Ugly girl

Chapter 11

Four Weeks Ago

I lay in bed, struggling to sleep. That’s been happening a lot lately. Whenever Lucien is home, my fear cripples me. Things have been different ever since that day three years ago when he walked in to find Marcus Mahony’s hand down my pants. He’s watched me with hunger and it’s only gotten worse.

Marcus has been here at least ten times since that night and every time, it gets worse and every time, Lucien sits back to watch. His last visit was only two months ago. He claimed he needed to see how my body was developing.

The worst is yet to come, I can feel it.

I’ll be eighteen in a little over six months and then I can finally get out of here. I need to get out of here. I need to be free, but Blake…how could I leave him?

Blake loves his life here. He’s sixteen and the star of our basketball team despite only just starting his junior year. He’s going places in life and Lucien knows it. He treats him like a king, he showers him with gifts, girls, cars…anything he wants, he gets. Don’t get me wrong, Blake is a smart kid, he knows something isn’t right, he knows the Valentines aren’t good people, but he has no idea just how bad it can be.

I see the light in the hallway under my door turn off and I throw my blanket off, ru

Have you ever had to be terrified in your own home? It’s not a great feeling. Always looking around corners, always hiding out and staying out to the latest hours of the morning before coming home and leaving as early as possible. It’s not something I’d wish upon anyone.

Fear has never gripped me like this before. Maybe it did when my parents were killed, but I can’t remember as all I seem to think about is making it through the night without being touched. I used to think about my parents all the time, the good and the bad, but he’s stolen those memories and replaced them with nothing but fear.

It’s sickening. I’ve never felt so alone.

I hear the door handle jiggle and I suck in a breath as I sit up straight in bed, wide-eyed and panicking.

No. This can’t be happening.

Please be Blake. Please be Blake.

With the door locked, whoever stands on the other side doesn’t get far and I’m just about to let out a breath of relief until I hear what sounds like a key slipping into the lock. There’s a soft click that I hardly hear over the sound of my blood pumping in my ears and I panic.

My hands begin to sweat and I stare into the dark, watching the door like a hawk. There’s nowhere to go. I don’t have a walk-in closet to hide in. There’s no under-bed space. Nothing. Not even a window low enough to jump out of. I’m trapped.

The door pushes open and I see the outline of Lucien Valentine stepping over the threshold and slipping a silver key into his pocket. What the hell was I thinking? How could I be so stupid? Of course he has a key to my room.

He reaches over, not once taking his eyes from mine and hits the switch for the light. A blinding brightness fills my room and I squint against the light.

I gather the blankets around me as though they could somehow protect me. “What are you doing?” I ask, my voice cracking with the crippling fear rocking through me.

“Taking what’s mine.”

“No,” I shake my head almost violently. “You…you can’t.”

“I can and I will,” he confirms, stalking forward like a predator. “Don’t you get it? I bought you, all those years ago. You’re mine for the taking. I gave you a home, I gave you clothes, food, somewhere to lay your head. Just think where Anton would have put you if I wasn’t there. This is your debt and now it’s time to pay up.”

I scurry back on my bed, still gripping the blankets as tight as I possibly can. “No, don’t touch me.”

“I’m sorry, Skylah but you didn’t think you were going to reside in my home rent-free? You didn’t think I was keeping you here for nothing? Your time has come to fulfill your end of the deal. You’re lucky I’ve waited this long, but with your wedding in six months, I need to take you before it’s too late.”

Bile rises in my throat. “You were supposed to be like a father to me.”

A sickening grin crosses his features. “Oh, no. Don’t complicate this with your father/daughter bullshit. That’s never been the case but you can still call me daddy if you want.”

I scramble for something to say, something to prolong the inevitable as he reaches the foot of my bed. “You can’t touch me. Marcus Mahony said I had to be a virgin,” I rush out, despite my virginity being long gone.

He barks out a sharp laugh. “And how’s Marcus going to know. That old fool will be too busy trying to get his dick wet to even notice. Besides, girls’ hymens break over the smallest things. Tampons, horse riding. You’ve been riding since you were a little girl. Trust me, that’s not something we need to worry about.”

“I’ll tell Maria.”

“You see the way she looks at me with her doe-eyed desperation. Who do you think she’s going to believe? The import or the husband who’s stood by her side for the past twenty years, giving her everything she’s ever desired? Besides, you know her values in life. You’re a woman and you were placed here to satisfy a man’s desires, his pleasure, and needs.”

I shake my head.

He walks around the side of the bed and my eyes flash toward the door. I just need to get past him. I can throw down with bitches at school, but this is a whole new playing field.

I run.

Lucien’s arm snaps out and catches me around the waist, winding me. I suck in a deep breath which instantly leaves me as I’m thrown down on the bed. I scream out, desperate for help but his big hand comes down over my mouth as he drops his weight over me.

I feel his erection through his pants and cry out as he grinds painfully down into me. His hand pushes down between us and tears at my pants, forcing them and my underwear down my legs as I frantically try to kick him away.

My face is slapped and the stinging does nothing to stop my panicked desperation to escape. I keep trying and trying but my strength is no match for Lucien’s and as he forces himself inside of me, I’m left with nothing to do but to stare up at the ceiling as the tears stream down my face.

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I rush out of my bedroom and down the hall as I feel the Lucien’s dirtiness rolling down my leg. I burst into the bathroom while the tears stream down my face and drop onto my bruised body.

I lean into the shower and turn the taps, desperate to get the feel of him off my skin. The water is scalding but does nothing to help. My body may be clean, but I don’t feel clean. I’ll never feel clean again.

I have to get out of here.

I look down at my body. My breasts are bruised. There are bite marks on my skin, my shoulders, my breasts, my stomach and between my legs. I have bruises in the shape of his hands on my waist and thighs, marks all over my body from where he hit me, and my vagina…

I’ve never been so sore in my life.

I feel as though I’ve been torn apart from the inside out. How could anyone possibly find that exciting? How could that be classified as pleasurable? It was horrendous, disgusting, sickening.

Another wave of tears take over and I find myself sitting on the shower floor with my head on my knees as the hot water reddens my skin. I need to leave and I need to do it now.