Burn Like An Angel: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (Harrowdean Manor Book 2) by J Rose

Author:J Rose [Rose, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilted Rose Publishing Limited
Published: 2024-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

RIPLEY

SEE YOU IN HELL – BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT

The checkout is fast and impersonal. Our favourite hotel owner barely spares us a second glance now that he’s milked us dry for an extortionate hush fee paid in cash. We step out into the daylight and follow Xander’s directions.

Each one of us has dressed to blend in, wearing dark colours and casual t-shirts. Raine is unrecognisable beneath his aviators and the indigo hoodie he pulled on. Don’t get me started on Mr Polo Shirt now wearing a baseball cap. Xander’s sleek style is long gone.

Tensions are high as we leave the town behind, walking along a concrete underpass that snakes beneath the main road. We’re moving away from the Derby vicinity now that we have supplies and medication.

Xander doesn’t release my hand as the miles sluggishly trickle by. He’s holding onto me so forcefully, I wonder if he thinks I’ll float away like a helium-filled balloon. Or start rambling about my incredible invisibility again.

The time between holing up in the holiday park and the hotel is worryingly disjointed. My episodes often leave me confused and left to pick up the damaged pieces my manic self has scattered around me.

It’s an exhausting cycle.

Not many stick around afterwards.

Part of me can’t believe they’re all still here and didn’t take me up on the offer to leave me behind. I wouldn’t have blamed them. I’m an unstable element. A liability. No one wants that on their team.

“About the press conference.” Xander draws my attention.

“It doesn’t matter, Xan.”

“Doesn’t it?” He quirks a brow. “That snake is still your uncle.”

“Trust me, I’ve long stopped believing he’s going to wake up and suddenly give a shit about me. That was just further proof of how little he cares.”

My words are bitter and caustic.

“You don’t need him,” Xander spits out.

That was never the issue.

It wasn’t a need. It was a want.

As we walk, our surroundings filter between rundown council estates to half-empty high streets. Families pass us on the way home from the school run, carrying bicycle helmets and glittery book bags.

The scene makes my heart ache with loss. I never had that. A chauffeur handled the school runs throughout my childhood while the housekeeper my uncle employed performed the role of caregiver.

I didn’t have the normal, workaday familiarity of a warm family home. I’m sure some kids would trade their lives for the luxury and privilege I had, but to me, it was nothing but hollow grief. A reminder of all I’d lost.

All my life, I wanted a family.

I wanted to be loved.

All I got instead was sickness and disgust.

“We’ll make them pay, Rip.” Xander keeps his voice down. “All of them.”

“How?” I laugh quietly. “We’re penniless and on the run. Up against wealth and corruption the world barely believes. Not even the authorities can see the truth.”

“Then we make them see.”

“We both know it isn’t that simple.”

The destruction we left behind wasn’t the smoking gun Harrowdean’s patients hoped it would be. It won’t be that easy to dismantle the lies pushed by money and privilege.

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