Page 59 of Day Break

Hold on. Is this what he’d found out about me? That I can’t drive or open a bank account? George already knew that. It’s the reason he was paying me cash.

When I’d told him, he had sat me down and told me a story of when he and Florence had met. How they’d been too poor to even go out on a proper date at a restaurant. He’d explained that they hadn’t been able to open a bank account until three years after their marriage.

“He already knows,” I said firmly as I shoved hard against his chest. “It’s not against the law to not have a driver’s license.” I shoved again, and he let go of my hair, but his fingers still dug into my arms, holding me still.

“You have other secrets,” he said, jerking my body forward.

I felt like a ragdoll. I couldn’t stop him from jerking my body any which way. I felt powerless. Once again.

“So do you,” I said firmly, my eyes boring into his. “Your entire family does.”

I was shooting in the dark. Still, I could tell they were all hiding something. They all tiptoed around one another, when they weren’t shouting and fighting.

Phil’s hands dropped away as he locked eyes with me.

“What do you know?” he hissed.

Instead of answering, I retreated quickly from the room, leaving the dirty sheets on the floor. I would retrieve them later, when I knew it was safe.

I didn’t stop running until I was in my own rooms and safe.

It had been over a year since I’d felt so helpless because of a man.

There had been plenty of times in prison that I’d felt so, thanks to Foxy and her gang. Still, I hadn’t feared that much since they’d only threatened to kill me. Death, I had figured, I could deal with.

Phil and Derrick wanted something more from me. Something I doubted I could recover from. At least not mentally. In this area, I was already so fragile. One man had taken everything I was in that arena. I’d grown strong enough to block most of what he’d done to me from my mind.

Elliott hadn’t cared if I was mentally present or not. But something told me these two would care. They’d demand more from me than I could give.

Since I had some time now, I flung myself on my bed. I would not let the tears come. To keep my mind from them, I reached over to get whatever book I’d last been reading from my nightstand.

I was slightly surprised that it was Sherry’s diary. Still, I shifted and settled in and started reading again.

“My brother almost caught me sneaking out last night. I don’t know what he would do if he knew that I’d agreed to meet Eric on the beach. I was so excited and scared as I tiptoed through the house. My parents are deep sleepers, we all know that. I tiptoed down the hall, past Lane’s room. I could hear him on the phone with his girlfriend, Chelsey. She and her family are supposed to come up for the weekend soon. She’s boring and stupid and only likes my brother because we have more money than she does. Anyway, when I was finally free of the house, I sprinted to the beach, excited to see Eric. Only, he didn’t show up. I don’t know why. I’m mad and sort of relieved. I know he wanted things from me. Things I’m not ready to give. I’m only fourteen. Okay, the real reason I was thankful he wasn’t there is… the thought of sex grosses me out.” You and me both, sister, I thought with a sigh. Then I read the next sentence and froze. “Especially after all the sex that has been forced on me already.”

I sat up and reread the entire paragraph several times. I was a firm believer that it was taboo to skim ahead in a book. Any book. Even a dead fourteen-year-old’s diary. The desire to do so was strong, but I put the book back in my nightstand. I figured I’d waited long enough that Phil had probably found someone else to torture.

I didn’t know what the family did during the day. Most of the time, everyone just sat in the living room, talking to George.

I’d overheard a few conversations and from what I could understand, they all wanted something from him. Lane had mentioned that Phil and his dad, Robert, wanted George to publicly back him in his Congressional race.

Robert had only spoken a handful of words to me and spent most of his time on his phone, either making calls or looking at the screen. I was quite sure he was playing games but hadn’t had the opportunity to see the screen.

His wife, Reba, however, had plenty to say to me. At first, she’d complained about everything I was doing. My cleaning wasn’t good enough. My meals weren’t of a high enough quality. I had missed dusting an item or had not gotten a stain out of a tablecloth. She acted as if I worked for her.

She was the one who had coerced me into doing the family’s laundry and making and packing dinners for them when they weren’t going to be at George’s house.

The woman had threatened that if I wanted to keep the job, I’d comply.

I honestly hadn’t minded. Until she’d accused me of ruining her husband’s shirt and demanded I reimburse her four hundred dollars for the item. Who in their right mind would pay four hundred dollars for a stupid white button-up shirt?

Thankfully, Lane had stepped in and saved me from paying her. I doubted I had the skills to stand up to the woman. After all, the entire year I was behind bars, Foxy and her crew had had me waiting on them hand and foot. Even after Lucy returned.

Derrick’s parents, Kate and Donnie, were a little easier to deal with. Still, they were both demanding and reminded me of children when they didn’t get what they wanted.

Kate refused to eat several of my salads because they had the wrong dressing on them. After complaining, she would demand I make her an entirely new meal. If Lane was around, he would step in and tell his aunt to just not eat the salad and enjoy the rest of the meal.

Somehow, when he talked, everyone seemed to listen. The power he had to control his family was something I wished I could learn.