Deadly Devotion

I am at the police station, I never expected when I come to work I would be accompanied by the cops just ten minutes after, there are plenty of things that happened before I got here, all of the things that could explain why I’m here.

“Do you want to call anyone, maybe your family?” The cop asked, I glanced at me and took the phone.

A breath escaped my lips as I dialed the number, I watched as she stood beside me waiting for the person to pick up the call, it’s past midnight, and I’m calling her, she is going to kill me when she finds out why I am here.

I quickly spoke to her, my heart pounding against my chest, a wave of adrenaline washed over me, my fingers fiddled against each other when I heard her sigh.

“You should be lucky he is not pressing charges, you would have been behind the bar longer than a few hours.” The cop said, I felt the urge to roll my eyes at him.

I took a seat on a chair while I waited for my best-friend, I was behind bars for a couple of hours before he let me out and made me sit by the reception.

Everything was perfect until my ex-boyfriend showed up at the club, I am working as a bartender, I ignored him, but he had to make his presence known.

“Tara, have you lost your mind?” I heard my best friend yelled, she was more like an older sister to me, she has been with me for as long as I can remember. She made her way toward me pulling into a hug.

“I bailed you out, you are going to have to explain why you are not at the club.” Emily said.

“I met Ryan.” I whispered, I noticed as her smile dropped with the mere mention of his name.

“Are you okay?” Emily asked and I nodded.

I signed some papers before leaving, Ryan was not in sight which in grateful for.

Ryan and I have been dating for a year, I saw all the red flags, yet I ignored them, he would always try to control my decisions, I believe I was in love, so I never paid attention to his possessiveness. This is what love makes you do, it makes you lose the sanity you have, it makes all good sense thrown out of the window, love makes you weak, it makes you the worst version of yourself.

I have always believed in love until I fell in love, it made me weaker, it made me into a submissive person, Ryan started to mentally abuse me, it got worse when he put his hands on me.

“Are you sure you are okay? What did you do to him?” Emily asked once we got into the car.

“I stabbed him four times.” I whispered, he tried to touch me when he came to the club, no one tried to do anything about it.

Ryan made the first mistake when he touched me, I broke his hand that night and left, we broke up, he would always come back to beg me then he stopped after a couple of months, I haven’t seen him in a while until today.

“You can’t keep doing this, Tara, you have to be off the grid.” Emily muttered and I nodded.

I should have never stabbed him in public, dad would always say never have witness and don’t let anger get over you, I should have followed the simple rules that he had.

“Your father could have heard about this.” Emily said.

“Don’t talk about him.” I whispered, I love my family but staying away from them is the best relationship we could have.

We got to the house, my body falls back to my bed, a tear slipped out of my eyes, the sounds of my phone ringing pulls me out of my thoughts, I did not have to glance at the screen to know who is calling.

It’s my father.

I glanced at the time a sigh escaped my lips, he would always call by this time, every single day for the last one year, I thought he would get tired of calling especially when I have never picked up the phone, but he didn’t.

He hasn’t given up on me, I had given up on him and the whole family.

I wrapped the duvet around my body, I smiled at the photo beside my bed, it’s a picture of me and someone special, that was the last time I was the happiest, the last time I ever saw my family.

The next morning, I woke up feeling better about last night, the loud blaring through the house, it’s the work of Amelia, she worked from home, we end up spending the whole day together before I go to work at night.

I glanced at my phone screen, it’s a credit alert from my father, he would do that every week for a year now, I haven’t touched his money, I don’t need his dirty money not after what he did to me; not after what he did to all of us.

“The neighbors are going to complain about the noise.” I mumbled.

“You could always stab them if they do.” Emily smiled and I rolled my eyes at her.

“You did not have to bring it up Amelia, it was a mistake.” I said.

“Two months ago, you pushed a woman to the road; she almost lost her life, you need to learn how to control your temper Tara, where do you get it from.” Emily asked.

A shiver runs down my spine, I averted my eyes away from her.

“I know you don’t like talking about your family, I’m sorry.” Emily whispered and I nodded.

I have a bad temper just like my father, I guess that is why I have not forgiven him up until now, if I had a heart like my Mom’s I would still be back home with all of them.

“Your phone is ringing.” Emily said.

“It’s an unknown number, It is not my intention to pick up.” I mumbled, Emily snatched the phone away from me and placed it on speaker.

“You need to come home, Tara.” I heard a familiar voice. My heart pounded against my chest when I heard her voice, I haven’t heard from her for a year.

Tara’s POV

She never once called me, she never once texted me, you can imagine my reaction when I picked up the phone, and it’s my mother, my mother is a wonderful woman, she is the best mother anyone could have asked for but there was no problem, she worshiped my father, she says yes to everything he wants and even worse she ends up hurting us without knowing.

This is what love makes you do, you hurt the most important individuals in your life just for the approval of that one person, when I left home I never contacted her, and she was forced not to contact me.

I quickly picked up my phone and removed it off speaker, her voice lingered a little longer on my mind, she would never call if it was not important, she would never call if he didn’t need me.

I scrolled through my messages when I saw a message from my father, he must have sent it last night, it’s a ticket back home, it said treat as urgent.

“Mom.” I whispered, a tear slipped out of my eyes.