ADOPTING BEAUTY

Chapter 37 + Dove Tale

Dove's mother died of an accidental overdose of alcohol mixed with a cocktail of stolen prescription pills that included both benzodiazepines and opioids. Dove called 9-1-1 but the paramedics could not revive her. The Anaheim Police sat Dove and Diana in the motel manager's office while they secured the body in the room and waited for the coroner. Dove knew what was next. Child Protective Services had been called. Diana would be safe in the custody of a temporary foster family. Dove figured she could never be safe from Bobby Banks. He'd somehow find wherever they took her and snatch her back. If she was with her sister, he may abduct Diana as well. Dove could not risk that. If she ran back to Bobby and let Diana be placed under protection far away somewhere, her sister had a fighting chance at a future.

Dove believed she had no choice. She only had minutes to act. She looked her sister in the eyes.

"Do what they tell you," said Dove. "They're gonna take you to a safe place. Stay in school. Go to college."

"What do you mean?" said Diana. "Aren't we staying together?"

"I wish we could but you have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"I love you. I want you to grow up strong. Be good. I'll always be thinking about you wherever I am."

"I'm scared. Where're you going?"

"Away, so Bobby never hurts you."

"Don't go, please!"

Dove gave Diana the biggest hug she could before she climbed out of the office window into the night.

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After her mother's death, Dove devoted herself to Bobby Banks. When she'd made it to his dingy room in the motel next door, she told Bobby the police were looking for her and wanted to take her away since her mother was dead. Bobby had no intention of losing his best item of product. He'd wanted to breakaway from the motel circuit in Anaheim anyway. He told Dove to pack her work clothes into a garbage bag. Bobby permanently borrowed a friend's car and drove Dove onto Interstate 5 headed north towards Central California's San Joaquin Valley. Freedom was theirs.

It took a few months, but Bobby put Dove to work as a regular lot lizard in several high traffic truck stops. She'd climb up into the lifted cabs of the eighteen wheeled tractor trailers in the middle of the night. She'd have sex with the truck drivers in the cramped beds in the back of their cabs. Dove lived like a vampire working all night and sleeping all day. The money was not bad but it was only a temporary situation in Bobby's mind. He felt they needed to lay low for six months or so until people stopped looking for Dove. There had been the online missing child notifications by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Bobby Banks was wanted for questioning in the disappearance of eleven-year-old Danielle Baker aka Dove. There had been numerous false tips and leads but Danielle was now considered a runaway.

Dove was entirely dependent on Bobby. They lived together and he controlled all of her earnings. She no longer attended school and Bobby kept her high most of the time in the trailer park they called home. Dove often thought about Diana. She tried to imagine a clean foster home with kind foster parents who encouraged her sister to strive in school. That's all she could pray for.

Bobby was growing restless. He'd not given up on his dream of working the upscale Los Angeles hotels. Weeks after Dove turned twelve, he told her it was safe to head back down to Southern California. It was time to move up the food chain. Bobby took a fresh portfolio of naked photos of Dove. Pedophiles scouring the web would find those photos with an ad for Dove, who was only one click away. Bobby wanted to tap into a wealthy stable of clientele to bring Dove up to their LA hotel suites time and time again. It did not take long. Dove was in demand, fetching up to one thousand dollars a night. Bobby hit pay dirt. Soon he could afford a high rise apartment downtown and a black Mercedes Benz.

+++++

It was a warm Saturday night in May. Bobby had five tricks scheduled for Dove in two different fancy downtown hotels. The second hotel was buzzing with teenagers in pretty dresses after midnight. It was prom night. Dove sat in a quiet corner of a hallway adjacent to the lobby while Bobby tried to make contact with the final John of the night. With all the rambunctious high schoolers, it was easy for Dove to hide in plain sight despite being dressed overly provocative for a twelve-year-old. She looked at the entitled prom goers in envy. Not one of those kids seemed to have a care in the world. They came from parents with money who would support them through college and even beyond. That seemed unfathomable to her but hoped Diana may have that life someday.

Bobby walked up to Dove but did not make eye contact. He stood a few feet away from her.

"Room 4205," said Bobby.