Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (free e novels TXT) 📗

I understand there will be some longer-lasting effects from the carbon monoxide poisoning that he suffered on that terrible night in the cottage, but the main thing is that he is alive, he is healthy, and he is smiling at me with his beautiful blue eyes.

I’m sitting on the sofa in front of the television preparing to give Samuel another feed from his bottle, and while I’m feeling extremely fatigued due to my own lingering side-effects from the toxic fumes, I am still able to enjoy this moment. I’ve waited a long time to have my baby home, and I’m going to enjoy every single second of it now that he is here.

As I put the bottle to Samuel’s lips and watch him drink, I hear the recognisable music that tells me that a local news broadcast is beginning on the TV. It’s funny how I spent so much time in that cottage desperate to watch the news, but now the very idea of it sends shivers down my spine.

I know what the top story will be. It will be the same one that has dominated the headlines for the last few weeks. It will be all about Adam and Gemma and the latest reports surrounding the shocking events that took place at the pretty cottage in the picturesque surroundings of the Cumbrian countryside. But I know the full story, and I don’t need to be subjected to it again.

‘Could you turn that off?’ I say to the other person in the room besides me and my baby.

‘Sure,’ Kat replies, and she switches off the TV before taking a seat on the sofa beside me.

‘How’s he doing?’ she asks me in reference to Samuel.

‘He’s doing great,’ I reply because he is.

In fact, we all are.

Some people might think that it’s weird for me to be hanging out with the sister of the man who tried to kill me, and I would understand that. But me and Kat have actually grown closer recently, and it’s mainly because of everything that has happened. I know that she feels terrible about how she treated me after I got out of hospital, as well as the general guilt she carries about the fact that her sibling tried to kill me and used her own property to do it in. Her being around and offering her help is her way of assuaging some of that guilt, I guess. Likewise, I enjoy having her around too because it makes me feel better. She is the one who saved me and Samuel, after all. Without her, we wouldn’t be sitting here on the sofa right now enjoying this special mother and son moment.

It might have been plain bad luck that led to Adam and Gemma being crazy enough to try and kill me, and it was definitely plain good luck that led to Kat coming to the cottage and finding me when she did, but I guess that’s all life really is in the end.

Just a mixture of good and bad luck all rolled up into one crazy life.

I know I made mistakes in my past and it was the consequences of those mistakes that led to everything else that happened to me and my son. I should never have started that affair with Bradley. I should never have hurt Adam. It was wrong, and I am sorry for that. But Bradley didn’t deserve to pay for his mistake with his life, and neither me nor Samuel deserved to suffer so badly either. Adam could have just divorced me. He could have started a new life with Gemma. I would have been left all alone to think about what I had done while he was happy with a new partner, and that would have been punishment enough for me. But human beings don’t always do what they are supposed to do, I guess. Adam and Gemma chose a different path to get their revenge, and it was one that involved much worse things than divorce papers and soppy social media updates.

They didn’t just want to see me suffer. They wanted to see me dead. But here I am, still alive and kicking, just like the little life I hold in my arms.

I watch Samuel’s legs wriggling about in the air as he takes his bottle, and I smile. He could be a runner with energy like this.

He could run for miles.

He could run wherever he wants to go.

As long as he doesn’t run like his mother did.  

THE END

A Letter from the Author

Thank you for reading Run Away With Me. I hope you had as much fun delving into the lives of Laura, Adam and co as I had creating them. As with some of my earlier books, I wrote this during the lockdown period in England and it gave me a great form of escapism from the realities of the world. I hope it has done the same for you.

Without readers like you, I wouldn’t be living my dream as a full-time author, so thank you for picking up this book and thank you for any review you may choose to leave for it afterwards. Reviews really are the most powerful way of getting attention for my books as they help bring in new readers. If you have enjoyed this book I would be extremely grateful if you could spend a couple of minutes leaving an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads (it can be as short as you like).

Thank you.

Daniel

If you would like to get the latest news about my future books, receive free stories and learn more about the life of a writer, you can join my free e-mail list at www.danielhurstbooks.com

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