PrologueMarquise
“Please, Dad. Don’t hurt Mommy!”
“Shut up boy. Or you’re next.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I want you to go to your room, baby boy. Go.”
Sitting up abruptly to scan the room, my chest feels as if it’s heaving from the nightmares that are trying to take control of me. I still hear the echoes of my cries begging my father, who at the time I didn’t know much about, not to choke her. The little voice laced with fear of a six-year-old boy. A boy, who is watching his father, who is angry and filled with rage, forcing his mother to kneel before him.
“Fuck!” I shout, wiping the sweat from my face. I thought I was over those damn flashbacks. It’s been a little over a year since I was woken up by one of those memories.
It started again a few weeks ago when I was walking out of the office building and heading home to workout, before going inside the club for a session. When I was walking to the car, I remembered the construction company needed to go behind the building to make corrections to the garage for our workers. The damn security gate keeps malfunctioning, and the architect says it’s because the ground is uneven and needs to be releveled.
Walking to the back of the building, making sure they were working on it is where and when I first saw her. A tiny, dirty, and scared little creature, shivering in the corner by the garbage, trying to stay dry and out of the rain. There is a part, deep inside of me, that has been harboring and keeping it locked away in the shadows. Now, it is breaking free and threatening to come to the forefront, as if something about this girl is calling to me.
I say a girl because even from the distance I am standing, I can make out her young features. Slowly moving closer to see if there is anything I can do; I try to move cautiously so as not to scare her at the same time. I made it approximately five feet before hitting a bottle I didn’t see. She is startled, then starts to rise while beginning to cower and whimper.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to help.” I say to her, as I am reaching my hand out to allow her to touch it. She backs away even more and begins to fall when I hear a hiccup come from her body. She tries to scatter away from me.
“What’s your name? I’m…”
“Hey. Hey you!” I turn towards the voice, as the security guard starts yelling at her. Moving to tell him to stop, I am too late to get it out before she slides around me and takes off at a run. Moving to go after her, I only make it to the corner before she is gone, and my driver stops me from continuing.
“Sir? Is everything alright?”
“Where did she go? The young girl who just ran around this corner.”
“Sir?” He looks at me with confusion on his face. As if I am losing my mind. Looking directly at him and then back across the street, I am not sure if he isn’t right. Maybe I am losing it.
My nightmares started again after that night. It must have been seeing her alone, fragile, and very weak that brought back everything I’ve tried to forget. For the next several weeks I’ve done nothing but look for her. I even went so far as to hire a private investigator, and I also started checking every homeless shelter in town. It has been no luck finding her. Opening the balcony doors to the outside of my room, I walk out begging the voices in my head to stop. Even awake, I can see the air leaving my mom’s lungs as my father is yelling and accusing her of loving his friend’s cock more than his. I had no clue what he meant with his yelling considering my age, but I would later learn several things about my parents that would send me into a tailspin.
There is something about this girl that is awakening everything in me. I only hope that when I find her, she can handle everything that I am.Chapter OneMarquiseDay One“Fuck, finally,” I whisper as I am getting into the car, still holding her in my arms.
Though I drove here in my car with my brother, I’m sure he can call a driver. I think as I am putting her in the passenger seat, fastening the belt, and then walking around to my side of the car to get in. Right now, I am tense and hoping above anything else that she doesn’t hop out and run away from me again. Hell, holding her in my arms with hers wrapped around me, feels more than right. Starting my vehicle, I look over at her and note how she is shivering. She is folded against the door, trying to stay as far away from me as she can get.