Prologue

TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️: This book has been tagged mature and may contain words of violence, sex, drugs, abuse, mental disorders, eating disorders and other elements that may trigger a person.

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14 years ago, Nata, Botswana.

“Dineo, please don't do this. My parents are coming over. How do we explain the marks?” Keeya cried out as her husband, Dineo, landed another blow on her back. She was still sore from the beatings he gave her last night after he stumbled through the doors of their run-down apartment, drunk.

“So you think you can give me orders now?” He yelled. The veins on his neck protruded scarily, and his eyes were firm with anger. Rage overwhelmed him, fueling his need for violence, which he willingly delivered on his helpless and battered wife.

“You got scammed on your own will, so why are you taking it out on me like I was the one who scammed you?” Keeya yelled even though she knew it would only make him angrier.

“You think I don't know you have a new lover? He gives you money to fix your hair, right?” He roared and smacked her across the face.

The painful hold he had around her braids prevented her from hitting the floor. Keeya wasn't surprised that Dineo changed the topic. He did that when he wouldn't accept the truth whenever he did something wrong like getting scammed.

“Keeya” He drawled with pity as though he was sorry for hitting her, but his hands gripped her jaw tightly, forcing her to look at him. “Are you cheating on me? Does he give you money to look good for him?” Dineo spat, some of it landed on Keeya’s face, and she scrunched up in disgust.

“So now I disgust you, eh?” His hands went around her throat, squeezing it tight and cutting off her air supply. Dark Spot danced around her vision as she struggled against his hold.

“Dineo” Keeya choked out. “There is no man. My mama gave me money to fix my hair because she didn't like how I looked without my hair made”

Keeya was a stunning woman with fair skin and light brown eyes almost the colour of the sun as it retired for the day. Her smile could light up the room, yet she chose Dineo, with this dirty skin which had only become rugged with poverty and rough hands from odd jobs.

“You are lying” The hold he had around her neck tightened. “I'll kill you before I let you leave me.” He roared before he pushed her backwards.

There was nothing to brace herself with, so Keeya crashed against the table and the back of her head slammed against the sharp edge of the table. She cried out as a sharp pain surged through her body.

Blood trickled down her nape to the ground and Dineo’s eyes widened in fear. Keeya saw the blood and whimpered at its sight.

“You are a monster, Dineo, and I regret the day I married you. You never should have been the father to my children. They deserve better than a deadbeat monster as their father.” She looked up at Dineo with fear and hatred in her eyes.

Dineo, with his feeble mind and pathetic masculinity, couldn't stomach the words his dying wife threw at him, so he pulled her to him, blinded with rage.

“Someone help me” Keeya wailed, but her voice had lost its power as she weakened. The dark look in Dineo’s eyes frightened her, and she struggled to get away from him.

Dineo slammed his fist on her head continuously, allowing his anger to consume him. All he could think of was her words and how they made him feel pitiful.

“I see the way you look at Alora, you animal. She is your daughter!!!” Keeya continued despite his blows slowly stealing her life, “You are a dog, Dineo. A dog”

Dineo’s madness soared. “She is mine” he roared. “You won't take her from me. Alora belongs to me.” His fists dropped faster and harder continuously, and he didn't even realise that she was no longer moving in the haze of rage.

“Mama”

The tiny voice snapped Dineo out of his head, and he fell to his butt when he saw his wife’s bloodied and lifeless body in front of him. He scrambled away from her and to his feet.

“Mama” Alora called again when her mother wouldn't answer her. Her golden-brown eyes, a replica of her mother’s, glanced towards her father in fear.

Alora crawled towards her mom and sat in the pool of her blood. She cradled her mother’s head and placed it in her small lap.

“Papa, you hit Mama again. Why isn't she getting up?” She glared at her father and bent over her mother to hide her from her father in case he decided to hit her again.

“Alora, come here. I'll explain it to you” Dineo shakily called to her when he realized she saw the entire thing.

She shook her head and tried to shuffle away from his extended hand. “Mama said not to let you touch me.”

“Alora!” Dineo threatened, “Come here, or I will hit you too.” He warned her, and she pressed her body to the shelves instead.

Dineo growled and stormed towards the 4-year-old. He snatched her, but she began to struggle in his arms, so he smacked her across the face and Alora began to cry loudly.

“If you don't keep quiet, I will hit you again” he warned, and she pressed her lips together to silence her cries.

The guilt he felt earlier had disappeared. Dineo spat on his wife’s dead body.

“Useless whore” He cussed before stepping on her face one more time and escaping with his little doll.