* * *
Lake’s knuckles pounded on her mother’s front door. Something felt off to her, but she didn’t exactly have time to worry about it, afraid John might be back at any moment.
When her mom opened the door, Lake covered her mouth as she saw her crazed appearance. Holy shit.
“Mom, are you—”
“Yes, yes, hurry. Come in.” Her mother quickly grabbed her arm, dragging her in and then locking the door behind her. “My bags are upstairs.”
She continued walking with her mom up the stairs as she held her arm rather tightly. Her mom seemed a little wild, and her gut screamed at her that all this was going down wrong.
When her mom led her down the hallway that held her old bedroom and not her mother’s, she was confused. “Your bedroom is the other way.”
“I’ve been sleeping in the workout room.” Her mother put her hand on the door handle.
Lake was shoved inside by her mother when she opened the door, and a hard slap across her face had her falling to the floor.
“You little trailer trash whore.” John spit on her body.
Lake, feeling dazed from the hit, looked at her mother who had tears in her eyes. “Mom, go!” Then she started to kick at John when he tried to grab her.
He managed to slap her hard across the same cheek again. “Fucking stupid piece of shit, your mother doesn’t love you.” He grabbed her by the hair, dragging her across the floor. “Don’t just stand there; open the attic, bitch!” He sounded out of breath.
Pam started crying as she pulled down the string and started opening the stairs.
Lake tried to fight him as tears began to streak down her face. She was successfully tiring him out but Pam had joined in, helping him pull her to the unfolded stairs.
“Mom, why are you doing this?” Lake cried, hoping her mother would come to her senses. The two had clearly gone off the deep end since she last had seen them.
“I’m sorry, honey. He made me get you here. I can’t clean and cook for him right.”
“Get the fuck up there!” John yelled, out of breath.
Lake began to quickly crawl up the stairs when he hit her head on one of the steps. He was going to kill her if she didn’t get away. John wasn’t fit enough to climb up the steps and if she could get away, she could use the same time he was going to use to get her energy back.
John screamed at her as she went up the stairs, “I fucking own you, trailer trash! You are mine, you fucking whore!”
Her foot almost got caught when they folded up the stairs behind her.
She laid there on the floor, crying while she heard him brace something against the floor, locking her in.
Mom, why would you do this to me? She rolled herself into a ball. I’m your daughter. I’m your flesh and blood! She sobbed so hard a puddle of water started to soak the floor.
Lake wished this was all a dream, desperately wishing she was home. The home that came to mind wasn’t the place she had felt most at home for years, though. Instead, her father’s house had been replaced by Vincent’s.
She cried even more, her true feelings finally coming to light. I promise, I won’t ever run from you again. Please save me. The fact that she prayed for Vincent to save her instead of God proved her feelings to be true.
She squeezed her eyes shut, making another stream of tears coat her face. I love you, Vincent.
Chapter Fifty-Six
True Family Is Earned, Not Born
The car ride was long, and he was dying to get out when Amo pulled down the long, private driveway.
Sal had quickly gone through her phone records and seen that her mother had called. It hadn’t taken much thought to figure out where she had gone.
As the sun started to set, Vincent hoped he wasn’t too late. I’m not. Vincent was refusing to believe anything other than finding Lake safe and breathing. Then he was going to take her home and make damn sure her little fucking stunts of running away were over. He had reached the end of his very long rope with her, and Lake was finally going to learn what it took to love a made man.
Amo parked the car halfway down the drive and Vincent jumped out, going to the trunk. He saw headlights come up behind him, the car parking right behind Amo’s.
After he and Amo took a few things out of the trunk, he slammed it closed then turned to see Nero and Maria standing by.
He spoke quickly, wanting to hurry and get in the house. “I don’t give a fuck what they do, you are not allowed to kill those two fuckers. I will. Maria, I need you to take care of that bitch Ashley if she’s here.” Ashley was only seventeen; therefore, the rule of no killing children still stood. Maria is our fucking loophole.
When they all nodded in agreement, he headed to the house with them following suit. Sneaking up to it, he hunkered down by the bushes with his gaze on the front door. His eyes then followed Maria’s stilettos as they clicked up the pavement until she reached the front door.
Maria rustled her perfect blonde waves a bit before she knocked.
He recognized someone sneakily try to peer out the corner of a window before the curtains snapped back in a hurry, and then he heard rustling at the door. Dumbass.
The door only slightly creaked open, the chain that still kept the door locked visible. “Can I help you?” a slimy voice spoke through the door.
“Hello. I’m so sorry to bug you, sir, but I used your driveway to turn around, and my car broke down. I just wanted to let you know that I’m blocking your driveway, and it’s going to take a couple of hours until the tow truck gets here. I just wanted you to be aware, and I apologize if this inconveniences you.” Maria spun on her heels to walk away.