Devil Owned (Devil Duet #1)

Prologue

Ihit the ground running.

I can feel him behind me.

Leaves crunch as he comes closer, his voice cutting through the trees. I breathe hard and search for a place to hide.

The forest is dense, but he knows it well. This is a game for him. A hunt. And I’m the prey.

I don’t know what he’ll do to me when he catches me. I don’t want to find out. I can still feel the cold steel of his gun against my temple.

I sprint for a boulder and crouch behind it, palm clamped over my mouth. It’s pointless. I’m panting so hard the whole forest must hear.

I squeeze my eyes shut as I hear his voice. Taunting, cruel. I’m nothing to him. A toy, a joke.

Yes, that’s what I am: a big fucking joke.

I’ve been a lot of things in my life. Quiet. Shy. Invisible. A criminal.

But I’d never yet been a joke.

It isn’t fair. I squeeze my eyes shut and feel the words thunder against my ribs. Not fair.

You’d think someone who’d lived such a shitty life would have gotten used to it. And I have, for the most part. I’ve submitted to it. To the loneliness, the overpowering loneliness. The words that no one hears but myself.

But every so often, it hits me like a ton of bricks. A massive blow to the stomach that knocks the wind out of me.

I open my eyes in fear as I hear him laugh just behind me. Laughter, because that’s all I am to him, a joke. And my fear? Funny.

“Well, well, well,” chuckles a dark voice. “It’s cute, how hard you try. But don’t think you can run from me. I own you.”