Free Betrayed (The New Yorker) by M. O. Kenyan Page B

little boy was always trying to play with
her, and no matter what she tried he wouldn’t leave her alone. Then she
realized that something else was going on between her mother and Adrian, and
there was this other man who kept on bringing his mother flowers. Months flew
by and Rosalinda announced to her that she was marrying Adrian Ross. Lisette
threw a fit, a tantrum that lasted a week. She would refuse to sleep in her new
room, no matter how magnificent it was, she vowed not to let herself succumb to
its beauty.
    Lisette
wasn’t going to let her mother go through the beatings she went through with
Ricardo. Adrian had tried to reach out to her, but even his gifts and care
never softened her already hardened heart. A week later her view of Adrian
changed. Ricardo had been served with divorce papers and decided it was time to
reclaim both his wife and his child. Like the darkness that he was, Ricardo
crept into the house. Lisette only knew he was there when his hand covered her
mouth and he hauled her out of bed.
    Lisette wasn’t
one to be defeated. She kicked and bit him, until finally his hand fell from
her mouth and she let out the loudest scream she could muster. The first one to
come to her rescue was AJ. He was only a year older and taller, and there was
nothing he could do could save her from Ricardo. Her mother and Adrian soon
appeared. She screamed while Adrian charged. Somehow Adrian had managed to get
her free. But Ricardo was soon overpowering Adrian—

 
    “Ricardo was standing with his back
turned to the stair case. I could see him take something out of his pocket. I
remember thinking that if Adrian could just push him a little bit, Ricardo would fall down the stairs. But Adrian wasn’t
moving, so I pushed him.” Lisette took a deep breath as a tight knot of nerves
settled in her throat. “I ran as fast as I could and I pushed him with all the
strength I could muster. I was about to tumble down the stairs when AJ caught
me. When the police arrived AJ took the blame. I was so scared when they took
him to the police station. They wanted to leave me behind, but I wouldn’t have
it. I never left his side.”
    “You never said anything?”
    “Every time I would try he would
pinch me under the table.” She chuckled. “Adrian stepped in when he was finally
cleared by the EMTs. After a while they took us back home.”
    Lisette waited for what she thought
would happen next. A horrible dread tugged at her as she waited for Reno to
stand up and run away from the girl who killed her father. But he never left.
He sat there in silence, staring at the brightening horizon, his expression
closed.
    “I—” Lisette knew it was too much,
too soon. She should have waited to tell him later, maybe after they were
married and already had their first child, or on her death bed, just before the
life was about to leave her body. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.”
    She began to stand up when Reno
pulled her down onto his laps. His arms circled her as her head rested on his
strong chest. “You were just trying to protect your family. You were so little
and so protective.”
    “That doesn’t turn you off?”
Lisette murmured as she let the tears drop freely.
    “Now I’m confident that you are
capable of protecting our family.”

 

 
 
 
 
    Chapter Five

 
 
    From everything that Lisette had
told him the night before, only one thing had stuck in his mind. It wasn’t what
she had told him but what he had said to her, you can trust me with anything you tell me. He adored her even
more. That was a big secret for her to carry around the past few years. He
couldn’t imagine the strength it took her to tell him. He felt guilty because
he couldn’t even admit to her that Dennis was his biological father.
    “Papa!”
    Reno’s lips curved into a smile as
he watched Lisette launch herself into Adrian’s arms. His heart melted even
more when Adrian twirled Lisette around the room. Adrian was the kind