"Since we're married, my lovely wife, I was thinking that maybe we should go on vacation next month," He said. Adrían had visited Monet at her job while she was on her lunch break to discuss whether or not they should go on a trip. She was glad that he suggested it and she hadn't been on one in a while.
"Where do you want to go?" Monet inquired.
"I was hoping that you would tell me," He responded.
"You mean that I get to choose?" She questioned.
"Definitely. I have faith that you'll choose somewhere fun and exciting," He answered. Monet smiled broadly, even though a loud squeal was threatening to get out.
"Take all the time you-"
"Bora Bora," She quickly responded. Adrían chuckled softly with a smile. He was glad that she was so excited to go on a trip with him.
"That's where you wanna go?" He asked.
"Mhm," She nodded.
"Fine. Bora Bora it is," He responded.
"Wait. When are we going?" She looked at him.
"Possibly next month. That'll give you enough time to inform your boss and me enough time to get some other things in order," He answered.
"Thank you, Adrían," She smiled warmly.
"No problem," He said. The two of them continued to enjoy their lunch together. Monet was happy to have Adrían in her life because he was just everything she wanted in a man.
"Isn't this sweet," They both heard. Monet froze in place at the sound of the voice. She turned her head to find that her brother, Aaron was standing next to their table. A sense of dread came over her as soon as she saw him. How the hell did he manage to find her? How? She knew that Jade wasn't the type to do that at all.
She hoped that this was just pure and dreadful coincidence. She hoped that they hadn't been stalking her or anything at all, but she wouldn't put it past them to do that. She wished that her claims had been taken seriously at the police station instead of being written off as her "being disrespectful to her family".
"You seem quite happy," Her brother remarked.
"Leave us alone, Vick," She said.
"Why, Mo? It's just a chat between two siblings. That's all," He smugly responded.
"Just leave us alone, Victor," She hissed.
"Why? You scared or something?" He taunted. If anybody had asked Monet in that moment if she loved her brother, then she would say that she didn't. She didn't love her brother at all. He was just like her father. An awful and abusive monster.
Victor, like their father, spewed that same rhetoric about a woman's "role" and he took joy in reminding Monet of her place as they grew up. Her brother took a sick satisfaction in having his own sisters clean up after him and being restricted from doing just about anything while he went out and did whatever with whoever. Victor was an awful person and Monet hated him with every fiber in her being. She couldn't believe that she was related to somebody like him, but worse things have happened in the world.
Victor was not somebody she felt any type of familial love for at all. He was a horrible person that was related to her by blood. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Look, man. You need to get out of here," Adrían snapped in a dangerously low tone. Victor looked over at Adrían and laughed.
"This is who you left Trey for? Some fucking s***? You really hit rock bottom with this one, Monet. I guess you and Tyra have one thing in common. You're both whores who will sleep with any and everybody," Victor said, "Hell, I've tried to warn our parents for years to send you to a place where they can beat it out of you, which they still can. I can just have one of my friends pick you up and-"
Monet watched Adrían get up and get ready to punch her brother, but she quickly intercepted and held him back. As much as she wanted to watch her brother get laid out, she knew that things could go left pretty quickly if the cops were called.
"Adrían, calm down. Okay?" She said.
"I'm not about to let him disrespect you like that," He responded, angrily. Her brother smirked smugly at him.
"Come at me then," Her brother taunted.
"I know, but not now. Not here, Adrían," She pleaded. The Dominican man glared hard at her brother.
"Fine," He said through gritted teeth.
"You're just gonna quit like that because she said something? Bitch ass nigga," Victor sneered. She grabbed her things. Monet paid for their food and they quickly left the restaurant.
However, that wasn't the end of that. Her brother had followed them out of there with his friends. They were taunting them all the way to the car and trying to get Adrían to fight them. Monet had to keep telling her husband to not turn around because she knew how her brother and his friends would do. She's heard about how her brother and his friends would fight people and she's even witnessed it a little too. They fight dirty as hell.
"Monet! Had I known you were looking at some damn b*****, then I would've called you up," One of his friend's called out to her.
The couple finally made it to Adrían's car and got in. The doors were locked as soon as they got in. He made sure to drive the hell out of there, not caring if he hit one of those idiots.
"You okay?" He asked.
"No," She answered truthfully.
"Are you okay enough to go back to work?" He inquired.
"Yeah. I'll be fine," She answered.
"You sure?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Adrían," She responded.
"If you want, I'll pick you up from work. Okay?" He said.
"Thank you," She smiled softly.
"You're welcome," He told her. As much as he didn't want her to go back to work, he knew that this was her decision to make. He wanted nothing more than for her to just get off early and go home so she wouldn't be so distracted at work.
"I'm still kind of hungry though," She remarked.
"Since our lunch plans got cancelled, we can stop by Wendy's or something," He told her.
"Ooh. That sounds like a good idea," She grinned.
"I knew it would. Plus your lunch break will be over in forty minutes," He said.
