Vow of Revenge (The Vow #2)

Chapter One

Emma

My footsteps are light on the hardwood floors as I tiptoe downstairs. I wince when my foot lands on the creaky wood of the third step. I knew this floorboard always made a sound and wanted to avoid it but my heart is pounding too much for my brain to think.

The stairwell is pitch black. I can’t risk turning the light on and signaling to my mother that I’m out of bed. She would have a fit and throw me right back into my room.

But I’m tired of being held captive by my own mother.

I’m going to run away tonight.

At twenty, I’ve lived my entire life stuck under my mother’s oppressive thumb. I can’t stand it anymore. I want to explore the world.

I hold my breath, waiting to see if she heard the creaky step but when nothing happens, I continue on down the stairs. In the living room, I can see a little bit better from the soft glow of the moonlight. My eyes land on a paperback on the coffee table. My mom’s book. A romance.

She never let me read them, saying that they would fill my head with silly ideas. But I would read them. Whenever she finished a book, I would steal it away without her knowing and read for hours, learning about the world. It was the only way I could.

The sad fact is: I was denied any sort of schooling.

Mother taught me how to read and write and arithmetic but that was about it.

When I first read one of her books, I realized there was still so much I was never taught.

I didn’t even know TVs were a thing until a few years ago when a character in one of the books mentioned it.

I slip my shoes on by the back door. My tiny ballet flats. No support to them. Impossible to run in. Maybe that was the point. My mom always wanted to prevent me from running away.

But I’m tired of being stuck in this house, knowing I’m missing out on the world. She never wanted me in it for some reason. I could never ask her because then I would reveal that I had read the books she didn’t want me reading.

I have so many questions and no one to ask.

The back door has a keypad on it. I was never allowed to know the code as my mom claimed it was for my own safety. That bed men were out there and they would hurt me but I’m not sure if that’s true. The men I read about in all of her romance novels were kind and loving. Surely not all men are evil.

I managed to figure out the code one night while hiding on the stairs and watching her input it. She had no idea I had seen her. My mother has grown lax in some ways. Complacent in assuming I’ll stay with her forever.

But I can’t stay with her forever.

My hands hesitate over the keypad. The second I punch it in, I’ll be out of this house. No money. No ID. Nothing to help me. I have none of it. But the unknown world is better than being trapped in this house all my life.

With a deep sigh, I punch the code in. It lights up green and the door opens. My legs are trembling as I rush outside and inhale the cool night air. The smell of manure hits me in the nose. My eyes land on the cows and pigs nearby. The cows she milks and the pigs she eventually kills to make meat.

There’s no neighbors anywhere. Granted, I’ve only ever been let outside to help tend to the farm. I was not allowed to go anywhere else.

A long dusty road leads off into trees. Into a world I don’t know.

I glance back at my house once more before I walk away. There’s a chance Mother will find out I’m gone soon. We don’t have a car so my only choice is to walk but then my mother will also have to walk to find me. That brings me a little bit of comfort in the cold night.

I wrap my jacket around me tighter but it’s flimsy.

I think my mother didn’t want me having sturdy clothes to run away in.

That doesn’t matter. I have to know what’s out there.

In all the books I read, the main characters lived in major cities.

I know I live in Italy but that’s it. I don’t know anything else.

After walking for a few hours – and still only seeing a long dark road ahead of me – I hear a sound of something… buzzing? It’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.

With a look behind me, I see lights coming my way. Two circular lights. I frown. It doesn’t make sense. But then my eyes register what I’m seeing. A car. I only know about it from my books. I’ve never actually seen one before.

But it’s unmistakably a car. And in the car… is my mother.

I gasp and dive into the woods off the side of the road, hiding behind a tree. The darkness helps protect me.

My mother never said we had a car. In fact, she said the opposite. That technology of that sort was a sin. That it was the devil’s work at hand. And yet, here she is, using a contraption that she deemed would make a person go to hell.

She’s a liar, I realize. I’ve known it for a while but it hits me hard in the stomach. What else has she kept from me? What else has she lied about just to keep me locked away in our home?

