THEIR BROKEN MATE

prolong

"Stop, you are hurting me!" I tried to scream over the raging of my blood in my ears and my heart. I couldn't see. My right eye was swollen from where he had hit me, and my left was blinded from the blood that was coming from the cut that ran from my eyebrow to my temple. "Let me go." I repeated, even though I knew he wouldn't relent.

"There is no escape this time, b***h. I am going to make you pay slow and painful for the trouble you are causing," he snarled as he slapped me. I needed to be strong; I needed to make it out alive. She was depending on me. Why were the police taking so long to get here? Where were they when I needed them most?

He held me by the neck and threw me against the wall. My head bounced onto the hard concrete, making my head swim as I puddled to the floor. I gasped as he hit me with his boot in my stomach. He grabbed me by my hair, forcing me to sit upright, bringing his face directly in front of me.

"Here is what's gonna happen: you are going to show me where you hid that little cunt, and maybe I will be nice enough to leave some of your ribs intact," he said. This wasn't the first time he had hit me, nor was it the first time he had buried himself so deep in debt and didn't have a way to pay back. But this time, I had a feeling he was way too deep in whatever he was involved in, and he thought the only way to get his stuff sorted was to sell our daughter.

"She was only one and a half years old. What kind of psychos would ask for a baby? What kind of psycho would sell his baby? My crazy husband, of course," I thought.

"I am never gonna tell you where she is; you are going to have to kill me first, and you are never gonna find her because she is far, far away from here. Somewhere you can never put your dirty, filthy claws on her." I spat, readying myself for the blow I was sure was coming. And sure enough, he didn't disappoint as the next punch came directly on my right eye.

I fell to the floor, slowly opening my eye and fighting off dizziness, facing the cabinets, praying to the gods that Pilar stayed quiet. Praying she didn't choose this time to wail or to remember I hadn't fed her.

I was trying to hold on to consciousness as darkness tried to creep on me. I had to stay awake. I had to make sure she was safe. I didn't want to go under yet. Sounds were starting to blur. I was starting to go numb. I wanted to let the darkness take me, but I couldn't.

Even though I couldn't keep my eyes open, every breath came out as a gasp. Every breath was painful. Every breath felt like someone was pushing needles into my lungs, but I had to fight the darkness.

I don't know how long I lay there. I don't know what was going on anymore, but I was sure I had waited until I heard the police, and they had knocked down the door, put Derrick down and cuffed him, found Pilar as she chose that moment to wail. The crying moved, and I knew they had found her. Then and only then did I let the darkness take me. She was safe, and I could rest in peace knowing she would be fine.