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1
Michael Hanover pulled up to the white split entry house which sat in a quiet neighborhood in the town of Freemont, California. Suburban bliss abounded with perfectly trimmed lawns. A mix of flags, some decorative showing the season, others patriotic and of course the few signs that the neighborhood was slightly divided. Familiar symbols on both competing flags, only one had a bridge in the center while the other had mountains lined up perfectly as if it were a crown. Both theGolden State Warriorsand theSacramento Kingsweren’t more than a stone’s throw in either direction pulling into the rivalry brought on by the two teams’ current high standings in the Western Conference.
Everything was serene as Michael walked up the brick walkway to the red door. Taking the two steps that needed a little bit of cement to fix the chipped spots had him front and center as he rang the doorbell.
The home belonged to what he supposed people would call his ex-girlfriend Sassy and her husband Mitch. Sassy had been a weekend leave fuck that, through poor planning and fucking amazing execution, had him strapped for a lifetime. They’d tried being more than passing ships once the docs said he was the father, with less gusto than if he’d gone on daytime TV, then again he was praying the little bundle he’d met at the doctor’s office was his. Five seconds, a finger grab and big blue eyes blinking stole the heart he’d thought was under lock and key. A feat her mother never accomplished. Now the man she made a family with had not only taken on Sassy as a wife, but his eight year old daughter Sydney had spent half her life in this home.
With spring break just kicking off he’d asked for an extended leave, he was ready to pick her up and couldn’t wait to get his vacation time started with her. They always had fun and he did his best to hold up his part of the deal when it came to the custody agreement. Although he got in less fights with Sassy than before as she adjusted to his life as a SEAL. Joint custody didn’t really matter when shit went south and his ass was called up. Best he could do was get his duty station set in Coronado down in San Diego so he was at least in the same state.
Only on his last few weekends he noticed a subtle change in his daughter and he was going to ask his ex what the deal was. Could be school since the area was redistricted and Sydney had to start a new one last fall. He’d written it off as that, but by now she should have adapted. Lord knows what she would have gone through if they’d gone full military family switching station to station on a whim. With his busy military schedule as a Navy Seal he just hadn’t gotten around to bringing the changes up, but today he would.
Knocking on the door he waited for what seemed an eternity but in reality, was only a few minutes before Mitch opened the door.
“Oh right,” Mitch said as he invited him by stepping back, the twang he tried to tamp down at work slipped up when he was at home. “Sorry, Sass ain’t home yet, but come in.”
“She close? I had a few things I wanted to ask her about,” Michael said as the man in a short sleeve button down and older tie began tugging loose at the knot since the work week was over.
The guy had a stable job, working in insurance or siding, not exactly the square type Michael thought fit Sassy’s wild ass. Then again, she had been close to the base trying to lasso a man. Maybe Mitch had a four O one K or a pension that lured her with security.
“Sydney is almost ready,” he said, dropping his cell phone on the counter he went to the fridge and set a six pack of icy Silver Bullets next to electronic. “Want one?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“I only got ‘em out since we’ll be kid free in a few,” he said with a shrug as he closed the door. “Guess road sodas aren’t a good idea since you’ve got the angel in the car.”
“Probably not,” Michael replied, hoping the man was speaking the truth when it came to drinking around Sydney. Not that he’d begrudge them alcohol, but he never wanted his daughter to have to see what happens when her mother is six shots in andStrokerstarts playing.
“She just finished getting her backpack ready. Let me go and help her.” The heavy footsteps of the man going down the hallway had Mike moving toward the kitchen next to the counter.
Leaning on the faux granite top Mitch’s phone lit up from a message, the first of which was beaming from the screen.‘I’ll speak with Sydney and explain exactly what she’s doing wrong.’
Torn between not wanting to snoop and seeing his daughter’s name in the mix of words that seemed disciplinary he swiped, opening the phone with not even a four digit passcode. Glancing down the hallway, he saw a little light from Sydney’s room, but no dark shadow coming out.
