Page 1 of Forsaken Oath

PROLOGUE

ELOISE

The sharp smellof despair hits me before I even open the door. A nauseating combination of stale smoke, cheap booze, and mildew. I close my eyes, giving myself exactly three seconds to get my shit together. My stomach turns and my eyes burn with tears that won’t fall. I stopped letting them go seven years ago when my father died.

I inhale a fortifying breath, steeling my spine and opening my eyes. I’m not really worried about what I’ll find on the other side of the apartment door. It’s the never-ending cycle of quiet chaos that gets me sometimes. The kind that eats a hole inside your stomach and plants a thousand seeds of anxiety.

Every single night is the same: Ma passes out on the couch with the TV blaring and some sleazy asshole pawing at her while my little sisters stay holed up in our room.

Saturday shifts at the diner always leave me exhausted. The job itself isn’t too bad, and unlike my mother, I’m not afraid of hard work. But by the end of the week, I’m drained. I’m at the diner every minute I’m not in school.

Thank god for my boss, Jenny. She gives me more than the legal amount of hours and she never lets me leave without loading my arms full of food to bring home.

I shift the plastic bag of takeout containers on my arm, the weight digging the handle into my skin. Containers of broccoli cheese soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, both of which are my sisters’ favorites. I’m not too proud to admit that we’d be fucked without Jenny’s help.

Entering the apartment, she’s the first thing I see. Slumped back on the couch and dressed in the same pajama set she’s been wearing all week, Ma’s head lolls at an uncomfortable angle. Makeup smeared and half-conscious, she’s lost to whatever she’s taken tonight. If I squint really hard, she almost looks like she did in my memories. Before she had an affair, before she had Margot, before my dad died.

Low, masculine voices snap me from my reverie, and my head snaps toward the sound. My eyes narrow on the two men crowding my sisters’ bedroom door at the end of the hallway. The hair on the back of my neck stands up, and the bags of food hit the carpet with a muted thud.

“Hey,” I snap, starting toward the hallway before I can think better of it. “What the hell are you doing?”

They turn as one, looking over their shoulders at me. I don’t recognize either of them, which doesn’t bode well for me. Most of Ma’s usual assholes will scamper off the moment they see me like the cockroaches they are.

But not these two. “Goddamnit, Darla,” I growl my mother’s name. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t so much as twitch.

I’ve forgiven my mother a lot over the years, but I’m so fucking tired of this shit with her. I plant my feet wide and pierce them with my best menacing glare, squeezing my hands into fists at my side. “Get the fuck outta my house.”

They smirk in unison, shifting their weight and cocking their heads to the side as they assess me. And I’m officially creeped out by their twinning routine.

The left one whistles, dragging his hand over his buzzed head. “Damn, don’t you look just like your momma, hm?”

The other guy nods slowly, dragging his tongue over his bottom lip. “Nah, Billy. This one here’s prettier than Darla. Younger.” He pauses and sucks his teeth. “Lessmileage.”

“Aye. We could get a BOGO with those two in there.” Billy jerks his head back toward my sisters’ bedroom door.

It takes everything inside of me to suppress the shiver of fear from visibly rolling down my back. My hands fly to my back pockets, palming my phone in one hand and my dad’s retractable knife in the other. I whip them both out, armed as well as I can be. I can call the emergency number with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back. It was the first thing I ever learned how to do on a phone.

The men chuckle, another strange display of synchronization.

“Who you gonna call, girlie? Ain’t no cops gonna come rescue you here,” the one guy says.

Billy lifts a shoulder in a lazy shrug, lips in a slight smirk, eyes cold and calculating. “Not in time, anyway.”

Don’t I fucking know it. The police’s response time on this side of town is a fuckingjoke. They rely too much on the smaller crews keeping the peace in our town.

But I can’t just donothing. Not when the photo they’re painting looks like something worse than hell. I hit the green call button and stare at them.

The nine-one-one operator’s voice fills the stale, charged air. “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“Two men have broken into my apartment and they’re trying to assault me and my sisters. I’m seventeen, and my sisters areten and five. Please send someone right away. I’m scared.” The words tumble out of me like sand falling from an hourglass.

“Okay, miss, please stay on the line with us. What’s your address? Where are you and your sisters now?” the operator asks.

I rattle off my address and hang up the phone. There’s no point in staying on the line and answering any more questions. They’ll either send someone out here or they won’t.

The two men stroll toward me with jovial chuckles. Like this is all some fun day at a park or something. I flatten my back against the wall, holding my knife in front of me. I keep my gaze trained on them so hard, I feel the throbbing of a vein in my forehead.

The one, Billy, stops in front of me. He’s close enough that I could lunge forward and do some serious damage. Maybe get lucky and nick something important. I adjust my grip on the handle and try to steady my breathing. But my chest feels tight, and I can’t calm myself down.

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