REprisal - Kathy Coopmans Page 0,3

and you can have Trent for all I care! You two were made for each other.”

“Don’t be so ungrateful, my dear. You’re only alive because I want you to be. Actually, no . . . it’s a little more than that. It’s because I need you to be. You see, you have something I want. It’s a necessity now, so unfortunately for me, I have to keep you alive. For how long after I get what I need from you . . . well, that depends on a lot of things.”

What could I possibly have that she wants? I have nothing; she has taken it all away from me. I hate her. She didn’t get her hands on that money and now she is taking it out on me. I lift my head off of the pillow as best as I can to look her dead in her eyes.

“What a spiteful woman you are. Hurting your own child for money.”

“You were never my child,” she says bitterly. “I may have given birth to you, but trust me on this, I have regretted the day you were born since I first laid eyes on you.”

I turn my head away, welcoming the pull of the drugs taking me under again, but her last words cut through me as smooth as a knife slices through butter, jolting me back awake.

“You may have been worthless, but finally you’re going to be useful for something. That baby you are carrying is going to get me every dime of that money.”

I sit straight up in bed, my eyes immediately snapping over to Journey, who is still sleeping by my side. I remember it all. Every last detail. Her threats when she came in here, the way she talked to my unborn child about how much she was going to love and take care of her.

She wants my daughter.

Chapter Two

Clove

This revelation has me panicking. When? How long will it be before she tries to take Journey away from me?

My fingers stroke the softness of her chubby cheeks, thankful she is too young to understand the chaotic world she lives in.

“I have to get us out of here,” I whisper softly into her hair. She stirs. Her eyes move back and forth in rapid movements, and a smile spreads across her face.

“Sweet dreams, for a sweet girl,” I coo at her. Her features soften as she drifts back to sleep.

Tina is right. She never was nor ever will be my mother. I am nothing like her. She is a prime example of a waste of a human being. One who spreads her legs for money . . . nothing more than a common whore.

I learned the true meaning of love from the best person in the world; my dad. He sacrificed his entire life for my brother and me, showed us the beauty within a kind person’s soul. He taught us unconditional love. You love, protect, and cherish your child, not because you have to, but because you want to. This beautiful, loved, and much wanted daughter of mine means everything to me. I sigh loudly.

God knows how long I have been inside this place. This really is a prison, with cameras in every corner of this room and the bathroom. Fucking freaks. It’s about damn time I take charge of my life and get my daughter and me the hell out of here. The plan I have in mind has me cringing on the inside, but I have to do it. It’s my only chance. If it doesn’t work, they will have to kill me before I let them take the only piece of Turner I have left away from me.

The key to my escape is coming faster than I thought. I feel that sick bastard Trent behind me, watching me bathe Journey in the bathtub adjacent to my room. Her little digits wrap around my fingers as she kicks and splashes in the three inches of lukewarm water. This is one of my favorite parts of the day, watching her eyes get wide as her legs move a mile a minute. Cradling my chin on one hand along the edge of the tub, I suck in a deep breath.

“You know,” I say without turning my head, “I remember not so long ago, when you had me on my hands and knees in a bathroom similar to this.”

His growl sounds like a fucking lion coming from behind me. Oh, how I wish I could see his face,