AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shakes her head. “Calling him an asshole is exactly what I mean.”
I grin at her. “Babe, that’s me being as nice as I can be about him.”
She sighs. “Fine, I’ll take it.”
I press a kiss to her cheek. “Now, tell me about what happened.”
She’s put it off as long as she can. It’s time.
TWENTY-THREE
PORTIA
Having him hold me, it feels as though I’m safe. I hate how easily I can be led back to him, and how much I want him. He annoys me like no other, especially when he tries to dictate what I should do. Kelvin is not, nor will he ever be, anything but a man I respect and my boss, but for some reason Dario is jealous and it’s not a cute look on him. I’m a big girl and I can make my own damn decisions.
“What do you want to know?” I ask, my skin covered in goosebumps. I don’t talk about my father and his death. The memories are too painful. But I know we’re going to have to get this out and in the open.
“Everything,” he answers without missing a beat.
I get to my feet. As much as I love him holding me, I can’t handle it right now. “I had spent the day with Papa. It was fun,” I begin.
He smiles. “I remember how you loved spending time with him. When given the chance, you’d always be at his side.”
I nod. “He was the best man I knew,” I say. “We returned home, and I was laughing and joking with him. I showed him how I made my way in and out of the house undetected.” I smile at the memory. God, that was a better time. It was peaceful, even if my mama drove me crazy. “We were in his office when the alarm sounded. He told me to hide. He wanted me to be safe. He knew Marco was coming.”
“He wanted to protect you,” Dario says softly. “You’d have done the same. You have done the same.”
I cross my arms over my stomach and give him a nod. He’s right, I’ll always protect those I care about. “He had this passageway behind his bookcase. He opened it and made me hide.” The tears come to my eyes as I take a steadying breath, trying to calm myself. I don’t want to let the tears spill over. “He wanted me to run, to follow the passageway out of the house and get to safety. But I couldn’t. I was rooted to the spot.”
“You heard your father die,” he says, already knowing that I did. “How did Marco know where the passageway was?”
I shake my head, my brows knitting in confusion. I don’t understand why he’s asking that. “I don’t know. Mama maybe?”
Dario doesn’t seem convinced by my answer. Then again, would my mama give me up? I don’t think so. Maybe… someone sold my papa out? Maybe they had it all planned out. If that’s the case, then who? Who would have done this?
“What happened after Marco took you and your mom to his house?” Dario questions, pulling me from my thoughts.
I blink, surprised by his change of questioning. “Um, Marco forced Mama to marry him. No one was there to help us. No one wanted to give us the protection we needed. I heard him,” I whisper, my hands shaking. “I heard him rape her every night. The first two weeks, she’d beg and scream, pleading with him to stop. I laid in my bed, hating that he was hurting her, but I couldn’t do anything. The next morning, she’d have bruises everywhere. Soon, the screaming and begging stopped, but the beatings didn’t.”
Dario’s eyes blaze with anger, his lips pursed, jaw clenched.
“I tried to stay out of his way, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. He’d use me as a punching bag,” I say, my hands balled into fists. “I guess it’s better than the alternative.”
Dario shoots to his feet. “He shouldn’t have fucking touched you,” he snarls. “Fucking bastard. What else did he do to you, Portia? What did he do to make you run away? To make you leave your mom?”
He gets it. I stayed because of Mama. As much as I hated that she allowed him to hurt me, I understood that she had no choice. She was beaten and raped into submission. There was no way out for her. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her, and I miss her. I chose to save my life, to keep myself alive. It was the only way I could do it, and it meant cutting her off. I have no idea if she’s even alive.
“Tell me, Portia,” he says as he steps toward me. “What did he do?”
“He was planning on selling me,” I whisper, the words sounding so cold and callous coming from my lips. “I was going to be trafficked, Dario. Had I been, maybe this shit wouldn’t have happened.”
I’m hauled into his arms, crashing against his chest. “Fuck that,” he snarls. “You would have been raped, hurt, and no doubt drugged to be compliant. You saved yourself, Portia. I’m so fucking in awe of you.”
My cheeks flush with heat. “Dario—”
He shakes his head. “No, don’t Dario me anything. You ran and protected yourself. You got to the streets and then you turned into everyone else’s protector. You’re amazing, Portia, and I’m so fucking lucky that I’m the one you’ve chosen.”
I roll my eyes. “Corny,” I quip, wanting to change the subject. “God, Dario, that was so cheesy.”
