Prologue
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4 months ago...
"You wanted to see me?" Head bowed low as she entered the room, she held her breath. It had been a while since he'd last summoned her at such a late hour, and it was a memory she soon wanted to forget. She kept her eyes low, fearful of the temper she knew lay hidden just beneath the surface of that sadistic smile. "Come here..."
Hesitantly she shuffled her feet forward, her heart now pounding hard against her ribs as she took her place upon her knees before him. Then silence rang out, it was within that moment that she neither had the time to prepare nor move before his hand struck a blow. Pain exploded across her cheekbone with the force of the hit, and instinctively her hand rose up to cradle her face as her eyes filled with tears.
"You dare to look upon another?! You dare let him touch what does not 'belong' to him?!" She tried not to wince, for the pain in her cheek only heightened with the action. Michael's face filled her thoughts; he was nothing more than a sweet gardener who had offered her a rose, his hand fleetingly touching hers as he'd offered her a kind smile and turned away. A swift boot to her side sent her thoughts and body flying across the floor, the air rushing from her lungs with a cry as the room spun and her body hit solid ground. Her mind crying out her silent pleas of mercy, none that she knew would ever be heard, for no one could save her now. How had her father agreed to such cruelty upon her? Did he not love her no more?
Rolling onto her knees, she gasped for the air that she so desperately needed, her lungs burning with the effort as she tried her hardest to listen to what he was saying as he approached her. "... And I cannot have you ..." Hot hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her backwards, her skull greeting the solid ground with a resounding crack as she cried out in horror and pain.. "..Then 'he' will not have you!" She tried, oh did she try, and fail to stop him as his powerful body began straddling her chest. Her lungs working overtime as he sat upon her and stole what little breath she had, his knees pinning her arms to the ground as her legs kicked out helplessly. She could hear his laughter as she cried out with what little breath she could manage, and it was within that second she knew beyond a shadow-of-a-doubt, that nothing could ever erase this moment of pain and torture from her mind.
Time grew slow as she froze beneath him, his powerful body looming over her frightened smaller frame as he lifted a large blade in her line of vision... That dark twisted smile was etched into her mind, and with one last powerful breath, she cried out for mercy, for her life, for all the pain she'd had to endure... And finally, she cried out for her dying soul ... Oh God's no...
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