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." Keeya pleaded desperately, "My parents are coming over. How do we explain the marks?" She cried out as Dineo slapped her again.

Keeya's body throbbed with pain. She was still sore from the beatings he gave her last night after he had stumbled through the door of their run-down apartment, drunk.

Dineo, however, didn't like that. His face contorted into an ugly sneer. "So you think you can order me around?" He yelled, the veins on his neck protruding scarily. Rage overwhelmed him, fuelling his need for violence, which he willingly delivered on his helpless and battered wife.

Keeya wailed, and unable to take it anymore, she turned to him with a glare, "You got scammed on your own, so why are you taking it out on me?" She screamed at him. "Did I ask you to get scammed? Did I scam you?" She knew it would only make him angrier, but she was fed up. Keeya was tired.

Dineo was stunned for a brief second, his hand hanging in the air. This was the first time she had spoken back, and he didn't know how to take it.

The feeling reared something unpleasant, and his hands resumed motion, smacking her across the face, and grabbed her braids before she could hit the floor.

Keeya cried in pain as Dineo pulled her closer. "You think I don't know you have a new lover?" He sneered in her face, changing the topic. "He gives you money to fix your hair, right?"

Keeya wasn't surprised. This wasn't the first time Dineo changed the topic when he didn't want to talk about his mistakes. For example, getting scammed.

"Keeya," Dineo drawled pitifully 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?" He barked, and spit landed on Keeya's face, making her scrunch her face in disgust.

Dineo noticed, and he didn't like that. "So, now I disgust you?" His hands went around her throat, cutting off her air supply.

Keeya clawed at his hands as dark spots danced around her vision. "Dineo," she choked, "There is no man. My mama gave me money to fix my hair because she didn't like how tacky I looked," she tried to explain.

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

"You are lying," Dineo roared. "I'll kill you before I let you leave me," he declared before he pushed her backwards.

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

Blood trickled down her nape, and Dineo's eyes widened in fear when he saw it. Keeya whimpered fearfully. Dineo had always hit her for the littlest mistake, but it had never gotten to this before.

"You are a monster, Dineo," she breathed out shakily, pinning him with the intense hatred in her eyes. "I regret the day I married you. You should have never been the father to my children. They deserve better than a deadbeat monster as their father."

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

"Someone help me," Keeya wailed when she saw the dark intent in his eyes, but her voice had lost its power. She struggled to get away from Dineo, but she was too weak.

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

Keeya fought against his blows, trying to protect herself, but it was almost futile. The anger had made Dineo more powerful.

"I see the way you look at Alora, you beast," she cried, despite the beatings. "She is your daughter. You are a dog, Dineo. A dog,"

Dineo's madness soared at the mention of his daughter. "She is mine," he roared. "Alora belongs to me, and you won't take her away." His fist dropped harder and faster, and he didn't even realise that Keeya was no longer moving in the haze of his rage.

"Mama?"

The tiny voice was enough to snap Dineo out of his head, and when his eyes fell on his wife's bloodied and lifeless body, he fell to his butt and scrambled away from her and jumped to his feet.

"Keeya?" He called carefully, the anger draining from him as his heart pounded harshly. "Are you pretending to escape me?" he accused.

"Mama!" This time, the scared voice cried, and Alora crawled out of the cupboard towards her mother's limp body. Her small face was swollen from crying.

She cradled her mother's head and placed it in her lap, sitting in the pool of blood without a second thought.

Her golden-brown eyes, a replica of her mother's, glanced towards her father. "Why did you hurt Mama?" she asked angrily. "Make her wake up, Papa. I don't like you," she cried angrily.

She bent over her mother, shielding her with her small body in case her father decided to hit her again.

"Alora, come here. I'll explain it to you," Dineo beckoned to her shakily. He realised that she had seen the whole thing.

Alora shook her head and tried to shuffle back from his extended hand. "Mama said not to let you touch me." She pouted.

"Alora," Dineo snapped, his patience snapping in half with the rising panic. "Come here, or I'll hit you too." He warned, his tone threatening and impatient as he glanced between Keeya's unmoving body and Alora's terrified face.

Alora, scared of his threat, pressed her small body against the table instead. She could hear her mother's firm voice as she warned her not to let her papa touch her.

Dineo growled in annoyance and stormed towards the 4-year-old. He snatched her, pulling her to her feet while Keeya's head hit the floor with a soft thud. Alora began to struggle against his hold, so he smacked her across the face, and she began to cry loudly.

"If you don't keep quiet, I will hit you again," Dineo warned, and she pressed her lips together to stop her cries.

Dineo glared at Keeya's still body, the guilt he felt earlier fading like dust. He spat on her body.

"Useless whore," he cursed, stepping on her face before escaping with his doll before the cops would arrive.