Naked Love

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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“Mr Lance, you've got a letter”.

“Dear Lance,

It's been weeks since you got in contact with me. You still have an unpaid sixty four percent of the money I lent you and it's just two hundred days left as it is on the contract. I hope I get my money before then else you know what I can do. ”

ANDRE FEDERICO.

Deep in thought, worried and devastated , the 54 year old father to Vanessa and Trey Warner had to seek out a way to pay up the huge sum of money he had borrowed from an Italian Billionaire Andre Federico.

Two weeks later, another letter of reminder was sent to Lance but this time it got to Vanessa. She was so scared ,sad and angry her Father didn't let her know all this. Things were hard especially since their mom was lost in a tragic accident traveling home from a work trip. Lance who was forced to retire due to his health conditions couldn't afford to give his kids the right education ,fend enough for his family and even run a business that he had to go on a loan.

“How are we going to pay off all this money in just less than two hundred days?” Vanessa asked.

“You could have told me I would have opted to skip college and have a job for now , I couldn't even complete college. We spent a lot on your health, feeding, bills here and there ” she said in a pessimistic tone.

“I did what i felt was best at the moment for us” Mr Lance cried out coughing repeatedly. I am sorry i hadn't inform you earlier. I am going to die anyway its not like my health condition is getting better, the man doesn't know you or any of my family members...Let him come for me. I still have some money left, you and Miles can move out of the town get married and start your new life, you are going to take Trey along also till he is man enough to live on his own and have a family, you both have my blessings.”

“No no no, we are not doing that i can not leave you alone in this, i understand you did this for us, i have to in one way help raise some of them money”.

“You do what i say and move out of this town or you would end up killed and wasted with me” answered Lance. They went on exchanging words of regret and disappointment leaving Trey so confused he slammed the door and said he was going to move into his friends place till they conflict was over. This brought a moment of quiet between Vanessa and her father. Swinging her arms and making murmuring movements was only what she could do in the room. Vanessa was out at night with her high school lover Miles Coleman. They have been dating since the tenth grade of high school and now on the verge of marriage but everything was about to cut short.

“Girl, girl...we have been here for twenty minutes and you haven't said a word, is everything okay?” a worried Miles asked. He pondered deeply, is everything okay with her or did I hurt her?.

She answered with tears in her ears and a tone with just pure bitterness “We are about to lose our lives, they are going to kill us”

Now more scared and worried in a loud shaky tone Miles asked,

”Who?”

“Why are they after your lives?”

“It's my father, he did it for us and now we are in a big mess. Having lost every bit of comfort in him, Miles asked Vanessa to at least leave the restaurant with him so they could go home and talk. She agreed to go with him for the night and spend the night there with him. After a thirty seven minutes drive to his house, Miles told Vanessa to get to bed and later when she's up they would talk and she did so, it was the first time she got to sleep in his house , she always has had to go home earlier to cook for her dad and brother. Miles already called Lance and informed him Vanessa would be staying for the night.

Preparing her favorite coffee, Vanessa went on to Miles hugged him from behind before taking a sip off the mug.

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