The Escape
255 Words
Elara didn’t sleep that night.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her father’s face behind bars—tired, confused, betrayed. Damon’s voice echoed in her head, calm and ruthless.
I want leverage.
He had never planned to let her father go.
She was just another pawn in his war.
As dawn crept into the sky, Elara made her decision.
She was leaving.
She moved quietly through the mansion, slipping on the simplest clothes she could find. Her heart pounded so loudly she was sure the guards would hear it.
In the kitchen, she found a small handbag that one of the maids must have left behind. She took a stack of cash from the drawer Damon kept for emergencies.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to no one.
Then she ran.
The gate was guarded, but luck was finally on her side. A delivery truck pulled in just as she reached the entrance, and in the confusion, she slipped past and disappeared into the morning.
Hours later, she was on a bus headed out of the city.
Her phone buzzed.
Damon.
She turned it off.
Tears slid down her cheeks as she pressed her hand against her stomach.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t let him own us.”
Two weeks later, the nausea started.
Three weeks later, the test confirmed it.
She was pregnant.
And Damon Blackwell could never know.
Or he would use this child the way he used everything else.
The war between them had just begun.
- Writer
