I was terrified all the time.

I couldn't go on like this. I was even afraid of my own shadow.

I heard a noise downstairs and I knew Allan was home. He was probably searching the cabinets for his stash of alcohol. He was more violent when he was drunk.

I heard my stomach grumbled again. I was really hungry, but I couldn't go downstairs, because he would see me and find a reason to hit me.

I really don't know why my mother had married him. What had she seen in him? I don't know why I ask that question, because I already knew the answer. He was rich and my mother needed the money.

Dad died when I was ten and we started to have money issues. My mother had to do something in order for us to get by, so a year later she married Allan. She didn't love him and I knew he didn't love her either.

Her Saving Grace

Mr. Knight gave a short nod. All this while, the grin never left my face. Carson and I left his father's study and went to his room.


It was now a day before New Year's Eve. I was in the kitchen helping Marilyn cook dinner, when I heard the doorbell ring. I told Marilyn that I would get it as she had given Ms. Nordia and Linda the holidays off.


I opened the door to see a woman standing on the other side. She looked me over, a kind smile on her face. "Hello, are you Kayla?"


I nodded my head and looked at her curiously. "Yes."


The woman's smile light up and her brown eyes sparkled. I couldn't shake the idea that I knew her somehow. There was something about her black hair that was caught up into a bun at the back of her head and in the way she smiled. "Oh my! Look at you!" She exclaimed. "You have grown into a beautiful young lady."


"I'm Eloise Green-Russell. I'm Tristan's older sister." She explains.


Chapter 66