Never in a million years did Teonny picture this scene. Her, with a gun in her hand, ready to kill someone she loved more than anything. Tears filled her eyes as her hands shook. Her hands never fuckin’ shook when she held a gun. At least not for the past five years. Maybe that was a sign.
She couldn’t believe she had allowed someone to fool her once again. After her ex-husband, she thought she knew how to spot a narcissist from a mile away, but she’d been wrong. So very fucking wrong. The shitty part was the second time around hurt one hundred times more.
“You ruined my life,” she whispered.
“I’m so?—”
“Shut up!” she screeched. “You don’t get to speak . . . You don’t get to speak ever again.”
Now they were both crying, but Teonny couldn’t find it in her to care for this despicable person’s tears. In her mind, it was an easy decision about what had to happen next. She wouldn’tallow another person she loved deeply to live after hurting her so deeply. It couldn’t happen. She was a changed woman from five years ago, and while her ex-husband didn’t die by her hand, she’d grown to wish he had. He deserved that much, at least.
Her finger gently squeezed the trigger, and she held her breath for the shot that would change her and her life forever . . .again.
Peace never lasted long in Teonny’s home. Actually, she wasn’t sure it ever visited, if she was honest.
“Now yo’ ass knows better for next time,” her husband, Kevin, spat out before he turned on his heels and stalked up the stairs.
The lesson he had taught her that day was to have dinner ready when he got home. It was a lesson he had to ‘teach’ her often because he didn’t seem to understand on Wednesdays and Fridays, it was impossible for her to get dinner on the table by the time he got home because she had to pick their daughter up from her tap dance class. He always beat her home on those days, and God forbid she picked food up to pacify him. That was another lesson she’d learned. He only wanted home-cooked meals.
Teonny didn’t speak as she watched him disappear up the stairs. It took her a long time to peel herself up from the heated marble floor.
“Shit,” she hissed as she held her side. He no doubt sprang her ribs again. Nothing new. She didn’t even bother going to the hospital anymore.
The moment she and Kevin said, “I do,” three years ago was the moment peace left her completely. Her story went like every other abuse survivor’s story went. Kevin was her knight in shining armor after a string of terrible relationships. He made hella money. He provided. He was charming, funny, a gentleman, and he loved hard.
All narcissists had those qualities, though, didn’t they?
It was just after their honeymoon when he hit her the first time, and he didn’t let up after that.
Tonight was just another normal night in their household. Teonny was left tending to a black eye and a sore body while Kevin was upstairs getting ready for bed. One thing she appreciated was that Kevin always waited for their daughter to go to bed to start terrorizing Teonny. It wasn’t because that was what he wanted to do. It was because she had begged him to keep that side of himself hidden from their daughter. It was the only wish he granted her since they got married.
Tired didn’t begin to explain how she felt, but she had one reason to keep pushing. Her daughter. Two if she counted her mom, who was her best friend. Teonny felt like her mom could manage to move on without her, though, if she were no longer living. Her four-year-old daughter couldn’t. Angel would never feel what it was like not to have her mommy around.Shewas Teonny’s reason.
Her aching bones caused her to move slowly. The winding marble staircase looked like Mount Everest, but she kept pushing until she reached the top. She inched her way toward the farthest door on the right and gently pushed it open. Through the stinging tears in her eyes, she saw Angel sleeping peacefully in her bed.
Angel knew peace. She always had and always would if it was up to Teonny.
All she needed was a couple of minutes to take her daughter in from afar. She didn’t want to disturb Angel, because she didn’t want her baby to see her blackened eye. Over the years, Teonny had become a pro at covering her bruises. In the back of her mind, though, she knew the day would come when Angel would have questions.
She sighed before gently closing Angel’s door and tiptoeing into her bedroom across the hall. Kevin was already in bed and scrolling on his phone, no doubt talking to another bitch, which didn’t bother her one bit. His dick was massive, and that hadn’t bothered her before they were married, back when he was gentle and kind. Now, he slung that thing around like a damn weapon. Whatever poor soul was getting dicked down by him, she didn’t envy them, but she thanked them every day because it kept him away from her in that way.
Thoughts of leaving him flashed through her mind for the millionth time since they got married as she looked at him in disgust. Just as quickly, the thoughts melted away. She had no money of her own. Kevin was smart enough to never give her cash. He took care of everything she needed, and she couldn’t even spend out of their accounts without him questioning her on everything.
When she got pregnant, he allowed her to quit her job and be a stay-at-home mom. At the time, it was a dream come true. What woman wouldn’t want time to bond with their baby and heal from birth? It was never supposed to be long-term though. Somehow, that was exactly what it turned into. The day she so much as opened her mouth to voice that she was ready to get back to her photography business and open up a new studio was the same day she got a concussion so badly she had no choice but to go to the hospital.
The truth was, Teonny was trapped in her own personal hell, and the devil who terrorized her every day turned his coal eyes on her and frowned.
“Fuck you just standing there for?”
Teonny blinked and tried to calm her repetitive thoughts.
“Sorry,” she muttered. She hadn’t meant to stand there and stare at him. That was sure to set him off, but luckily for her, he seemed too exhausted from his long day and from already going a round with her minutes earlier.
She inched her way into the connecting bathroom and prepared for a shower. As soon as she was under the steamy rainfall showerhead, she thought about her childhood. She never knew her dad, and her mom had her when she was only fourteen. Because of that, they grew up more like friends than mother and daughter. Tameka Austin might be a product of the Ellway Projects, but she was fly as hell and never mingled with the ratchet bitches on the block.
Teonny was a little more laid-back. She got along with everyone back in the day and was well respected because she was simply nice. A real around the way girl. She wasn’t really big on attention, though it naturally found her, and she stayed out of drama. Her mama, on the other hand, stayed in some messy shit, and often, Teonny had to step in to play middleman and deescalate situations Tameka found herself in. Though they were complete opposites, they were thick as thieves, which was why it killed Teonny that over the past three years, she’d kept this secret from her mother.
To Tameka, Kevin was the perfect husband. Hell, he even paid her mama’s bills. As a third-generation legacy real estate developer in Ellwood, he came from really long and very old money.
