Shh! I Belong To Your Uncle Now

NOTICE — This story includes explicit sexual content, family conflict, toxic relationships, physical and emotional abuse, child endangerment, kidnapping, murder themes, and psychological manipulation. Reader discretion is advised.

••• AURORA •••

My eyes are heavy as a tear slides down my left cheek.

To save my child, I need to sign the divorce papers. And the one bringing the deal? "Just sign the damn papers already!" It's my husband. He glares at me through the phone being held by one of the abductors he’d clearly sent.

How can a man be this cruel? Just staring at him through the screen makes my insides threaten to explode. I grit my teeth, my hands are tied to an iron chair, and I have no idea where I am.

Just two months ago, he asked me to quit my job to care for our sick child. I’d agreed, thinking he meant well. Then, last week, that same man asked me to transfer every property and asset in my name to him because of some fake legal business he had gotten himself into, and as a supportive wife, I foolishly did. And now? He is marrying one of his business partner’s daughters—to seal a deal—and to erase me from his life, he did this.

Ronald had me kidnapped!

"You don’t want your child to die, right? You should be grateful I’m still taking responsibility for that fucking bastard!" He spat, his anger sharp through the screen.

Who is he to be angry? And what’s the point in arguing for the hundredth time that Kendra is his child? The first time he said it, I thought he was joking. Now, I realize he’s been carrying that hatred all along.

I bite my bottom lip, staring at the paper lying still on the table, daring me to sign.

"Untie her if she’s ready to sign. If she doesn’t, start torturing her." Ronald's cold voice came again. "The wedding date’s been set already." Then he ended the call.

One of the men walks over and loosens the ropes digging into my skin.

"Take this and sign the damn papers. Don’t provoke your husband any further."

I swallow hard. He’s not my husband. Ronald is now my ex.

I take the pen, my hands tremble as I bring it close to the divorce papers.

How am I supposed to move on after this?

Could I even survive without Ronald? Everything I own, every dime of my hard work—gone!

I should have listened to my old men when they warned me not to marry him, not to have anything to do with Ronald. The rich always want to get richer, no matter who they destroy—and Ronald? He is no different.

"Just sign it, lady!" One of them yelled. I heard the others whispering, mocking me. Saying I wouldn’t leave Ronald because he’s rich.

Well, hell! I made him richer. I made him who he is after five years of dedicating my life to him!

What am I supposed to tell Kendra when she grows up? That her father is an asshole who used her against me—and even called her a bastard? I should be so ashamed for having her for that monster!

My tear flows down freely from my face as I begin to sign the papers. Everything I have ever worked for would be gone forever after this divorce. We don't even have an open marriage for people to recognize me as the legal wife of Ronald; going to court and asking for help from the media would be a waste of time. Who knows? I might even be the one to get sued for slandering his name. I shouldn't even let the world know about Kendra.

"Finally!" The man beside me called out as he snatched the papers from the table. "You wouldn't have been brought all the way from New York to Los Angeles if you had paid attention." He says and I can see him stretch the divorce papers to one of his men. "Give the lawyer, let him go through it, and let's know if we're done here." He gives out the instructions, and the guy who is now with the papers walks out of somewhere I imagine to be a door.

This place is dark, with only a small lamp beside me that has aided in my signing. I can't even see their face properly as they have their faces covered.

The man who had walked out the door returns, and whatever he whispers to the boss prompts a command for my release before he walks away.

They should have killed me instead! What is the use of setting me free when I was just a living dead? Where am I to go! My heart squeezes as this guy forces me to my feet, which are now numb as they force me out of this dark place.

We climb down a staircase and into a van, where they push me in, slamming the door closed. Even before I could make a movement of my own the van already started to move.

I bring my legs closer to myself and wrap my hands around them as I hug myself.

"Everything would be fine, Aurora," I mumble under my shaky breath. I will not cry, there was no use in that. I've passed through worse situations when I lost my parent at a tender age, and now? I will probably get up on my feet find my spark—but... How?

How?

The question rings in my head as I nibble on my bottom lip till I feel the rush of pain flowing through my body, but I wasn't stopping. My hands clench as I try to fight back the tears that threaten to pour out of my face.

If I am behaving this way, then what about my daughter? I should stay strong for her—but I can't. I can't bear this anymore.

Ronald is gone, the five years of my life have been wasted! My business is gone, everything that I ever made has crumbled!

My world has come to its end.

The van pulls to a stop, and I am aware of what is to come next as the door slides open, and then the two masked men pull me out of the van, and I drop to my feet. They hurried to the van and sped off, as though this marked the end of our encounter.

They are just men following orders. The real demon is Ronald. He wins and I'm here helpless, stranded in a city I thought I would relocate to once my daughter is fully done with her treatment.

The thought of Kendra crosses my mind, and for God so loved the world, a smile threatens to appear on my face.

Even if I lost everything, she will always bear my daughter and will always be by my side. I would have ended it all tonight, but I have Kendra, I'm willing to live again. I promised her that she will not lose both parents, and even though she just lost her father, I will bring it upon myself that she won't go through the sh*t I had to go through while growing up as an orphan.

Barely able to con