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Chapter Five

It was nine pm by the time Kelley pulled into the garage, looking at the empty space where his father’s car should be. The foyer light was on but the rest of the house was cast in darkness. It was Marley’s sixteenth birthday that she was spending at a hotel in the city, a gift from their father.

Kelley froze in the hallway and turned towards the kitchen. The bright moonlight illuminated the room with its large bay windows and he saw his mother sitting at the table, a glass of wine in front of her.

“Mom?”

Tears streaked Laura’s face and Kelley went down on one knee in front of her, his hands on her knees. She laughed ruefully and sniffed as she slugged down the rest of the glass’s contents. “You look like him.”

“What’s wrong, Mom?”

“Too many secrets in this house. If I could go back I’d make a different choice. I had no idea who your father really was, but his brother was worse and here I am, stuck in this house with no voice, no rights and when I look at you I wish I’d been stronger.”

“You can be strong, Mom. You can leave right now, you don’t have to stay with him.”

Laura shook her head sadly. “He owns me, my life, everything.”

“He’s cheating on you, Mom. I saw him at the hotel with another woman.”

“She’s not his daughter so it doesn’t matter, she’s sixteen now.”

Kelley frowned. “Who, Mom?”

Laura didn’t seem to register his words. She was staring off into the distance. “He keeps everything hidden in his office. I should look there.”

The front door slammed closed and within seconds the imposing figure of Charles Alexander loomed in the doorway. His eyes were narrowed as he took in the pitying form of Laura with Kelley at her feet. He took one step into the room and Laura visibly flinched.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Charles was addressing Laura.

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Kelley had no idea where the courage had come from. Even though nobody had ever said it out loud, he knew his father was a dangerous man. It poured from him in waves, the power, the absolute danger of his power.

Outside thunder cracked loudly, flooding the kitchen in a bright, white light for a second. Charles didn’t even look at Kelley as he took another step toward Laura. Charles pushed Kelley away and he slid over the kitchen tiles as the slap made Laura’s head snap to the other side and she fell off her chair with a scream.

Kelley was up on his feet and he ran straight for Charles, picking him up in a tackle and slamming his back against the wall. Charles’s elbow came down on Kelley’s shoulder and he let go of his father as he went down to his knees.

“You’re just a boy, Kelley. You have no idea what it takes to be a man, to keep a woman in line. You can’t even keep Norah in line. She sucks a different man’s cock every night of the week, not boys like you and Hanson.”

“Shut up!”

“Charles, leave him. He doesn’t know anything.” Laura was on her hands and knees as she crawled to Charles’s feet.

“He needs to know the world he lives in. There, check my phone. A picture says a thousand words but a video has sound.” Charles unlocked his phone and slid it towards Kelley over the counter.

Kelley grabbed the phone and pressed play on the video. Norah came into view, wearing nothing but a collar around her neck. She was on her hands and knees, a circle of men seated around her as she crawled towards one man.

Kelley recognized the plush suite from his father’s hotel. Norah looked directly at the camera as another man came into view from behind and slapped her hard on her ass. She closed her eyes and moaned in pleasure.

The man produced a dildo and shoved it into her. She gripped the man in front of her, her hands fisting his pants. “Yes, just like that.” Her voice was breathy and she panted as the man kept pushing the dildo in and out of her.

The man in front of her unzipped his pants and gripped her head roughly, shoving his erection into her open mouth. Kelley pressed pause, he couldn’t watch anymore. He felt sick to his stomach and he looked at his mother, also on her hands and knees.

“You’re sick.”

“On the contrary. Norah especially likes it. It satisfies her little nymphomaniac urges. She goes through ten men on a good weekend and she never complains when her bank account lights up.” Charles laughed then at the shocked expression on Kelley’s face.

“She’s seventeen!”

“Consenting age is sixteen. Women will always want to ruin you, Kelley. Use them and discard them. Never let them into your heart. Women are there to please men.”

“Charles … I’m sorry, I’ll do whatever you want.” Laura was begging now, sounding even more pitiful than she had earlier.

“You’ll need to apologize to Marley .. she’s sixteen now and with every passing day she becomes more ready to replace you.”

“I’ll make it right, I promise.” Laura was nodding her head.

Kelley saw red in that instance. Marley could replace Laura. She wasn’t Charles’s daughter. That’s who Laura had been talking about. Charles was introducing Marley to his sick and twisted lifestyle, he’d probably been doing it to his mother for years.

She’d been conditioned to be weak, to crawl and beg. Kelley lunged at his father, his fist making contact with his stomach, he heard a grunt before Charles had his hand around his throat. Kelley saw the gleam of silver on Charles’s knuckles and a split second later it made contact with his cheek bone.

Kelley felt the skin split, the blood running down his face but Charles didn’t stop. His eye was swollen shut and Charles let go of his shirt and spat on the floor next to Kelley’s head. “Get out of my house. You’re no son of mine. See if the streets treat you better than I did.”

Kelley lost consciousness then as Charles walked away, Laura’s arm in a death grip as she followed him meekly. Kelley had no idea how long he’d been out when he woke up to a stinging sensation on his face and a soft pressure on his cheek.

“You have to leave before he wakes up, Kelley. He’ll really hurt you when he finds you here. I’ve packed as much as I could for you. There’s money too, use it wisely because it has to last you for another year. You can only claim your inheritance when you’re eighteen.” Laura was rambling as she cleaned the wounds on his face.

“Mom, what are you talking about?”

“There’s no time, Kelley, you have to leave. You’re free now. Don’t ever come back here. Make a life for yourself and be happy.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“You have to. It’s too late for me but it’s not too late for you. Go and never look back. Promise me.”

Laura helped Kelley get to his feet and pressed his keys in his hand. “Mom …” She shook her head and nudged him out of the kitchen.

“Everything’s in your car, he can’t take that from you but he’ll take everything else. Your cards will be cancelled so withdraw as much as you can right now. He’ll stop your school tuition and any accounts you have in town. I love you, Kelley. Now go.”

Laura closed the front door behind him and he heard the lock turn. His shirt was sticking to his skin with his own dried blood. He climbed into his Escalade and looked at himself in the rearview mirror.

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