“Fucking thick men. Can’t do any-fucking-thing right.” Leona swears as she reaches my door. She tugs it open, and the metal grating against metal pierces my ear drums, making me whimper. “Ahhh, and she lives. Such a shame.” Leona pauses and I can’t see her but I can feel her gaze burning into me.
“I should have fucking known if he was in love with you that there wasn’t something quite right about him, and he wouldn’t be able to do the fucking job right. You’re all not quite right in the head,” she grits out. Her hand grips my hair tugging my head towards her.
Her eyes are wild, her blonde hair a mess. I’ve never seen Leona look anything but polished, but at this minute she is a state. Makeup is smeared under her red rimmed eyes. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days and her clothes are creased.
“I didn’t realise you were Lydia’s sister. She was fun to play with,” she says with a smirk. My heart pounds and my blood boils. This bitch played with my sister and she’s been playing with me. I fucking hate this woman seeing me so vulnerable.
The adrenalin coursing through my veins is slowly dissipating, making me more aware of the pain in my body. My head is throbbing, sticky warm blood is seeping from my hair down my face, but it’s the pain in my leg making me want to pass out. It feels twisted, and the pressure makes me want to be sick.
“I don’t know how I didn’t see it. You look just like the twisted cunt,” Leona snarls. “It wasn’t until your very dead ex lover told me that and it all fit together. Well I’m going to get my wish again, only this time I’ll make sure the job is done right.”
As Leona begins trying to pull me from the car I scream out in pain. My leg is trapped, pain slicing up my leg with each tug.
“Get the fuck out!” Leona screams.
“I can’t,” I cry. Hot tears mix with the blood on my face and a metallic taste fills my mouth as I pant through the pain. “My leg is stuck Leona.”
Grabbing fistfuls of my hair she pulls and pulls. My scream hurts my own ears. I wriggle about trying to free myself, sagging in relief when my leg becomes dislodged.
The pain is overwhelming as she drags me up the embankment by my hair and my vision begins to fog. I’m vaguely aware of being pushed into the back of a car before darkness takes over.
****
I wake on the hard, damp ground in some sort of barn. Shadows surround me, making me aware of evening approaching. A sharp pain cramping my stomach pierces me, like I’m being squeezed in a vice. I grunt and pant through the pain before my surroundings properly register.
Calmness settles within me, I’m not sure where the strength comes from, but I know I need to be as brave as ever right now. If I want to get my baby out of this mess then I need a clear head. Looking around I see the barn is empty, except for a few tools and some scattered hay. Leona is nowhere in sight but I know she won’t be far away.
My arms are tied behind my back, my feet bound together. I struggle, checking my bindings and I’m relieved to find them tight but loose enough to squeeze out of. I twist and turn my hands and wrists, loosening the rope.
Hearing a car door shut I freeze, holding my breath. The crunch of gravel makes me shiver. This is bad. Really, really bad. Leona has been showing her crazy to me but I didn’t think it would come to this. I didn’t realise how badly she wanted me out of the way.
She’s unhinged.
I close my eyes, praying for Damon to walk through that barn door but I know it’s not. I know now I need to fight for my life, and the life of my daughter.
I squint when the last of the sun light streams in, temporarily blinding me when the door is pulled open. Leona’s frame comes into view before she shuts the door behind her, a gun clutched in her hand. A whimper escapes my lips when another pain cuts through my middle.
Panic tries to consume me but I refuse to let it. Being in labour in this situation is the worst thing that can happen and it could mean something is terribly wrong. It’s still too early for our daughter to come into the world. She has another month before she’s fully developed and that thought makes me want to fight more than I’ve ever fought before.
“Awake I see.” Leona says in a sweet voice. “I did start to worry there. I almost thought I wouldn’t get to have fun with you before your time came.” She lets out a maniacal laugh, sending goosebumps across my flesh. “I did offer you an out Ella but you chose not to listen. Now you’ve left me with no choice.” Her voice is calm and that freaks me out more than the gun she is clutching.
