Valor

Prologue

The wind digs into my skin, making it feel like my cheeks are being sliced open. It feels like a razor blade and no matter how hard I trash my captor's hold, I don't move an inch.

"Let me go you asshole!" I scream to no one in particular. The group of men around me all look the same from my 14 year old point of view: all tall and muscular.

There are a few murmurs from the men, and then the sound of a little girl, younger than me, comes through to my ears.

"Put me down!" I look to my left and see my little sister, Sarah, struggling in the hold of another cookie cutter man. Her long brown hair is messy, stuck to her face, and her big blue eyes are filled with an insane amount of anger for a 9 year old.

Both Sarah and I were dragged from our beds, gagged and blindfolded, and brought out to the peer at god know's what time. For no reasons in particular, it has my dad's name all over it. Ever since I was little, I knew my dad was involved with some shady people. Like break your kneecaps type shady.

My dad loved the horses. He also loved nascar, hockey, vodka, and cigarettes. That's where all the money went. If he wasn't drinking or smoking, he was throwing all mom's money down the drain. I was working my first job by the time I was ten just to pay for new pajamas for Sarah. When mom died last year I really thought my dad would turn it around, I mean he had to pay for all the expenses now.

I was so wrong. The only difference was that now I was considered the cashcow for all his activities. I was not making nearly enough to cover what he was losing, and so when these men showed up and snatches us all away, I wasn't even surprised. It was only a matter of time, but I was hoping they'd just kill the bastard. Why'd they have to drag Sarah and I into this?

A man comes down the dock towards where we are standing, dragging along a stumbling man with a black bag over his head.

"Well, well, well! It looks like we have ourselves a family reunion!" The man says, chuckling as he whips the bag over the restrained man's head.

I get one glance at the man and I know right away that it's my father. Of course he's delirious, his eyes unfocused and there's spit dripping from his open mouth, but we manage to make eye contact for a second. That's all he needs to see the piercing glare in my eyes, and it's enough to make him wince and look away.

"Jeremmy! You have such beautiful daughters!" He says smiling as he walks towards me. "This one's the hard worker isn't she?" He says cheerfully, dragging his finger along my jaw. It makes me jerk my head away, but he catches my chin between his fingers. He turns my face to the left and then right, inspecting me in such a degrading way that I want to cry.

No. I won't cry. I have to be strong for Sarah.

"Ye-es. That's her." My dad says, his gaze never leaving the wooden planks of the dock.

The man finishes looking at me and turns back towards my father. "Good news Jeremmy. I have decided to let you go, your entire debt gone."

This makes my dad's head shoot up. He looks confused, but mostly releived, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also a little of both. Men like this man don't just let people go, no harm no foul. They send messages, and I feel like my dad is already out of messages. This should be a stomping, but no one is moving to grab their gun.

"Tha–ank you Marco." My dad whispers, tears already forming in his eyes. He looks pathetic and if I wasn't being manhandled by a beast of a man I would be rolling my eyes.

"Great! All you have to do is pick which daughter I keep!"

The blood drains my from face. He wants to compromise. One daughter for my dad's debts, and there is no doubt in my mind that my dad will sell Sarah to him. I'm the one who works and makes money. If he wants to keep doing what he's doing, he doesn't give a shit if Sarah is there or not. In fact, if she's not, that's more money for him to bet with.

My dad's eyes snap directly to mine and he must see the anger in my eyes.

"I–I.." My dad stumbles over his words. He knows that as soon as he says the Marco can keep Sarah I will beat his ass.

"Daddy." I say, my voice cold. He makes no move to let me know he has even heard my voice.

"Paul." I say a little louder. His name from my lips tastes foul just knowing that he didn't even try to argue with Marco about selling one of his daughters for his debt. When his eyes meet mine, I fight with everything in my being to beg him with my eyes to keep Sarah. To take her and run away and be the father he should be. His face gets blurry as tears begin to overwhelm me, and I can hear him cursing slightly under his breath.

"Take Lilah. Take her." His voice is void of emotion as he makes his decision, but when I get a good look at him, I can tell that he is broken. My dad and I used to be close when I was little. He would take me to play baseball at the park or we would play with legos in the basement. He used to be my everything and I used to be his little girl.

I'm hoping it's this moment that stays in his head when Sarah and him get out of here. Maybe he can pull himself around. Maybe he can be the dad I used to adore–for Sarah.

"Very well. Get 'em out." He says to his men, his chin lifting in silent conversation with the man holding my sister.

As three men haul my dad and my sister away, the man holding me loosens his grip until he finally lets me go. Marco Moves in behind me, his arms wrapping around me and his lips grazing my ear. His breath his hot on my skin, but I can only focus on my sister and my dad slowly get further and further away. When they're about twenty feet away they stop, and the hands on my body tighten.

"I'm going to love taking care of you." He whispers in my ear making me want to vomit. I can only imagine how he's going to take care of me, and for the first time in the past few hours I feel actual fear. I am now trapped in a world with him.

"Keep watching sweetheart." He murmurs in my ear, making me draw my attention back to my father and sister. They don't keep moving, which starts to make my stomach swirl. Why aren't they moving?

Suddenly Sarah and my dad are forced to their knees, being held in place by the three men who dragged them there. Suddenly all the pieces start sliding into place and my heart rate picks up causing Marco's grip on me to get tighter and tighter until I'm not sure I'm even breathing.

Before I have a chance to blick, the sound of gunshots ripple through the air. After five, I lose count and I don't even notice there are tears streaming down my face until Marco draws his finger up to wipe them away.

I want to collapse into the ground and never get up, but strong arms banded around my body hold me up.

They're dead. He killed them. Sarah would still be alive if I had let my dad take me. Sarah is dead. My dad is dead. They shot them and kept me alive.

There's nothing left in me; nothing left to do. All I can do is let out the blood curdling scream that is clawing its way out of my throat. I let all the pain, all the anger, out until my body in shaking. I let it all out, because never again. Never again.