AURORA AGE FIFTEENSeconds pass, and I'm still as ice, unmoving. I hide better, my gaze peeking behind the trash bin where I could be sought out.Another man comes into view with a girl I recognize, she was at my school last year. Hanna is her name, she is in college now, studying a course too much for her. She's dressed in a pretty white dress that's now coated in droplets of blood. Hanna is pleading when she gets dropped next to the other girl. One of the four men I saw smoking a joint from a distance drags the other girl up, pushing her ahead, he only gets a few steps away from the men and one follows him. The girl is pleading too, calling out to Hanna for help, the man that dragged her slams her up against the wall and she screams, startling me. My heart beats faster, my fight or flight instinct kicking in but not knowing how to react right now. I don't trust myself not to scream so I cover my mouth with both my hands, trembling beside the trash can, my breathing too loud for my o
AURORAI'm tired, tired of the questions, the fake assurance. I hate it, I don't want to hear another "it'll be okay" speech because it will never be okay.My baby, my Layla was taken from me and nothing will ever be okay again. I miss her so much, I don't know why life plays such dirty games with me. I'm always getting the worst of it, and this time I thought I would have something good, but no fate tore that joy from me in seconds, slow excruciatingly painful seconds.I've been kidnapped, trafficked, raped, beaten, tortured in the worst ways possible and maybe yes, I did deserve those events but never taking my child away. I don't deserve to feel this loss, I don't deserve to feel this broken, to have my child taken from me, I don't deserve to grieve a living child but here I am, mourning her loss while another celebrates the gain.Layla is everything to me, she's my will to live and someone took her. To everyone she might just be a child but to me, they took my spirit, my happiness
CAELUMI was mad at Aurora, mad at myself for being so blindsided. It took one day in Afghanistan to find the truth I've been solely seeking for months. I knew Aurora didn't leave me like she has so claimed, she never could, as much as she wanted me to believe that lie I never would. I wish she had told me, trusted me enough to speak to me about her past, year trauma but no, I had to slit it out of her kidnappers throat.When Ryker brought me the news and Cassian connected the dots to Afghanistan I was mad, I was so fucking livid about the matter. I've never killed as many people as I did yesterday, and still, even after killing each and every man and woman involved in her kidnapping seven years ago, I felt nothing, I still felt infuriated. The slow painful deaths they endured was not enough to compensate for what the did to my little minx, her and many other women they trafficked.All that hostility and frustration I felt disappeared the moment Ryker interrupted my torture session wi
SCARLETTGratification.There's no other word I can use to describe the peaceful state of mind I'm in. My rival is finally suffering the effects of crossing me, she is getting a taste of all the pain that she put me through. My sister's in-law feel sorry for her, everyone that attended that party is pitying her, Xena included. Now it's "oh poor Aurora she lost her daughter, she's so sad, she's a good woman."She's not, she's a vile woman, and where was all this sympathetic energy when I was going through hell because of her? Suffering because my husband was in her bed and not mine. Before her, I couldn't give a shit where he spent the night because I knew that whomever it was he had been with was just that, a night out and nothing more, never to be spoken of or seen again. But she's too cunning, she lures him in by acting nonchalant but I see it all, I see how she craves his attention, how she has little pathetic outbursts when my husband gives me attention or shows some affection. Sh
CASSIANSicily was unsettling, I had a feeling we were in for some shit but after the things I saw and heard, my admiration for Aurora has grown. I'm a man that kills, I've taken so many lives in ways so despicable that get whispered about in our circles but when I saw what they did to Aurora, my stomach churned. She didn't deserve to hurt like they made her, and whoever had the bright idea to record her and the other girls while they did horrendous things to them has a special place in hell, close to devil. I'll meet him there, heaven isn't a place for men like me and I've long accepted that and now, I have something to look forward to when I meet times end.One of the men we raided in association to Aurora's kidnapping got three bullets into my arm, that was enough of an excuse to let Caelum give me a five minutes to play with him and I took every second I was handed and broke that man, I broke and ripped every body part I could. For Aurora and for every woman he hurt, and for the o
EMELIAI've been trying to get Aurora out of bed but she hasn't budged, I've done everything in my poser to do so. I installed a dancing pole in her room, gave her a show and asked her to join but she wasn't feeling it. It's like everything has lost meaning together with her losing custody of Layla. It's been a while now and she only sleeps when Caelum comes around, somehow he manages to convince her to eat a little. However, my brother has been a no show since yesterday, he has made calls to Olivia who was with Aurora last night to check in on Aurora.I'm cutting rearranging the kitchen cabinet when my phone buzzes with a message, it's Cassian letting me know he's just pulling up outside. I make quick with my work and go back into the living room, to my surprise Aurora is on the sofa. She's still in her pajama shorts and tank top, her hair is tied in a bun above her head. I'm told my brother washed her hair last time he was here and thank God he did, it was a mess.“Hey,” I smile.“H
AURORAI go back to the first line to ensure I'm not misreading anything in the document Cassian handed me. I've been deluded these past few days so I wouldn't put it past me, but even as I read it a fourth time, the sentences in the first paragraph are still unchanged.The lump in my throat is too big to swallow and all the tears I've kept at bay since I last cried in the bathroom this morning fall free. They fall with a heavy force, I don't intend to cry this hard but it happens, I can't help it and I can't surmise the document. “Is this for real?” I cry out, now sure that I've not been misreading anything.“What?” Emelia asks, this time seemingly pissed off.My gaze falls on Caelum and I sniff, watching him closely for a reaction, anything to help me fathom the document in my now shaky hands. “Caelum, I know you your jokes are of poor taste but Cass, if you're in on it..I-I'm-”“It's not a joke, I promise.” Caelum assures me.I look at the document again, rereading the first paragr
AURORAEver since I saw the custody papers, my spirits have been very high. Mom dropped by yesterday afternoon, and she was impressed with how good I was doing prior to the day before that. My sisters have all been calling to check in on me, and so have my friends. Olivia being the closest one here has been coming to my door nearly every hour to see if I'm okay and truly I am. Losing Layla forever broke me but now I have a second chance, one I fully intend on not overlooking. I'm going to love and protect so much, I'm going to be one of those parents clinically obsessed with their children and their joy. I'm going to make sure she knows just how much I appreciate having her in my life, and how wonderful she is as she continues to grow.With everything that's been happening these past few days, I've been so out of touch with reality that I totally forgot about Arabella. She was very supportive, the most supportive of my siblings if I'm being impartial. She's so young yet she more than