Page 10 of Don’t Forget Me

“I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone, matter of fact. I’m not your kid, and you’re definitely not my father.”

“More respect when you speak to me, cabrona.”

“Respect? Is that what you think you deserve? You are an excuse of a man. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so shameful and disgusting before. Just look at yourself, look at what you’ve become. No wonder my mother left you,” I muttered, pushing past him. “And now, I’m leaving you too. You deserve to live a sad, lonely life.”

As I stepped closer to the front door, I could already hear his deafening steps rushing over to me. I pulled the door open, hoping to jump out of the house before he put his hands on me again. But I miscalculated, and I was being hauled back inside; his calloused palms gripping my hair.

His fingers imprinted on my shoulders as he held tight onto them, yelling at me. His face was mere inches from mine as he screeched, “Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re better than me for you to just leave like that? You don’t think I know where you’re running off to? I should’ve known you would’ve ended up being a whore just like your mother.”

“Mija?” the woman’s sweet voice interrupted the tension in the air.

I let out a breath. She hadn’t left.

“Who is this?” Mario exclaimed.

My gaze went straight toward the older woman who peeked inside the trailer through the railing of the wooden steps. If she came inside, Mario would hurt her. The woman hadn’t left; she hadn’t stolen my things. She was outside, trying to help.

I looked back at my stepfather.

When I was a child, I begged him to treat me like his princess. I wanted a father, even though he was a crappy boyfriend to my mother. But my mother was more screwed-up than him, because he stayed and she didn’t. I wasn’t his, and he still tolerated me. He still fed me when I was a child. He also beat me, hurt me, and almost did the most unimaginable thing a man could ever do.

I stayed because I had no hope. Now I had this sliver of it, and I wasn’t going to let it go.

I slammed my head forward, with all my strength, aiming for his nose. I heard the crack when my forehead came into contact with his face. My head vibrated, but I ignored it as I kicked his groin. Blood spilled onto his lips and into his mouth as he groaned, reaching downward.

“Goodbye, father,” I whispered mockingly.

Then, I was out of there. My steps pounding on the railing, jumping over it, and pulling the woman with me.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Hurry, we need to leave before he follows us!” I ordered.

I didn’t have to give her much instruction; she hurried to her side of the car, turned on the ignition, and raced down my street.

five

EZRA

She was even more beautiful than the last time I saw her. I couldn’t believe that I’d been in the same room as her. I was happy that God believed me worthy enough to be in her vicinity. I didn’t think I would bump into her again after spotting her through a window at a local Scottish jewelry store, gazing at engagement rings with a young man beside her.

I remembered his smile. A smile full of admiration, and his eyes… they’d been filled with love. I knew that look better than anyone, because I looked at her like that when we were in college. When she was my lover, my friend, my treasure.

And now she was going to marry another man. She would tie her life, her heart, to someone else.

After everything I did to her, she deserved to be happy. But I couldn’t help myself when Zack mentioned offering her a movie deal. I’d read her book; I knew instantly that it was a depiction of the short-lived, yet powerful, romance we shared at Blackthorn House Academy. If she could write this story about us, then perhaps the feelings she had for me were still there. Even if those scraps of affection were tied to hatred, it was a feeling directed toward me, and that was enough.

There was a fine line between love and hate, and I wished to help her cross it.

“That went better than expected,” Zack said, pulling his blazer over his chest.

I recalled the way my best friend had the habit of pulling on a mask of bravado. He pretended like he didn’t wish to be there, but I knew his heart was screaming the same way mine had been. Zack wasn’t fixated on Lysandra, but on her friend. They hadn’t seen each other for just as long as Lysandra and me.

“I’m glad she accepted the deal. We need her just as much as she needs us.” He set his polished shoes over the table, crossing his ankles, and setting both his hands at the back of his head. I slapped his legs away from the table.

“This is not our office. Stop that!” I hissed.

“I didn’t think Miss Guerrera would cause you to have a stick up your a⁠—”