I nodded my head, as I put the bandage back in place. Pressing the adhesive to his skin once more.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Adrik asked, still surprised.
“Ms. Jackson. She used to be a nurse.” I lifted the sleeve of my shirt to reveal a small scar on my upper arm. “I can be clumsy, and I h*te doctors, so she stitches me up when needed. She taught me how to do it.”
Adrik ran his thumb over the scar on my arm. He leaned closer and kissed my forehead. I knew he was wondering about the scars on my back as well, but I didn’t want to talk about those in front of everyone.” definitely owe my thanks to Ms. Jackson,” he said.
“There’s still the matter of Bingo to be discussed,” I said laughing.
Ivan, as he was putting his shirt back on, turned and asked, “Bingo?”
Viktor, the only one in the know on the matter of Bingo night, just started laughing. “Don’t worry, Ivan. You’re going to love it.”
I tried not to laugh but couldn’t help myself. Ivan looked so confused. “Ms. Jackson requested that you all accompany her to her friend’s place so she could ‘show you off,” I said, adding air quotes for effect. “But I suggested Bingo, as more of her friends would be there.”
“What is Bingo?” Misha asked.
“It’s a game that old people play. It’s an easy game to play. You’ll catch on quick, don’t worry,” I said, grinning.
They all looked toward Adrik. I knew they would all do it if he said the word.
“It’s on the table. But we need to find Anthony first,” Adrik said, matter-of-factly.
There was an audible exhale in the room. I laughed at how the thought of Bingo with old ladies gave trained killers anxiety.
Adrik and I walked around the property after breakfast. It was much more expansive than I thought. There was a running trail that took you through the woods, opening to a meadow and a lake toward the back of the property. He had guards, with dogs patrolling the grounds. We also had our own guard with a dog following us as we walked the property. They stayed far enough away that they couldn’t hear our conversation but kept us within sight the entire time.
As we came into the meadow, overlooking the lake, Adrik turned to me and said, “this is another favorite place of mine.”
I took in the view. The meadow was full of wildflowers, covering the area in a blanket of colors. The trail wound around the meadow to the lake. It split off, so you could either go all the way around the lake or take the shorter route around the meadow. We had stopped for a moment, to look at the lake. Adrik picked up a rock and skipped it across the water.
I knew I needed to address what happened that morning. To explain my scars. I always hated this part of getting to know someone new. Having to explain what happened and then waiting to see if they started to look at me differently. Most people did. I’d only found a few who didn’t look at me like damaged goods after finding out about my past. Max was one of those that didn’t look at me differently.
I had agreed to go workout with him at the gym one day after work. I had bent over to pick up a dumbbell and my shirt rode up my back, revealing part of my scars. He saw them but didn’t ask right away. He waited a few days and then asked where they came from. When I told him the story, he just hugged me. No words, no “I’m so sorry that happened.” No “I can’t believe that happened to you.” He just hugged me and then finally said, “I’m glad you got away.”
I was waiting for our relationship to change. Waiting for him to start avoiding me, or to look at me differently, but he never did. If anything, it made our relationship stronger. He started confiding in me more and asking my opinion on his dating life. He was probably the first man that didn’t run for the hills at the first chance.
Sephie
I took a deep breath. Adrik glanced my way, his eyebrow raised. I just started my story. The faster I told him, the faster it would be over. I told him everything. How my father had died when I was young, so I was raised by my mother. I had no siblings, as she never remarried or even dated after my father’s death. I then went into how she was killed in a car accident one night when I was 15. I was sent to my uncle, ?s I didn’t have anyone else. He was my father’s brother, but I didn’t know him. I’d only met him at my father’s funeral. I was 5 when my father died, so I didn’t remember much about that day.
The first year living with Grant was mostly okay. He had a drinking problem but tried to keep it under control now that I was living with him. He had no kids of his own. He had a string of girlfriends that would be at the house. Sometimes it was a new girl every single day. They would help clean up the house a little. Sometimes they cooked. Most of the time, they just drank with him.
My mom had taught me how to cook, so I ended up doing most of the cooking and cleaning when his drinking became so bad that he was having trouble functioning. He lost his job around the time I had turned 16 and that’s when things got bad.
His drinking got infinitely worse, and he started taking out his frustration on me. At first, he just berated me for things that he had broken when he was drunk and didn’t remember, but he never hit me. He never yelled at me in front of the women, but sometimes he would get me confused with them and would yell at me like I was one of them. He would call me all kinds of names, like I was a sl*t, a wh*re, how I would end up pregnant, how nobody would ever love me, that kind of stuff.
As his drinking got more out of control, the women stopped coming around. The yelling got worse, and he eventually started hitting me. The first couple of times, he felt h*rrible about it and would go overboard trying to apologize for days after. The first couple of times, he just smacked me, so it didn’t really leave a bruise.
His tolerance for alcohol kept increasing, to the point that it was taking massive amounts to get him drunk. That’s when he started taking pills. The pills made him violent. I would lock myself in my room when he took them or leave the house altogether. I really didn’t know anyone at the time, but I knew I was safer roaming the streets than I was at home. I would walk around or hide until he passed out and then I would sneak back into the house. Sometimes he would sleep for a day or two after he got high, so I had some relief.
I came home a few times, thinking he would be passed out, only to find him still awake and still very high. That’s when the beatings got worse. He punched and kicked me. He would always kick me in the stomach, no matter how tight I tried to curl into a ball. Made me pass out a few times.
I knew I needed to get out of there but wasn’t sure how. I had a little bit of money from my mom that I had managed to hide from Grant. I started looking for apartments to rent, far away from him. I didn’t have a car and he would’ve killed me for taking his car, so I would ride the bus to the other side of the city. That’s how I found my apartment. The landlord must’ve known that I was in a tight spot because he rented it to me when I was still 17. He didn’t ask many questions, either.
That’s when I met Ms. Jackson, too. I would take a few things from my uncle’s house and leave them at the apartment. I didn’t want him to notice that I was moving my stuff, so I had to do it slowly. I didn’t have much stuff anyway, which made it easy. Ms. Jackson was nice to me right away. She invited me in for lunch when she saw me bringing more stuff one day. She told me I looked like I hadn’t eaten in a week and needed to eat at least a sandwich when I tried to decline her offer.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.