Page 67 of His to Keep

“Youdarestab me in the back. Andyou.” He turns to me, and I yelp from the psychotic glint in his eye. “I should have known.”

“Ava, run!” Callum shouts, running at his father and pushing him back into a cabinet as he goes to grab me. Candles topple, and I gasp when the curtains immediately catch fire. Trying to keep him away from me, Callum turns to me. “Go! Get out of here!”

By the time I run to the door, the fire has spread to the bed. My heart bursts when Father Aaron’s fist swings into Callum’s face, knocking him backward. But I remember my promise to him earlier today.

Promise me, no matter what happens, you’ll run if I tell you to. You don’t wait for me.

I cry as I run down the hall. Callum forced me to swear to him that I’d leave him to deal with his father, but it’s breaking me to do it. What if Father Aaron gets the upper hand? What if Callum gets killed?

Turning a corner, I slam into a body and fall back onto the floor.

“What…what are you—” Penny inhales when there’s a crash in the direction I came from. Staring past me, her terrified eyes widen, but I don’t turn around. I don’t want to see the catastrophe behind me. “What did youdo?”

My body flinches when she flings herself forward, but she doesn’t hit me like I think she might. Instead, she runs past me. Getting up, I flee. Only, the moment I get to the stairs, I stop.

Maisie.

The first traces of smoke tickle my nose. The fire’s spreading, and I know I need to get out. But I can’t leave her. I may not know who I am anymore, and she may never do the same for me, but I’ll never forgive myself if I run out of this house without her.

I run to John’s room.

“Maisie!” I throw open the door, and everything turns to slow motion, absolute horror greeting me. Blood. Blood’s everywhere. Splattered up the walls, covering the crucifixes hanging upside down. Like how it was with Orla, only there’s not much left of Maisie, who has been handcuffed to the bed. Stripped and beaten so violently, her face no longer exists. Just her hair and parts of her body.

I retch and vomit. It spews past my lips, scorching my throat. John did this to her, but he isn’t here. His wardrobe and drawers are empty. He’s gone.

Putting my hand over my mouth, I sob hysterically as I back out of the room, unable to believe she’s dead. That John killed her.

Run, Ava!

Turning, I rush downstairs, hearing screaming and shouting behind me. And still, even though I’m dying on the inside wondering if Callum’s okay, I don’t turn back. I just keep going.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The front door is already open when I get there. Heat licks the back of me as I stare outside. It’s a misty, humid evening, today’s earlier rain evaporating and disappearing into the trees. Freedom. It’s right there, as Callum said it would be. What he said he’d make happen.Turn around. Turn back. Go get him.

But I swore I wouldn’t, and so I don’t. I take a step forward in the direction of freedom. But then something hard slams against the back of my head. Searing pain erupts, rattling my skull. With a scream, I fall forward onto the porch with a thud.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Turning with a gasp, my heart stops dead when I see none other than Father Aaron towering over me, bloodied face scrunched with evil. Throwing aside a plank of wood he’s just hit me with, he grabs me by the hair and yanks m.

“No!” I kick and flail, but he keeps his grip on me.

“You can die in the fire you created devil bitch!”

Jerking me to my feet by my hair, his hands wrap around my throat.

“Stop!” I choke, seeing thick, black smoke billowing from the door he’s dragging me back to.Oh no, Callum.Where is he? Is he dead?

“You thought you could fool me? Turning my own son against me?”

“You turned my grandmother against me!” I scream at him. “You are not a lord or godly. You’re amonster! You’ll always be one!”

Drawing back his hand, he hits me across the face, far harder than he’s ever done before. I fly back, landing with a horrendous crash on the porch steps that crack beneath me. Tumbling to the ground, I can’t breathe or think about anything other than the throbbing pain as Father Aaron’s deep husk of laughter sounds in the air around me. “Both your attempts of killing me werepathetic.You will never defeat me.”

Grabbing my arm, he pulls me, and it feels like it might tear from my socket. Just before the devil drags me back to the fiery pits of hell, Callum comes out of nowhere. He slams into Father Aaron’s side, knocking him off balance. Letting go of me, he howls out in pain when he lands against the knife still in his back. It buys us enough time for Callum to yell, “Go, Ava!”

He’s alive, and I’ve never felt relief like it as he helps me stand. Though the moment he does, something explodes inside the house, and I scream from the loud, deafening boom. Broken glass and splinters of wood hit me as the force from the explosion knocks us forward.

“Fuck,” Callum rasps after landing on top of me. Reaching behind him, he pulls a shard of glass out of his arm.

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