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All of those seemed to carry a greater risk of failure than just slipping out and making it as far as I could.

So, in the end, that’s what I did. Once I was outside, I encountered another variable I hadn’t considered in my plan. The darkness. It was pitch-black under the tree canopy.

I started by hobbling down the road and past his truck. I decided to slash his tires, so he had no way to follow me except on foot.

Then I oriented myself. I had grown up in these woods. Sure, I wasn’t the most outdoorsy person in town, but I wasn’t an idiot. I closed my eyes and listened for the sound of the surf. One thing about these woods, and Hade Harbor, was that the water was to the east, and the mountains to the west. I needed to get out of the trees so I could see the hulking mountains and figure out which way to walk. To do that, I had to go up.

I hobbled away from the cabin a little before I focused on finding a good branch for a crutch. Once I got one, I made better time, ignoring the pain that ripped through me with every step.

I set off up a hill. The lights of the cabin glowed below me, so I really hadn’t gone far, but hopefully once I got to the top, I’d be able to see the shadow of the mountains. Once I knew which direction I was heading, I’d either make my way to Hade Harbor or the neighboring town. It was worth a shot.

I reached the top of the hill and emerged into a clearing. The moon was full, casting its ghostly glow down around me. I gratefully stumbled into the brighter light and glanced around. The water shined in the moonlight, not too far away at all. Water was good. I could follow the coast. I could almost make out the familiar, jagged piece of coastline that the Sinclair mansion overlooked. I wasn’t as far away from home as I’d worried I was.

That was good news. Less good news was the growing numbness moving up my leg from my injured foot.

Walking on it was making it much, much worse, unsurprisingly.

After a moment’s rest, I hobbled down the hill again. Unfortunately, getting to the coast meant passing by the cabin.

I was just about to do that when the front door flung open.

“Selena!” Nick shouted into the night. He sounded furious. Unhinged, really.

I crouched in the foliage, certain he couldn’t see me in the dark.

He crunched along the gravel in front of the house and then disappeared inside. Before I could decide to move, he was back, this time shining a powerful flashlight into the woods. Shit. I ducked down as the light went just over my head.

The bushes rustled.Fuck!

No, no, no. I’d come so close to escaping, only to get caught now?

I held my breath as he directed the beam of light back in my direction.

“Is that you?” Nick called, taking a few steps toward me, running the flashlight back and forth over the place where I hid.

Could he see me? I couldn’t tell.

Silence fell, and slowly, the flashlight moved away. I allowed myself to breathe a little. There was the sound of him crunching back over the gravel. How was I going to get away like this? I thought frantically over the problem. He was going to find me out here. I held my breath and peeked over the bushes in front of me. Nick had moved in the other direction, shining the flashlight in bushes around the side of the cabin.

I wasn’t going to get away like this. I needed a plan B.

I waited until he’d nearly disappeared and moved closer to the house. The problem was that there was no cover there. Only exposed gravel. If I went with my latest insane plan, I’d need to run to the door of the cabin, and I wasn’t sure my ankle couldmanage it. I was so focused on the route I’d take to get to the door, I didn’t realize that I’d lost sight of Nick around the side of the house.

“Well, well, well, you just couldn’t stay away, could you?” he murmured at my back. He’d come all the way around and ended up behind me.

I surged to my feet and nearly went down right away thanks to the pain in my foot. Nick lunged for me, and I ran. Every step hurt beyond belief. Not only did it hurt, but my foot would barely tolerate a second of weight. I half limped, half ran toward the open door of the cabin. Of course, I didn’t make it. Nick tackled me from behind. I fell to the ground, scraping my face and arms, and grabbed a deep handful of gravel. He wrenched me onto my back. I threw it in his face, hitting him in the eyes. I pushed backward, trying to get to my feet and failing. My ankle was done. I crawled toward the cabin door. Nick swore and wiped at his eyes.

“Sure, run, if you can. If you can’t, then you fight like a girl…Smarter. That’s your girl superpower. Your brains.”

“Bitch, you’re going to pay for that,” he growled and came after me again, yanking me backward and dragging me along the ground.

Thank God, he’d pulled me by the other foot. I would have passed out immediately if he’d touched the injured one. I tossed the rest of the gravel left in my hand, and he roared with irritation, dropping my ankle.

I pushed myself backward, getting closer to the door. I was almost there. He rubbed his eyes again and then started toward me, but he was too late. I shoved myself up with a scream of purepain and hobbled into the cabin, slamming the door shut and bringing the security bar down just as Nick hit the door with a thud.

“Let me in, Selena, or I swear I’ll burn this fucking place down!” he screamed from outside.

I sighed and sank to the floor. “Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.”