Mother’s instinct seems to kick in but not in a good way. I should want to beg for my life, for my daughter’s life. I should be crying and praying. What I’m really feeling is rage. Pure fury coils in the pit of my stomach, building to near explosion. This fucking bitch wants to hurt my baby. She wants to take away her life before it’s even begun.
I can’t let that happen.
I won’t let that happen.
“You really think he’ll want you if you do this?” I ask with a malice filled laugh. “Damon never wanted you Leona. He will never want you.” I know adding fuel to the fire isn’t going to help me but the words are pouring out of me. “You won’t get away with this and then what will happen? You’ll end up with nothing, only you’ll be locked away too.”
“He will love me,” she screams. I can see the wheels in her head turning and I know she knows Damon will never want her. She paces the barn, not keeping her eyes on me. “We were going to be a family once.”
“That wasn’t Damon’s baby though, and even if he would have been with you it would have been for another man’s baby, not for you,” I say, mockingly. The more she’s thinking, the more her attention isn’t on me. I struggle and tug, finally freeing my wrists.
“Damon would have given me his baby if it wouldn’t have been for your cunt of a sister. She messed his fucking head up, made him feel worthless. But I knew how to make him feel better. He knew I accepted his monsters.”
“He doesn’t have monsters, he had you. You were the only monster in his life,” I snap. She drilled that into Damon’s mind and made him believe he’s a bad person but I know he’s not. I pant through another contraction. The adrenalin coursing through me at the threat of harm to my baby helps me deal with the pain.
“You think you know the man you married?” she laughs. “He has demons that you wouldn’t be able to fucking handle. He needs me, someone who knows him, not a whore like you.”
Leona storms towards me and pulls up me into a seated position by my hair. Exactly what I needed. I wail in pain as I put pressure on my right leg, and I know I’ve done some considerable damage in the accident. I keep my hands secure round my back, hiding the fact that they are unbound. When I settle back on my heels my hands move to work on freeing my leg bindings.
I remain silent, not wanting to wind her up more and take a hit. Leona isn’t satisfied with my silence though. She slaps me and shrieks in my face. I want to cover my ears from the sound, but instead recoil back from her, trying to distance myself.
“Nothing to say now bitch?” I shake my head no, and she smirks. “I didn’t think so. It’s best if you just keep your filthy fucking mouth shut.”
Leona’s hand colliding with my cheek again knocks me sideways, but I manage to find my upright position again quickly. I get to work loosening the rope around my ankles as Leona begins pacing the ground again. I need to keep her distracted and I know the perfect way to do this.
“What did you mean when you said you played with my sister?” I know I won’t want to hear what she has to say, but I need to know. Lydia was my sister and my reason for Damon being in my life now. Leona’s words could help finally put Lydia to rest.
“Lydia?” she questions with a laugh. I don’t answer her. Instead I just keep my eyes trained on her, waiting her out. “We might as well have story time. It’s not like she’ll ever be seeing outside these doors again,” she mused aloud. Her words were spoken as if she was speaking to someone else in the room with us and t
hat sends a shiver running up my spine.
She’s twisted.
Really fucked in the head.
“I worked so fucking hard to get my Damon away from Abbi. That bitch never deserved him and when I told my mum about my need for Damon she helped me set everything up. It was really quite easy. My mum became friends with Flora, making my dad and George become fast friends. That gave me the in with Damon. Creating some bullshit argument was easy, just a few words in Abigail’s ear and she was putty in my fucking hands.” I can’t hold in my gasp at her words. Leona played a much bigger part in breaking Damon and Abbi up that I anticipated.
“Getting her wasted enough to pass out was another story altogether, but with some help from a male friend it wasn’t too much of a problem. He also helped position her and posed in the photos. That was all it took. Showing Damon evidence was enough to get Abbi out of the picture and it worked. She was gone and I was there for him to turn to.”
