Page 2 of Smooth As Whiskey

The one thing my mama gave me before she died.

A beautiful ruby red tennis bracelet that my father had saved up every penny he could to buy for her before he deployed.

And he had planned to make my mother his wife when he got back.

Only... he left the world behind with that bracelet, and me still inside my mother’s womb.

Why did Raymond Frederick Stanton IV have it, you ask?

Well, that was quite simple. He married my mother when I was nine and won her over because she had told him no on a date.

So, like all assholes with a micro-sized penis when their egos get bruised, he made it his mission to get my mother.

Did he punish her for the three years they were married for telling him no? Yes.

If I say he was the best thing that ever could have happened to my mother, I would be a liar.

A straight-up, no-holds-barred liar.

So, why was he holding my mother’s bracelet over my head?

Simple. With her gone, he couldn’t use me to make her do the things I knew she didn’t want to do.

Because I was that amazing lady’s one weakness.

And she was that, an amazing lady.

I could go on and on about her, but unfortunately, I needed to stay vigilant.

I needed to stay vigilant because even though Raymond Frederick IV would never be caught dead out here unless he was glamping in a five-star resort... that didn’t mean he didn’t have men that he could send after me.

And he did.

And because of one man he had working for him... after the conversation I heard in his study... well... needless to say, he could keep that bracelet for all I cared.

Well, I used the word keep, extremely loosely. He could borrow it until I found a way to get it back.

And I would get it back, even if it was the last thing in this world I would ever do.

But first, I had to make sure I always stayed one step ahead of him and his men. Sadly, I didn’t know how to go about that when all I was able to take with me were the clothes on my back and nothing else.

And the little material I wore... well, it was torn in places. I would get to that part of the story in a moment.

Why did I decide it was time to flee?

That centered around the heinous crime that took place in his study... minutes... hours before I fled.

He had guards posted up around the house, which was normal for him, but the number of guards he had stationed was to make sure that I didn’t leave the house.

Apparently, he had a wealthy businessman coming to the house, and we were getting married that night. A man I had metbefore when he came to the house. A man who had a wandering eye. And wrinkled hands.

But not before hegiftedme to the meanest son of a bitch I had ever met.

Gerard was his name.

And he made Freddy Kruger look like he was nothing but a happy fairy. Going merrily on his way.

He was cold. So cold it was a wonder that the room he held in my stepfather’s house wasn’t made of anything but ice.

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