Clean Inspirational Romance: Escape to Paradise (Inspirational Happy Sweet First Love Second Chance Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Love Inspired Holiday Short Stories) (20 page)

Never before Roy had returned home drunk, so she didn’t know how to react. Her first concern was Jill; she didn’t want her to be part of this. She moved towards the staircase and saw the little girl looking around puzzled, awoken by her roaring step-dad.

“Go to your room little pumpkin and lock the door. Don’t come out until I say you so, alright?” she whispered at her.

Feeling afraid, little Jill didn’t complain; on the contrary, she ran back to her bedroom and locked the door behind. Now, Connie had to deal with Roy. She followed him as he shouted for Jill and Connie, finally stopping in the living room, in the same place he was siting during the first day of their meet. His look was blank and he couldn’t focus anywhere. She was standing a couple feet away from him, and even then it took him a moment to notice her.

Her body had taken a defensive stance. One leg was facing the door, the other was ready to run at a moment’s notice. Her hands were crossed in front of her chest, creating an imaginary wall between them. But nothing helped her feel comfortable enough; she lost her confidence as soon as he talked.

“If it isn’t the little, barren, housewife. Is there anything to eat?”

He was mumbling, constantly confusing his words.

“No. I thought you wouldn’t return home again today.”

“Well, you thought wrong. Go and make me something to eat,” he said with a resentful voice.

“But the fridge is empty,” she replied at him, fearing his imminent rage.

“For the love of God, can you do
nothing
right? I feed you, pamper your child, even fuck you, but you always disappoint me. You can’t even get pregnant. You are a waste...useless...unable to even raise your own child.”

She felt her fleeing sanity blackening; Connie went out of control. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she had fallen into a tantrum. All of a sudden, she started throwing everything in her reach towards him. A vase struck him and shattered. He growled in pain, but the pain seemed to sober him up. It wasn’t long before he stood up; instinctively, she started running away from him. Fear had clouded her judgment, and even though she knew how to escape this house, she ran upstairs, which would trap her up there. He chased her; she thought that if she could manage to get in her bedroom, she could lock him out.

But she had forgotten the fact that her room hadn’t a key for locking the door. So, after getting inside, and even though she fervently looked for it, it was nowhere to be found.

Connie slammed shut the door and stood against the door, using her body as an obstacle; but Roy’s drunken rage was too much for a frail woman. He got in and punched her in the face; later she realized that she was actually lucky that he started with her face. The punch dazed her and the next hits didn’t seem as painful.

Her head was buzzing after he finished; her sides were hurting while her whole body was numb from the beating. She could only move her eyes, but after the adrenaline in her blood stopped affecting her the only thing that remained was exhaustion.

However, pain didn’t let her fall asleep. Roy was still in the room with her, short of breath, but still not having enough—this time though, he moved towards Jill’s room.

After realizing that her child was in danger, a second wave of adrenaline rushed into her blood. Instead of helping her though, it made her pain even stronger; she wanted to scream, but her lungs were out of air. Even so, though every inch of her body was burning from the excessive effort she had put into moving, so she only managed to sit on the floor. Roy was outside Jill’s room and he was trying to make her open the door by reassuring her that everything was okay. Yet, it seemed that Connie’s cries had been heard throughout the house, and Jill was too afraid to come out.

That gave her hope; if she could get up and call the police, their troubles would be over. The phone was on the bedside table and if she extended her hand, she could touch it. Every move brought a new surge of pain from her sides, but her mind was set. Jill’s life depended on that call and she would make it, even if she died afterwards. She was able to touch it now, but at the moment she grabbed the phone, a long cry was heard from Jill’s room. She got distracted only for a second, and it fell on the floor, breaking.

Roy turned his head towards Connie; she could see the flames coming from his eyes even from that far away, burning her insides. She wanted to scream, to run away from him, but she couldn’t move an inch. She lay down on the floor, and watched him closing in on her. The cold, hard floor offered a kind of relief to her burning wounds, but her calmness was momentarily. Roy’s steps were heavy and hard; she could sense his anger pulsing on the floor. Even so, before Roy got close enough, Connie managed a smile. She had stopped him from harming Jill; that was the only thing she could ask for.

***

The first thing that came was the pain; an excruciating pain. Her lungs were now full of air and her cry was a long and agonizing. She couldn’t move her hands and her sides stung every time she tried to stand up. She would try to open her eyes, but they were puffed, and her vision was blurry. She wasn’t able to understand where she was, but with the lack of natural light and the humid atmosphere, she figured that he must have locked her in the basement.

For a long while, Connie tried to recollect her thoughts. Shock wiped out many of her memories from last night, her mind trying to protect her from the trauma. Her whole body was aching, but at last she managed to stand on her feet. She was right about it being the basement, but she couldn’t determine how big it was. While she was trying to count her steps from one side to the other, she lost the count more than once. However, that was the least of her concerns now.

Jill was probably in her room, or at least Connie hoped she were still in her room. She couldn’t hear Roy from down there, but she had to assume that he was still in the house. Also, she couldn’t estimate the time of the day, since the basement was lacking any sort of windows. All these things made matters worse, because she had to find a way out of there as soon as possible. So, she searched around the basement for any kind of weapon; a crowbar, or something that could help her get out of the room. The only thing she was able to find was an old, rotten plank. Either way, she held it tightly in her arms while looked around the staircase.

It didn’t take her long to find, and climb it. She touched her ear against the door at the top, and tried to listen what was going on in the house. It was then that she heard a phone ringing; she got startled and thought of moving away from the door, but her curiosity took the most of her. It was Roy who picked up the phone, though he was too far away from the basement door to be able to figure out what he said. Afterwards, Connie heard steps drawing near, stopping in front of the door.

