Yolanda’s eyes grew large in surprise. “You’re kidding? Your mom’s husband was cheating with her assistant?”
“Yep.” Charlie popped the p at the end of the word so hard that it reverberated around the room. “She won’t divorce him because of appearances and all.”
“Why didn’t she just send you to your dad’s?”
In a voice, dead of emotion, Charlie answered. “Child support.”
“No way. There’s got to be more. Your mom’s already rich, and so is Kane.”
“No. There isn’t any more to it than that. And, looks can be very deceiving. They are broke. An aging actress just doesn’t command the same kind of payday that she used to and certainly not one that would keep her living as lavishly as she does without my dad’s money. I overheard her accountant say something about curbing her spending. It costs almost a hundred thousand a month just for lawn care and maintenance for our estate. My dad pays for it, but she’s cutting costs and pocketing the savings.”
Yolanda’s mouth dropped. “Whoa. That’s more than my mom makes in a year.”
Charlie sat propped up on her elbows. She felt bad for complaining. Charlie wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew that even on her worst day, as far as money, they had it better than most. “Well, remember, my mom hasn’t been in a movie in three years. And, Kane . . .” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Nobody really knows what he does. I guess he just screws assistants and spends my dad’s money.” Her voice dropped, and the sadness in it was palpable. “They deserve each other.”
Yolanda felt sorry for her. “You don’t mean that.” She reached out to place a soothing hand on her shoulder.
Charlie winced and jerked her body away. Her voice was strained with pain. “Yes. I do.”
Concern was evident on Yolanda’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Charlie debated being honest for just a second, then decided to tell the truth. She could show Yolanda better than tell her. Charlie lifted her t-shirt to reveal yellowish, purple and blue marks all over her ribcage and parts of her back and shoulder.
Horrified, Yolanda began speaking in Spanish. “What in the world? What happened to you?”
“Courtesy of Kane for being disobedient and looking at him with defiance in my eyes.”
“H-he hit you?” Yolanda was shocked. “You’ve got to tell your mom.”
Charlie nodded. “She knows. It’s not the first time, the second, or the third. That’s why I’m getting out of here before I’m punished for getting kicked out of school. When really I’m being punished for being Remington Kneeland’s daughter.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Nobody does except for my mom.”
“Does he hit her too?”
“Not that I am aware of. I think I’m the only one who wins that lottery.”
Yolanda couldn’t believe that the famous Bella Lord-Kneeland and now Bella Lord-Langston would allow such a thing to happen to her child. While she didn’t support Charlie’s decision to run away, Yolanda fully understood why she would want to leave. “How are you going to get past security? Someone is always at the front gate.”
“I’m not going through the gate. I’m going to sneak out the south part of the estate by the service entrance next to the stables. There is a new security guard there. He falls asleep like clockwork around 1:30a.m.”
“How do you know that?”
“I heard the head of security warning him about it. I need to make my escape before he gets fired.”
“But, where will you go?”
“I’ve got a couple thousand dollars saved. I’ll figure it out once I’m out of here. Maybe I can try to stay with my old math tutor. She was nice.”
“I don’t know Charlie.” Yolanda was more than a bit skeptical. “I still think you should tell your dad. You’re not even old enough to rent a hotel room.” She could see Charlie about to protest. “Okay–Okay.” She put her palms out. “At least tell my mom.”
“First, my dad’s in China. He’s almost never around anymore. And, even if he was, what’s he going to do? Nothing because my mom has great lawyers. Your mom works for my mom. If you tell her, how is that going to work? I’ll tell you how. It won’t. Ms. Sofia would get fired, and I can’t put your mom in that position. And, for future reference, you would be surprised at what an extra hundred dollars can convince people to do. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep quiet about this.” Charlie needed to make sure Yolanda understood. She pleaded. “You’ve seen my bruises. Next time, Kane might kill me.”
At her words, Yolanda’s head snapped up to stare into the real fear revealed in Charlie’s eyes. Against her better judgement, Yolanda gave in. “I’ll keep quiet but only if you promise to text and keep me updated about where you are.”
Visibly relieved, Charlie whispered. “I promise.”
Careful not to put too much pressure on Charlie’s injuries, Yolanda reached out and pulled her friend into a much-needed hug.
Chapter 1
Not this shit again. Inwardly, Sky cringed as her eyeballs rolled into the back of her head while she sipped on a glass of red wine. Fortunately, Nia couldn’t see her face. Not when the woman was seemingly looking straight ahead and staring out into space.
Sky was sympathetic to her plight . . . to a point. Only, this exact situation had played out so many times before, kind of like ground hog’s day–over and over again. So, after witnessing this same routine in the past, the moment Nia phoned about needing to get together, Sky knew exactly how her
