Over the next few months, Renee was completely exhausted. She was up all night with Christian. She would get a few hours of sleep in between feedings, but then he would wake up again. It surprised her when Jesse got up in the middle of the night and changed him. He would bring him over to her after he was done as he couldn’t feed him. He had offered several times to get formula but Renee refused to give Christian formula.
Jesse had been really sweet like a real husband would be towards his wife. He kissed her goodbye before he left for work. He kissed her when he came home. He would bring her flowers occasionally. He never locked the doors when he left anymore. He had helped clean up the house and take care of Christian even though he was tired from work. Sometimes he even gave her a break and let her take a little nap while he watched Christian. Renee didn’t complain. She didn’t even
Renee sat back in the chair, shocked. Was he talking about catching bees with honey over vinegar? Was he actually trying to catch her? It had been a little over a year since he kidnapped her and she still cringed at his touch. She still hated it when he kissed her or hugged her. She felt like she was being suffocated when he wrapped her up in his arms and fell asleep. These were all things she had done with Kevin, but she had loved Kevin. She had been in a relationship with Kevin. She wasn’t in a relationship with Jesse and there was no way she was ever going to love him. How could he think she would even like him, let alone love him? For the better part of the year that he had her, he had beat on her and raped her! Being nice now wasn’t changing that fact.“What do you mean by you like me? I’ve done nothing but be a bitch to you. I’ve fought you tooth and
When Renee looked at him, he saw the fear in her eyes. She had never let him see it before. No matter how much he had hurt her, she had remained defiant. She had never once shown him fear, just anger. She had bottled up her pain and turned it into hatred. Showing him vulnerability was new for her. It struck something deep inside of him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and moved his face close to hers.He felt her body tense as she waited for him to get angry and hit her. When he didn’t, her eyes widened in surprise. He brushed his lips lightly against hers and moved his hands around so he could grab her hands. He placed them on his chest as he moved back slightly.“I know what I did to you and I know it’s hard for you to move past. I know you expect me to hit you or do worse to you every time I tou
“Open your eyes, Renee. I want you to see me while I take you. I want you to know that I’m not going to hurt you. I told you that you can tell me to stop at any point,” Jesse said.Renee shook her head no. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him as he claimed her body and hurt her yet again. He was lying when he said he wasn’t going to hurt her. He always hurt her. She felt his hand on her chin, gripping it, stopping her from moving her head back and forth. He kissed her lips and then moved back slightly.She opened her eyes up and looked at him, waiting for him to take her. Her body was starting to ache from being tensed up. Jesse moved himself against her and started to push himself inside of her just a little bit. Renee closed her eyes and he stopped, waiting for her to open them again. When she fin
Renee packed up Christian’s to-go bag and got him ready to go. Today was his birthday and Jesse had said he had something planned for him. Jesse had relaxed his grip on her after the night they’d had sex. Since then, he had gotten her a different phone that allowed her to call out to other numbers besides his and he had allowed her to go to a mommy and me group.Renee had made a couple of friends there and she went out at least once a month with them for lunch or dinner. She never stayed out long and she always texted Jesse what was happening so he didn’t think she was doing anything suspicious. He would take care of Christian while she was out. He had done a complete 180 with his behavior. He was sweet and caring. She still couldn’t find it in herself to feel anything for him and she knew he had to know that. He had told her he loved her so many times and all sh
