Starting Our Forever: Her Savior Series

Chapter 4

*Harper's POV*

I was running through the dark forest as fast as my legs would take me. My heart was beating outside my chest. It was so loud that I was sure the men behind me could hear my rising heart rate, but I refused to look back. I just kept looking forward as I jumped over branches and weaved in and out of the trees in my path.

"Get her!" A man shouted from behind me and all I could hear were several footsteps creeping up behind me. Luckily, they were not quiet, so I could tell exactly how far away they were. They were gaining on me, so I quickly picked up the pace and ran as fast as my lungs would allow. I was running out of wind quickly, but I forced myself not to stop and never to look back.

"You think you're going to get very far?" I could hear one of them laughing sadistically behind me as they continued to gain ground on me. I could tell that I was losing momentum, but I couldn't run any faster. Before I knew it, one of them tackled me to the ground and I hit my face hard against the dirt. I tried to ignore the pain and escape from his grasp and I succeeded momentarily. I desperately tried to crawl away on my hands and knees, but I didn't get very far until he pulled me back hard by my hair. I screamed as my body jolted backwards, hitting the hard ground behind me. I quickly put my hands up to block any hits coming my way, but he was strong. I knew I didn't have a chance, but that didn't stop me from trying.

He kicked me hard in the ribs, causing me to cry out as my body rolled across the ground.

"Please....stop! What do you want from me?" I asked, confused as to where I was and why this was happening.

"Boss will not be happy with you," he stated, ignoring my question. He stood over me and waited until the three other men caught up with us. I knew things were not good for me.

"Grab her and take her back to the boss. He is going to want to see her," he smiled sadistically, which scared me to my core. Two of the men grabbed me by my arms and yanked me to a standing position. It was useless to fight, so I just let them drag me back to the place I managed to escape from. I knew I had to think of a plan, but there was little action I could take at the moment with four men surrounding me. I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity and I would escape again when the moment was right.

We eventually made it back to the cell that I was dreading. I was unsure as to how I would escape a second time. I knew they wouldn't make the same mistake twice, so my second attempt would be infinitely harder. They threw me in and locked the cell door before turning to walk away.

"Wait! Please don't leave me!" I begged as the men continued walking away without giving me another glance.

"You can't leave me here! Please!" I begged as I pulled on the cell bars, urging any response from them, but they eventually disappeared without any such luck. Before I knew it, I was left all alone in the cold, dark cell. I slid down the bars to a seated position as tears escaped down my cheeks, letting the feeling of helplessness consume me.

It felt like days before someone came back down here. I could hear footsteps getting closer to my cell as I turned around to get a look at the man now standing before me. I looked into the eyes of the familiar man before me and my mouth dropped open as I stepped back, far away from him. My breath caught in my throat and all the blood drained from my face. I thought for sure I would pass out. I could not believe what was happening. I knew this man, but I hadn't seen him since I was little. Not since he beat me and tried to r**e me as a child...I was hoping I would never see him again, but my luck wasn't that good.

"Uncle Chris..." I said in a mere whisper. I wasn't even sure he heard me, but the sadistic smile painted on his face told me otherwise.

"Hello Harper," he said, maintaining his frightening grin.

I still wasn't sure how I got here, but I knew I was now in my new hell, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this...

I jolted upright in bed, panting and crying uncontrollably as one of the worst nightmares to date consumed my mind. Sweat was dripping down my body and dampened the sheets beneath me. I noticed I was all alone in bed, which I felt silently relieved about. I only hoped no one heard me. That was one nightmare I didn't want to have to explain. Mainly because I didn't know how. I had stopped having nightmares about my family years ago and now, out of nowhere, they started up again, and I wasn't sure why. I was secretly terrified it was more of a premunition than anything… I shook my head, quickly disregarding the thought. I refused to consider that. I forced myself to believe it was just a useless nightmare, and it didn't mean anything.

After I completely calmed down, I got up and made my way to the shower before getting dressed for the day. I had a busy day of school ahead of me, so I had to get my mind right. Today was one of the few days I had to go to campus for class. The rest of my classes were online, which made it easy to do from home.

I made my way downstairs and noticed breakfast was all ready for me at the table.

"Thank you, Myrna," I said kindly with a smile. She was the best maid/cook anyone could ask for. She was so polite and she knew exactly when to expect people for meals. It was borderline scary, but very impressive.

"Of course, ma-am," she said with a nod.

