Prologue
Peace never lasted long in Teonny’s home. Actually, she wasn’t sure it ever visited, if she was honest.
“Now yo’ ass knows better for next time,” her husband, Kevin, spat out before he turned on his heels and stalked up the stairs.
The lesson he had taught her that day was to have dinner ready when he got home.
It was a lesson he had to ‘teach’ her often because he didn’t seem to understand on Wednesdays and Fridays, it was impossible for her to get dinner on the table by the time he got home because she had to pick their daughter up from her tap dance class.
He always beat her home on those days, and God forbid she picked food up to pacify him.
That was another lesson she’d learned. He only wanted home-cooked meals.
Teonny didn’t speak as she watched him disappear up the stairs. It took her a long time to peel herself up from the heated marble floor.
“Shit,” she hissed as she held her side. He no doubt sprang her ribs again. Nothing new. She didn’t even bother going to the hospital anymore.
The moment she and Kevin said, “I do,” three years ago was the moment peace left her completely.
Her story went like every other abuse survivor’s story went.
Kevin was her knight in shining armor after a string of terrible relationships.
He made hella money. He provided. He was charming, funny, a gentleman, and he loved hard.
All narcissists had those qualities, though, didn’t they?
It was just after their honeymoon when he hit her the first time, and he didn’t let up after that.
Tonight was just another normal night in their household.
Teonny was left tending to a black eye and a sore body while Kevin was upstairs getting ready for bed.
One thing she appreciated was that Kevin always waited for their daughter to go to bed to start terrorizing Teonny.
It wasn’t because that was what he wanted to do.
It was because she had begged him to keep that side of himself hidden from their daughter.
It was the only wish he granted her since they got married.
Tired didn’t begin to explain how she felt, but she had one reason to keep pushing.
Her daughter. Two if she counted her mom, who was her best friend.
Teonny felt like her mom could manage to move on without her, though, if she were no longer living.
Her four-year-old daughter couldn’t. Angel would never feel what it was like not to have her mommy around. She was Teonny’s reason.
Her aching bones caused her to move slowly.
The winding marble staircase looked like Mount Everest, but she kept pushing until she reached the top.
She inched her way toward the farthest door on the right and gently pushed it open.
Through the stinging tears in her eyes, she saw Angel sleeping peacefully in her bed.
Angel knew peace. She always had and always would if it was up to Teonny.
All she needed was a couple of minutes to take her daughter in from afar.
She didn’t want to disturb Angel, because she didn’t want her baby to see her blackened eye.
Over the years, Teonny had become a pro at covering her bruises.
In the back of her mind, though, she knew the day would come when Angel would have questions.
She sighed before gently closing Angel’s door and tiptoeing into her bedroom across the hall.
Kevin was already in bed and scrolling on his phone, no doubt talking to another bitch, which didn’t bother her one bit.
His dick was massive, and that hadn’t bothered her before they were married, back when he was gentle and kind.
Now, he slung that thing around like a damn weapon.
Whatever poor soul was getting dicked down by him, she didn’t envy them, but she thanked them every day because it kept him away from her in that way.
Thoughts of leaving him flashed through her mind for the millionth time since they got married as she looked at him in disgust. Just as quickly, the thoughts melted away.
She had no money of her own. Kevin was smart enough to never give her cash.
He took care of everything she needed, and she couldn’t even spend out of their accounts without him questioning her on everything.
When she got pregnant, he allowed her to quit her job and be a stay-at-home mom.
At the time, it was a dream come true. What woman wouldn’t want time to bond with their baby and heal from birth?
It was never supposed to be long-term though.
Somehow, that was exactly what it turned into.
The day she so much as opened her mouth to voice that she was ready to get back to her photography business and open up a new studio was the same day she got a concussion so badly she had no choice but to go to the hospital.
The truth was, Teonny was trapped in her own personal hell, and the devil who terrorized her every day turned his coal eyes on her and frowned.
“Fuck you just standing there for?”
Teonny blinked and tried to calm her repetitive thoughts.
“Sorry,” she muttered. She hadn’t meant to stand there and stare at him. That was sure to set him off, but luckily for her, he seemed too exhausted from his long day and from already going a round with her minutes earlier.
She inched her way into the connecting bathroom and prepared for a shower.
As soon as she was under the steamy rainfall showerhead, she thought about her childhood.
She never knew her dad, and her mom had her when she was only fourteen.
Because of that, they grew up more like friends than mother and daughter.
Tameka Austin might be a product of the Ellway Projects, but she was fly as hell and never mingled with the ratchet bitches on the block.
Teonny was a little more laid-back. She got along with everyone back in the day and was well respected because she was simply nice.
A real around the way girl. She wasn’t really big on attention, though it naturally found her, and she stayed out of drama.
Her mama, on the other hand, stayed in some messy shit, and often, Teonny had to step in to play middleman and deescalate situations Tameka found herself in.
