Deadly In Stilettos (2 page)

             
At first, her life had been great. Aunt Charlotte made sure Demi knew many things about her mother. She learned from pictures, home movies, and other sources, as well as her aunt’s vivid stories, that her mother had been an accomplished person. She was a great student, captain of the basketball team, and one of the best debaters on the school’s debate team the year it won at nationals. Her mother also loved fashion, a thing they both had in common. Demi was in awe as she learned how special, talented, and intelligent her mother was. She wanted to be just like her, so she studied hard. Books became her best friend.

             
Demi stunned many adults when she started reading at the age of two. It started with picture-reading, then memorization, which led to forming full sentences. Anyone who witnessed this was blown totally away. Aunt Charlotte put her in dance classes—ballet, tap, jazz, and any other form of training she could afford. Demi was engrossed in learning something new daily, which would ultimately work to her advantage in many areas of her life. By the time she was eight, she was fluent in Spanish and French. Her teachers loved her. They called her a shining star ready to soar to higher heights, according to her aunt Charlotte.

             
Demi loved her childhood, except the times when her aunt had to go away and she was forced to stay with her father. They had no other relatives in Dallas, so Charlotte left Demi with her father. At first Charlotte did allow Demi to stay with friends, but one night when she was at a friend’s house, the girl’s drunken father came home and raped her. His wife kept watch until it was her turn to take advantage of Demi’s innocence. Demi was never the same after that. It was the first of the many tragic experiences in her life. Aunt Charlotte pressed charges on the husband and wife, the tag-team pedophiles, and told Demi she would have to stay with her father when she was out of town from that day forward. Charlotte didn’t think that being at Melvin’s house would be far worse. Demi wondered why she was never able to go with her aunt, but later learned why, which changed her life forever.

             
Demi remembered the first day she was dropped off, how her father stared at her with such disgust that she wanted to run and hide. Melvin Bradshaw simply hated her. The scowl across his face told her just that. There was no excuse for the terrible things he did to her, but in his mind, he was justified because his daughter’s birth had stolen his wife from him. It wasn’t fair, but he no longer cared for the child he had once been so excited to have in his life.

             
He beat her just for asking for a glass of water. Night after night, Demi cried herself to sleep wishing she could just disappear. He locked her in the basement in complete darkness for several hours without food or water, and there was no place to use the restroom, so she sat in her urine and feces crying until she passed out, or he woke her up with a bucket of water dashed all over her. Sometimes he’d let her out just before her aunt came to get her, leaving enough time for Demi to bathe and eat. Melvin told her that if she said a word, the next time would be much worse. So Demi kept what happened inside her. All that suppressed hurt and pain eventually grew into rage. The once happy little girl became darker and withdrawn.

             
One time when Aunt Charlotte returned from one of her trips, she noticed the coldness in Demi’s eyes. Her entire demeanor had changed. Something was different. Aunt Charlotte worried about her, but she was ailing herself, and was too weak to focus on Demi as she would have liked. When Aunt Charlotte asked her what was wrong, Demi lied. She loved her father in spite of his abuse, and she did not want to get him in trouble. She even convinced herself that he did all those horrible things to her because he loved her somehow.

             
Now, Demi thought as she looked at her list, all the secrets and lies protecting him were over. Melvin Bradshaw would pay with his life. A father was supposed to protect his children, not contribute to their pain. He was a prime example of what a father should not be. Demi fought back tears. It was too late to turn back now. Time would only tell how she would gain the life she was destined to have. No one was supposed to be this mistreated in one lifetime, she told herself; especially such an innocent child.

              When the flight attendant informed the passengers that they would be landing in Dallas shortly, Demi felt a charge through her entire body. Her throat felt dry as the feeling of rage overpowered her. The current moving through her sparked a feeling she quickly found intoxicating. It was almost as better than having an orgasm.

             
She was returning to her place of birth for the first time since she was fifteen years old, after running away with the man she thought was then the love of her life. Feeling stupid and naïve, Demi did not return to Dallas when that man left her in the middle of the Nevada desert. Instead, she made a new life for herself, all the while hoping that her father would finally come and rescue her.

Demi smiled, thinking about when she first met Troy.
Troy Dunbar was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on, other than her father. Standing over six feet tall, with a flawless caramel complexion and dark penetrating eyes that hypnotized even grown, married women, Troy only had to smile and everyone around him was under his spell, ready to drop their panties and spread their legs as wide as they could go. He always smelled nice and dressed even nicer. Troy came from a long line of old money, which made him feel, entitled to get anything he wanted. Demi was no exception.

             
When he approached her one day as she was walking home from school, Demi did not hesitate getting into his car or doing anything else he wanted her to do. Six years her senior, Troy made her feel like a woman in every way possible. All of her friends envied her, one in particular who later turned out to be a tad bit more than crazy.

             
Ignoring the heated looks from Anya Bankston was Demi’s way of staying out of trouble. She and Anya had been friends for a long time, but there was something unnerving about Anya that Demi could not put her finger on. Especially when wherever she and Troy went, Anya just so happened to show up, or she would hide out, thinking no one saw her. Demi did not pay too much attention to Anya after becoming Troy’s lover. All she wanted to do was go to school and then see him. All of Demi’s friends soon became void in her life, but they did not know all the abuse she endured when they were behind closed doors. The nice, caring, respectful Troy disappeared, becoming a total stranger, a monster.

