Star Bright (4 page)

Ricky stomped into the
kitchen, a wicked smile crept over his face when he spotted Maria.
He could smell her fear and it satisfied him more seeing her shake
in it. She took a step away from him as he moved closer, but he
lunged for her. He punched her, grabbed her by the hair and dragged
her out, “If I don’t see my kid here in the next hour, you’ll find
yours buried in your garden!”

Edna looked at him, anger
flowing through her veins more intensely than ever. She got in the
car and drove off with Jane. She was going to put an end to that
maniac, and she knew exactly how. She should have dialed that
number years ago when the abuse started, she was too soft, but not
anymore.

Maria had been in a daze
after the punch, but his words woke her up, “Please don’t!” She
yelled and got a knee in the stomach for it. She fell to the floor
and curled up, her hands over her aching belly. Several kicks to
her back made her unwind. She rolled away from him and crawled back
into the house trying hard not to cry or scream, she wasn’t going
to give him the satisfaction of shedding a tear, not this
time.

She managed to get to her
feet. She got as far as the living room before he tripped her. She
fell on the table and it broke under her. She screamed, unable to
contain the pain in her shoulder and ribs which had only began to
heal after her last beating. She didn’t have time to recover before
she felt Ricky’s hard boot make contact with her head. She rolled
to the couch, still, completely blacked out from the
blow.

Chapter Four

Dave walked down the
stairs with his daughter in his arms. They were both dressed and
ready to go to the firm, it wasn’t bring your kid to work day, but
what else was he to do? Amy didn’t show up the night before and
Dave didn’t feel comfortable leaving his child with a nanny. He was
a little glad Amy didn’t show. Seeing her face anytime soon would
send him to a rage that he wasn’t so sure he would be able to
control.

He spent the whole night
thinking of a way to get Amy out of his life and get full custody
of his daughter. He was tired of her and he didn’t want his wife
influencing his daughter in any way. He knew it would be difficult
being a single dad, but he was practically a single dad now with
his whimsical, annoying and self centered wife, and he would have
to give up a lot, and reduce his work load if he was to be there
for his daughter twenty- four seven. The drive for being senior
partner grew, but was backed by his concern and love for his baby
instead of ambition. If he got the promotion he would have less
work, and could just concentrate on the big cases which weren’t
that many.

Five months, he had to
wait before he could be sure of his promotion. That meant spending
five more months with the witch before he could start the process
of getting rid of her, but one thing was for sure, he wasn’t
leaving his daughter in her care ever again.

He picked up his
briefcase and walked out of his home. He was glad they had a day
care in his office building, but he was still skeptical about
leaving his child with strangers. He’ll make sure to get everyone’s
information and back ground checks before he finally takes her
there.

“
Ma.” Elizabeth
yelled pointing out to the lawn. Dave pulled out of his worry fest,
turned and followed her finger. Amy was asleep on the lawn. She was
too drunk to even make it to the door.

Dave stared at her
completely unconcerned about her. He found it hard to believe that
she was the same woman he was married to for five years, spread out
on the lawn. He opened the back of his BMW Prado and put Elizabeth
in her baby seat. He walked to his drunken wife and took a few
photos with his I-phone. She was making it easy to build a case
against her. He smiled, excited that the custody battle would be a
slam dunk. The pictures may not seem like much, but he had won
cases with much less.

“
Thank you so
much.” he spoke to his still wife. He walked back to his car, but
stopped, an impish idea in his head, “Daddy is going to be right
back.” he said to Elizabeth before he walked away. He couldn’t, in
good conscience leave his wife out on the lawn, the least he could
do was wake her up, show her the same courtesy she’d shown their
daughter when she left their door wide open for any psycho to walk
in and harm his child.

He turned on the
sprinkler and walked back to his car and waited.

“
You son of a
bitch!” Amy woke up screaming and cursing at him as she ran on to
the path, away from the water. Her red party dress clung to her as
she was soaked to the bone. Her blond hair had mud in it and her
make-up spread all over her face. She looked like a Halloween
character.

“
Good morning
honey.” Dave said laughing, as he got in his car and drove
away.

“
Carol, could
you put me through to the day care center?” Dave rapped his pen on
his desk. He found it hard to concentrate knowing his daughter was
been looked after by strangers. He had already done the back ground
checks and had gone as far as getting their contact details and
those of their families and saving them on his computer, but it
wasn’t enough to keep him calm. He used to be a trusting man,
before he got into this line of work, and before his wife became a
self centered brat who couldn’t be trusted with her own
daughter.

“
You’ve just
been down there for lunch.” Carol responded, a little annoyed, “And
called eleven times in total. She’s fine!”

Dave stayed patiently
quiet for a while, glad he didn’t start an affair with her. She
would have been a real pain in the ass, “Just put me
through.”

“
You are being
a very over obsessive parent,” there was a click before another
voice came on, “Mr. Greer for the umpteenth time, your daughter is
fine.”

Dave felt a little
awkward, but she was the only child he had, he was entitled to be
over obsessive and over protective, “Is she asleep?”

“
Yes, and yes
we have someone personally and exclusively watching her.” the lady
said sarcastically.

Dave didn’t get offended.
He figured he had annoyed her enough and being as rude to her would
not help either one of them, “Thank you.”

“
You’re
welcome, and could we please not speak again today?” the line went
dead.

Dave glared at the
receiver before he put it down. He felt a bit more relaxed and he
could concentrate on his work now that he knew his baby was fine,
until he got hysterical again and needed to check on
her.

