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She was so lost

Ellie gripped the steering wheel so tight her fingers ached as she stared out at the snow-covered road This was not good Not good at all

Her car wasn’t equipped to handle these conditions Hell, she wasn’t equipped to handle these conditions She was from Miami, she wasn’t used to snow

At least the heater in her car worked, but if she didn’t get to her aunt’s place soon, she was going to be in real trouble She was so scared She didn’t have a clue about how to drive in these conditions

She flicked a quick glance at the gas gauge She’d put twenty dollar’s worth of gas in this h But she hadn’t counted on getting stuck in a damn snow storm

Why hadn’t she checked the weather forecast? She should have waited this stor on

Right And what sort of ht dollars and ninety-cents? ‘Cause that’s all she had left of the money she’d taken when she’d left her parents’ house

She still felt guilty about that and da had she put her life on hold to take care of them? They had lied to her Deceived her Fuck, how could she have been so damn naïve?

Her eyes filled with tears, their betrayal still raw and cutting She needed to stop being such a pushover She’d spent years of her life looking after others Putting herself last Doing what she thought was her duty, because they were her parents and they loved her

You owe us, Ellen

If you walk out that door you are nothing to us Don’t ever come back

A sob welled in her chest Hadn’t she done enough crying already? They didn’t deserve her tears

You are no longer our daughter

It was tie of her life She enty-three years old and she’d never had sex Hell, she’d never even been on a proper date And her last kiss had been froet his hand up her top to squeeze her breast

It hadn’t exactly been a first kiss to remember But it was all she had What would her life would now be like if she hadn’t done as her parents ordered and broken things off with him?

She could be Mrs Boorimaced Eleanor Palmer Yuck Would she and Boo around? She risked letting go of the steering wheel to quickly wipe at her face, her vision blurring with tears She needed to pull herself together

She turned a corner of the road and a cry escaped her as her heart went into overdrive A huge tree blocked the road and she was headed straight towards it Reaching instinctively, she slammed her foot on the brakes

Her car fishtailed, unable to gain traction on the icy road It spun, sliding towards the side of the road Large trees loo in the near dark and she frantically turned the wheel, trying to get her car back under control It didn’t respond The car s to a brutal stop Her head snapped forward, sla wheel Her vision blurred, blackness creeping around her vision as she slipped into unconsciousness

Bear studied the deteriorating weather and kneould be foolish to atte the Bluetooth systeh to the security center at Sanctuary

“Sanctuary Ranch, you’re talking with Corbin”

He kept his gaze on the road, dropping his speed slightly Things were getting ugly out here

“It’s Bear Not gonna ht”