Page 27 of Come Back for Me
“Mommy?” Her big eyes are filled with so much fear.
“It’s okay. We have to go. I’m so sorry, Hadley. I know you love your daddy and this is hard, but we . . . we have to go.”
I wish I could tell her everything, but I can’t. It’s too much for this sweet girl with a huge heart to comprehend. One day, she’ll look back and see that I was doing what I felt was best—or maybe she’ll hate me forever. Either way, she’ll be alive to do it.
That’s all that matters.
I grab her hand and lead her to where I dropped my own bag out of the window. Once I have it securely next to hers over my shoulder, we walk quickly around the corner of the house. I can’t slow down, at least not until we’re away from the house.
Hadley practically runs beside me as we make our way past the car and farther down the drive.
And that’s when I hear it.
The sound of the wooden screen door slam against the side of the house.
He’s awake.
He’s here.
He’s going to kill me.
I feel it in my body, the awareness of everything around me. The way the air tastes of dew and moonlight. How the scent of cows and fresh-cut wood fill my nose. If he catches me, it’ll be the last time I ever breathe and smell.
I look down at my beautiful girl, fighting back any tears over the fact that I might never see her again. My sweet, bright light in my life. The only thing I’ve fought to live for.
“Run, Hadley,” I say breathlessly. “Run as far and as fast as you can. Run to someone who will protect you. Run and don’t look back at me. Don’t stop. Don’t listen to anything else, just run.”
“Mommy?”
I can feel Kevin bearing down on us. Hear his rapid footfalls getting closer. The only chance I have is to let him take me so she can run. He can’t go after both of us.
“Run!”
My heart feels as though it’s leaving my body as she does what I say.
“Hadley!” Kevin bellows.
“Run, Hadley! Run and don’t come back!” I scream as loudly as I can, needing my girl to get away from here.
Kevin grips the back of my head, pulling my hair so hard I yelp. “Going somewhere?”
I could lie, but it won’t matter. He knows why we were sneaking out in the middle of the night. There’s no getting out of this, and for once, I refuse to back down and be afraid. The worst will come, but Hadley will be nowhere near when it does.
There is a small . . . so very, very small comfort in knowing that when he kills me, he’ll go to jail and she’ll be free of him.
“You won’t get her.”
“Oh, you think you’re noble? You think she won’t come home to her daddy?”
I laugh because the funny part is, she might not be his. Still, there’s some self-preservation left inside me that keeps my mouth shut. I might feel brave, but I’m not fool enough to make this worse.
“Something funny, Ellie?”
“This,” I say through gritted teeth as the pain from him practically ripping my hair out throbs. “That you say you love me and Hadley, and yet, you’d stoop to this.”
“I need you.”
“You need to stop hurting us.”
