Page 63 of Seeds of Sorrow

But maybe Hadina wasn’t safe either.

Peyton lurched back, moving towards the door. Every step Hadina took towards her, Peyton took two in the opposite direction. She put a hand out in front of her, urging her to stop. “Don’t come near me!”

Hadina flinched and stepped back as though she’d been slapped. “Peyton, it’s me. I would never hurt you. I had no idea about any of this!”

The pain in Hadina’s voice was her breaking point, and Peyton finally allowed the tears to fall. Her entire body ached as though it had been waiting for the release. She looked at Hadina through an onslaught of tears, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

“I don’t know that, though, do I? How can I ever trust a member of this family after everything I’ve just learned?”

“Tentadora, please,” Hadina pleaded, her voice cracking on the words. “You can trust me. I promise you that.”

Peyton shook her head. “I’ll never be able to trust anyone again,” she sobbed, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. “I can’t be here right now. I need some space.”

Spinning on her heels, Peyton ran through the house and out onto the street. She gasped, inhaling as much fresh air into her lungs as possible. She continued to run until she was sure Hadina wasn’t following her before collapsing onto a bench. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, to calm herself long enough to stop her tears from falling.

She didn’t know how this was her life. It was crazy to the point of insanity and she was tempted to say that it was all in her head, some elaborate nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from. But the look of despair in Don’s eyes, the heartbreak in Hadina’s… It was too real to be fake.

All her life, she’d grown up in a dysfunctional family unit. The only saving grace was her beautiful Melina. And despite the feeling of being an interloper in her own family, she’d never craved the knowledge of who her birth parents were. When she was old enough to ask about them, she did so only because she knew it was expected. And when she was told that the records were sealed, she was secretly relieved. She didn’t want to know about the people who’d given her up, had discarded her like she was nothing.

But somehow the truth that she had so desperately avoided had been flung in her face and it was so, so much worse than she had ever anticipated.

If it weren’t bad enough that her birth mother was a psychotic, evil, cold-hearted bitch who was willing to do anything to be on top, her birth father had been a good man and was dead. He’d fallen in love with the wrong person and karma punished him instead ofher.

And Don knew about it all. For months, he’d comforted Peyton and made her feel like she was a part of his family. Meanwhile, he knew that she belonged to another.

Falling onto the grass in front of the bench, Peyton sat on her knees and retched. Her throat burned by the time she’d emptied the contents of her stomach, her eyes stinging from the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. Peyton had no idea what she was going to do. She barely spoke to her parents, and even the mere thought of returning home to Willowbrooks made it feel like she had phantom hands around her throat, choking the life out of her. The Adis family had become hers, and without them, she didn’t have anyone.

Her phone rang in her pocket, vibrating against her leg. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes before pulling it out, half-expecting to see Hadina blowing up her voicemail. Instead, the incoming call was from Kaira. Peyton clicked the screen and accepted the call. “Kaira?”

“Peyton! Are you okay? Piper called me and told me what happened. I don’t even have words.”

“I’m o—” Peyton choked on the words and burst into a fresh flood of tears.

“Oh, honey,” Kaira cooed. “It’s going to be okay. Where are you? I can get Piper to pick you up and bring you to my place.”

Panic seized Peyton’s throat. “No! I don’t want to be near a single person in that family right now. I don’t know what to do, Kaira.”

“Okay, here’s what you’re going to do. I’m gonna text you my address and you’ll call an Uber or something to get you here. I promise not to tell Piper where you are. But I need to know you’re safe, so you can hide out at my apartment until you sort your head out.”

“Thank you,” Peyton sobbed into the phone.

Kaira tutted. “It’s nothing, honey. That’s what friends are for. I’ll see you soon.”

Once the call ended, Peyton picked herself up from the ground. Her face was puffy and sore, so she could only imagine how she looked. The phone chimed with a text message from Kaira, a drop pin to her apartment. Peyton clicked on the location and saw that it was only a few blocks from where she was presently. She took in a deep breath, the fresh air filling her lungs and helping to soothe her addled brain.

She’d walk to Kaira’s. She needed the time to think.

Pulling maps up on her phone, Peyton took off in the direction of Kaira’s place. The night air was cold against her raw cheeks, burning into her chest as she breathed. There hadn’t been time to grab a jacket or comfortable shoes or any of her stuff before fleeing, and she was now beginning to see how woefully unprepared she was.

Unprepared for a life on the run.

Peyton didn’t know if that really was the case or not, but it’s how it felt in her heart. She knew that Hadina wouldn’t let her go without a fight; she’d told her as much when they’d first met. It seemed like a lifetime ago since she had walked into that office and saw Hadina strapping up, looking like she was preparing for war. If only Peyton had listened to her head instead of her heart and fled the moment Hadina had left that night, she wouldn’t be in this fucked-up mess now.

Peyton heaved a sigh and checked her phone. She was only five minutes away from Kaira’s apartment, somewhere she could sit and be alone with her thoughts.

Turning the corner onto the next street, she was surprised to see that all the streetlamps were flickering on and off. Unease settled into her gut as she continued on, using the flashlight on her phone to see where she was going. It was a dark evening with no stars or moon to be seen in the sky, making it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead of her.

She swore under her breath when the streetlight above her sparked, the bulb cutting out completely. Chills worked their way down her spine, a thousand needlepoints scratching at her skin. She shivered and wrapped her free arm around her stomach, picking up the pace as she walked.

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