Prologue

“Destiny, you have to go. Take Suzy.” My father pressed the car keys into my hand. “Leave this place and don’t look back.”

“But Daddy…” I was crying. “Where will you find me?” My father was my world, and now he was forcing me to leave him.

“Here, take my phone. Don’t change numbers. I will find you, my girl.” He parted the curtain with one hand, peering outside. “The cab will be here soon. You know I have no other choice.” Daddy was leaving to work on the oil rigs.

“I can’t say no to this opportunity, Des. You’re a grown woman now, you need to find your own way in the world.”

My mother left us when I turned sixteen, got herself a rich man. She said she couldn’t take it anymore to live like this, worrying about every penny, scrounging to make ends meet. She was pretty, I guess, and men liked her.

I left school to look after Daddy. He was a mess – started drinking, not working. I had to find odd jobs to put food on the table. But we got by, and Daddy slowly got better.

Now after my eighteenth birthday, things changed. I worked as a waitress in burger bar near our home. Men were beginning to notice me, and I understood why Mother left. Men offered me money to sleep with them, sometimes a lot more than what I earned. But I refused. I wasn’t going to make myself into a cheap whore. I wanted to earn a respectable living. My father was right, I couldn't stay here any longer.

I watched as the cab took him away, wondering if I would ever see him again. Then I threw the bag with my meagre belongings into Suzy’s trunk and started on my journey into the unknown.