‘She loves you baby, she doesn’t understand how much she’s hurting you when she cries like that.’The rest of the message had Michael scrolling up to see what Mitch was so pissed off about. Who the fuck cared if his feelings were hurt by a little girl crying. The messages before. The one sent by the man steps away alone with his daughter had his knees buckling.
‘Why would she cry? She’s never cried before, does she not love me, do you not? If you love me prove it. Prove she loves me too. She knows how to suck a dick, now make her do it right and when I’m inside her tight cunt I expect you to teach her how to move to show her daddy she loves him.’
The text message swam in front of Michael’s eyes. What the fuck was he reading? This wasn’t right, was it? Swiping further up in a backward manipulation that was months old. He didn’t have the stomach or time to read more. Words splashing in front of him. Spelling out how they’d brought his daughter into their marital bed to help strengthen their family. Taking a few screen shots he went old school, pocketing the phone and making sure he’d lock in all the messages. Sassy wasn’t going to delete this away. Act as if she hadn’t permanently destroyed their daughter.
This bastard and ex-girlfriend had been more than molesting his daughter. They’d been raping her. Taking the innocence in a mix of manipulation and horror no child should have to endure. He saw red. His mind tripping over all the ways he’d been trained to deal with enemies and all the torture scenarios they’d been warned and partially prepped for. This would end now.
In the SEALs they say the only easy day was yesterday and if he could go back months he would. Years, if possible, but that was not the case. The creed he’d pledged, that was drilled into him echoed in a mind pushed beyond any assignment. Character, honor, the final words butted up against the reality of a man, less than thirty feet away who’d done the unthinkable to his little girl. The princess he treasured more than anyone in this world.
‘The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from others.’
Echoes of his training. The men and women that washed out. Unable to handle the rigors of what was before them. He’d seen the breakdown in others. The mental block cracking and tumbling to the side. Each test, harder. Exhaustion, hunger, pain all adding to the breakdown in mental fortitude. For Michael a cold iced over all the questions in his head. He separated himself from what was in front of him. Broke down the barriers. Bravery was not the absence of fear, it was the ability to push past it.
Only this wasn’t fear, this was rage. An emotion he hadn’t been faced with. Anger at times, but only fleetingly. Cold butting up against searing heat when a voice shook him out of the rabbit hole from hell and the sick images of Mitch being strung up and field stripped alive. All of it he needed to lock away for at least three minutes. His mind calculating a plan as adrenaline rushed through his body and he did all he could to fall into the control he’d mastered.
“Daddy,” the sweet sing song voice of his baby girl called out and the message lit up in his mind ‘to teach her how to move to show her daddy she loves him‘.
Biting on his inner cheek he dropped to one knee and wrapped his arms around the little girl. Emotional exhaustion taking a toll on the little girl who allowed him to hold her but didn’t hug him like she used to. Michael cradled the back of her head in his hand and wondered how anyone could see a child this small and think of sex. All he could think of was protecting her from the evils of the world. Keeping her safe from dangers outside the home, but he never once thought Sassy would allow her to be hurt inside it. For some reason he now saw all he’d done, the years of service as wasted time and effort. It didn’t matter how many people he’d saved from foreign enemies if his daughter was being hurt because he wasn’t there to save her.
He pulled slightly away as his daughter looked at the floor with downcast eyes. Lifting her chin, he could see her eyes struggling to find happiness with heavy bags underneath them. The distance and change in her of the past few months slammed into him like a spear through the chest. Why had he written off the change in her behavior? Figured her begging to stay with him normal kid stuff that happens with every child having to live in two spaces at once.
At the time it made sense for Sassy to take on most of the custody. She was her mother. Mothers protected their children ahead of even themselves. Only he’d misjudged not only his ex, but the man who’d looked him in the eye five years ago and pledged to love his daughter as his own.
“Hey angel,” he said as he stood and fished his keys from his pocket and tightened the straps of her backpack. “You think you can get your stuff all in my truck by yourself and wait for me? I’m gonna have a little talk with your stepfather.”
