Chapter 2

“From now on, I don’t want you going out at night, alright?” Damien said, his gaze fixed on me as I sat on the couch, a flicker of disturbing obsession in his eyes.

“I’m a person, not a pet,” I retorted, not even bothering to look up from the newspaper in my hands.

“How can you say that about yourself?” he murmured, crossing the room and settling beside me, his arm snaking around my shoulders. “I’m just worried you’ll get hurt out there. Look, someone tried to drug you today.” He paused, squeezing my shoulder. “So, don’t make big brother worry, alright?” His words were soft, but laced with a chilling undercurrent of threat.

‘Brother?’ I scoffed internally. He was nothing more than a rabid dog. Ever since Father died, Damien – the one Father brought home and who’d always harbored a strange, possessive obsession with me – had grown progressively worse. I had to escape, and fast.