you’ve seen her. In future, you will call me immediately.”

I loop a strand of loose hair behind my ear and shift uneasily at the tension in the air. “Thanks for everything, Mrs. G.”

She pulls me into her arms. “You look after yourself, Bella.”

Eyes closed, I squeeze her tightly, the small sign of affection meaning so much more to me than she’ll ever know. “I’ll try.”

There’s a black SUV waiting for us when we walk outside. My mother walks around to the driver’s side, and climbs in. I trail after her, stow my suitcase in the trunk and then take the seat beside her. I keep my head bowed.

---