Page 15 of Heartless Beloved

My eyes squint open as I feel his hand stroking my hair. “You’re gonna be okay. It’s all over now.”

He’s still wearing his ski mask, but I recognize his voice and his eyes. The browns are beautiful despite the monster he is.

I try to look around, except all I see are ashes and the gray sky. I turn my head toward him. There are some trees to my right and an abandoned building.

“W-where…” I rasp.

“I hope you enjoyed your stay on the North Shore, Elisabeth. Come back anytime.”

The sirens grow louder, and he’s gone just before everything goes black.

1

ALEXANDRA

Seven months later…

“Hi, baby!” Peach’s voice resonates loudly on the other side of the line. In the background, I hear. “When is she getting here!” That’ll be my other best friend, Ella.

“Hey,” I giggle into the phone. “I’m just packing the last box into the truck. I’ll be another hour or so, probably.”

“Alex!” Peach whines. “Why are you so slow? We’ve been here since ten a.m. It’s almost three, and we’re still waiting for you. Seriously, how much stuff did you pack?”

I look around my room, and then at the last box our butler still has to put in the car. “Honestly, not even that much. I was waiting for my parents to get home so I could say goodbye. They’re here now.”

“Who cares about them right now? You’re going to college! We’re not even that far.”

It’s true. Silver Falls University is less than a forty-minute drive from Stoneview. It’s basically a continuation of our prep school. It’s one of the best private colleges on the East Coast, and the pricey tuition fees make it as elitist as our town. Most Stoneview Prep students end up there because it’s so close to the billionaire town, yet it gives us a sense of independence.

SFU is on the south bank of Silver Falls and it’s an easy drive from here. I didn’t really need to wait for my parents, but I would rather that than receive an incendiary text from my dad later.

I walk to my desk to grab my purse and look at the Polaroid pictures I left. I have a hundred and three of them exactly, and I couldn’t take them all. My parents gifted me the Polaroid camera, and I’ve been taking one picture a month, every single month, since I turned ten. I’m no artist, but I’m a lover of life. Every month gets a special memory I capture in a picture.

I sigh as I look at the stack I left on my desk. “Sorry, guys.” I grab the shoebox on my desk and start putting them in there, a nostalgic smile on my face as I go through all of them.

My heart stops when I grab the one from February.

I wish I’d taken a different picture to represent my birthday month. This one marks the day my life changed forever. I gulp as I look at Chester and myself, grinning. It was taken only a few hours before the nightmare.

A shiver runs down my spine and I shake my head. Chester and I weren’t meant to last. Sadly, it took being kidnapped and assaulted to come to this conclusion, but we would have broken up one way or another. We’re better as friends, and we’re both going to SFU, so we have many more years of fun together. Just not as a couple.

He could never give me what I needed.

No one can.

Except your kidnapper. That’s someone you never stop touching yourself to.

I shut down the irrational voice in my head and take a deep breath.

“Miss Alex,” a voice rises behind me, startling me.

“Yes?” I ask as I put the picture in the shoebox along with the others.

“May I take the last box to the car?” Jordan asks. My butler has seen me grow, and it’s making me feel emotional to leave him behind. My mother never took care of me, while my father only cares about the image I bring to this family. Jordan likes me for me.

“Yes, please.” I smile as I turn around. I undo the tight bun in my hair and let it fall to my waist.

“Excited?” he asks as he squats to grab the box.

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