"Of course it is," She sighed. The two of them ended up going to Waffle House. It was a quick meal that would fill them both up and give Monet enough time to clock back in.
The rest of her work day went on without a hitch and she was glad to have a small distraction from what happened earlier. Her work was very enjoyable and that was something the incident from earlier in the day couldn't take away from her.
After work, Adrían picked her up as he said he would do and she appreciated it very much. She would just have to get her car tomorrow. She made a note to buy a self defense kit for herself just in case her brother or any other family members decided to make another guest appearance in her life, especially her father's side. Almost half of them were abusive in some way, shape, or form. She couldn't believe that she was even related to those people and often times felt like she was adopted or something.
Monet was brought out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. She saw that it was Tyra, her older sister, calling her. She was glad that her sister was calling her because she needed somebody to talk to that could relate to what she was going through.
"Hey, T," Monet greeted.
"Hey, Mo. What are you up to?" Tyra inquired.
"I'm heading home with Adrían," Monet informed her.
"I thought you drove," Tyra said.
"Our dear brother saw us while we were out for lunch and caused a scene," Monet told her. The older woman let out a deep sigh on the other side of the phone. The older woman knew what kind of person their brother was and how he would act as well, which was like their father. Their father trained their brother to keep the two women in line ever since they were children. He was like their father's little guard dog that only swore loyalty to their father.
"Of course he did. He flew out here to California a couple years after I had settled down with my husband and children, then began harassing us after stalking my Facebook and Instagram pages for months," Tyra informed her, "He's still going, but it's mostly phone calls because I've got a restraining order on him."
"I couldn't even get one," Monet answered, "There wasn't enough cause for them to do that and the police told me that maybe I was in the wrong."
"Of course they fucking did," Tyra muttered under her breath.
"I'm gonna have to get some type of protection soon. I'm sure that there's more coming my way," Monet told her.
"There probably is. I hate that you have to deal with it too and just know that you can come live with me if things get too intense, okay?" Tyra explained.
"I'll remember that. Thank you, Tyra," Monet replied.
"You're welcome. Did he say anything to you when he saw you?" Tyra inquired.
"Yeah. He told me about how our parents should have sent us to a place where they'll beat the defiance out of us," Monet responded, "Even said that one of his friends could come get me or whatever. It's a good thing I've got it recorded."
"That should be evidence enough for them to give you one, but I've already been through this with the police and shit. They didn't believe that there was enough reason for me to be granted one, even though one night he caught me after work and almost beat me to death," Tyra told her. Monet was silent as she heard her sister recount what happened to her. She knew her brother had done that to her and he even came home bragging about it to their parents that congratulated him for doing it.
The sad part about it was that Tyra didn't even talk to the cops about it either. She didn't want their horrible sibling being gunned by the cops, even though he deserved jail time. Because of this, he was roaming the streets terrorizing Monet to the best of his ability.
"I'm not saying this to scare you, Monet, but I'm only telling you this because I care and I've experienced first hand what our family is capable of. I just want you to be safe," Tyra told her.
"I know, Tyra. I'll be safe," Monet replied.
"I know you will because you have Adrían, Jade, and Jade's parents by your side, which is more than I can say for me when I was in that position years ago," Tyra added.
"You have Jakari beside you now, Tyra. That's more than enough," Monet replied.
"Yeah I do. I'm glad he's stuck with me after all these years," Tyra said. Jakari, Tyra's husband and the father of her three children, was a great man that loved and cherished her sister since they were kids. He was the one person, aside from Monet, that stuck by her side through thick and thin and the one person that protected her from not only their family, but from anybody that tried to harm. Jakari was the greatest husband and father that Monet had ever seen.
"I'll talk to you later, Mo. Mykah just got home," Tyra informed.
"Alright. Talk to you later," Monet said.
"You too," Tyra replied.
"Bye."
"Bye."
The call ended and Monet let out a deep sigh.
"Was that Tyra?" Adrían asked.
"Yeah," She nodded.
"What did she say?" He inquired.
"Just to be safe and that I need to try again for this order of protection," Monet answered.
"She's right. We'll have to try again and this time we have proof," Adrían said.
"Yeah. I'm glad I decided to record him once we got out of there," Monet smiled.
"Me too. Hopefully this will yield some results," Adrían replied.
"It will. I have faith that it will," Monet said.
"You know, if things here with your family ever get too tough, I don't blame you if you want to try and move somewhere else just to escape. You don't have to worry about me or Jade. Just worry about yourself," Adrían replied.
"I can't leave you two behind, Adrían," Monet said.
"I know it sounds hard, but I want you to put your safety above anything else. Okay?" He added.
"Okay," She nodded.
"I might go with you if you decide to do it," Adrían told her.
"What about your family?" Monet asked.
"They'll understand, especially my mom," He answered.
"Thank you, Adrían," She smiled faintly
"You're welcome, Mo," He said.