Redemption
Gabriel and Yasmin’s Tale
Edwina Fort
Copyright © 2018 by Edwina Fort
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.
Author Edwina Fort
P.O Box 346
Keithville, LA 71047
www.authoredwinafort.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Redemption/Edwina Fort. -- 1st edition
ISBN 978-0-692-10247-3
First and foremost, I would like to thank the Heavenly Father, my source and power. He has always been there for me, and has never let me fall. Without him I am nothing. I’d like to thank my husband Solomon, who is the world’s best agent/manager. He has put up with my crazy for sixteen wonderful years. Sending mad love to my eight awesome children, mama loves you more than you’ll ever know. And to my Aunt Cecelia who picked up the stake when my mother passed away and showed me love that nurtures. You are my strength Ainnie, my love for you will last for eternity. To my editor Shelly-Ann, where would I be without you girl, you are truly the extension of my pen. And to all my friends, family, and fans, love you!
There is nothing new under the sun. Everything we do has already been done.
―King Solomon
Contents
Stolen Innocence……………………………………………………………………1
Falling…………………………………………………………………………………25
Unfamiliar Territory……………………………………………………………45
In the Clutches of The Beast………………………………………………. 67
Allow Me to Introduce You to The Beast………………………………89
Nightmare…………………………………………………………………………113
You're My Gift, No One Else's……………………………………………137
The Ball…………………………………………………………………………….159
You Can Run, But I Will Find You……………………………………..175
Honeymoon………………………………………………………………………..199
The Honeymoon Part 2………………………………………………………223
Getting To Know You………………………………………………………..243
The Fight………………………………………………………………………….273
Confessions………………………………………………………………………..289
Tell Me Your Secrets and I'll Tell You Mine……………………….301
Violent? Maybe…Vicious? Nah……………………………………………323
Don't Forget What I Am……………………………………………………339
Quench My Burning Need………………………………………………….357
When the King Comes a Calling…………………………………………369
The Death of an Angel……………………………………………………….391
The Road That Leads to Death…………………………………………..407
Giving Up… So Hard To Do ………………………………………………417
My Strength Has Returned………………………………………………..433
Epilogue…………………………………………………………………………….451
Chapter One
Stolen Innocence
Like everyone else who had come up in the age of the horror film, I believed that Ghost and Goblins that went bump in the night were to be feared. Like any child, I checked under my bed for the Boogie Man and said my prayers each night so that God would keep me safe from the Devil. After all, it was the Devil that was big, bad, and oh so horrible, right?
I could not have been more wrong! You see, in the last few months my eyes had been open to some mind-boggling truths.
Ghost and Goblins were all smoke and mirrors—fluff, basket fillers, entertaining stories to tell around the campfire. Sure, they go bump in the night, but outside of making a lot of noise they had no true power.
The Boogie Man was only as strong as you believed him to be. His power resides in your mind and its ability to imagine the possibilities.
The Devil can only cause damage if invited in. And even so, the amount of destruction he can cause depends on the condition of the environment in which he inhabits. But still, those beings I mentioned were not the most terrible. They don’t have the power to do the things my mind accused my eyes of lying—for seeing. I have learned a frightening and unimaginable truth.
It wasn’t the Devil that caused men to fall to their knees because their mind could no longer send the signal to their legs to stand due to complete and utter dread. It was not the evil ones who had power to crush this world and everything in it in a matter of seconds. I have seen the most vicious and it wasn’t demons. It was the ones who came in the name of The Ancient of Days to carry out his will. They are the most ruthless.
I had to learn that terrible lesson the hard way, taught to me by a man name Gabriel Calhoun, whom everybody called, The Beast of New York; a name in which he had earned. He was not who he appeared to be at first sight, which was ironic because neither was I.
I had been taught since I was a little girl to disguise myself. My granddaddy says my kind of beauty is dangerous. He knew this because I looked just like his mama, and her beauty drove his father insane with jealousy. Until one day, he shot her before turning the gun on himself.
Granddaddy say looks like mine attract beasts. I never would have imagined how true his words would prove to be. I don’t know if Gabe’s and I path were destined to collide, but collide they did—and proved that the age old tale of Beauty and the Beast was not just for white folks.
Only, there was no dancing dishes or pixie dust. There were no talking candlesticks and singing bureaus. It was just me, standing in a high-class strip club that I shouldn’t have been in; dressed in red patent leather boy shorts, a crop-top that barely covered my nipples and a pair of patent leather suspenders that had been taped to the underside of my breast. More scared than I had ever been. That night, I learned the most important lesson of my life.
It was never wise to tempt a beast.
* * * * *
“Yasmin, you’ve got to calm down. You look like you’re about to have a stroke!” Shanice said looking at me through the vanity mirror as she applied her makeup.
I twisted my mama’s ring around my middle finger, as for the hundredth time my eyes landed on the
