Willow: Family Betrayal: Windy Haven Trilogy-Book 2

By Diane Chartrand

Fourteen, scared and vulnerable, Willow ran into the woods away from Oscar's painful words.  Each time someone called her name in the darkness she ran faster and faster.

Branches slapped across her face as she got deeper into the forest, moving her towards unimaginable danger.

 After her recent rescue from sex traffickers and the truths she learned from those she thought were friends, Willow was desperate to reach her mother and ask for help. But, could she trust her?

Willow's journey back to Windy Haven would be long and treacherous.  It was imperative she survived without being noticed.

But, was it possible to stay under the radar long enough to get there?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diane Chartrand
• Release date: Nov 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393857549

Book preview

Chapter One

Escape to Freedom

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Willow ran from the presumed safehouse Oscar and Agent Madison had brought her and Sia to.  She felt terrible leaving Sia behind, but she couldn’t trust any of them right now.  She had to get away and find someplace safe on her own.

The forest around the house, as she tried to find a direction in the dark, seemed to go on forever.  Willow stopped for a moment once she couldn’t hear Sia calling out to her.  She looked up at the sky and the stars and tried to remember what she learned in her fourth-grade science class.

Find the North Star, the teacher always hammered into his students.  Once you locate it just follow it and your direction will be clear.

Willow found the star and tried to remember which direction the car was going on the interstate.  She believed Oscar said they were going south away from Windy Haven.  If she went true north, she would end up at some point back in Windy Haven.  That frightened her but it was the exact place she would find her mother.  For now, to hopefully throw everyone off, she turned to her left and assumed she was going West.

As she ran, the trees sharp branches whipped across her face and arms while the sound of thunder clapped in the distance.  Willow needed to find a place, before the rain started, to stay dry.  Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she looked for a suitable place as she moved deeper into the forest.

Willow ran and ran through the thick woods until she reached a small open area.  Needing to rest, she sat on the ground, leaned up against a rock and lay her head back on it.  No longer sure of her direction, she looked up to see if she could find the North Star.  The sky was now filled with large, puffy, dark clouds hiding all the stars.

She would have to continue in this direction and follow it until she reached either a road that would take her to some building or structure where she could take shelter in until the rain ended.  Once daylight came, she would keep moving away from this area as she figured out her next move.

When she ran off, Willow was only wearing her jeans, running shoes and a short-sleeved shirt.  Back at the house, she had left her backpack that contained the money Sia gave her to buy a bus ticket to Nashville, and her jacket with the cell phone Sia bought her to use if they got separated so they could contact each other.

As the night air was cooling, and possible rain approaching, Willow not having proper clothes on would make her susceptible to hypothermia, especially if she got wet.  Abruptly Willow stopped.  In front of her, she could hear the roar of rushing water.

Once her eyes re-focused, she could see water going in both directions and appeared to be several feet deep in the area where she was standing making it too deep to cross.

Willow, now discouraged, sat on the bank letting the tears roll down her face.  She didn’t know if she should go back to the house or move forward.  Every once in a while she would hear her name being shouted out from somewhere in the distance.  She had no idea how far away the sounds were, but she knew they were still searching for her.

She debated if she should just stay where she was to wait for one of them to show up or continue forward on her journey to freedom.  If she stayed, what would be her fate with Oscar and the others?  She did not understand who any of them really were or who they worked for now?  No, her best bet would be to keep moving.

To get across the water, she needed to find an area that wasn’t so deep.  Getting wet with the weather turning quickly, would not be smart.  Willow walked in the direction she believed to be downstream looking for a place with shallower water, or rocks, or maybe a bridge that she could cross without getting wet.

After several minutes, she came upon an area where the water, in her best estimate, was only about a foot deep. She could see above the water some rocks of various sizes arranged in a zigzag pattern all the way to the other side.

Without hesitation she took off her shoes and socks, rolled up the bottom of her jeans and slowly started moving from one rock to another praying she wouldn’t slip and fall into the water.  As she stepped on the third rock, she could feel her foot sliding off as it touched the wet moss.  She quickly tried to regain her balance on one foot.

As her right foot hit the cold water, she covered her mouth as she gave out a short yelp.  Once she regained her balance, Willow brought her right foot safely onto the next rock and kept moving forward.

"Phew, that was a close one."

Although it was maybe twenty feet across, it felt like an eternity before she was on dry land once more.  She gave a deep sigh of relief, rolled her jeans back down, even though her feet were wet, Willow put her shoes and socks back on and walked into the woods on the other side knowing she had to keep moving.

She ran faster and faster and could hear the thunder roar louder as the storm got closer.  She was now more desperate to find shelter, any kind of shelter before the rain started.

Suddenly, as a flash of lightning struck, she saw in front of her what she believed to be the top of a roof in the distance through the night haze.  As she got closer, the outline of a small white cabin appeared.  She approached it with caution.

There didn’t seem to be any lights on inside when she went up onto the small porch and peeked into the window.  When she tried the door it was locked. Now what?

Willow came down off the porch and made her way around the cabin slowly trying each window to see if maybe one had been left unlocked.  The rain had started and she was desperate.  When she got to the back of the building, the window, in what looked like was the kitchen, slid upwards.  She got it high enough and slipped inside quietly in case someone was asleep.

She held her breath while checking out the main area. As another flash of lighting bolted, she saw a couple of leather chairs one on each side of what she believed was the front door and a small table with three chairs in the corner next to a series of shelves.  There was a door to the right of her that was closed.

Willow approached the door cautiously hoping she wouldn’t trip over anything in the dark.  Slowly she turned the knob and opened the door about two inches so she could peek inside.  In the dark, it was difficult to see, so she opened the door a bit more.  There didn’t appear to be anything that looked like the shape of a person on the bed so she opened the door all the way and tip-toed over to have a closer look.

