Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She narrowed her gaze. “One of the guys who hangs out here just cornered me by my car at school. He said if he couldn’t get what he wanted out of you, he’d take me and Dani as payment instead. What did you get involved in this time?”
“Fuck!” He picked up the cookie jar where she kept Dani’s lunch money and threw it against the wall, shattering the ceramic and causing a dent in the plaster.
She flexed her fingers, her palms still damp from her hard grip on the steering wheel on the way home, and her wrist throbbed from where the man had gripped her hard enough to leave bruises.
After placing her heavy tote bag on the kitchen table, she drew a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever disaster was coming.
Then she turned to face her too-silent father.
He rubbed his hands over his bloodshot eyes. “I’m in trouble, baby girl.” He only called her that when he was feeling guilty about something. “I need you to take your sister and go,” he said, his gruff, demanding words shocking her.
She’d known he was in trouble but sending them away? “What are you saying?”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Get your sister from her room, pack a bag, and leave. Now. Drive far and fast.”
Processing his words was impossible. “But…”
He shook his head, his eyes wild. “There’s no time. Hurry up.”
She nodded, and just like when she was sixteen, Hadley went on autopilot. She rushed upstairs and knocked on her sister’s door. Receiving no answer, she opened it and found Dani with earbuds on while tapping away on her laptop, unaware everything was about to change.
Hadley stepped up to the bed, catching her sister’s attention.
Dani yanked out her earbuds and grinned. “Hey, Hads. What’s up?”
Hadley managed a smile at the nickname that Dani had used since she was a toddler. It had taken Hadley years not to think of herself as Mia Roberts, her given name, the person she’d been prior to entering WITSEC thanks to her father. Mia, a name Dani had never heard anyone call her since she’d been a baby when they’d been forced to disappear.
“Can you shut that down?” Hadley pointed to the laptop. “We need to talk.” And she didn’t want any of Dani’s friends who might be listening on Facetime overhearing.
Hadley had already decided to be honest with her sister. Dani was a smart, wise-for-her-years kid. She already knew neither of her parents were the most upstanding citizens nor did they associate with decent people. It was Hadley who kept Dani’s life as normal as possible.
Dani closed the laptop cover and leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you to listen carefully,” Hadley said, as she sat down on the mattress.
“You’re scaring me.” Dani’s green eyes were wide with fear and Hadley hated her father for forcing her to put that emotion there.
She had no way to soften the blow, either. “Dad got himself into serious trouble. You and I can’t stay here. It’s not safe and we need to leave.”
“What?” Dani asked, her body jerking, her voice raised.
“I’ll explain more in the car but right now, pack as much as you can fit in your rolling suitcase and backpack and meet me in the kitchen. I need to go do the same thing.”
Blinking fast, Dani shook her head. “Wait. For how long because I have so many fun things planned for the last week of school and Amy’s having a party next weekend!”
Hadley winced, aware of how her sister felt, knowing she’d miss out on things that seemed so big in her young life. She felt the same when she missed going to prom with Zach. And once Dani realized they were probably going to be gone for a long time, that pain and disappointment would only get worse.
“I’m going to treat you like an adult and be one hundred percent honest. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone but I will find a way to make it up to you. Right now, just pack, please,” she said, hoping just this once, Dani’s teenage stubbornness wouldn’t kick in.
Dani shook her head. “But mom said she was coming over tonight and I need to be here.”
Hadley gritted her teeth, doing her best not to show her aggravation at the mention of Dani’s selfish, drug-addict mother.
Hadley’s mom died in a car accident when she was thirteen. Instead of staying home with his grieving daughter, her father, Gregg, immediately began hitting the bars at night. It wasn’t long before he met, hooked up with, then knocked up Patrice Munson. He moved his pregnant girlfriend into the house where Hadley’s mom had lived. Patrice hadn’t been interested in helping and Hadley, in between schoolwork and her part-time job, did everyone’s share of housework and cooking.