Missing Star

Chapter 8

Thomas

It had been weeks since Marissa had disappeared. That night we were supposed to meet her, the rancher's wife announced had left with her fiance. And no other word was said about her the rest of the night. 

By the time I felt that place I was sick to my stomach. I knew something was wrong, Lucian had tried to warn me. Even now back home I still felt sick and Lucian was out of control. He was determined to find her. We shifted every night and tried to trace her scent in any lead that came up.

Between the tracker team and investigators, nothing was turning up though. We had learned a few things through public records. What I had learned made me so proud of my mate she was strong and had the best heart. She was determined. She had graduated early and was accepted to college to be a vet. It fit seeing her gifts with animals. 

Local ranchers in the area loved her, she would help with animals that were sick or had issues. Now that she was gone it was like the animals in that area knew. It was like a sadness the spread. No one in the area had any clue what had happened to her. None believe that she would ever leave to marry. Most said that she would leave to escape her grandmother's abuse one day. 

Yet she had gone missing and no one had seen her or heard from her since that day. Her cousin wouldn't stop bugging me though. How she managed to get my cell number was beyond me. Every day she'd send messages and pictures. I was getting tired of it. But I played along in the hope that she would let something slip about Marissa. 

Then one night I got a text from Tiffany:

would you like to go to a wedding with me?  

                                                                                                                             ME: Who’s getting married?

a cousin of mine

                                                                                                                             ME: Do you know when?

It June 1st small wedding in one of the restaurants that they own 

                                                                                                                             ME: that’s this coming Friday, right? 

Ya… So you in??

                                                                                                                            ME: Let me get back to you. 

This is what I needed. I dropped the phone on the bed and ran to my father's office. Linking with him “Dad I think I found her.” 

Entering the office I headed straight for one of the laptops and pulled the local court records or marriage postings. And there it was, her father and Jerome Fernand had applied for an underage marriage license two days ago. And since it was with parental consent it had been approved. 

“Son, it's her choice to marry. You cant change that.” my father said coming to look over my shoulder. 

“Dad, I don't think that she has a choice here. I spoke with other ranchers and even her teachers. They all thought that she was being abused but no one could prove anything.” 

“Jerome Fernand is that Joey Fernand's son?” he asked looking at the screen. Before I could answer he took the laptop and was searching. “D*mn, it is,” he said answering his own question. 

“What is it?” 

Looking up from the screen he said “We need to get her out of there. That man used to beat the h*ll out of his wife and kid. When she found the strength to leave, she meet your Uncle Nick he was a local patrol officer then. That was his mate, till Joey kidnapped her and killed her.” 

Uncle Nick has passed almost fifteen years ago when I was three. The pain of his mate passing had been too much for him. Now knowing more and why, terrified me for my poor mate.   *************************************************************************************************************

Marissa 

I had been here a while and it was worse than the ranch. Granted there were fewer chores but I was watched like a hawk. There were cameras everywhere in the house. 

The basement where I stayed had been turned into a small 2 bedroom apartment. The master bedroom was nice and spacious with an office set up in a corner. Upstairs was a 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with a state of the art kitchen and living room.   

Luckily for me, Jerome stayed upstairs in his childhood bedroom. His father was old school and believed that we should be apart till our wedding and I was grateful. But his father also had the worst temper I had ever seen. He took it out on me and Jerome when possible. One day I missed a window seal when dusting. I didn’t expect him to pull out the white glove test. When he found the window seal he flew into a rage. 

He left me beat and blood on the floor of the living room floor to clean the window and now the carpet.  He later berated Jerome about his choice of wife and how I would fall him just like his mother had. This wasn’t my first or last beating by both of them. To Jerome's credit, he did take more beatings from his father than me.

Now that I have been here so long I know why Jerome was the way he was. I felt bad for him. But he still was Jerome and I was the target now. He loved to force his kisses on me and touched me when he cornered me. He was rough and when I would refuse him it often set him off.  I stayed away whenever possible or hide from him when he was around the house. 

Due to this, I had managed to graduate early and my diploma was in the mail. I had set up my plan for running. One of my duties was to get the mail and organize it. With that, I could get my diploma and hide it in the bags that I had packed and ready. 

I would seek my bags out the day before and place them in trash bags by the side of the house that had a blind stop. Then at night before they arrived back from the restaurant I would climb out the window and run. 

It helped that they never cleaned out their pockets before I did the daily washing. I was able to save up fast. So if I had to rent someplace I had enough to hold me by. All I was waiting for was my diploma. The wedding was on Friday and so I had four days to wait for it. But even if it didn't come I was gone. I had a bus ticket and a burner phone with my name on it.