Her words make me want to be sick but I watch her with a nonchalant expression, not letting her see how deeply her words cut me. Not for me, but for Damon and Abigail.
They never stood a chance when Leona set her sights on Damon.
“But it didn’t work out for you, did it?” I ask, smugly. Leona’s hate filled gaze pierces into me, but I don’t back down. I can see her close to losing it again. “He didn’t want you.”
“You shut your fucking mouth. You know nothing,” she spits. “Damon just needed time to sort himself out but I was prepared to wait. Then all of a sudden he was okay, back to being himself, but closed off. I knew it would take time to get him into the right frame of mind to open him up for love again but I was patient.” She stops speaking as she stares off into space. “Something happened. Something else destroyed him and I couldn’t get him to see me. He was lost.”
“Pops.” I whisper to myself. That had to be when he lost my dad and blamed himself.
“What?” Leona snaps.
“Nothing.”
Another contraction hits me and I whimper, trying to hide my pain. Leona is in a world of her own and doesn’t notice my distress.
“It took years for him to come back to himself, to be less closed off. But then that fucking whore, Lydia, appeared and began taking up all his time. He watched her in a way I’ve never seen before. Not in an interested way, but in a protective way. I’ve never seen him act like that before and it threw me.”
I suck in a shocked breath at her words. He’s told me he felt responsible to Lydia and me because of our father’s death, but hearing of his protectiveness for my sister from this crazy bitch melts my heart a little. Damon never meant to hurt my sister. I know that now. I knew and believed that when he told me, but I fully accept it now.
“As soon as I met her I knew she would be fun to play with, vulnerable, lonely, and in love with her boss. She made herself an easy target. I knew manipulating her would be easy, and I used her to my advantage. I helped her keep tabs on Damon, convinced her he loved her, but was scared to tell her. I had her eating out the palm of my hand in days. She lapped up any information I gave her and turned to me when she doubted Damon’s feelings for her.”
“She made it goddamn easy to play her, to twist her mind. I started having a lot of fun with her. Seeing the pain she felt when she saw him with dates eased my own pain. I hated, hate, when he goes out with sluts.” Her words make it evident that she puts me in that category.
“You broke her. You fucking ruined her,” I scream. I can’t hold it back my scream as it tears through me with another contraction. I don’t want to put her off, I don’t want her to stop speaking because each second she’s spending remembering the past, I’m slowly freeing myself.
Leona laughs at me, her eyes shining with happiness.
“I did, and I would do it again. She shouldn’t have been so fucking stupid to believe a man like my Damon would want a cunt like her.”
“He’s not yours though Leona. He’s mine,” I goad. “And the only cunt I see is you. For ever thinking he would be yours.”
Leona lunges at me, knocking me back, and bumping into my stomach. The knock finally releases my trapped feet and we grapple around the floor, fighting each other to gain the upper hand. I throw her off me and push to my feet. It’s a struggle with my injured ankle but I manage it. Just as I get my footing right another contraction takes hold, tearing me apart.
I bend over, grasping my stomach as I pant through the pain. I feel like I’m being split in half and can concentrate on nothing but the agony running deep inside.
Please let my baby be okay.
Leona smashes into me, forcing me to the ground again. I scream out in pain, both from contractions and my leg. It doesn’t take her long to restrain me again and that’s when all my fight leaves me. My baby and I aren’t going to make it out of this alive.
Tears close my throat and blur my vision. This is what my life has come to, the way it’s all going to end, and it will be at the hands of the woman who ultimately destroyed my sister. The same woman who has spent years ruining my husband’s life.
My husband.
Thinking of Damon helps peace settle within me. This will kill him. Losing our daughter and me will be the finishing blow to Damon that will rip him apart in the worst way possible, but he will survive it. He will live on.
If all I get with that amazing man is a few months of pure happiness, then I know it was all worth it. Every hurt, pain, and doubt has been erased by him and I can only hope I’ve helped him see he isn’t a monster, but a man who deserves love. A man who has so much love to give.
