Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

“Bearable? Do you love him?” Harper asked.

“I love your father in my own way.”

Harper snorted. “My mother died because of you.”

She saw shame cross Hannah’s face. It was so fleeting that at first she thought she had made it up.

“I never wanted to get between the two of them. I never wanted to get married. Choices are made for women like me.”

“What? Women like you? You’re not making sense.”

“I never had a good life, Harper. I never had a mother or father that cared. I was one more mouth to feed. A body to clothe. Money that wasn’t worth it. I know this is not making sense, but if you just hold on and let me speak, it will all make some kind of sense in a way. You’ll understand.”

Harper stayed silent and waited for Hannah to speak.

“My parents were poor. So poor and greedy that when a man came by on my sixteenth birthday and looked me over as if I was cattle, I was sold. I still remember the last day of school, flirting with the guys. Loving the attention they lavished on me. I was a hottie, and I knew it. They knew it. I loved the control I had. That was all taken away from me. I was stripped of my name, of the poor clothes I had. They gave me a single rag shirt. I wasn’t allowed real clothes for a time. It was more of a sack that had been sewn in the right places to make it look like a shirt. In the winter it was so cold, and there were so many kids, younger and some older, and we’d bundle up together to try and get warm. We were like a pack. We all knew what was going to happen. We were all going to be sold. We watched it happen. Men and women would come in, look at us, pick us out, and we’d leave, never to be seen again. I got picked quickly, as much to their shock, I was still a virgin. I was sold to Draven’s dad. He took my virginity before I turned seventeen. After he had his fill, I was his property to be owned and dealt with. I was to fuck every single person he demanded in order to earn my keep.”

Harper didn’t like this story.

“I was a good worker as well. I knew how to keep men and women happy. I hated pain, and so any beating I got, I learned not to do whatever had caused the beating again. It was easy as well. That’s all I had to do. Keep on working. Keep my head down. Screw hard, fuck harder, and love the job I did.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because one day I had another job. The job to distract a married man. To get him to leave his wife and kid. At first, I refused. I didn’t want to get married, and Alan told me that’s what I was going to do. I was to become a trophy wife. I didn’t get a beating. I was dragged up to that post and whipped until I passed out. I wasn’t let down from that post. I was whipped daily, starved, and when I finally relented, that was when the beatings stopped. I was fed, clothed, and given back who I was once was. Hannah.”

Tears filled Harper’s eyes as she thought about all that Hannah had been through. “You had to make my dad fall in love with you.”

“Yes. Alan wanted someone to report back to him on Ian. Your father was important to him with all that he knew. He got what he wanted, but Alan always did. Catherine was gone, and Ian was in his place, doing his job. I know some of the pain you’re going through. Being on that post, it kills a part of you inside, and I guess that is why Draven had me come and sit with you.”

“To ease his conscience.”

“And to also stop the risk of you hurting yourself like your mother.”

Harper tried not to think of her mother, Catherine.

“Can you help me leave?” Harper asked. She was done with this, done with all of this. She wanted to leave, to go back to her life.

Not back to Ethan but away from Stonewall.

“I can’t help you with that.”

“Didn’t you ever think of running away?”

“You come to realize that it doesn’t matter where you run to. You’ll always be looking over your shoulder to see who is following you. It’s why I never leave. It’s easier to work with them.”

“I want to kill them all,” Harper said.

Hannah touched her head, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I know.”

“Did you ever get payback?”

“No.”

“How do you feel about that?” Harper asked. “Aren’t you angry?”

“Always. I’m angry that I never fought, but I’m alive today. I’ve got a loving husband, a daughter, and I’m happy.”