CHAPTER SEVEN

Samantha just stood there, tremmbling slightly, just starring into her father's icy blue eyes, waiting to see what he was going to do next. She couldn't believe that Andrew had actually done this. She knew he had done some terrible things in the past, but setting her up like this topped them all. She cursed herself for thinking that he could change. He was their dad's golden child, like he would ever risk crossing him.

"Not pleased to see your own father, Samantha?" David suddenly asked.

"What...what's going on?" Samantha stuttered, turning her head to see Andrew standing behind her.

"I'm sorry, Sam, I tried to warn you..." Andrew continued.
"Don't apologize to her, Andrew. She's the one in the wrong here, not you." David said sternly.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Samantha asked, turning back to her father.

"You're weak, Samantha." David replied, grasping his eldest daughter by the throat and squeezing it slightly, bending down a little so he was at her level. "That in itself deserves a punishment. I knew you'd run back to Cena at any given opportunity, so I had to take those opportuinities away."

"John...John isn't going to leave this..." Samantha choked out, as he father tightened his grip around her throat.

"Oh no?" David smirked. "How do you think he's going to feel about you when he turns up here and sees that you've stood him up...making him think he had a chance of getting back together with you, getting his hopes up and then dashing them by leaving him hanging? I bet he's gonna be pretty mad, don't you?"

"Dad, come on, let's go home. This is hardly the place to deal with this, is it?" Andrew spoke up.

"You did good, Andy." David said, not taking his cold eyes off of Samantha though. "You go home, I'll take it from here."

Samantha squirmed to get free from her dad's grasp, knowing what the phrase 'I'll take it from here' and the deadly look in his eyes meant. She tried everything she could think of to escape, but it didn't work. Her father was too strong for her. David suddenly threw Samantha down to the ground and stood over her. He pulled his foot back and gave her one swift, hard kick to the ribs. An overwhelming pain past through her body, although she knew better than to scream, so she just clenched her teeth together as tightly as she could and took it.

David went to kick her again, but Andrew stopped him by darting in front of his sister.
"Dad, no!" he exclaimed. "She doesn't deserve this, she doesn't. She just wants to be with the man she loves, is that so much to ask?"

"Get out of the way, Andrew." David snarled at him.
"No." Andrew replied firmly. "That's your daughter. Your own flesh and blood, how can you be so cruel to her? She's done nothing wrong, nothing. And I'm not going to let you hurt her for nothing."

Andrew bent down beside his little sister and helped her sit up. "I'm so sorry, Sam." he whispered to her.

"It's..." Samantha began before being cut off by Andrew being yanked up to his feet by the collar of his shirt.

"You just made a big mistake, Andrew." David growled. "I'll deal with you later." he said, shoving Andrew out of the way.

David was just about to go after Samantha again, before Andrew dived at him and pushed him to the ground. "Run!" he yelled at Samantha.

"I..."

"Just run!" Andrew screamed.

Samantha scrambled up to her feet and looked at her older brother. "Go!" he ordered.

Samantha hesitated at first, but then turned and ran as fast as she could out of the park and down the street. She just kept running and running, not actually knowing, or caring, where the hell she was running to. She just knew that she had to get as far away as possible if she had any hope of safety. She knew her father would be after her, so she had to go where he couldn't find her, even if that meant running to a place where even she couldn't find herself. She suddenly stopped outside a small club and collapsed on the curb of the sidewalk. She was breathing heavily and her ribs were aching like hell, but at the time she had to block that out so that she could focus on running and getting away. Now it was catching up to her though. She could taste that all to familiar taste of blood in her mouth. She gasped for breath as the blood started to trickle from her mouth and down her chin. She winced at the pain and closed her eyes tightly.

Even with all the pain and exhaustion she was feeling at that moment, nothing was could stop thinking of John. He was really going to hate her for 'standing him up' as David put it. Her eyes welled up at the thought of John standing there all alone, waiting for her. She convinced herself that she could just talk to him and explain later on, but in her heart she knew that it probably wouldn't work and that she had now lost him forever. She pulled herself up from the curb and started walking. She knew that the most important thing for her right now was to find a place to stay and get cleaned up.