Renee finished getting dressed and walked out of the room. She should not have taunted Jesse. She knew better than to do that. He could do whatever he wanted, but she couldn’t. He could say he was just teasing, but she knew his threats. As long as she was complacent, she was fine, but the minute she wasn’t, he would get angry and go back to the way he was before. He had relapsed a few times with his anger. He had not hit her again, but there were several instances when he had been too rough with the sex and it had hurt her. She picked Christian up and put him in his car seat. Then, she picked up his bag and headed out to the car. Jesse came out right behind her and saw her basically just going through the motions. He had just ruined a perfectly good evening. He drove them to the park where the ladies he had spoken to had set up the party for Christian. When Renee got out and saw everyone, she plastered her fake smile on her face. Jesse hated it. He came around to take Christian so t
Throughout the remainder of the party, Jesse watched Patrick as he touched Renee here and there. She would always pull back from him and smile politely, but she didn’t look comfortable. She hadn’t said anything to him about it, though. Once the party was over, and everyone had packed up, Renee put Christian in his car seat and started heading to the car. She put Christian in the car and walked over to the driver’s side. Jesse moved towards her, but she didn’t budge. She held out her hand and he just looked at her. “Keys, please. You have had way too much to drink,” Renee said. “I’m fine to drive. I’m not drunk.” “I’m not letting you drive me and Christian with that much alcohol in your system. If
The next morning when Jesse woke up to Christian crying, he felt the bed beside him. Renee wasn’t there. His head was pounding. He hadn’t drunk like that in a long time. He slowly got up and threw his boxers on. He went into Christian’s room and got him out of his crib. He changed him and then took him to the kitchen. He had yet to see Renee. Where was she? Had she run away? He felt anger take him over. He couldn’t remember last night beyond where she had taken the keys from him.He walked into the bedroom and still didn’t see her. He noticed the light was on in the bathroom. He walked over and saw her laying on the floor, naked. He frowned. Why in the hell was she on the floor naked? He set Christian down and went to shake Renee. When he did, he started seeing the bite marks and bruises on her. Shit. What had he done last night?
“I’m sorry. I haven’t had a blackout rage in a very long time. Seeing you with someone else enraged me. The alcohol just fueled that rage. I know you aren’t happy with me and I just thought you had found a way around leaving but could still be with someone else.”Renee was taken off guard by Jesse apologizing. He had never apologized to her before when he did something like this. She didn’t relax. It made her angry. Did he think that apologizing to her was going to fix this? Her hatred for him came back full force. She had to get away from him. She had to find a way to talk him into letting her have a job so that she could save her money and run away. She would call the number Kevin had and try to tell him what was going to happen. She couldn’t live like this anymore.
5 years later A raven-haired beauty with hazel eyes runs up. He smiled as he wrapped her up in his arms. He spun in circles with her in his arms as she giggled. He sat her down onto her feet and looked around at the people in the home. It had been hard the year and a half it had taken for his trial. In the end, it was worth it. It had been hard not being able to be with Renee when he’d been in the same state. She hadn’t come to see him even though he had tried to apologize to her. She never took his calls. His mother had seen her and Christian. She was going to petition for rights to see Christian and she had told Renee that. Renee had politely told her there was no need. All she had to do was tell her first and if they didn’t have anything planned, she was more than welcome to get him. She’d taken pictures of Christian and sent them to Kevin. Some of
“Why would you do that for someone who mistreated you?” “Jesse could be an asshole but he treated me prettygood over time. I loved him and I think he deserves to be withthe only family he ever had. After this is all over, I plan to returnhome, too, so I can raise our child and my son. My child will never know their father other than a grave.” George shook his head. This woman was either crazy or she really did have Stockholm syndrome. He knew she’d been in a car accident at the beginning of the year and suffered a brain injury. Had that affected her judgment that much? He needed to know what happened so he needed to get the body released. They had only held it until the fingerprints came back anyw
