PROLOGUE
Gemma
In the blink of an eye,they were gone.
I’d been my daddy’s little girl and my mommy’s sweet angel, but not for long enough.
My stomach rolled with nausea making me want to vomit as my mind wandered to the time I’d been dragged out of bed and pulled from my home in the dead of night. It was supposed to be my safe haven but instead, strangers descended and took me away.
Forever.
Being with a babysitter hadn’t been foreign to me. Date night for my parents happened once a month and the morning after they always seemed even happier than normal. I loved watching them laugh, hug, and even though it made me giggle, kiss.
But at only six they were ripped from my life, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I would never witness those special moments again. For a child that wasn’t easy to do. As an adult, I still hadn’t fully accepted it.
I miss them every day.
At such a young age, I was sheltered from the details of the car accident that took my parents from me and which had placed me into foster care. I’d been confused, devastated, and frightened. I wondered how they could leave me, to never return, when I desperately needed them.
I don’t know how I would have made it in the beginning if it wasn’t for Jurnee, who had already been in the home I was sent to first. Six years older than me, she’d been like a big sister who always looked out for me. And while we stayed in touch, becoming lifelong friends, she got adopted and had to leave.
Me, well I aged out of the system at eighteen.
Being shuffled in and out of different homes made me feel unwanted but I’d learned to bury the disappointment and pain because what good would it do to allow anyone to see any of that? They weren’t family and caring about my feelings only went so far.
I didn’t have an immediate family anymore.
My friends were the closest thing to a family I had, and while they were wonderful, I still yearned for more. Seeing all of them getting married and having kids left an ache in my heart that kept growing. Wanting to fill that void that sat heavy within me, I’d gone against every instinct I had, the rules I’d made for myself, and let someone in my life I shouldn’t have.
It was one of the biggest mistakes I’d ever made.
And now it was coming back to haunt me.
Not wanting to drag the people I cared about into my screwed-up mess, I’d kept trying to take care of the situation on my own, but it was getting harder to deal with everything when it felt like things were intensifying.
I worked hard to get where I was in my life. School and the career I wanted as a teacher had always been my focus, but somehow as loneliness sunk in, I lost my way. And with that, I’d broken one major rule.
Don’t let a man in my life that wasn’t as exceptional as my father and who didn’t treat me as wonderfully as he had my mother.
So, what had I expected when I didn’t stand by that promise I’d made to myself by dating the wrong person? And how could I ask my friends to help me when I’d been so stupid? I’d watched everything they’d been through and I’d seen the amazing men they married, yet I still made bad choices.
Now I could feel myself slipping and about to ignore another rule I’d made.
Don’t let someone else fight my battles. Growing up I had to do it myself and it carried over into my adult life.
However, when I met Bodie, all I wanted to do was break down and ask for his help. It was getting harder and harder to not do that. Something about him spoke to me in a way nobody else ever had. I felt a connection the instant I looked into his eyes for the first time.
But I had to fight the pull.
There were more than a handful of reasons I needed to stay clear of him. I’d been doing a decent job of that with others in my life, so it shouldn’t be hard to do that with someone who I’d just met.
Right?
Yet as things seemed to escalate in a bizarre and frightening way, I was unsure if I could take care of everything alone.
Someone wouldn’t take no for an answer and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one that wanted to wreak havoc on my life.
The note I’d received had left a crushing weight of agony, making me question whether the way I remembered my father was all a mirage.