             
It was as if something took over his body, causing him to do terrible things to her. He became extremely jealous. His temper was downright insane, going from zero to one-hundred in a matter of seconds. It was as if something took over his body, causing him to do horrible things to her. No one guessed because of the way she carried on about how nice and sweet he was. Troy promised to love her and take care of her forever, which Demi believed like the naïve little girl she was.

             
The abuse started a few months into their relationship when he saw one of her classmates and good friends, Stanley Cruz, hugging her after school. Demi had not expected Troy to be jealous. After all, he was in college, popular get money, and looked like a Roman god.

             
When he took her back to his apartment that day, he turned from sweet to sour. Before Demi got in the door good her face burned from the slap he landed across it. That was the beginning of her nightmare. Each time Troy hit her, he apologized by buying her expensive gifts. That made up for it in Demi’s eyes, because she always had the latest fashion trends and shoes.

             
At fifteen, Demi fell in love with stilettos, and ever since she had rewarded herself with a pair as often as possible. Her closet was filled with over a thousand pairs. Demi didn’t wear the same pair twice. Never had, never would, but she had plans to change that, just a certain few pair for the people she intended to shock by their presence. Those would be the ones dedicated to each of their demise.

             
Men and woman complimented her on her shoes everywhere she went, even the grocery store. Demi simply never left home without wearing a pair of stilettos. They eased the pain that refused to leave her alone. Stilettos gave her a light in the dark tunnel she called her life.

             
A slight rock of the plane popped Demi back into reality.

             
As the plane descended from the cloudless sky, excitement filled Demi. Melvin Bradshaw was in for a big surprise, one that would surely knock him off his feet. As she buckled her seatbelt, she smiled. She was about to embark on a great expedition that would impact the lives of the people who had used and abused her over the course of her life. Revenge was her map, sadness her compass, and pain was the journey that would eventually lead to the future she deserved.

             
Demi closed her eyes, remembering the day she learned the meaning of her name. Her father told her he gave her the name because he felt she would become a menace to all she came in contact with, beginning with his wife. He told her that no one would ever love her. That she would become nothing, and live a sad, lonely, pathetic life. Her father’s words tormented her each day. The only positive thing in her life was her education. Demi knew that her life was about to take on a much better meaning. A woman scorned, neglected, and punished for simply trusting and loving with all her heart was about to take the world by storm. Whoever was on that list was in big trouble, Demi concluded, lying back and relaxing in her first-class seat. She sipped the last of her champagne thinking that today was such a beautiful day.

             
Looking down at her “Something Blue” silver satin four-inch Manolo Blahniks with the crystal broach, Demi took a deep breath. She had picked those out specifically for her father. Since he would not be at her wedding to give her away when she married the love of her life, they made the perfect choice.

Even t
hough Demi had a rough life when she went to visit her father, Aunt Charlotte made sure she was happy when she was with her. Knowing something horrible must have happened to Demi at her father’s, Charlotte gave Demi more and more love and affection than any child could handle. If Aunt Charlotte had ever learned the horrendous things Melvin did to her precious niece, Demi thought, she would have killed him herself. Charlotte loved Demi that much and more.

             
When Charlotte passed away from breast cancer, Demi was left to fend for herself. She understood then why she hadn’t been allowed to go with her aunt whenever she had to go out of town. She was going away to get treatment, at a hospital a state away, who had some of the best doctors. Children weren’t allowed there without supervision of another adult. It was hard at first after her aunt’s death, but Demi focused on survival and staying out of the system.

             
Aunt Charlotte owned her home, so Demi was safe there. She never asked anyone to come to the house for fear that they would tell her secret. All of her friends wanted to know why they weren’t invited over, and Demi told them her aunt was strict and they would not have any privacy. Troy never asked to visit because of the age difference between them. He did not have time to deal with some old lady who’d want to put him in jail for statutory rape. Although Demi was a minor, Troy liked her. She made him feel good about himself. Having to give up basketball because of his failing grades depressed him, so when Demi came into his life she gave him the boost of confidence he needed.

             
It was funny how being with a young, tender girl like Demi made him feel like a god. She didn’t see him as a failure like the rest of his family and friends, who turned their backs on him when he couldn’t get them free tickets to basketball games anymore.
‘
People never amaze m
e
,’ Troy had thought. But Demi was different—until she made him angry. If only she wouldn’t laugh in the face of every dude she talked to. He didn’t like hurting her, but she made him do it. It was all her fault he kept telling himself after he struck her. She was his girl, and shouldn’t be giving any other dude the time of day.

             
Demi go a job working at a local grocery store in Dallas to make sure she could pay for the electricity, water and other utilities. She did not watch much television, so she cancelled the cable. Books kept her company when she wasn’t with Troy. Believing she was too mature and cool for the kids she knew at school, with the exception of her best friend Sidney, Demi did not spend much time with them. Being popular had its place, but Demi did not find it enjoyable being around too many people with all the bruises she had to try to cover with makeup.

             
Although she had all the freedom in the world, Demi stayed on top of her studies, and out of trouble. Even when Troy left her in the middle of the desert, she paid a homeless woman to pose as her mother so she was able to enroll in a public high school in Las Vegas, but not just any school, she went to one of the best. Her education was something she didn’t want to play with.

             
Once the guidance counselor, Mrs. Pennington, asked to meet with her mother to see about placing Demi in advanced classes, but she came up with a thousand excuses why her mother was not available. She went back to find the homeless woman, but couldn’t. Finally, Mrs. Pennington took it upon herself to put Demi in the classes, prepared to deal with the consequences if need be.