His Broken Obsession

TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️: This book contains domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, substance use, mental health struggles, and self-harm.

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14 years ago—Nata, Botswana.

“Dineo, please don't do this. My parents are coming over. How do we explain the marks?” Keeya cried out as her husband landed another blow on her back. She was still sore from the beating he had given her before, after stumbling into their run-down apartment drunk.

“So, you think you can give me orders now?” He yelled, the veins in his neck bulging scarily.

His eyes were firm with anger as rage overwhelmed him, fueling his need for violence, which he willingly delivered on his helpless and already battered wife.

“You are the one who got scammed. Why are you taking it out on me like I was the one who scammed you?” Keeya shouted, even though she knew it would only make him angrier.

“You think I don't know you have a new lover? He gives you money to fix your hair, right?” He roared and smacked her across the face.

His painful grip on her braids kept her from hitting the floor.

Keeya wasn’t surprised that Dineo changed the topic. Whenever he did something wrong, he always found a way to blame her.

“Keeya,” He drawled almost tenderly, as though it pained him to hit her. His fingers tightened around her jaw, forcing her to look at him.

“Are you cheating on me? Does he give you money to look good for him?” He accused, his tone getting harder with each word he spat.

Spit landed on her face, and she grimaced.

“So now I disgust you, eh?”

His hands went around her throat, squeezing it tight and cutting off her air supply. Dark Spot danced around her vision as she struggled against his hold.

“Dineo,” Keeya choked out. “There is no man. My mama gave me money to fix my hair because she didn't like how I looked without my hair made”

Keeya was a stunning woman with fair skin and light brown eyes almost the color of the sun as it retired for the day. Her smile could light up the room, yet she chose Dineo, with this dirty skin that had only become rugged with poverty and rough hands from odd jobs.

“You are lying." The hold he had around her neck tightened. “I'll kill you before I let you leave me.” He yelled before he pushed her backwards.

There was nothing to brace herself with, so Keeya crashed against the table, and the back of her head slammed against the sharp edge of the table. She cried out as a sharp pain surged through her body.

Blood trickled down her nape to the ground, and Dineo’s eyes widened in fear as it began to pool beneath her.

Keeya saw the blood and whimpered.

“You are a monster, Dineo, and I regret the day I married you. You never should have been the father to my children. They deserve better than a deadbeat monster.” She looked up at him with fear and hatred in her eyes.

Dineo, with his feeble mind and pathetic masculinity, couldn't stomach the words his dying wife threw at him, so he pulled her to him, blinded with rage.

“Someone help me,” Keeya wailed, but her voice had lost its power as she weakened. The dark look in Dineo’s eyes frightened her, and she struggled to get away from him.

Dineo slammed his fist on her head continuously, allowing his anger to consume him. All he could think of was her words and how they made him feel pitiful.

“I see the way you look at Alora, you animal. She is your daughter!!!” Keeya continued, despite his blows slowly stealing her life, “You are a dog, Dineo. A dog”

Dineo’s madness soared.

“She is mine," he roared. “You won't take her from me. Alora belongs to me.” His fists dropped faster and harder continuously, and he didn't even realize that she was no longer moving in the haze of rage.

“Mama?”

The tiny voice snapped Dineo out of it. He stared at his wife’s bloodied, motionless body and fell backwards, then scrambled away from her onto his feet.

“Mama?” Alora called again when her mother didn’t answer the first time. Her golden-brown eyes, a replica of her mother’s, glanced towards her father in fear.

Alora crawled to Keeya and sat in the pool of her blood. She cradled her mother’s head in her small lap.

“Papa, you hit Mama again. Why isn't she getting up?” She glared at him, then bent over her mother to hide her from her father in case he decided to hit her again.

“Alora, come here. I'll explain it to you," Dineo said shakily. How much had she seen?

She shook her head and tried to shuffle away from his extended hand. “Mama said not to let you touch me.”

“Alora! Come here, or I will hit you too.” He warned her, but she pressed her body to the shelves instead.

Dineo growled and stormed towards the 4-year-old. He snatched her, but she began to struggle in his arms, so he smacked her across the face, and Alora began to cry loudly.

“If you don't keep quiet, I will hit you again."

Alora pressed her lips together to silence her cries.

Dineo glanced at Keeya’s body again. Whatever guilt he had felt earlier had disappeared. He spat on her body.

“Useless wh*r*," he sneered, kicking the lifeless body.

He stepped on her face one more time before fleeing with his little doll.

ALORA

Someone is watching me.

His dark eyes and the smile on his lips make me want to turn and run, but my legs refuse to cooperate.

He lifts a hand and beckons to me with a sickening smile that makes my body twist with unease.

“My doll,” his raspy voice calls, “I’m coming for you, Alora. You belong to me.”

My eyes prickle with frustrated tears. I hate how helpless I feel around this man. Every alarm bell in my head is ringing, but I can’t move.

“Who are you?” I choke out, my voice betraying the terror I feel with the obvious tremors.

I have no idea who this man is or why I am so terrified of him.

Suddenly, he starts running towards me.

Panic grips me. “Stop!” I scream, struggling to make my legs move. “Don’t come any closer!”

“Alora!” Someone yells from a distance.

I’m too frightened to look away. What if he catches me when