Page 111 of Nanny for the SEAL

“Ivy?” I hear Mark say. “You alright?”

But I can’t stop; I know that my father is right behind me. I can feel his breath on my neck as he chases me down.

It’s too familiar. Images of the past, of running away from that van, mix with the present, the world tilting on its axis. I’m through the door, though, and my car is right there.

I can make it. I can make it.

Something hits the back of my legs. Before I can react, I’m tripping, slamming down into the ground. Pain ricochets through my arms and knees, which took the brunt of the fall.

When I turn around, instinct forcing me to see what made me fall, I see a small dolly that my father shoved toward me. He’s rushing forward, and I have to get out of the way.

But I’m frozen.

He looks beyond furious, his eyes wild and bloodshot. God, has he been using again?

“Little bitch!”

The words force me back into flight mode, and I scramble to my feet, rushing for the driver's side of my car. When I get there, I’m slammed into the door and then spun around.

“You think you can just run away from me!? Huh!”

My back aches, and I can’t stop the sobs from racking through my chest. “Let me go!Please!”

All I can think about right now is the terror, and it’s made worse as I abruptly remember that it’s not just my life at stake.

No, no, no. I can’t lose the baby.

My father shakes me, shoving me against the car door again, and I yelp. “You want me to start making a scene in front of all these nice townies?”

He leans in, whispering in my ear. “You want me to tell them all what a bit fucking slut you are? All about what happened when you were a teenager!”

Horror and mortification seep through me, and I shake my head.

I logically know that the only reason I went along with the sex trafficking for as long as I did was because I was terrified.

I know that I let him parade me around like that to the “buyers,” let them touch me because I was too scared to even think.

But it doesn’t matter.

I’m trapped in a swirling hole of darkness that screams at me that my father is right. That I’m a worthless whore, and I don’t deserve my happiness.

The words are all said in my father’s voice as the play on repeat in my head.

I haven’t escaped him. I never will. I was wrong. I was so very fucking wrong about finally getting to have my life be mine.

“Please,” I whimper, my sobs punishing my chest, “I’ll do whatever you want. Just…just don’t hurt me again.”

I don’t want to be this person, this little girl. But all I can do is beg for my life.

“Get away from her!”

The world screeches to a halt as I hear Xaden’s voice calling out from my right. Turning that way, I see him barreling toward my father, and then, quick as a lightning strike, he plows into the man and sends him flying.

I’m knocked to the ground, the asphalt grinding into my palms, but my father isn’t holding me anymore.

Looking up into Xaden’s eyes, I’m past shocked and well into wild disbelief.

“Xaden?” I shake my head.

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