Page 1 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

PROLOGUE

ELLIE

Deep breaths.Ifyou’re feeling this much pain, it means you’re alive.Nowyou need to stay alive.

As the world spun around me,Ireminded myself to just keep taking deep breaths.

Everything hurt.Everypart of my body, from my head to my feet.Memoriesbegan to flood my mind asItried to open my eyes.

Randall had slapped me, punched me, and threw me against a wall.Heyelled obscene things about how awfulIwas and howIdeserved this.

I thought of my brother,Jack, who would be so disappointed in me.He’dhatedRandallfrom the very beginning and had told me to break up with him.

“Ellie-girl, that dude is bad news.Staythe hell away from him,”Jack, always blunt, had said to me.

But like the strong-willed, stubborn womanIwas,I’dwanted to prove toJackthatIcould make my own decisions, and he didn’t have to take care of me anymore.

AllIcould think about right now asIlay here in so much pain was that my brother was right aboutRandall, andIwishIhad listened to him.

“What’s this?”Randallstartled me asIput clothes in my suitcase.Ididn’t hear him come home becauseIwas so focused on getting packed as quickly as possible.

“Why are you packing a bag?Areyou fucking leaving me?” he yelled and stepped closer to me.

I tried to scoot back, but there was no place to escape.Thedoor to the bedroom was blocked and the window was on the other side.NotthatIwould be able to open it and jump out before he got me anyway.

He wasn’t supposed to come home from work for at least another two hours.Iknew his schedule and he never came home early onThursdays.Ever.Manytimes, he even went out with friends after work for a few drinks.Ithought today was safe.

My friendKatiewas on her way to help me pack and get out of there.Ineeded to find a way to calm him down and leave before she got here, or he would hurt her, too.

“I asked you a question,Elliana!Whyare you packing your bags?” he screamed and moved even closer.

“I wa-was going to go visit my brother.He’s, uh, getting his leave a few weeks early,”Itried to say with as much muster asIcould, knowing it was a complete lie.

“Bullshit!Youdon’t need this much stuff to visit him for a couple of days,” he said as he came within inches of my face. “Youare mine,EllianaHutchinson!” he yelled as he slapped me hard across the face. “Youwill never leave me.Doyou understand?”

His hands wrapped around my neck as he squeezed and yelled.Itried gasping for air but couldn’t get any.Thenext punch was allIremembered and then the world went black.

* * *

AsIdrove to my fresh start inGeorgia,Ilet my mind wander to several days ago, when my life came crashing down around me.

Thankfully,Katiehad pulled up to the house just asRandallwas leaving in his car.Knowinghe wasn’t supposed to be there, she’d waited, then came to the front door and knocked.WhenIrepeatedly hadn’t answered she’d known something was wrong.Ihad given her a key in case of emergency, so she’d let herself in and found me bloodied on the floor.I’dawoken quickly after she got there and told herIdidn’t want to go to the hospital because it would only make escaping more difficult.

To avoid the risk ofRandallbreaking into my car that had been left on his driveway,Katiehad moved my car two blocks away from his house right after she picked me up.Itwas meant to be a temporary fix whileIstayed with her.

Katie was staying with her parents in order to save money and help pay off her student loans, and thankfully they were away on a trip.She’dtaken me back to their place to get cleaned up, and since she was almost done with nursing school, she’d watched me all night to check for signs of a concussion.

I’d stayed with her for five days untilI’dfelt healed enough to leave.Ihadn’t been lying whenI’dtoldRandallIwas going toGeorgiato visitJack.Itwas just thatJackwasn’t going to be there, at least not right away.

OnceI’dmade the decision to leaveRandall,I’dmessagedJackto let him knowIhad quit my job as a waitress and bartender and was moving toGeorgiato be closer to him.Hisreply email had been short, but he’d seemed genuinely happy, especially about me leavingRandall.He’dsaid his last tour was almost done, but not for a few more weeks, soIshould just stay at his place until he got home and then he would help me find my own apartment.

He’d also mentioned his buddy and former sergeant owned the pub below his apartment, so he would check with him about getting me a job there.Ihated getting handouts, butIdidn’t really have a choice sinceIwas moving to a new city and didn’t know anybody there.

My parents had died in a car crash whenIwas thirteen andJackwas eighteen.Wewent to live with our grandma, but only four months later,Jackgraduated and enlisted in theArmy.Iloved my brother, but it had felt like another family member had been ripped away from me.We’dwritten to each other all the time while he was deployed and spent most of his trips home together withGraninTennessee, where she raised us in the house our mom grew up in, but it always irked me whenJacktried to intervene in my life when he had no problem walking away to begin with.Inow understand why he did, though, becauseGranwas retired and living off what little money our parents left behind, soJackhad felt he had to enlist so he could send money back toGranto help raise me.

So hereIwas, on the road, and had finally crossed intoGeorgia. “Roadto freedom,”Katiehad called it, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.Notyet, at least.Myplan was to head straight to the pub and meet his buddyWadeto get the spare key to my brother’s apartment and hopefully interview for a job.Maybethis next phase of my life would go a little smoother.

1

---