Chapter 14
1085 Words
Ford’s POV
“Do you know where Livia’s house is?”
I can’t push away the panic in my voice.
Nadine and I have been driving around the same block for about half an hour now. We already passed the street where the whole incident happened. We didn’t find Livia.
The only thing we found is her phone.
A useless brick with the screen almost pulverized. The battery was exposed. We had to leave it in the street and keep going, knowing that she must have been taken home.
“You didn’t tell me she had a brother,” I say to Nadine as I turn the corner and get ready to make the round again. “It just seems so random. Are you even sure it’s her brother?”
Nadine bites her lip. “He called her by name. It’s not just some random guy. I didn’t call Livia by name all throughout. And when he saw us, he immediately called her sister. The way he taunted her makes me think that he really did know her.”
My chest tightens. “Are you sure it’s not her… boyfriend?”
For some reason, it really chokes me up saying that.
Well, I wouldn’t want Livia to be abused by someone she trusts romantically. I wouldn’t want the same thing for my own daughter. It’s the only reason I feel so strongly about it.
“I’m sure it’s not a boyfriend,” Nadine confirms. “Livia isn’t into bad boys like that. She doesn’t even have a crush at school. I really think that was her brother. I just don’t know why she refuses to tell me things like this.”
I don’t know either, and the theory that pops into my head is too painful to voice out.
The bruises on her body, all in different stages of healing.
The fresher cuts, thin and long.
The scratches.
If you add that to a brother who has no problem tormenting her in public….
No.
I don’t want to think about it.
“Do you not have a number? Nothing about their house?” I can’t keep my frustration bottled now.
Nadine looks away shamefully. “I think she lies to me about where she lives, Dad. I think… I think she’s hiding a lot of things.”
My knuckles grow white against the steering wheel. “We’re going to find her. We’re going to save her. Even if it means pulling that bastard away from her myself.”
We keep driving.
We go around the whole neighborhood.
Yet Livia is nowhere to be found.
***
Livia’s POV
“You think your little friend will find you?”
Tyler kicks open the front door and shoves me inside.
Good thing that I manage to extend my arms just in time and brace myself against the fall. I would’ve landed face-first, and who knows what that will do? Something more obvious. Like a broken tooth or a completely shattered nose.
A part of me suddenly wishes that I haven’t done that, brace for the fall. Maybe it would’ve been better if someone saw me that way.
But then again, I think our neighbors are past the point of caring. Some of them saw Tyler dragging me inside by the hair and they just looked away like it was an uncomfortable sight instead of an emergency.
Now here I am, right on the other side of the front door, feeling Tyler’s hand clamping around the back of my neck.
“Let me go!” I try to reason out with him. “You’re going to leave a mark!”
Usually, that will scare him. Because it will make David mad. Why? Because David likes to be the only one doling out punishments around here. He doesn’t appreciate being upstaged.
So when I hear heavy footsteps descending down the steps, I almost feel a dark ray of hope.
That means David is here. That means he will tell Tyler to stop. He will give me one slap for whatever happened, and everything will be okay.
Except that I’m mistaken.
“What are you doing?” David demands, looking down at me. “What did I tell you about punishments? Did anyone see you?”
Tyler immediately lies. “No.” He shoves my body with his foot. “I know what you mean about the punishments. But this little b***h embarrassed me in public. Then she told her little b***h friend to kick my f*****g balls.”
David’s eyes go wide. “Is that true?”
I shake my head.
Doesn’t matter.
Doesn’t work.
“Oh, you don’t f**k with my son like that,” David growls, climbing down the last set of stairs and ending it with a sharp kick to my abdomen. “Do you like that? Do you like being in pain like that? Because that’s what you made my son feel.”
From the backyard still carrying the basket of our clothes, my mom rushes in. The basket slips from her grip when she sees me on the floor, getting yanked at and kicked at by the two men.
“Stop!” she appeals, her voice rising in panic. “What did she do? Don’t punish her this way, please! Just let me make it up to both of you!”
“Pain is the only way your cunt daughter learns,” Tyler spits at her and keeps going.
David sneers at her. “Get out of the way if you don’t want to be hurt.”
I immediately know that Mom is going to try to put a stop to this. I see the very rare fire of determination in her eyes.
But the last thing I want is for her to be hurt.
So even though I know it will take me down the road of more pain, I start to fight back.
And it works.
David and Tyler start to hit me harder when I try to run. My hair, my neck. Even my face now. They don’t seem to care. It’s just a barrage of kicks and punches until I don’t know which part hurts the most.
Until all I can feel is the vague sensation of being dragged across the hallway and tossed into my bedroom.
I look up, seeing David’s face from the crack of the open door.
He sneers.
Malicious and smart.
“Good luck getting out of here. You can kiss that friend of yours goodbye.”
- Writer
