SWNOVELS Brutal Savage: Chapter 1
My fingers feather over my abdomen, my heart racing.
I wish it would all stop.
I need it to stop.
Because it hurts.
It hurts so much I can’t breathe.
I often wonder when it’ll actually stop hurting. When I’ll finally be able to breathe again.
Except that’ll never happen.
I’ll always live this way: in fear. Looking over my shoulder. Wondering when he’ll come back and finish what he started.
I’m in a constant loop of the past. Stuck in cement. Unable to climb out.
I want to.
I’ve tried.
Yet I still see his face.
Both of their faces.
My life has never been the same since I found out.
Since I was forced to do things no one should be forced to do.
So I knew I had to go.
And I made a plan to run.
When that day finally came, I did.
I left it all behind.
My life.
My past.
I tore off the woman I used to be, and in her place, I became Elara Hill.
Evelyn Connors was someone else. She had to be. I couldn’t be her anymore.
Foolishly, I thought leaving it all behind would be enough. But it wasn’t. Because I’m still here, reminded of what was.
Reminded of the betrayals.
The lies.
The pain.
I didn’t think I could get away. But I made a friend, Derek, who set me up with a whole new identity.
I didn’t come alone, though. I had to take my grandparents with me, or the people who were after me would’ve killed them. They knew about my father’s death. They knew the people coming after me were the ones who killed him and got rid of the body.
That was only half the truth, though.
Because they didn’t kill him.
I did.