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PROLOGUE

AMBER

“You belong to me, baby girl…” Agron whispered, brushing my jaw with his finger, as silent tears continued to roll down my cheeks.

“No…” I quivered, my heart pounding against my chest, bile churning in my stomach. “Please Agron, no…”

He continued to tear at my clothes, as I continued to scream and cry bloody murder, wishing that he would stop.

Wishing that he would stop holding a chokehold over my life.

“It doesn’t matter how much you try and fight it, vajze e vogel.”

Baby girl.

“You belong to me, and only me. I will never let anybody else have you. You will never be able to run away from me.” He cocked his head to the side, a murderous expression in his voice, his voice so alarmingly soft and cold that I could feel every single one of my hairs stand on edge.

“Please, Agron…” I convulsed, so terrified of him in this moment.

So fucking terrified.

“Please…let…me…go…”

My voice was barely above a whisper. My throat felt so dry, my body felt so numb, that I could barely get a word out.

“NEVER!” Agron roared, and his hand reached upwards to strike me on the face.

He swung at my jaw, punching me so hard, with such a force, that I toppled backwards, and fell onto the floor with a forceful and painful smack.

“It’s time to show you who the boss is, Amber. It’s time to show you what happens if you try to defy me,” he gritted through clenched teeth. “Stupid whore. Të shpëtoja nga hendeku ishte vendimi më i keq që kam marrë ndonjëherë. Saving you from the ditch was the worst decision I ever made.”

He lowered himself onto my body, as I let out a pleading sob.

Wishing that he would spare me.

“P – please, Agron…” I convulsed. “I’ll never make you angry again. Just please… Please don’t r – rape me.”

I could barely breathe. It felt like all of the wind had knocked out of my lungs, my surroundings spinning around me, getting dizzier and dizzier as my eyes continued to fog with tears, and Agron continued with his torture, as I faded in and out of unconsciousness.

“So beautiful…” he murmured, brushing his lips against my ear. “But you keep trying to run away from me. When all I ever wanted to do… Was love you.”

“Agron…” I bawled.

Feeling like I was suffocating.

“But that’s where you’re wrong, bitch. If I can’t have you… Nobody can.”

And then he plunged inside of me, as I screamed and cried out in pain…

Feeling all the little sanity I had left knock out of my body.

CHAPTER ONE

AMBER

My alarm pinged into a frenzy on my bedside table. I woke up from my slumber, stretching and yawning loudly.

My name is Amber Amrezy. I’m thirty years old, and I live in Leeds, a city in England. I have long, jet black hair, caramel-coloured skin, big brown eyes, a pointed nose, and heart-shaped lips. I’ve been living in Leeds for two and a half years, ever since I ran away from my abusive ex-boyfriend Agron. With the way that Agron used to treat me, I was too paranoid to even leave my apartment most of the time. That was why I had a stay-at-home job of being a graphic designer, drawing digital art, logos, CD covers, book covers, the works. And because it could all be done on the computer or a drawing tablet and stylus, from the comfort of my own home, I never really needed to go outside to face the real world.

I had a few friends here in Leeds, and I met up with them occasionally, but most of the time, I preferred to stay at home, in the comfort of my four walls, knowing that I was finally safe.

Knowing that Agron couldn’t harm me anymore.

When I ran away from Agron, I didn’t know whether he would catch up to me, or find me and track me down. That was why I filed a police report against him, letting them know that he hit me and raped me, letting them know that he recorded a sex tape of the rape to threaten me with if I ever chose to leave him. It was the sex tape that was my final straw, and I knew that it would destroy me mentally and emotionally if he leaked it on the internet, allowing perverted men to pay for it and masturbate over it. It made me sick to my damn stomach.