Ruined: Loving An Alpha Male(139)

When I saw her, I asked, “Do you know where he’s going?”

“Marc said South America and something about ‘keeping you safe from your dad.’”

My breath caught instantly. If my skin was lighter, you would probably see that I paled considerably. I grabbed onto the car next to me to keep me from fainting.

“Max, are you alright?” I heard her ask.

But I didn’t remember anything else because the next thing I saw was black. I heard someone faintly calling my name, and I opened my eyes. Marie and Marc were next to me. Marie was putting cold compresses on my forehead. I was inside Marc and Marie’s, house lying on their couch.

“Jesus, Maxine, are you okay?” Marc asked.

I saw the panic in both their eyes, and I sat up a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What happened?”

“You fainted when I told you where Mason was going.”

I started to feel sick again, and I reached for my phone that was on the table in front of me. I found the number I needed, and I dialed. When the phone was answered, I put it on speaker. My hands were shaking so much I couldn’t hold the phone to my ear.

“Ray?” I called.

“Hello, Maxine. How are you doing these days?” the voice boomed back at me.

I wasn’t in the mood for the pleasantries, so I got straight to the point

“Ray, I need to ask you two questions. I need you to be straight with me. Can you do that?”

“Well, Max, that would depend on what you’re asking.”

“No,” I screamed in the phone, causing my head to start to pound. “You need to do this for me. I deserve at least that from you.”

Marie and Marc looked on confused but curious as to who I was talking to. Finally, I heard my father sigh.

“Okay, Max, ask your questions.”

“Did you ever find out what happened to me during those ten days I was gone?”

I heard another long pause. Then he said simply, “Yes.”

I inhaled, hoping what he would say next would not make my heart and soul fill with dread. “Does Mason know?”

There was a longer pause on my phone, to the point where I thought I lost my connection.

My father finally said, “Yes.”

I cursed and hung up my phone. I lay back and closed my eyes, trying to stop my heart from beating clear out of my chest.

“Max, what’s going on? My brother said he was going to make sure you stayed safe. What does that mean?”

I opened my eyes and looked at the Marc and Marie.

“About six years ago, around the time my grandfather died, I came back to Dallas. I stayed with Kat and Cory, and I tried to get reacquainted with my father. I don’t really know why. Maybe that need of a daughter to get the love of her father drove me. Who knows. Well, my father is into some hairy things that caught up with me. Some people kidnapped me and held me for ten days in South America.”

“Holy shit!” Marc mumbled, and Marie just sat back in the chair she was in.

Marc asked, “So they took you to get money from your father?”

I shook my head.

“No, they took me to keep him in line. Apparently, they wanted him to do something that he didn’t want to. Instead of just taking things out on him, they took them out on me.”

I took a deep breath and told them what I had to live with for a very long time.

“During the time I was there, they beat me every single day. I first used to pray that my father would do what they wanted, so I could go home. But after a few days, I would pray that they would just kill me. The beatings were severe to the point I would pass out. Then I would come to with weight on my chest and grunting in my ear.”

I felt bile rising in my throat, so I stopped talking. Feeling the memory of what happened to me surface was terrifying. I hadn’t told anyone but Kat’s mom, and I’ve buried that memory with her until now.

“Oh Maxine,” Marie said, with tears in her eyes.

Marc had the same fire I would see in Mason’s eyes when he would get pissed off. Marc sat in his chair with his fists clenched on his knees, but his face was as calm as the sea before a storm.

I finally said, “I guess my father finally did what they wanted, because they let me go, and someone else took me back to the states. I was in the hospital for a very long time before I could be released.”

“Did the cops do anything?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Wasn’t much I could tell them. They took me off U.S. soil, and I saw no faces. Most of my time was spent with my eyes swollen shut. I couldn’t begin to tell you who was there, how many, or where I was. My father knew, and the cops talked to him. But I never found out if he did anything or said anything to the Feds. Anyway, the only person I ever told what happened to me was Kat’s mom, and I know she took my secret to the grave. I didn’t tell Mason about any of this. I knew he would go to the ends of the earth looking for the people that took me, and he would leave a trail of bodies in his wake.”