Empire ♔ h.s au

Prologue

Prologue ♔

I sat alone on the brown worn out couch in the small apartment complex known as my home. Waiting for mother to come back home from her work shift at the café.

I take a glance from the black wall clock that sat upon the white painted wall, small chips of paint peeling of with an ugly yellow color beneath. It read 7:58 and I knew mother should've been home by now. Unless she had taken up another hour at work, we needed it. The money that is. I myself am only 15 and too young to take on a job, at least that's what mother says. She didn't want to stress me, she wanted me to stay in school.

Father had died when I was young, around the age of six or so. I never really had a father figure in my life. I had an older brother though, but he ran away when dad died, never seen him since. We moved from our small town in Texas to England after the mess, trying to run away from our past, it never worked. Mom lost her job around that time, in and out of different jobs constantly. I watched her bring home different men every weekend. It broke my heart to see her like this. Every year, mother had gotten worse. Her dark hair, now grey. The bags under her eyes get darker almost every day. She had began to lose weight too. It deeply upset me to see her like this, almost fading away.

Minutes later of dead silence, the door handle starts to shake and seconds later my mother comes in panting like she had ran a marathon. She quickly slams the door shut and comes running over to me. She drops her purse and grabs my face holding me. I didn't understand her choice of actions and why she was doing this, but ignored it when I saw her eyes prick with tears.

"Mom-"

Before I could even finish my sentence the front door is busted open and two large men come running in. I quickly steal a glance at my mother with worry. Questioning what is going on and why they're here.

Mother looks over at me and tears roll down her pale face down to her chapped lips, she shakes her head looking down almost as if disappointed in herself.

"I'm so sorry Ellie." She whispers to me, choking on her own tears as she spoke. She then hugs me tightly but our moment doesn't last long. I'm ripped away from my mothers embrace and I cry out in fear. I look over at my mom, still not knowing what's going on, but she only sat there and cried, watching as I was being taken away from her.

I try to fight back but the man who held me was to strong. I'm too small and there was no way I could save myself from this situation.

"Mom what's going on!" I scream. Trying to break out of the tight embrace the strange man has me under. He continues to pull us out of the room, bringing us closer to the door. His arms tightly around my small waist, right under my chest. I steal a glance from him noticing his appearance. Brown eyes and hair, scruffy look due to his facial hair too.

"Ellie, we have n-no money, Master Styles won't allow us to live here anymore if we can't pay!" She shouts. Tears escaping her dull blue eyes and her voice cracking as she speaks.

"What do you mean we have no money! Mom! Why are they here!" I continue to shout, thrashing in the unknown mans tight hold. I turn my head trying to see the other man that had came in here too. I see him come down the hallway holding a suitcase. His deep brown eyes resembling mine, and his dark brown, almost black, hair.

"You're no longer mine." She whispers out in small pants. My mouth fell open and I choked on my words, nothing came out.

"I have her stuff, no we it's time to go." The deep voice speaks. I continue to cry and wonder why this is all happening so suddenly. I've never thought in my life this would come down to this.

The man throws me over his shoulder like a doll and I continue to cry. We leave the apartment, leaving my mother broken behind.

I knew about him. He ruled this place. He owned it, it all belonged to him. It was his kingdom. It was his empire.

And now, I belonged to him as well.

♔