I move deeper into the woods and focus on moving forward. Eventually I’ll find another person. I have to. Those romance novels didn’t write themselves. There are other people in this world.

My hair hangs limp around my face. The brown strands look like I haven’t washed in days. My mother always believed in conserving water so I was only allowed one short bath once a week. Tomorrow was my bath day but now I’m not sure I’ll ever get to bathe again.

The sound of the car fades into the night. I pick up my pace and keep on walking.

I don’t stop walking even when the sun rises. Even when the hot sun beats down on my back, giving me no choice but to take off my flimsy jacket and expose my arms without any sunscreen on. I couldn’t risk taking anything with me or my mother would have noticed. It’s just me on my own.

It takes until nightfall again to make it out of the woods and end up on a road overlooking a city below. All the lights of all the different houses tells me that this is a city. That I’m finally free of my mother.

The problem is: I have nowhere to go. Will anyone help me if I knock on their door? I really have no idea. The generosity of humans was apparent in my books but my mother also treated me terribly for my entire life so I know there’s darkness in some people.

My legs are aching and my mouth is so dry by the time I make it into the city. The sight of all the large houses around me makes my head spin. Despite how many people existed in my books, it didn’t prepare me for seeing it in real life.

It’s nighttime and there’s still a lot of people out on the streets. It’s a shocking sight. I would have assumed everyone would be in bed by now. Men and women walk past me, talking and laughing like they don’t have a care in the world.

“Excuse me,” I say to a woman nearby. “Where is this place?”

She frowns, looking me over like I’m crazy. “This is Florence. Italy,” she adds like I can’t understand her. “You look lost, girl. A homeless shelter is down there.” She points down the street without offering me anything else. “Are you on drugs?”

I shake my head, confused. “Why would you think I’m on drugs?”

“I mean… look at you. Your hair and clothes. You look like you haven’t washed in a weeks and you stink like shit. It’s obvious you’re on drugs. I would get to that homeless shelter sooner rather than later if I were you.” She walks past, covering her nose like I really do smell bad.

I sniff my arm. I can’t smell anything but nose blindness is real. Do I really look like I’m on drugs? That realization makes me feel more alone than anything ever has before.

I walk down the street in the direction of the homeless shelter. The reality is I am homeless and I could use the help.

Except, I don’t know where the homeless shelter is. There’s no signs indicating one is around here.

That’s when it hits me: the woman just wanted me to leave her alone. The urge to cry slams into my eyes and I can’t hold them back. I slump to the sidewalk, crying everything out in me. All the things my mother did. All the ways I’ve known fear. All the loneliness eating away at me deep inside.

I have no one to help me and no way to help myself.

“Do you need help, little girl?” a man asks me. With a gasp, I look up to see an older man standing before me. I can’t tell his age but he has grey hair and a smile on his face.

“I do,” I respond, scrambling to my feet. “Thank you. I’m all alone.”

His smile deepens and his eyes darken. For some reason, he doesn’t seem as kind as he was just a second ago.

“You’re all alone? Well, how good for me.

” He lunges forward and grabs my arm but instinct tells me to back away.

I don’t want this man touching me. “If you’re all alone, you should want company.

I can offer you company.” He reaches for me again but I step away once more.

“I… I’m fine,” I whisper. I thought leaving my mother’s house would offer me freedom. I thought I would be safe finally.

But this man is making me feel anything but safe.

“Come on, little girl. We can have fun together.” He rushes for me and I run away. I can feel him chasing me from behind.

My legs are exhausted and I haven’t had water in over a day. I feel weak.

But I don’t stop running. I may not know a lot about this world but I can tell what kindness is because I was denied it all my life by my mother and this man doesn’t want to show me any of it.

He laughs as I keep running and he keeps following.

I turn a corner and end up on a street full of nice looking homes. Much nicer than the farmhouse I grew up in.

My body slams against the door of the nearest house. “Please. Someone help me!” I knock and knock and knock.

The man finally catches up to me and grabs my arm, pulling me away from the door. “Come on, little girl. You asked for help and I can help you. I can help you not be so alone.” He grinds his body against mine and all I can feel is revulsion.

“Help me!” I scream.