Everything was building inside me like a house of cards that was going to come crumbling really soon.
“From the time I could remember, I had been in and out of foster homes. I was verbally abused, physically abused, and never felt an ounce of love. But I put up walls and I managed to numb my heart so I couldn’t feel anything emotionally.”
Memories started crashing through my mind. Every hurtful word, every slap, every burn, and every night I went to bed hungry came slamming into me as if it was happening all over again.
But none of that compared to the night I wanted to die.
My legs felt as though they were going to give out and I sat down on the couch.
Huntley leaned toward me slightly but didn’t touch me. “Sweetheart, if you need to stop, it’s okay.”
I felt my head shaking back and forth frantically but I was drifting into the past.
“I left your mom because I couldn’t take the chance that she or anyone would send me back.”
“Back where, honey?”
Huntley’s voice barely registered but I managed to answer before I slipped back to the night, reliving it like it was yesterday.
“To the monster’s house who took what wasn’t his to take.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
HUNTLEY
She wasn’twith me any longer.
River was lost in the past.
It was scaring the shit out of me as she rocked back and forth, her eyes in a faraway place. Rage bubbled up inside me. I was going to kill the monster she’d just mentioned and anyone else from her past that had hurt her.
“Baby…” I whispered but she couldn’t hear me.
A tear slid down my cheek as realization dawned. Except for my mother, everyone from her past had hurt her.
My heart was sent through that shredder again.
And when she got done telling me her darkest secret, it was in a million pieces.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
RIVER
Age Seventeen…
He wasn’t supposed to be home.
I always attempted to time my comings and goings so I wouldn't run into the sick bastard. If I could help it, I stayed away from both the wife and husband, although she was the lesser of two evils.
However, avoiding them wasn’t always an option.
Since the time I’d been with them, I dealt with their cruelty. A strike or burn here or there, hurtful words, and days when I’d be denied food. But they promised it was nothing compared to what would happen if I told anyone.
I had nobody, no place to go, and I felt so alone.
Those moments were breaking me down bit by bit, slowly snuffing out my spirit and my outlook on life even if I managed to get out of the hellhole one day.
Then things went from bad to worse.