Leona’s shriek of disgust brings me back to the present. She’s wiping her hands down her messy clothes, frantically cleaning off the gunk covering her. It isn’t until I see her line of sight that I realise my water has just broke.
“You pissed on me,” she screeches. “You fucking pissed on me you dirty bitch.” Her fist connects with my face, sending it swinging to the side. I don’t look back at her. I won’t give her the satisfaction.
Blood oozes from my nose, trickling down the back of my throat at the same time. I gag at the metallic taste but keep my eyes firmly locked away from Leona. Her shouts and screams are incoherent so I pay her no mind.
Tires on the gravel outside have my heart pumping fast, my pulse racing. Has she got more help? I hold my breath waiting but everything is still. Even Leona.
“Is that fucking spawn coming? Does it hurt?” Leona asks in amusement. “I think I’ll let you go through the pain of labour without medical help and then finish you off. You might as well feel every ounce of pain I’ve been craving to inflict on you. I might even keep your baby as my own. Damon would sure want me then.”
In her deluded state she really believes Damon will want her if she takes me out the picture. I remain silent, refusing to give her what she wants. My fear.
“Did you hear me?” she screams. Her boot connects with my bad leg making me cry out. I just want this pain to end. I never thought I’d be someone to just give up but this pain is too much for me to take.
“When Damon thought he killed my baby he was easy to manipulate too. I could play on that to get my own way. He felt guilt and that gave me power. Until you came along. Until you fucking ruined it all you bitch!” she shouts.
Her words hit me hard and my eyes widen. When Damon thought he killed... she was never fucking pregnant! This crazy bitch is more fucked up than I ever believed. I fucking knew she was lying.
“You were never pregnant. I bet you weren’t even fucking raped.” I fume. Leona out right laughs at me.
“Of course I fucking wasn’t. I used that rape and fake baby as a way to get Damon and that’s when your fucking sister fucked everything up again. After that I thought he would comfort me the way I wanted if he thought he’d killed my baby. Instead he closed off more.”
“Because you made him believe he was responsible for two deaths in one day!” I shout.
“But he knew I wouldn’t care ab
out his demons. He knew I accepted him as he was.” She says this in a small voice, almost like she’s confused as to how her plans went wrong.
“If you would have thought about it properly Leona, you would have known that convincing him he’s a monster wouldn’t work in your favour. He locked himself away from the world, blocked himself off from living. You. Did. That.”
Leona lets out an ear piercing scream, picks up her gun, before lunging for me again, just as the barn doors crash open. It all happens so fast. Her shocked expression is almost laughable but when she raises the gun to my head I freeze.
I squeeze my eyes closed and hold my breath, waiting for my death to come. A popping sound rings out before a heavy weight settles on my chest. I wait for more pain to hit but it doesn’t come. Voices shout out, surrounding me, but I can’t make anything out. My vision blurs before everything goes dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
December 24th 2014
Damon
I stand in complete and utter fucking despair. I don’t know what to do. Not sure how to proceed in getting these cocks to listen to me. Leona has my woman and they won’t fucking help. They’re more concerned with getting that piece of shit Simon out his car. I’m glad he’s fucking dead because if he wasn’t I’d fucking kill him myself.
“When are you going to find my wife?” I snap at a passing police officer. “She’s been taken and you’re all wasting your time on that piece of shit that tried to kill her,” I grit out, trying to keep my cool.
“Sir, you need to calm down. We’re doing all we can. Your wife could have hit her head and be stumbling, lost, looking for help. We have a dog unit on its way to assist. We’re working on it.”
His calm voice just fuels my rage. I want to snap his head off. I want to kill everyone who isn’t listening to me when I say Leona has her.
“She’s not fucking here. She was taken, and the longer you leave it the more time that crazy cunt has to hurt my wife and daughter.”
“There is no car seat sir.” The police officer looks at me like I’m losing my mind and it just enrages me further.
Avowed (The Manipulation Trilogy Book 3) Page 20