"Please, call me Harper," I insisted. I don't know how many times I told her to call me by my first name, but she continued to refuse with a shake of her head.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't," she responded politely with a smile and a nod before she turned around to continue cleaning the kitchen.

I shook my head with a smile, knowing how stubborn she was. She would never give up, I was sure of it. I let it go and sat down to eat my breakfast alone. I was sure the boys were already up and working by now. Today was one of my late days, so I normally didn't see them until later.

I finished my breakfast, discarded the plate in the sink, grabbed my bag and headed down the hallway towards the office. I was sure that was where Dawson was at this time, and I wanted to make sure I said goodbye before I headed out for most of the day.

Walking up to the door, I could hear shouting, and I hesitated before knocking. It was definitely Dawson yelling, but I wasn't sure what he was saying nor who he was yelling at. I stood there and listened for a moment, gauging whether I should bother him at all. He was clearly not in a good mood. As soon as there was a break in yelling, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," Dawson said from behind the door. I slowly opened the door and peeked my head in.

"Hey babe!" He said. His demeanor completely changed.

"Hey! Everything OK?" I asked as I looked around the room. I was unsure as to what he was angry about, but I was smart enough to know it was not the time to ask specifics. I noticed it was just Dawson, Blake, and Zeb. Both Zeb and Blake had their heads down, telling me that they were the ones being yelled at. I gave them a sympathetic glance and returned my attention to Dawson.

"Everything's fine, babe. Nothing I can't handle. You off to school?" I nodded before speaking.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say goodbye," I said as I walked into the room and made my way towards Dawson. He got up from his chair and came over to me to give me a kiss goodbye.

"OK sweetheart. I'll see you later. Be safe, and don't forget to take Brooks with you," he insisted. I only nodded, knowing it was not the time to resist his requests. Brooks was my new bodyguard that Dawson insisted I take everywhere, whenever I left the house. I happily obliged because of incidents that have happened in the past that I would like to avoid in the future.

"OK, love you. See you later," I said, turning to leave. "Bye, boys," I said, waving to Zeb and Blake before exiting the room and shutting the door behind me.

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I headed into my first midterm, hoping I had done enough to pass this one. I had a near perfect GPA and I wanted to keep it that way. In addition to studying for midterms, I was also studying for the BAR in order to make sure I was prepared for when I took it at the end of next year.

I sat down and cleared my mind of all my surrounding thoughts and focused on the test in front of me. I felt very confident in all the answers, and before I knew it, I was done and ready to turn it in.

I left class, with Brooks following at a distance, when I accidentally ran right into someone walking down the hallway.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry," I said as I looked up and noticed who was standing before me. My blood ran cold as I stood in front of what I was sure was an optical illusion. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. It couldn't be...

"Hello, Harper," I gulped loudly, shocked at who stood before me. Nope, it was not an illusion. It was real....she was real...but how was this possible?

"Bianca...? How?... When?..." I had so many questions running through my mind that I couldn't process each one of them completely. They all came out in a jumbled mess of singular words, causing her to smile. She knew she caught me off guard and that seemed to satisfy her. I thought, hoped, and prayed I would never have to see her face again. Especially after everything with Cole... I wonder if she knew I was responsible for his death?

This had to be a coincidence. No way would she be here because of me....right? I disregarded the thought and focused on the smug expression of the person before me.

"What? No hello?" She said, releasing a laugh. She was enjoying this for sure. I fixed my expressions and looked at her with an emotionless expression, in an attempt to hide the fear rising inside me. I knew I could take her if I had to, so that thought managed to calm me down a bit. Plus, I had Brooks close by.

"What are you doing here, Bianca?" I asked, seeing if she would actually tell me the truth. I thought I heard she went to The University of California, so I was beyond shocked to see her here.

"Oh, you didn't hear? I transfered here. My daddy made some calls." She seemed proud, giddy even.

"Why?" I dared to ask, knowing I would soon regret it.

"Well, I wanted to be close to you... You didn't think I would just let you get away with it, did you?" She asked as her face turned dark. She took slow steps towards me before she continued in a whisper.

"I know what you did," she said loud enough only for me to hear. Though I was terrified inside, wondering how she had found out, I managed to keep my composure, refusing to let her know she was getting to me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said with as much confidence as I could muster. "I have to go, but really, it was great seeing you. Take care, Bianca," I said with a fake smile, and turned to walk past her as quickly as possible without another look in her direction. I immediately grabbed my phone out of my pocket to text Dawson, preparing for the worst.