The Last Daughter (The Lost Daughters #8)

Prologue

Hope looked up at Gus, his fingers linked with hers as he smiled down at her. The wind whipped at her hair, cool against her skin, but all she cared about was the man standing in front of her.

He came for me.

There had been a moment, as she’d stood in the moonlight and closed her eyes, face tipped to the sky, that she’d worried he might not. But she’d been wrong.

‘I choose you, Hope,’ he whispered. ‘A thousand times over, I choose you.’

He pulled her closer, holding her so that her head was pressed to his chest. His arms encircled her, fingers splayed across her skin, lips brushing against her hair as he spoke, as she listened to the steady beat of his heart. She’d forgotten just how much she missed that reassuring sound.

‘What will we do about your family?’ she asked, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

‘We forget about my family, and we leave here and never look back,’ he said, stroking her hair as she raised her head to look up at him.

‘But—’

He pressed a warm kiss to her lips. ‘There is no but,’ he murmured. ‘There is only me and you. It’s all that matters now.’

His smile sent a shiver through her, and she laughed when his eyes fell to her stomach, watching the way his hand followed protectively.

‘We’re a family now, Hope. You, me and our baby. There is nothing in this world that matters to me more.’

Hope blinked away tears. She should never have doubted him; he’d certainly never given her any reason to, but ever since she’d found out she was expecting, she’d been terrified of being left to fend for herself. Of having to face the world alone, and what that might look like.

‘Where will we go?’ she asked, reaching up and stroking his cheek with her thumb, tracing the curves of the face she knew as well as her own.

‘It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as we’re together,’ he said, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm as his eyes caught hers. ‘But I was thinking London could be a fresh start for us. We don’t need my family, or anyone else. We only need each other. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’

She leaned into his touch, closing her eyes as his lips caressed her forehead.

London. She’d never thought about moving away before, but as long as she was with Gus, there was nowhere she wouldn’t go.