Chapter 1 Scott's Daughter

• Kelly Carter's POV
• I crouched behind the dustbin cans, my heart beating so fast. I was so scared. I knew I needed help.
• So I did the thing that I had avoided for a while now. I had to call him. If Dad was right, he was the only one who could help me.
• I tapped the numbers that I could clearly remember and made a call. I held my breath as I waited.
• The phone rang for a while before it was picked up. “Speak,” I heard a cold voice from the other side.
• “Scott Carter asked me to call you if I needed help. I'm his daughter,” I said.
• The other side was silent for so long that I was scared that he had hung up.
• “You have to help me. Just get me out of this town and I won't bother you again,” I said. All I wanted was to be away from Cliff's men.
• “You said Scott Carter?” The other person asked.
• “Yes,” I replied. “I swear I tried so hard not to call. I didn't want to bother you. But Dad said it would be important to call you.”
• “Scott is dead,” the man said. His voice was cold. I wondered if that was the way he always was, or he just didn't care about me or Scott's stupid daughter.
• And I couldn't help but sigh. “I know. He was my dad. And yes, he died a while ago…”
• “Where are you?” I was trying to explain when he cut me short.
• “I don't know,” I said in embarrassment. I was new in that city.
• “Leave your phone on for three minutes then switch it off,” the man said and hung up.
• I looked at my phone in confusion. What was wrong with the man? Couldn't say longer sentences or say something that could give me some assurance?
• I didn't even know if he was coming or not. Still, I did as I was told. I was desperate. I didn't have another choice.
• …
• My name is Kelly Carter, the only daughter of Scott Carter. I'm twenty-three years old, and I'm on the run.
• A while back, I had a brother. His name was Sean, and he was six years older than me.
• However, my mother had used me to get to my dad. And she had killed both him and my brother. She had set my brother's house on fire.
• My dad was an underground Mafia lord. Of course, he never admitted this to me. People like him wanted to keep their families safe. But I knew it, and I accepted him for who he was.
• He raised us both as a single dad. He was so good to us, and we had almost everything we ever wanted.
• I had never known anything about my mom. I had never seen her. And my dad had never said anything about her either.
• But I was only a girl. I wanted to have both parents like other kids. So I kept looking for her secretly.
• On the day of their death, I had organized for her to meet my brother, in the same hostel house where my brother stayed.
• A few minutes before the fire, my dad rushed towards me. I was waiting outside, thinking that I was giving my mom a chance to patch things up with my brother.
• “What have you done?” He asked. He looked scared like something bad was about to happen. I didn't know how he found out about the meeting.
• At that time, I wasn't sure what he meant, and he didn't explain. He took out a piece of paper and hurriedly wrote a phone number.
• “If anything happens, call him. His name is Tony. He is the only one you can trust,” he had said. Then he rushed towards the house.
• For a moment, it felt like his words were a goodbye. “Daddy…” I called, trying to stop him. But it was already too late.
• The moment he walked into the house, it went up in flames as if it was just waiting for him.
• I was thrown off, falling on the ground some distance away.
• Everything went dark for a second. When I came to my senses and realized what was happening, I could hear my brothers shout for help.
• My body went numb and my heart thudded rapidly against my chest. I wanted to rush over and save them. I thought I could.
• But someone had held me back. I don't know who it was until now.
• Then I saw her.
• My mom walked from the other side of the house, unharmed. She didn't look worried or scared.
• There was a smile of victory playing on her lips. I could almost tell why my dad seemed scared.
• Tears fell from my eyes. I was sure by then that my dad and brother were dead. If they were still alive, they would have come out.
• “There is a witness,” someone shouted, and I saw several people looking my way.
• It didn't take a minute before I realized they were the enemies and I was the witness they were talking about. So I took off and ran for my dear life.
• But I had only one thought in my confused mind. I was going to avenge my family.
• In the following days, I was running from the same people who had caused it. They had seen me. I was a witness.
• But even as I ran, the last look on my father's face couldn't leave my mind. It was like he was scared.
• And all this because I had my mom meet my brother?
• That was one thing that I didn't want to think about ever since the fire. I didn't want to believe it.
• A mother would never hurt her family, would she?
• …
• After running for a while, I met Cliff. He was someone I knew back in high school. So he took me in.
• But something happened and I almost killed him, turning him into an enemy too.
• I knew he had feelings for me, but I never felt the same. I had told him this.
• So, all we ever were was friends. Things, however, changed a few days after he took me in.
• He confessed to me and tried to force me to marry him. I wasn't ready for that. I turned him down.
• And this seemed to have changed him into a very different person.
• For a few days, he didn't talk to me, yet he didn't let me leave. I was like a prisoner in his house.
• Then, one night, he came back drunk and tried to force himself on me. He almost succeeded, and I almost lost hope.
• But then, I saw a knife on the bedside table. I must have used it earlier to pill some fruits. I didn't want to hurt him. He had been good to me before.
• But I couldn't just let him take advantage of me. I couldn't let him take away my innocence.
• When he was about to get on top of me, I grabbed the knife and did the first thing that came to my mind. I stabbed him.
• Things happened so fast after that. The next moment, his men were after me.
• I ran without looking back. Luckily, I learned that he was still alive. That made me sigh in relief.
• I wouldn't have lived with myself knowing that I had killed a man.
• But I knew that I had to get as far as possible. That was because if Cliff got me, even if he didn't kill me, I was sure I would never see the daylight again.
• Cliff was dangerous. He was one of the most dangerous people I had met.
• He was a Mafia, and he wasn't scared of doing something illegal.
• At times, he was cute and loving. However, he changed like a chameleon once he didn't get what he wanted.
• So I didn't stop. I was scared that if I did, they would finally get to me. And if they got to me, they wouldn't let me live.
• I kept running, only finding shelter when it was dark, and eating what I could find.
• It was scary for a girl like me to be out there by myself.
• But soon, I met someone who changed my life.