Hostage

Unconditional Love

Andre Monroe.

I have always been the kind of person to strive to see the beauty in things.
To see perfection in people.

Maybe it had something to do with the inner battles I fought.

Maybe it had something to do with my imperfections, with the void in my heart that I fought so hard to fill.

My brothers and sister were a part of the people in this world who had come close to filling that void. They were a part of the few people in the world who had loved, and accepted me in spite of my demons. They had put their lives, and their happinesses on the line for me.
The only other person in the world who had looked at me, at my demons, and had loved me either way was Isabel.

And I had ruined her life.

I should have walked away from Isabel when I had the chance to.

And I didn't.

I didn't because I'd thought that it was impossible for someone aside from my family to love me for who I was and when Isabel showed me that there was even the slightest possibility , I'd thought that I could maybe hold on for a little while longer.

In the end, I had killed her.

Don't get me wrong, Maece loved me too.

But the problem with Acy was that she loved me for what I was. She loved that I was a Monroe. And as long as I constantly credited her bank accounts and avoided any scandals, she was barely ever around to notice when I had a new scar on my body.

At some point in my life, I felt like she was what I needed. Like she was what I deserved.

Someone who wasn't co-dependent.

Someone who didn't need me.

But Isabel, Isabel had shown me that it was possible for someone else to love me unconditionally.

And I owed it to her, and to my siblings, and to my late father, to not drag my siblings into the mud.

Every bad thing they did, they did for me.

Because they loved me,

Because they loved me Unconditionally.

And if it happened to be that this was my last night on this earth, that alone was more than enough for me.

When I met Isabel Grayson eight months ago, I had stopped at the mall to get a few supplies and she had been eagerly trying to get away from someone. She had walked right into me, pushing me into the water fountain in the center of the mall.

And I knew right from the second we got talking, that Isabel was different.

For such a young girl, she was experienced, mature, she was a free spirit. Isabel taught me how to appreciate the gifts of life, and how to love and accept myself for who I was.

For the first time in fifteen years, I met a woman who made me feel at peace with my condition. I met someone who merely having her sleep beside me was more than enough for me.

Isabel and I, we had our good moments.

And we had hell.

There were times days, when Tyrese took the light in the morning and he would hurt her.

But despite everything, she never left my side and I could never understand why. I would never understand why she chose to jump off the building rather than have Tyrese kill her. I would never understand why she begged him to let her jump off instead.