“Fuck!” he screamed and slammed the door as he left the room.
I knew that would get him. He had some serious hang-ups, and one of those was being true to his word. He never specified the manner in which a son would be conceived. I agreed to give him a son, but I never agreed to give him my body. My body belonged to only one man, as well as my heart.
He returned several days later to take me to the clinic. I hated that fucking place with a passion. If I ever got the chance, I would set it on fire and watch it burn to the ground.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked the asshole beside me.
“To get the process started for in vitro fertilization. As you pointed out, you agreed to give me a son, but did not agree to sexual intercourse. You also did not agree to give me a daughter. This method will ensure a son is implanted in your womb.”
Eight weeks later, tests confirmed I was pregnant with the spawn of Satan after one round of IVF. Eight months later, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy via C-section, one I was actually conscious for, though I would’ve preferred not to be.
I tried, I really did, to love that little baby boy, but I could barely stand to look at him. I made sure he was cared for and well taken care of, but I didn’t hold him or spend any time with him when I didn’t have to. Funny thing was, as much as I thought I didn’t love him, I couldn’t find it in myself to leave him behind, either.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Annabelle
Thirteen years ago
“Did you text him?” I asked. I was a nervous wreck. I just knew something was going to go wrong and I couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong. If it did, I would never get an opportunity like this again.
“I did and he replied back. Everything is all set and they’re expecting us,” Kathleen replied. “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but try to calm down a little. My brother is very good at what he does. He’ll take care of you. I promise.”
I wanted to believe her, but I was afraid to hope. My life had been a miserable existence for the last six years. This was my one chance to get me and my son away from Octavius and start a new life.
Kathleen and her husband lived on the farm property. Kathleen worked part-time as a secretary in the dairy farm’s office and her husband was a full-time dairy farm employee. They also had a little boy named Coal who was about a year older than Nivan.
After years of building a relationship with Kathleen, I finally found the courage to ask her if she would help me escape. I explained to her that I didn’t live on the farm by my own choice and Octavius was keeping me there after he forced me to have his child. She was shocked at first, but readily agreed to help me.
As luck would have it, Kathleen’s brother, Luke, was a federal agent and had the resources to make people disappear. Kathleen convinced him to help me while keeping it under the radar. He formulated a plan and made all of the arrangements. We needed to wait for Octavius to be out of town on a business trip, then we just had to show up at the designated location.
The morning of my planned escape, I showed up at Kathleen’s house with Nivan and fairly large box. She opened the door and eyed the box curiously while she ushered us into her house.
“I know I can’t take anything with me, but there were a few things I couldn’t bear to leave with Octavius. Will you do something with them for me? It’s really not that much. I put some of Nivan’s toys on top of my things, in case anybody asked to look in the box. And there’s no reason Coal shouldn’t have them since we can’t take them with us,” I explained.
Kathleen gave me a sad smile. “Thank you, Annelle. I’ll take care of your things for you.”
When we arrived at the Cedar Valley Emergency Department, Kathleen carried Nivan and helped me inside. She told them she found me on the side of the road. I was doing my best to act like I had a head injury and couldn’t talk. Kathleen was holding my son in her lap and quietly reminding him to not answer any questions. She followed along as I was placed in a room and registered as Jane Doe.
Luke had a friend who was a resident at Cedar Valley Regional Hospital. He was watching for a Jane Doe to show up in the Emergency Department. He was assigned as my doctor and when the coast was clear, he led me to an exit at the back of the hospital while avoiding all security cameras.
At the back of the hospital, a blacked out SUV was waiting by the loading dock. I climbed in the back and was whisked away to a private airfield several hours from Cedar Valley. From there, I was flown to California, where Luke had set up my new life. He had a fully furnished house waiting for me, a new identity, money to get started on, and even a job.
I don’t think I took a full breath until I closed the front door of my new house and set the security alarm. Then, I exhaled that full breath and dropped to my knees in tears. I was utterly relieved to finally be away from Octavius and his evil ways, but I was beyond devastated that my new life meant Phoenix could never be a part of it. For me, that was the hardest part about leaving. I loved that man with my whole heart and I was having a hard time accepting that he was forever lost to me.
In a way, I was also lost. I was no longer Annabelle Burnett, the girl from Croftridge who fell in love with her high school sweetheart and planned to marry him and have his babies. Now, I was Taylor Davis, a new resident of northern California, and I had no idea who she was.
PART TWO
CHAPTER TWELVE
Phoenix
Present Time
I sat at my desk going through yet another stack of papers found in one of the hidden rooms on the farm property. Octavius kept meticulous records, which created a lot of paperwork. It had taken me almost a year to get through the better part of it, and I still had nothing on Annabelle.
I tossed the current papers I was holding in the shredder and moved to the next folder in the stack. When I opened it, my breath caught in my chest. I closed my eyes and slowly opened them again, not believing what I was seeing. At the top of the first paper in the folder was the name I had been searching for.
