Chapter 2
"Cat got your tongue?" my dad barked, yanking me up.
I snapped out of the memory.
"I heard someone screaming. I just called people over because I was worried something bad might happen," I said, feigning distress.
My dad's chest kept heaving with rage.
"Didn't I tell you not to come back before seven? Do you ever learn anything?" he snapped. "Get out of here, and don't even think about coming home tonight."
He threw me out of the house, and the door slammed shut in my face.
I could barely contain my excitement as I knocked on Maria's door next door.
Maria was our neighborhood's resident news hub—she knew every little secret about everyone and all the women here adored her for it.
That night, I laid out every single dirty secret about my dad and Linda. Then I drifted into contented sleep.
It didn't take long before my dad realized everything had changed.
Rumors were flying with solid details about him and Linda. Some neighbors were so pissed they were even ready to blow the whistle to David.
Too bad David was probably out at sea right then—he'd be gone for a month or two with no signal, so getting a hold of him could take forever.
Linda was holed up at home, too scared to even go out and pick up her daughter from school.
My dad's clients started dropping him fast.
He lost his mind and screamed about wanting me dead.
Whenever that happened, I'd dash out the door and make a scene.
With all the neighbors watching, he was fuming but couldn't do a thing to me.
*****
I was having the time of my life, enjoying every bit of the chaos.
But for Sophie, things weren't nearly as easy.
Her mom and my dad's affair was now public knowledge. Everyone who saw her would whisper behind her back.
Sophie cared a lot about her reputation, and we'd never been friends.
When she found out I was behind all this drama, she started coming after me, looking to pick a fight.
But she never got the better of me.
*****
That day, on my way home from school, I caught Sophie tailing me.
With no one around, she grabbed a rock and tried to bash me in the back of the head.
But I was already on guard and dodged out of the way.
She tried to come at me again, but I kicked her away hard.
She tumbled to the ground in a graceless heap.
"You bitch!" she screamed. "I'll tell your dad and have him beat you to death."
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone at the end of the alley and just gave a whatever smile.
"Really? Go ahead, and I'll be waiting," I tossed back.
Back in my previous life, the trafficker had Sophie pegged as his target from the get-go.
My dad and her mom had spoiled her rotten—she was soft-skinned, the classic pretty girl everyone thought would grow up gorgeous.
Compared to her, I was just a walking skeleton.
When she got snatched, her terrified scream of "Save me!" totally got to me.
I threw myself at the trafficker, biting down hard on his hand.
Sophie managed to escape, but I was shipped off to a nowhere town, sold as a child bride to some unhinged lunatic.
The lunatic's family was dirt poor. For eight whole years, I slept in the pigsty out back. One time, a pig went berserk and bit me, leaving a horrible scar on my face and a stench all over me I could never wash off.
When the cops finally showed up to rescue me, they said Sophie never even told them she'd seen the trafficker.
If she'd come clean about when and where I went missing, this case would've been solved ages ago.
Plus, after I was rescued, she bullied me more times than I could count.
Even when I was diagnosed with stomach cancer and barely hanging on, she still wouldn't leave me alone.
She grabbed my hair, yanked me out of bed, and then slammed me hard onto the floor.
"You're nothing but a loser, meant to rot in that pigsty your whole life," she had snapped. "You still dare come for money, huh? Dream on! Every cent of your dad's money is mine. Don't even think about getting a single penny."
She couldn't care less that she played a part in my messed-up life. To her, I was born to be nothing.
But in this life, I swear I'd make sure she ended up exactly where she belonged.
*****
Sophie disappeared.
The cops were totally clueless.
Linda was a mess, crying her eyes out all day. My dad, not caring about the gossip, moved in with her, leaving me, a five-year-old, completely alone at home.
But I was cool with it. I'd spend all day using the landline to call David over and over.
Finally, one morning a week later, I got through.
I only told him Sophie was missing, and didn't breathe a word about anything else.
So when David came rushing back in the middle of the night, he walked in on a shocking scene.
My dad and Linda were sleeping peacefully together.
David worked on ships, loading and unloading cargo. Those muscles weren't just for show.
That night, my dad ended up with two broken ribs and a smashed nose. Shaking, he called an ambulance.