Page 187 of Chasing Hope

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“I won’t ask again.”

The first tear drops down his cheek as he takes a step backward up the stairs.

I’m sorry, Dove, he mouths.

The monster and I don’t move. I don’t breathe until we hear the click of Caleb’s door shutting. He spins me the second the sound rings out, so quickly my head snaps back. His hand smacks down on my mouth as he drops his lips to my ear. “You’re my whore, not his, understand me?”

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When I say nothing, he squeezes my arms so hard I yelp out in pain, spitting out, “I understand!”

His hold loosens, but not nearly enough.

“Good.” He turns me again, dragging me into the living room until he shoves me down to the floor, pushing me so hard the wind is knocked from my lungs.

I barely have time to catch my breath again before his front is plastered to my back, the sound of his belt unbuckling accompanying the rip of my Hello Pony pajama pants as he whispers in my ear, “Now be a good girl and show me how much you love me.”

Ifloat away for the entirety of it again, my body walking around the kitchen aimlessly, looping the kitchen island as the sound of his muffled grunts and my silenced cries behind his hand fill the living room.

Just below, my friends are sound asleep. Above, Matteo and my family.

And yet, no one saves me.

No one ever saves me.

He takes my bloodied shorts away, wipes my tears, and sends me back down to the den, expecting me to act normal and be a little girl but he robbed me of a childhood the first day he snuck into my room when I was three years old.

I wish I had died that day.

When I sit down on the blow-up mattress, wincing as fire burns between my legs, I wish that I had never woke up today, either. That I had stopped aging, stopped breathing. He can’t hurt me if I’m dead.

To my surprise, Matteo comes into the room, whispering my name into the dark, worry in his voice…but he’s too late. I don’t want to talk. There’s nothing left to soothe or save.

Eventually, he closes the door, thinking I’m asleep, and I do manage to fall asleep, but it’s with tears streaming down my cheeks as I dream about not waking up in the morning.

Chapter 54

Evie

BELLA