His phone rang, but he
didn’t need to pick it up to know what it was about. He could hear
Amy’s raised screeching voice outside his office, Carol’s was
raised to match hers. It didn’t take long before the insults began
to fly, and Carol seemed to be winning on that front. Dave rushed
out of his office, he needed to stop the commotion before it
attracted an audience or developed into a fist fight and end up on
You Tube. He opened the door just in time to catch Carol’s last
insult.

“
That little
girl is lucky to have Dave, you aren’t fit enough to be a mother to
any child, not even to a cold blooded reptile like yourself! I’ve
heard of animals that eat their young, but you are far
worse!”

Dave looked at her
amused. Amy was staring at her with lethal eyes. He pulled back the
smile, then grabbed Amy’s arm and pushed her into his office, “What
are you doing here?” He spoke, his voice dangerously low, all the
amusement gone. Lately the sight of Amy got him in the meanest of
moods.

“
How could you
let your bimbo secretary talk to me like that?” Amy yelled, still
very livid.

“
Don’t answer a
question with a question and bimbos are blond.” He answered in a
mild tone glancing at her held up blond hair, which looked a lot
better than that morning.

She glared at him, “Of
course you would let her speak to me that way, and she must be your
mistress. It would explain why you haven’t touched me in
months!”

Dave felt like telling
her exactly why he didn’t touch her. She had spent countless nights
away from home and has been receiving gifts that he knew he hadn’t
bought. It didn’t take a genius to know she was having an affair or
two, “Amy, if you have nothing sensible to say get out of my
office!” Dave held the door wide open. Amy sat down on his desk, a
heinous smile on her face.

“
I want my
daughter, I haven’t spent much time with her lately.” She held her
hand out and stared at her red nails.

“
You’ll see her
when we get home.” he answered impatiently.

“
I want her to
meet some of my friends who may become permanent in the near
future.” She looked at him, a laugh in her eyes.

Dave banged the door shut
enraged by the hint. He knew exactly what she meant by friends and
the near future. A woman like her could only have a specific
character of friends, and they must be lower than the dirt he
walked on, “If you dare take my daughter anywhere near your lovers,
you will regret the day you met me, more than you do now!” He
answered in a low harsh voice.

Amy stood up, shaken by
the warning in his voice, “You have your lover watching her, why
shouldn’t I have mine?” she bantered. She didn’t want the child,
she was just taking the opportunity to annoy him. Scared or not,
she was determined to ruin his day for turning the sprinklers on
her.

Dave took a step towards
her, his eyes boring holes in her. She side stepped, then rushed
around him and stood next to the door, staring at him a little more
frightened, “Get out Amy!” he said acidly.

“
Just so you
know I will make your life a living hell if you don’t stop your
affair with that stupid red head. And I’ll hit you where it hurts
most.”

Dave rushed for her, she
barely got out of the office, closing the door behind her. She ran
for the elevators not wanting to give him an opportunity to catch
up with her. Dave stood looking at the door. For the first time in
his life, he regretted not hitting her. She might have gotten him
arrested for assault and it would have completely ruined his
chances of getting full custody, but it would have given him a
minute of happiness, taking out all his frustration on the root
cause.

He walked behind his desk
and sat down taking a few calm breathes. It only took him a second
to realize that Amy might actually take his daughter from day care,
just to annoy him further. He picked up his phone and dialed for
Carol. There was no answer. He was about to stand up when the door
opened, Carol had Elizabeth, asleep on her shoulder.

Whispering, “With that
witch here, I figured she’d want to take Lizzy.” She walked to the
cushioned play pen he had set up in his office that morning, and
laid her down, “good thing I swiped her before she could.” She
turned to Dave with a wide smile on her face. This was one of the
times Dave liked having her around.

“
Thanks.”

“
You’re
welcome.” she whispered back. She turned and left, closing the door
gently behind her.

Dave knelt down next to
the pen and watched his daughter sleep. She was smiling, that meant
she was having a wonderful dream. Dave watched her for a while as
her face changed expressions, then feeling soothed he got up and
went back to work.

Chapter Five

The stinging pain in
Maria’s forehead woke her up. She tried to sit up, but the pain in
her back was too much for her to bear. She lay back down carefully
and stayed still unwilling to provoke anymore unnecessary pain. She
was stripped down to her bra and shorts. She looked around, she was
in her son’s room and it was dark outside. She tried to listen for
her son’s or her mother’s voice, but there was nothing, the house
felt empty. She panicked, realizing she had been out for so long.
She sat up, biting her lips together to hold back a cry as her back
and stomach screamed in pain. She felt between her legs. The last
time she was out so long, Ricky had raped her. But he couldn’t have
been so crude to have done so in her son’s bed?

“
Mama.” The
door flew open and Michael came running in. Maria teared up when
she saw her son. She caught him when he jumped on her, holding him
tight against her, completely ignoring the screaming pain in her
body.

She hated being touched
by anyone, but she always looked forward to her son’s embraces,
which were like a cover of love that helped her get through the
day.

She was glad to see her
son, but she wished Edna hadn’t brought him back. Edna came behind
him, a basin in her hand. She locked the door behind her and pulled
the chair close to the bed and sat in it.

“
Come Michael,
I need to nurse your mama’s wounds.” Michael let go reluctantly,
but sat under Maria’s arm and held her close, sniffing quietly.
Maria felt like she was going to break down seeing her son cling to
her, frightened and his eyes wet with tears. Edna was about to move
him further away, but she shook her head, unable to
speak.

Edna dabbed at her wounds
and bruises quietly. She concentrated all her energy on that. She
didn’t want to let her rage take her over. She was going to stay
calm and wait. It would take close to a week before she could carry
out her revenge and she was going to be patient as much as she
wanted to carry it out immediately on her own. Ricky was going to
get everything he deserved and more.