her arm again. Jamie bounded back, feeling heat strike through her as her mother’s hand brushed her skin.
She felt cold. So cold, as if her soul was being torn from her. She was only fifteen, only in high school and still young and pampered enough that she had to rely on her family, but she had learned a few things in her etiquette classes — such as keeping a cool composure, something her mother was dangerously lacking.
“Jamie,” her mother choked, crystalline tears falling from pale blue eyes. “He’s going to come back, he’s going to be furious... Please, you have to listen to me. You don’t understand, Jamie! You don’t know, you need to leave!”
Her desperate cries rang through the room. It seemed as if even the diamond chandelier above their head was trembling. Her head shook, her long pony tail brushing the small of her back. Jamie strived to keep calm, to remember what she had been taught. “I won’t leave him. He’s my father...”
“No!” her mother screeched, the pain in her voice rising. Her head shook veminently, strands of hair falling around her face. “Jamie, you don’t understand,” she sobbed.
“Mother...” she started, voice cracking.
“Please, just get in the car,” she pleaded, the despair in her voice almost making Jamie listen. Instead, she stole herself against the pain in her mothers eyes.
“I won’t,” she said, holding her chin high.
At that moment, her father came through the door that led to the spacious kitchen. His face, strong and hard, was flushed red with fury. His large hands were clenched at his sides. For the first time, Jamie was actually frightened of her father.
She backed away slowly, hands fisting in her pleated skirts. The room was turning hot enough that her socks felt like unsoftened wool against her legs.
Her mother blanched, jerking back. Jamie watched from inside the house as the men in the dark car piled in, leaving her mother there with a furious man and a stubborn daughter. Except, it was more than that. So much more...
Jamie wasn’t prepared for the hard fist that connected with her head, or the shocked cry of her mother and the image of her trying to run to the door. Her knees hit the tile with a sharp slap, elbows barely catching her upper body before her pulsing face hit the ground.
“Trying to leave me?” he shouted, storming to her mother. The only thing Jamie registered besides the hard stomp of his feet on the tile was the sound of their voices. The anger, the panic, the devastation...
Her mother made a choked sound. The ringing sound of a slap pitched around the room. The sound was as brutal as the act.
“I found out what you did,” he hissed. Jamie’s ears rang, blood rushing to her head. She dug her nails into the ground as best as she could, trying to keep from falling down again. “She is not mine!”
His outraged shout hurt Jamie’s ears. It must have hurt her mother’s too, because she whimpered. Jamie refused to look up as pain started to lick along her heart, flirting like hot fire in her soul.
“Let me go,” her mother pleaded, her voice watery. Jamie could only imagine the tears that were trailing down her cheeks. “I will take her, I won’t demand anything from —”
“As if you would have the gall to even ask anything of me! Bitch,” he hissed. The sound of angry stomps coming across the room made Jamie flinch. The flinch turned into a full blown draw back as a fist tangled in her hair.
“Why should I keep her in my house?” he demanded, yanking her to her feet by her hair. Jamie cried out, feeling fear pulse through her with renewed strength. Her father had always been a bit rough, but right now... Her nails dug into his wrist, trying to get him to let go. Right now, it felt as if he really would kill her.
“She’s a curse,” her father spat, ignoring Jamie’s cries of pain.
“She’s just a child! Let her go,” her mother screamed, lunging forward. A large hand wrapped around her neck, almost strangling the breath from her. The door of the house slammed shut, almost on its own accord. Her mother reached for her, despair etched on her already aging face.
“You are not leaving,” he snarled, tightening his grip around her neck, robbing her of precious oxygen. She felt herself start to pale, hands turning numb at how tight they were around her father’s wrists. The