for me. And I accepted that. But it wouldn’t have helped the new girl Daddy
brought in.”
The blonde’s gaze narrowed on Kari. “What was so different about her?”
“She’s the youngest one,” she replied, lowering her gaze to the remnants of
her half-eaten meal as the image of the raven-haired child with expressive dark
brown eyes came to mind. “She couldn’t be more than … six. Seven.”
The blonde stiffened. A vein throbbed at her ivory temple, making Kari
question if blood was still flowing through her own body.
“I was fourteen when I fell in love with Daddy,” she confessed, clasping her
hands to stop the trembling. “He wasn’t like this in Chicago. He was …. nice.
Kinder to me than my parents had been. I didn’t know what he was. I didn’t
know men like him existed.” She inhaled and let it out slowly as seconds ticked
by and she was no closer to calm than when they first escorted her into this dim
gray room. “But that child … I … I …”
Kari looked away, focusing on the glass. She’d seen enough cop shows to
know that even though the speaker had been turned off, an audience of people
was looking in. But what did it matter? Her real life had ended the moment
she slipped into the passenger seat of Daddy’s car for what she thought would
be a new adventure that would take her away from her strict mother and even
stricter Bible-thumping father. Sh e’d been so certain that the man in the driver’s
seat loved her more than he loved the other girls she’d seen him with over those
few semesters. She’d felt so special then. He was Marquis Golden at that time.
Only when they’d landed in a cheap motel in Memphis did the beginnings of the
never-ending nightmare start.
“I’m your Daddy now,” he’d said, and the punishment he exacted was far worse
than anything her real daddy had ever done.
I cut him until I felt better …
Chapter 2
Naleighna Kai Literary Cafe Magazine July/August 2017 69