Chapter 1 The past

Devika Levine's pov:

I've lived my entire life working my a*s off. I can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to make ends meet for my family,a time I took to actually take care of my own needs.

My father has been out of the picture for the past six years now and since then all I could remember was all the responsibilities being left on my shoulders, fending for my sick mom and two younger siblings, life hasn't been easy on me over the past few years.

I was sixteen and enjoying my teenage life, until all of a sudden my father started acting strange and distant towards my mom and I and my siblings were not an exception. He would come back home late at night, drunk to stupor, and when my mom would try to confront him it always ended up in a heated argument that most times lead to him beating her into a pulp.

Davika's Flashback (age 16)

(trigger warning ⚠️: violence)

"Please stop". A tiny Larisa begged as she watched in horror as my father beats up my mother

"Larisa come here now" I whispered

I was hiding under the bed in my room with my 6 months old younger brother, Ash, in my arms.

Larisa shook her head at me and turned back to watch.

I carefully put Ash down and crawled out from under the bed with the intent of getting my baby sister out of harm's way, because at that moment he was capable of anything and everything.

I was only 16 and three years older than Larisa who was just 13. Larisa was about clocking twelve when mom got pregnant with Ash,who was just three months at that time.

"I'll be fine". I muttered words of motivation to myself as I ran to grab Larisa's hands

"You two little shits can never be quiet" he yelled as he walked towards us with his hand raised.

I could see my mom struggle to get to us with blood seeping out of her nose and tears running down her eyes,she was in so much pain.

"Rowan please stop". She pleaded, choking on her sobs, as she managed to grab onto the hem of his trouser.

"Move away, useless piece of trash". He gritted as he shoved her back down to the ground harshly. "And you....". He said while pointing at Larisa. "You're becoming really gutsy lately, you've been picking up on your sister's bad character, haven't you ??".He spat angrily at her, making her shudder in fear.

Even if he was drunk,what he said wasn't completely false, everyone knew I was arrogant, rude and very sassy. But I didn't mean for Larisa to start picking up on my attitude. And now we were going to suffer for that little observation of his. On a normal day he might have let her off with a warning, but this was completely different, he was drunk, if not drunker than usual.

"You leave my daughter alone". mother Said between sobs as she tried to find the strength to lift her self off the ground.

"And you shut up!!, you think I wasn't going to notice how soft you've gotten on them, letting them do whatever they liked, with your pathetic excuse of having a high blood pressure".

It was true, mom was getting really weak an pale lately, and it was due to the fact that her blood pressure was extremely high. But apparently dad didn't care.

"But don't worry". he reduced his pitch. " I can discipline them for the both of us". he said menacingly

"Please don't hurt them, please I beg you" Mother cried.

"SHUT UP!!". he yelled violently before fiercely backhanding her.

My eyes widened in shock as I saw my mom fly across the room and her body collided brutally with the floor. I couldn't comprehend what what going on until Larisa screamed out in terror.

"MOM !!". her tiny voice screamed

And that was enough to snap me out of my daze. Larisa yanked her hands away from mine as she ran helplessly towards my mom's unmoving body.

"Mom!, Mom!!, Mom!!, mom please wake up". she cried out to my mom who was obviously not hearing a word she was saying.

"DAVIKA !! DO SOMETHING !!!". She snapped her head towards my direction yelling at me.

And that was when I realized that I've been rooted to one spot all along. A single tear trickled it's way down my cheek as reality dawned on me. I turned around and saw my dad standing there with a shocked look on his face and in a flash he was making a run for it towards the door.

"Dad!, Dad!!, please don't go.... help us take mom to a hospital, I promise I won't tell anyone it was you... PLEASE!!". Yelled as I sprinted after him like a mad person.

But it was already to late, he was too fast for me to keep up and all I could do was cry and try to come up with a solution. I ran towards our neighbors house to see their door lock from the outside signifying that there were not home. They were the closest people who could have helped us considering that I and their daughter, Aaliyah we're best friends.

I sprinted back into the house to find Larisa still trying to get Mom to get up, I ran upstairs and pulled Ash out from under the bed, before I came back down, then I ran towards the house phone and dialed a number, I offered silent prayer hoping he would pick because it was literally almost 3am I the morning.

"Vika is everything ok ?? Why are you calling so early this morning" Andrei's deep voice pierced through the speaker and I was grateful.

"Andrei!!... it's mom!!, dad beat her up again and now she's unconscious and I don't know what to do" I said it all in one breath as tears washed my face.

The grogginess in his voice disappeared immediately and was replaced with that of worry.

"Okay!! okay!! listen to me I want you to calm down. And when you get off this phone I want you to make sure she's still breathing". he tried to sound as soothing as possible but I could hear worry lacing his voice.

"Can you do that for me??" he asked

"Yes". I replied almost in a whisper but it was loud enough for him to hear.

"Just calm down.... I'm on my way". He said as he hung up.

I sauntered across the room with little Ash clasped against my hips and tear flowing down my face. It broke my heart to see my mom in this condition, but what shattered me the most was that my innocent baby sister has to experience this kind of incident. She was too young for this she didn't deserve it. She held my mom's battered body in her tiny arms as she sobbed quietly. This was definitely going to traumatize her forever

Not to long after a loud siren was heard and medical assistants rushed into our house. They picked up my mom's body in a stretcher and pulled her away.

Andrei rushed towards I and my siblings, he took Ash from me and and embraced his small body into his large arms while pulling me and Larisa into a hug. Andrei was a very huge and intimidating looking man and his large biceps didn't help the situation.

"Don't worry everything will be okay, you guys are safe now" he mumble

"Thank you Andrei". I whispered between sobs

"It's alright ". He said and led us towards the door.

It was then I realized that the whole neighborhood had come out to see if we were alright. It warmed my heart to see them care so much. I looked to the right a bit and saw Andrei's two brothers and the entire biker gang on their bikes explaining something to the police.

I was glad to know that even if my dad didn't care about us we still had people who would.

My mind wandered back to my mom, I ran towards the ambulance and was ready to follow them when I felt someone tugging on my shirt, I turned to see Larisa staring at me we glazed eyes and Ash clasped against her hips

"Vika!! Where are you going??" she asked with her voice breaking

"I need to go with them, I have to know if mom's gonna be okay" I said trying my hardest to sound calm

"Let me come with" . She offered

"No, no, someone has to stay back and take care of Ash" I said in the most soothing voice I could muster

She nods her head in understand before I pulled her into a hug

"It's gonna be okay.... We're gonna be okay" I whispered to her before she pulls away with tears threatening to fall down from her eyes.

She nods and Walks over to where Andrei was talking to some police officers.

I hopped into the back of the van and the tears I have been Trying to fight came flooding back as I saw my mom fight for her life. The medical assistants tried their best to make sure she was stable till we got to the hospital.

My mom was rushed to the ER immediately and all I could do was sit in the waiting area and pray for her to be okay. I was later joined by Andrei who assured me that everything would be fine

I left the hospital that day with the knowledge of my mom being diagnosised Cardiomyopathy that was caused through a high blood pressure.

That day my teenage life was taken away from me completely and it was all because of my own father.

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