Fiftysix - Seven Rue Page 0,119

the case.

He really wanted me to live with him, share this house with him.

How could I ever say no to him when he was passively begging me, making it sound like an order?

I kept my eyes on his the whole time, making him suffer through my silence but I finally gave in.

“Okay,” I whispered. “But you have to promise me one thing…”

“Anything,” he replied, a smile already spreading across his face.

I leaned in closer, my lips brushing against his while my eyes closed. “Promise to love me forever.”

He chuckled, pressing my body against him with his hands on my lower back. “You should know I will by now, Valley. I’ve shown you every day how much I love you, and I will continue to do so.”

“Good, because no matter what…you’ll always be my man.”

And he could never get rid of me.

Not in five, ten, nor fifteen years.

WANT MORE SEVen RUE?

Read the first three chapters of ECHO, a reverse harem and age gap standalone about a mute runaway who finds shelter in a cabin which belongs to three brothers deep in the Alaskan wilderness.

Prologue

Echo

I’ve been walking barefoot for hours. Days, even.

I was tired.

Hungry.

And my mind was slowly shutting off.

I needed a bed.

Sleep and food.

But in the midst of Tongass National Forest, it was hard to find some kind of civilization.

I had to run away.

It wasn’t my choice.

My step-dad made me do it, and if I had to choose between staying with him and walking through a forest for days, I’d still choose this.

But next time, I’d be smart enough to pack more food.

More clothes to keep me warm at night, and a pair of boots that resisted endless miles.

There was no time to create a checklist before leaving though.

Bringing a map with me didn’t cross my mind, but then, reading a map while walking through a forest with no road signs wasn’t easy.

I just hoped that soon I’d come across a road.

It was getting late, and the sunlight didn’t break through the trees anymore.

I had only about one more hour until it was fully dark, but luckily, I brought my flashlight to help me see.

See.

That’s one thing I was able to do just fine.

Hearing was another sense that wasn’t taken from me after birth.

It had always been hard for me to explain to people why my hearing was perfectly fine, but couldn’t speak.

After birth, nothing could be heard when I cried.

The doctors soon found out that my vocal cords couldn’t produce any sound due to a lump.

They made quick work of it and cut that lump out, leaving me with no capability to ever talk.

It’s not that talking was something I would’ve wanted to do anyway.

My screams for help would be silenced by his rough, big hand, and when he used his belt to hit me on every possible part of my body, no one would ever hear anything other than the belt hitting my skin.

Torture.

That’s what I went through for most of my life.

But thinking about it only made me weak, and I had to stay strong to survive the wilderness.

I was okay for now, but I needed to find shelter.

Another hour passed, and I was getting more exhausted.

Why didn’t I just take the next plane out of Juneau?

Fly some place where I could start over?

Start a new life.

I still had bruises on my legs from the last time his belt hit me, and thankfully, bruises were all I got from him.

He didn’t take anything from me I couldn’t get back, but he did cause pain I couldn’t forget about.

I felt gravel under my bare feet, and I pointed the flashlight down, widening my eyes as I realized that I finally arrived at a hiking trail.

My heart rate picked up, and the excitement inside of me grew.

This would lead me to a main road, and on a main road, there’d be cars driving by.

My steps got quicker although the little pebbles under my feet hurt.

I shined my flashlight straight ahead, seeing how the small path winded in front of me.

I couldn’t hear anything around me, just the wind blowing through the trees.

But then, out of nowhere, a cabin appeared on the side of the path.

I started running.

Happiness started to grow inside of me for the first time in days, and as I reached the front door, I started banging on it.

They wouldn’t hear me if I’d tried to scream.

Hell, just the thought of screaming made my throat hurt.

I kept banging my fists against the wood, but the longer I tried