Can't Change the Past

~14~

Beyoncé POV

I woke up the next day with King cuddled next to me and Aubri on top of me. I tried to move but Aubri wasn't having that. I laid there for a few more minutes before Mama G came knocking on the door.
"You ready to talk?"
"Yeah, let me just put her down." she fussed in her sleep but eventually calmed down and I left to go talk to Mama G.
"Sit down. I'm making breakfast but I can still hear. So talk whenever you're ready."
I sat at the island fumbling with my fingers. "It's not easy for me to talk about."
"Then sum it up for me."
"My real name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles." She turned to look at me, "I never said my real name in fear of someone recognizing me." She nodded for me to continue.
"I'll never forget that day. It was a Tuesday afternoon and my then fiancée had just left to go on an undercover assignment. About three, almost four years, ago I decided to go to the mall to shop away my frustrations. Mind you I had no money to be wasting but I needed to leave the house to clear my head. I asked my neighbor to watch King for me but she couldn't so I took him with me. We were in a store and I let his hand go for a quick moment to check the price on a piece of clothing. I looked away for what seemed like five seconds and then I looked down and he was gone." Tears started welling in my eyes. "I ran through the store frantically searching for him. I even asked the manager to see security footage and she told me the cameras weren't working that day. I rushed out the store and there he was, just standing all by himself, or so I thought. I immediately went to pick him up and cradled him when I felt a piece of metal to my back. I froze with terror and the man said he would kill me and King if I didn't go with him. I followed his directions and we left out of this side door and was put into the back of this black van with no windows. A few hours later, the van stopped and the man and another guy came and got us out. We walked into a building where there were other girls standing around, all looking frightened. I was pushed into a line and King was taken from my arms. I struggled but the gun the man had earlier was pointed at King, so I let go. Two days. Two days passed and I didn't know where I was or where my son was. I cried all of my tears until there were none left to cry. The man who took King away came in the room and made us all line up against the wall. A few seconds later, a different man came in the room and scanned all of us. He pointed out five girls and they were taken and sent out. He was about to leave but he stopped and made eye contact with me. I quickly looked away because I was angry, hungry, and tired. My mouth is slick and I didn't want to die behind it. 'I want her too.' I didn't move, which pissed him off, but I didn't give a dam. Excuse my language but I wasn't leaving until I had King. He came up to me and started speaking Spanish and I cocked my head to the side still not moving or saying a word. I understood what he said but I was holding my ground. 'She dumb?' I calmly told him that I wasn't leaving without my child. We went back and forth for a little while until he finally gave in and they brought me my baby back. I was then snatched up and forced to leave. When I walked outside I realized that we were in an airport hanger and that I was getting on a plane." I stopped.
"I'm still here. Take your time." Mama G said rubbing my back.
"After we got off the plane, we were taken to this house. We were told that we now belonged to Julius Escada. Immediately Julius took a liking to me, and made me his 'special girl'. For the first few weeks I was throwing up and my stomach was in excruciating pain. I couldn't be sent out like the other girls so Julius kept a close eye on me. One day Julius called all of us in the main room. Somebody had been stealing money from him and he was going to make an example out of them. He turned and shot the guy right between the eyes and said this is what happens when you steal from him. When I was feeling better, he told me that I would be accompanying him as a date to meet one of his clients. When we got there I had to go to the restroom because I still wasn't feeling my best. When I got in the restroom the lights went out, and someone grabbed me from behind. I struggled to get away, but they beat me half unconscious. I woke up in the hospital room, with Julius holding King sitting by my bedside. The doctor came in and told me that my baby was fine, and left to give us some time to talk. I couldn't believe that I was pregnant. Julius apologized over and over again and said that he would better protect me and my children. He moved us out of the main house and into his personal home. While I was pregnant, he treated me like a queen. He even took on the role as Aubrielle's father and helped raise her as his own. But a few weeks after I had Aubrielle, he changed. He beat me at least twice a week, but never in front of my children which I'm thankful for. He didn't let me leave and said that I was his and his only. One day I had had enough. I packed a few of mine and my children's things and left. I took some of his money and caught a cab. I got an apartment away from him and applied to work at your diner. I thought I got away from him until that day I brought them to work with me."
"Giselle-"
"I was some man's personal sex slave for three years! I tried to run, but he would beat me and say that I was ungrateful for trying to leave. It was more of a mental thing, that's why I couldn't leave at first. He would tell me that he'd find me and bring me back because nobody wanted me. He'd tell me that I was worthless and that I should be thanking him for allowing me to have sex with him."
"Shhh." She grabbed me and let me cry into her shirt. "He's not going to get you here."
"Mama I thought so too when I ran, but he always finds me."
"Well you told me that that man was helping you."
"What if he can't?"
"Giselle you have to trust somebody."
"It's hard when I just started trusting myself."