Though they were complete opposites, they were thick as thieves, which was why it killed Teonny that over the past three years, she’d kept this secret from her mother.
To Tameka, Kevin was the perfect husband. Hell, he even paid her mama’s bills. As a third-generation legacy real estate developer in Ellwood, he came from really long and very old money.
Tears gathered in her eyes, and she allowed them to fall silently as she washed her body. The shower was the only place she cried. When her tears ran dry, she finished up in the shower and stepped out.
After tending to her eye, she walked into the large walk-in closet and dressed in some red silk pajamas. Just as she put her towel and dirty clothes in the hamper, she heard a loud thud.
With her brows dipped, she walked into the bedroom. “Kev—”
The words got caught in her throat as she took in the scene. There were two men dressed in all black with ski masks over their faces pointing a gun at Kevin, who was on the floor looking like he was about to piss his thousand-dollar pajama pants.
“Bitch, put yo’ hands up!” one of the men shouted, pointing the gun at her.
She glanced at Kevin with fear locking her in place. Just this one time she wanted to be reminded of what it felt like to feel safe in Kevin’s presence, but he only glared at her before he quickly said, “You dumb bitch! Go get the gun—”
It was a strange thing, watching someone die.
Teonny’s brain couldn’t quite compute the bloody mess that now covered her walls.
Kevin’s handsome face, the face she had grown to despise, was half missing as brain matter leaked onto their cream-colored carpet.
Despite half his face missing, he looked peaceful, like he could finally shut the fuck up for once and rest those evil thoughts that ran his life.
“Fuck, bro, you wasn’t supposed to kill him,” one of the men shouted. Teonny broke out of her daze before a scream tore out of her chest.
These people were dangerous. Her brain was finally catching up with how serious the situation was, but all she could do was scream. She wanted to bolt toward the door and get to her baby, but her feet stayed planted in place as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Man, bro, get her!”
A moment later, a large hand clamped over her mouth. She fought back, but the man was big, and she was no match for him.
“Shut up,” he hissed. “All we need is the money in the safe. And don’t play dumb. We know you got one.” This was what this was about? Money? Hell, they could have that. She would give them everything. All she wanted was to get to her baby. “Nod if you understand.”
She quickly nodded. Her vision blurred as tears splashed down her cheeks.
The man pushed her forward and pointed his gun at her. “Show us where the shit is, and no funny business.”
“P-please, I just want—”
“Bitch!” He reared back and hit her in the head. It was nothing new to her. She was used to this kind of treatment, and she could take it. It did, however, shut her up.
“It’s i-in the closet.” She stuttered as she pointed a shaky finger toward the walk-in closet.
The bigger man picked her up by her hair and shoved her toward the closet.
“Aye, man, not so rough,” the smaller man said.
“Man, go on,” the bigger man spat. “This bitch needs to do what she’s told and quickly. These white people in this neighborhood probably heard that shot.”
Teonny hoped so. She crawled toward the closet. Her head pierced with pain from every movement, but she pushed forward.
Both men followed her, and she shakily spun the dial to the safe in the closet to open it. There was only about a hundred thousand dollars in there. Kevin had it stacked in a way that he could tell from a glance if she touched it, so she never did, but she knew the combination.
She also knew there was a gun inside.
Just when she swung the safe open, she heard the one sound she so desperately wanted to hear but also didn’t want to hear right at that moment.
“Mommy—”
Time stopped for Teonny at that moment. She swung around at the sound of Angel’s voice, horror written across Teonny’s bruised but beautiful features.
The smaller man, who was closer to the entrance of the closet, reacted in the worst way.
Teonny was sure she would never be able to get the sound of that specific shot out of her head.
Angel’s small body dropped, and so did Teonny’s heart.
“Fuck, man! She scared me! I ain’t know! I ain’t know!” The smaller man panicked as he placed his hands on the top of his head.
The larger man cursed and made a move toward the safe, but Teonny had already grabbed the gun.
She had no idea how to use it. She fumbled with it, but it was enough to scare the two men.
They backed up. When she figured out how to turn the safety off, she pointed the gun at them with shaky hands, but they already backpedaled out of the closet.
She fired a shot, and they ran. Teonny shot again and again, even after they disappeared from the closet.
She shot until the clip was empty as she sobbed before she dropped the gun and crawled toward her daughter.
Before she even got to her, Teonny knew.
She knew the moment that shot rang out. Her baby was dead.
She lay down next to her daughter and sobbed. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
The sounds of sirens registered. Those white neighbors must have called the police. Teonny didn’t care. At that point, she actually wished those men would come back and finish her off.
With that thought, she crawled toward the gun and picked it up. She knew there were no more bullets, but she tore the safe apart to see if there were anymore. There weren’t.
She released a pained and frustrated cry as she placed the gun to her temple anyway and pulled the trigger multiple times, praying for the best.
God didn’t hear her.
When the police finally found her, she was curled up next to her daughter, inconsolable and forever changed.