“Are you up, honey?”

He wanted to mock her, make her feel even worse; however, she was done feeling sorry for herself. She decided not to answer to him.

“You stupid bitch; I have to go and take care of some things about our marriage. When I return, we’re going to have a nice, long, talk. Until then, rest and get well soon,” he continued in a sarcastic tone.

He loved putting up a show even for himself. All the same, she didn’t answer and before long, he moved away from the door. Connie was still standing next to the door when she heard the car engine turning on. Roy was finally out of the house; now it was her chance to escape. She thought that her only option was to call Jill and ask her to unlock the door. However, she was weak from all the strenuous effort she had to make to climb all those stairs. Nevertheless, she tried calling her, shouting on the top of her lungs, but later realizing that the room was fully insulated.

Starting to lose hope, she started turning the door handle furiously, while also knocking the door with the other hand; but no one was listening. Hot tears started flowing on her cheeks; she was unable to hold them back. Emotions swirled in her mind; fear, agony, pain, all of them creating a nauseous feeling that almost made her throw up. Suddenly though, she heard a weak voice from the other side of the door. It was Jill.

“Mom? Mommy? Are you here?”

She was probably crying since her voice was broken, “Yes honey, I’m in here. Oh my God, are you okay?”

“Mommy, I’m scared.”

“Don’t be, little pumpkin. I’m here for you. You just have to find the key to this door. Take a look around and tell me what you see,” she said, feeling guilty for making her child go through this alone.

For a while, Jill was searching around the house while Connie instructed her from inside the basement. The clock was ticking and they both knew that if Roy returned, everything would be over. Half an hour later and they still haven’t found a thing; now, they were both out of ideas, and probably, out of time. Jill heard a car parking in front of the house and started panicking, while Connie shouted at her to return to her bedroom and lock the door. But, abruptly, Jill stopped crying and ran away from the basement door. Connie wasn’t sure what had happened; all that remained was fear. She knocked on the door and screamed for help; it was then that an unknown man spoke up from the other side of the door.

“What is going on in here?” he asked with a calm demeanor.

Her knees loosened and she felt butterflies flying in her belly. A feeling of pure euphoria ran through her body; they were saved. The man heard Connie’s story while he was trying to get her out from the basement. She told him everything; how she and Roy met each other, the fact that he was always cold towards her, and how he beat her while he was drunk. It was a long story, but fortunately, the man would gladly help them. In the meantime, he had called the police and he was waiting for them to arrive, while keeping Jill company.

After a short while, Mr. Roberts—that was the man’s name—managed to break open the basement door and free Connie. Jill rushed into her mother’s hug with teary eyes, while Connie searched her body for any wounds; fortunately she was safe and sound. After that, she thanked the strange man and his tenacity. He recognized Mr. Roberts as the man who had met Roy outside the estate, when they had arrived two months before. It seemed that Mr. Roberts was in a feud with Roy since he had fired him a month ago, after twenty years of work, for no apparent reason. He was his father’s business partner and one of the people who would benefit if Roy was not eligible to inherit the company himself.

But after talking with the man for a while, she understood his motives. It seemed that Roy’s father had asked Mr. Roberts to take care of Roy after he passed away since he was very impulsive and could lead his life to self-destruction. It wasn’t an easy task, considering that Roy was a greedy, sadistic, bastard—that was also Mr. Roberts’ opinion. Although, a promise was a promise and they were all glad that he kept it.

***

“A year passed since the incident in a small town in Texas. One of the local channels reviewed the case of Mr. Roy Coleman, the first son of the late Bobby Coleman, and future CEO of the behemoth in agriculture industries. His fall was imminent after he was caught manipulating his father’s last testament in his favor by, actually, buying a wife for himself and then mistreating her. One of his neighbors happened to pass by his residence when a small girl ran out of the house, crying for help.

“It wasn’t long after that they discover the assaulted, wife-to-be of Coleman in a dire situation. After hospitalizing her, and arresting the man himself, he pleaded not guilty for having fallen into a trap orchestrated from his fiancée and his neighbor. Nevertheless, his case didn’t stand in court, and he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.”

The reporter was talking with a detached calmness while retelling Connie’s story in just five minutes. Connie was sitting in her living room in a small town far away from Texas—and Roy. Jill was out, playing with her new friends, while Connie had to be careful not to hurt her unborn child. She was three months pregnant and her husband was in the kitchen, cooking for both of them.

“Did you hear? He still claims to be innocent,” she said out loud so that he could hear her.

He quickly came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron, looking at the TV. “Amazing. What a creep.”

“It seems he still believes he can do whatever he wants,” she said, before receiving a peck on her lips from her new husband.

Mark was the doctor who had taken care of her, and Jill, at the hospital after the incident. Even though Connie’s body was covered with wounds, her happiness that she was free of Roy didn’t let her feel any kind of pain.

That was her first characteristic that he had fallen in love with; her never-ending optimism. And then everything just happened. They continued seeing each other after Connie’s treatment was over and after a while he proposed to her. She instantly said yes, even though their relationship was still in the beginning; she felt like she needed a strong man by her side to help her get over all these bad memories.

After their engagement, they decided to move out of Texas and relocate to California for a fresh start. Mark’s parents lived there. Mark quickly managed to find a new job, and a house, and they got married during summer.

Since then, Connie had gotten pregnant and their life had changed for the best. Last week though, a TV reporter called to ask some questions about their case. She politely answered his questions and then asked him when the story was supposed to air so that she could watch it. She wanted to see how low this man had fallen, to totally demystify him.