Page 111 of Beautifully Shattered
My dad’s lips part as his eyes dance between me and Ringo, and I brace myself for the backlash, but it never comes. Instead, my dad nods.
“Good. I can see he’ll do anything to protect you.”
“He will. Including killing you if I ask him to.”
If my words scare my dad, he doesn’t show it. Instead, a strange calmness washes over him.
“I’m a coward. I know that, and I’m sorry.” He shakes his head, anger lighting his eyes, but I can see it’s directed at himself, not me. “I ran that day at the chapel, because I didn’t know how to stop any of it. Pieces started falling into place, and I realised your mother’s involvement with the church was bigger than I ever could have imagined.”
“Let’s not pretend that place is a church,” Jols snaps from behind me. “It’s a cult. There’s no other word for it.”
My dad nods in agreement, his shaky hand reaching out to grab the bench, like he’s struggling to keep himself up.
“I should have run off with you and your sisters when Priscilla started going to Bible study a few years back. I could feel something wasn’t right. She had so much trauma from her childhood, so I never in a million years thought she’d want to go back there.” He cringes, his eyes falling distant like he’s remembering a past I’m not privy to. “I didn’t know, Abigail. She lied to me, and it was all too late when I found out.”
A sinister chill ripples down my spine as my fears start to become a reality.
“Her maiden name is Banes, not Bates, isn’t it?”
My dad’s brows shoot high. “How do you know that?”
“I found a scrapbook under her mattress. The name in it is Priscilla Louise Banes.”
My dad swallows thickly. “I only found out last month.”
“Bullshit!” Ringo snaps. “You married her. It would have been on your marriage certificate.”
My dad shakes his head. “My marriage certificate has her maiden name listed as Bates. She only revealed last month that she’d had her name legally changed to Bates when she got cast out of the church.”
“Cult,” JD snaps.
“Priscilla doesn’t see it as a cult. She grew up in it. She sees it as a church.” My dad’s eyes shift from JD back to me. “I went back to the chapel that day. I got an hour down the road and turned around, determined to kidnap my own daughters if I had to… But by the time I got back, it looked like a war zone, and no one was in sight.”
“Have you even noticed that I’m no longer pregnant?”
My dad’s brows shoot up again, his eyes dropping to my flatter stomach.
“Oh, sweetheart. Where—”
“SHE DIED!” I scream, the words ripping from me without warning.
My dad stumbles back, his hand slapping to his chest as a sob lurches from him.
“Oh no.” He shakes his head, tears bursting from his eyes. “No. No. No. No…”
“YES!” I storm towards him and shove him back, and he stumbles, nearly tripping over his own feet.
“The man you wanted me to marry raped me, Dad! He raped me and shared me with his friends so they could rape me too! And you did nothing but stand by and let Mum drug me and deliver me to them!”
My hand swings hard, my palm slapping his face so hard he tumbles into the fridge.
“I’m s-sorry, Abigail,” he cries, and I scoff.
“Those men chased me down! I was almost eight months pregnant! Eight months! I couldn’t even run properly. But I tried so hard to get away from them.” Tears burst from my eyes as I remember the moment rough hands shoved me from behind, and I fell. “Daniel pushed me, Dad. He pushed me, and I landed on my BABY!”
My hand goes around his throat as I hold him against the fridge, knowing all too well that if he wanted to, he could overpower me. But he doesn’t even try, his eyes overflowing with tears as I share the most terrifying moment of my life.
“I went into labour. I was bleeding. She was born right there in that fucking pine forest! In the fucking dirt!” I lean in, my lip curling with a snarl. “I only felt her alive for a few minutes, and then, I nearly died, and she DID DIE!”
