daughter’s face being motherless gave me renewed strength and out of pure rage I took off my heel from my crouching position and swung it at him. “You bitch!” he shouted in rage as he walked over to me and aimed a strong punch that dived into the back of my neck. I had my phone in my pocket and Gavin was somehow the only person that my phone could dial even before 911. His voice came online and in my confused state I shouted out to him at the top of my voice. “Help me!” I lost all hope when my ex husband charged towards me with his fists clenched and took the phone from my hands. I listened to the loud thud of a sound that it gave once he swung it on the wall and it landed in small shattering pieces. The sound felt like a hymn to the grave, I bit my tongue and spit out blood. My inner being was shaken to the core and my hope was exhausted. I could hear him call out and utter many more words but I could not comprehend. I was instead apologizing profusely to my daughter for being a bad mother and for choosing my ex as a father for her. A car that drove up the driveway distracted me, he was not on top of me, his left hand was on my throat and his right hand was reaching for gold underneath my skirt. I started making predictions as to whether he would rape me first before killing me? Or vice versa. A knock on the door distracted both of us and he immediately placed a hand on my mouth to try and muffle my scream. “Yvonne, Yvonne”, I could tell from the deep husky voice that called from the doorway that it was Gavin who was on the other side of the door. I tried to scream all I could but his hand on my mouth filtered it to muffled hums. He nevertheless heard the movements from within the room because he called out even louder from outside accompanied by louder bangs on the door. I felt hope renewed in me as Gavin thundered through the door. One look at the situation and he knew what was going on. His face was blinded by rage as he walked over to where we were. He effortlessly lifted him from me and threw him aside before landing a few more blows on his face. Gavin was a strong man and handling my ex was not a reach. I couldn’t really tell what was going on but before long, Gavin walked over to me and hugged me to his chest. “Where is Shantell?” He asked concerned. “At my sisters”, I managed to squeeze out. Pain coursed all through my body and my throat felt so dry. I felt comforted by Gavin’s presence alongside his voice when he called for an ambulance. He then planted a kiss on my lips and I froze for a minute. It was hard to respond to it with the taste of blood in my mouth and I felt really confused. “I have always loved you Yvonne”, he said. Not only was his timing not right. He was my stepbrother, and who on this earth runs to another man’s arms seconds after taking a murderous beating from the father of her child? I didn’t respond to him but was rather glad when I slowly let myself slip into an unconscious state
Chapter One My phone vibrated in my hand and brought me back to reality and I smiled once I realized that it was Gavin calling. “Why are you zoning out by yourself at the parking lot, come on up” He said. I hadn’t noticed that I was alone in the parking lot thinking about life. I watched him wave from the hotel room and I slowly walked into the all too familiar building. I felt like my legs were letting me down as I rushed past a few people in the hallway and knocked slightly on the heavy wooden door. Gavin’s voice soothed my soul as I entered. He was always a sight for sore eyes, his dazzling smile said it all and I fell in love with him again. I felt safe in his warm embrace and drunk in the sweet honey lemon feeling that was his scent. His familiar embrace made me melt and I just realized how much I had missed him. “Hello my love”, he said as he planted a light kiss on my lips. “Hello” He pulled me closer to him and combed his hands through my hair;