Willow tried the light switch near the door, but the power apparently had been turned off by whoever owned it.  Willow made her way back to the kitchen to see if she could find a flashlight or some candles in one of the drawers.  Having no luck and being tired from running for so long, Willow made her way back into the bedroom, slipped down onto the bed and quickly fell asleep.

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Willow wiped her eyes and looked around the room wondering where she was.  There was something shiny on the opposite wall that looked like chains.  She was lying on her side, handcuffed to the wall next to her, on a dirty mattress in the room's corner.  After a few minutes, what happened when she made it back to Albuquerque all came back.

She had managed one day when she wasn’t shackled to get out of the house and ran away from Ethan.  After several days of hitchhiking, Willow made her way from Windy Haven to Albuquerque where she had been taken from four years earlier by Daniel shortly after her mother remarried and they had moved there.

Willow, being only ten at the time Daniel took her away, didn’t know the address but after hearing voices in another room about Daniel’s new house in Albuquerque and a mention of the street name and the number 2204.  She kept repeating the address in her head, over and over, knowing that was where she would find her mother and hoped she would help her.

Willow was exhausted when she got to Albuquerque and anxious to see her mother, but as she knocked on the door Daniel opened it.  He quickly grabbed the back of her jacket, dragged her down the driveway and slammed her against the metal fence that stood between his complex and the property next door.

What the hell are you doing here?

There’s something I have to tell my mother about Ethan and Uncle Oscar.  I demand to see her now?

Keeping his grip on her, Daniel dialed his cell phone and immediately started talking.

You were right to believe Willow might attempt to get back here to her mother having constantly begged, over the past years, to just let her talk to Melanie.  I have the girl.  We’re at the property fence just down from my house.  You need to get her out of here now.

You did this Daniel.  I remember now, you’re the one who took me away, hurt me, then left me with Ethan and Oscar?  Why Daniel.....

Suddenly, Ethan showed up and when she saw him, knowing what would happen to her next, began to scream in hopes someone would help.

Ethan tased Willow to try and stop the screams before anyone heard them and came out to see what was going on.  Going limp on the ground from being tased, Daniel tied her hands behind her back.

No. Please stop, please you’re hurting me.

Daniel’s voice exploded into the quiet night air.  This life is your only future Willow.  Now shut the hell up.

Daniel took the taser from Ethan, having the two probes still attached to her, and shocked her several more times.  He needed to silence her, but instead, it caused her to scream over and over begging for it to stop.  Eventually, she passed out and when she woke up Willow was chained to the wall in a strange dark room.

Willow awoke abruptly with tears streaming down her face.  She now remembered Ethan had returned her to Windy Haven.  The dream indicated she had been put in a different room than before she ran away.  This room had one small darkened window near the ceiling indicating she must be in a basement somewhere. Like the first time, she believed it had to be the same house by the lake because she could hear the waves as they hit the shore in the distance.

Willow now realized it was the same house at the bottom of the hill where Sia was held years before, and where she had been rescued from.  Sia told her that Daniel and her mother owned a large house at the top of the hill above it, and they returned there after Ethan got out of prison.

She did her best to shake the dream and get on with the day.  She didn’t want to remember what happened back then.  All she wanted now was to get as far away from everyone in hopes they would never find her and hurt her again.

After coming across a stale bagel on the counter, being so hungry, she got part of it down.  Willow tried to figure out how she would get anywhere having left all her things back at the house where Sia, Oscar, Jade, and Agent Madison were.  She couldn’t go back, being unsure of who was safe to be around anymore.  Her only choice was to get back to her mother for help.

Willow washed her face and looked in the fridge and cupboards hoping there had been more food left behind that she could take on her journey.  She found a package of chocolate chip cookies, a couple of cans of cream soda and four bottles of water.

Looking in the bedroom closet, she found several items of clothing that were big but would do along with a jacket, a map of West Virginia and a small backpack.

She put all the items she had found in the backpack and carefully went out the window she had come in by.  She didn’t have any idea what time it was but knew she needed to keep moving.

Chapter Two

The Long Journey Begins

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Earlier as the sun started to peek over the horizon, Willow had looked out the front window and saw several more cabins on the property with a long dirt road going between them.  As she walked around to the front of the cabin, Willow noticed a large sign at the end of the road near what looked like a small office that said, Closed for Repairs.

She didn’t see any sign of vehicles and hoped until she was off the property that the workers didn’t show up.  She made sure it looked like no one had been in the cabin.  Hopefully, the owners wouldn’t notice the missing clothes and food she took.

After seeing the sign, Willow wondered if maybe she should stay in the cabin for a couple more days until she could figure out her exactly how she would get to Windy Haven, but just as quickly decided she had to keep moving.  Besides, what would she do if someone showed up and found her there?

That would probably lead to them calling the police, having her arrested for trespassing and calling her parents.  Daniel would surely be the one to come not her mother.  She couldn’t let that happen ever.

While looking for clothes, Willow had found a map on the closet shelf of West Virginia.  After looking at the map she knew the direction she needed to go.  She saw a highway 220 going north towards a city called Petersburg.

There was a picture of a plane on the map indicating some kind of airport was there.  What she desired more than anything was to get back to Michigan and her mother.  She knew that was dangerous but she needed to believe her mother could protect her once she knew the truth.

When she woke up earlier after that horrible dream something was sticking out of her bra.  She thought it was the plan, but it was on the wrong side.  Pulling it out, Willow now remembered that at the house she had removed the money Sia gave her and hid it inside her bra believing it wouldn’t be safe in the backpack.  She took it out and counted it.  There were four twenties, two tens and two fifties, giving her two-hundred dollars.  She tucked it back into its hiding place.

As she passed the office, Willow looked in the window and the large clock on