So I was passed around, sold from one person to the next. I never finished high school. I survived on odd jobs.
I was working at a diner when my father tracked me down. Said he'd turned over a new leaf. Instead, he drugged me and hung a degrading sign around my neck advertising me for a dollar a night.
Coins pelted my skin. A vagrant dragged me onto a filthy mattress by force.
And in that moment, when I had no one and nothing left, Seth appeared.
He pulled me into his arms, shielding me completely, and his voice cut through the air like a blade.
"She is my one and only fiancée. Anyone who touches her answers to the entire Vance family."
After that, he taught me taekwondo.
He said that once I could defend myself, I'd never have to be afraid again. Even when he wasn't by my side, I could protect myself.
I replayed every move Seth had taught me, pacing my energy, and put every last one of them on the ground.
They scrambled away like rats.
Memory and reality blurred together, and the truth settled over me like cold water. Seth wasn't here anymore.
I laughed bitterly and bent down to pick up the coins scattered across the pavement from the fight.