“Sarge, you’re going to want to see this,” Nolan said. “What is it, Nolan?” “The fingerprints are back. We had them rushed because of the missing person’s case.” George had found files in Kevin’s car that contained emails between him and a woman named Marie. It also contained a crime report involving him and a woman named Renee Kennedy. The picture showed the same woman that was at the crime scene. He’d taken her fingerprints and that of the victim, Mark Morgan. They had detained Kevin since he was inside the Morgan’s home. It had been a month and neither Kevin nor Tabitha had talked about what had happened in that house. He’d notified Kevin’s mother of what had happened as she was listed as his emergency contact. She’d notified him that he should contact Renee Kennedy
Kevin went to kick the knife out of Jesse’s hand when Jesse opened his eyes and stabbed him in the leg. Kevin cried out at the pain burning up the muscle of his leg. He hit his knees and his hand went to the knife. He pulled it out right as Jesse grabbed his collar and began punching him in the face and the side of his head. Renee didn’t know how to stop the fight. She did the only thing she could think of. She dug her phone out and called 911. “911, what’s your emergency?” “They’re going to kill each other!” Renee cried. “Ma’am, calm down. What’s your name?” Renee ignored her. She rattled off her address as she saw Jesse grab the wrist of the hand that Kevin had the knife in. He twisted the wrist unti
Renee was feeling uneasy after her meeting with Kevin. He was definitely planning something and it scared her. She didn’t want him to get hurt but she also didn’t want Jesse to know he had found them. She was definitely wondering if he already knew. She bit her lip as her thoughts turned to the darker side of how things could go down. “Mommy!” Christian yelled. “I’m sorry, Christian. I was in my thoughts. Did you say something to me?” Renee asked as she drug herself out of the bad thoughts she was having about Jesse and Kevin. “I want to go back. I want Mr. Kevin.” “I’m sorry, Christian, but that just isn’t possible. Your daddy doesn’t know that you aren’t his son. Please, promise me, baby, that you won’t te
“Deal,” Jesse said as he kissed and hugged her. Renee sighed and walked away to find Christian. She’d take him to dinner and a movie tonight. He had been begging to go see Tom and Jerry. Since this was their night, she’d take him out for a happy meal and ice cream too. She wondered if he’d like putt-putt golf. She hadn’t played it since she was little but it might be something he’d enjoy. They could get breakfast, play a couple of games, and then go to the park for an hour or so. With her plans set in her mind, she went to find Christian. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin pulled out his pocket knife and sharpened it. He’dthought about this day long and hard. If he bought a gun, it would be premeditated murder. He sharpened the blade while he t
“What do you mean, ‘thank God you’re awake’? How long have I been asleep?” “Two days. It’s Tuesday. My boss wasn’t thrilled that I missed two days but I explained what happened.” “Where’s Christian?” Renee asked. “I took him to Nancy’s after we realized you weren’t waking up when the nurse came to check on you. You’ve been moaning and thrashing in your sleep every so often.” “Oh. Was I talking in my sleep at all?” “Not while I was awake. Why? Do you remember anything?” “I remember everything,” Renee whispered. “Before or afte
“Will you, um, will you come let the guard rail down? I need to go to the bathroom,” Renee said as her cheeks reddened. “Sure. No need to be embarrassed, baby.” “That wasn’t really what I wanted but I do need to go.” Jesse put the bed rail down and helped Renee up. She leaned on him to catch her bearings. She went to the bathroom and came out. He could tell by the look on her face that she was still confused about what was happening. She regained some of her memories if not all of them, but had she forgotten the ones after the accident? “Do you want to tell me what you really wanted now?” Renee’s cheeks turned red again but she held her arms out.
Jesse sat out in the waiting room with Christian as they waited for the doctors to run tests. Christian had finally settled down and stopped crying. He was sitting in Jesse's lap sucking his thumb. He had started that back up after Renee had been in the accident. Now every time he was extremely stressed, that thumb was back in his mouth. It agitated Jesse somewhat but he let it go because he knew he was trying to comfort himself against what was happening with his mom. It had been hours since Renee had been brought in and no one had updated him yet. Jesse stroked Christian’s hair absentmindedly until he saw the doctor come out. Dr. Getty walked up to him and held out his hand. Jesse took it and shook it. The doctor had a neutral look on his face. “Mr. Morgan, we meet again. I wish it was under better circumstances,” Dr. Get