"Hey dad-''. Ruby peeked her head into the study not going in fully, he raised his right hand signaling for her to enter.
"Close the door behind you", he said without raising his head up. She closes it quietly and approaches his desk, he has his face buried in his work, specs of white hair beginning to form on his balding head indicating old age.
"Good morning Dad''. Dad the word alone sounded foreign to her, he was nothing like a father.
He finally gave her his attention, a disgusted look evident on his face, "what are you wearing?" She looked at her clothes, there was nothing wrong with it, this was how manipulative her father could be and this was what always led to the abuse. He would always find an alternative to turn the tables on her and use it as an excuse to abuse her, but Ruby was used to it by now, so she did the only thing she knew to do in this circumstance. Apologize for doing nothing absolutely wrong.
"I am sorry father, it won't happen again"
"Where were you last night?" where is he going with this, he knows perfectly well i was in his study last night where he was beating me!! And after much pleading finally allowed me to go,which resulted in her waking up late. Ruby was confused alright, this was a new tactic, maybe dementia was coming in early.
"I was in my room all night , I swear." "So you slept in late?"
"Yes sir", having a little hope that he actually believed her, just when she thought he was going back to his desk, she felt his palm connect with her cheek.
"You think I am stupid idiot", Ruby's eyes widened in horror as she watched him undo his belt, she knew what was coming next and quickly curled herself into a little ball. He started hitting her all over, her screams could be heard all
over their mansion, there was nothing she could do, so she just sat there enduring it all.
She thought it was over until the next thing she heard made her look up in disbelief, "take your clothes off".
"Excuse me?" Ruby felt the tears build up more, she was used to the beating, but was he about to sexually abuse her.. In between sobs, "I'm sorry sir but I can't do that."
"I said take it off!"Ruby backed herself into the wall, trying to put as much distance between them.
"Okay if that's how you want it." He grabs her by her hair, pulls her up from the ground and rips her hoodie apart. She screamed hoping someone would come to her rescue, but no one did. At that exact moment her stepmom came in and smirked at Ruby before turning to her father.
Ruby was disgusted, how could they do this to her.. "darling" Mr Lovato proceeded to kiss Veronica and whispered something to her.
She approaches Ruby and pins her hand to the ground so that her father could have better access to pull off her jeans.
"Please no!I'm begging you, don't do this please-", she continued to plead with them to stop, but it all fell on deaf ears.
She was tired of fighting at this point and just closed her eyes as she felt her father's hand pull down her jeans completely. She was left completely naked and opened her eyes to see her disgusting dad ogling up her body. This man could not be her father, no parent would ever treat their child this way.
"At least she has a nice body", Veronica says while turning to face Mr Lovato. "Yh she does, this will do". Confusion was evident on Ruby's face as she gathered up her torn hoodie and tried to cover herself up. She wasn't a fan of surprises, she needed answers and she needed it quickly. "Dad, please answer me!" she didn't know where the confidence came from, but it was there alright, and that's what she needed in this exact moment.
"I am selling you off".
"What did you just say-" , she couldn't believe her ears, who still trafficked people, this was the 21st century. She didn't know which was more shocking, the fact that she was going to be trafficked or how her father could care less and say such a thing with a straight face. This had to be a joke, who could do such a thing to their child, did he ever love her, did he ever consider her his child, so many thoughts raced through Ruby's head.
"Why?'' was all she could croak out before bursting into tears. Mr Lovatoo looked at his daughter who was now sobbing uncontrollably and told Veronica to leave the room.
He felt guilty for a quick second, he had no choice it was either him or her.
"You have a week to prepare, the deal is being closed on Saturday ''. It was currently Monday, Ruby looked at her father with disgust, she never wanted to see him again, she despised him so much. She picked up herself and tried to get
her shit together and left the study. She left his study and ran to her room, and just sat on the floor staring into nothing before picking herself back up, changed out of her torn clothes and left the house.
The ride to school was quiet and she was quite late already but that didn't matter anymore, maybe she should run away, yes that's what she would do.
She was pulled back from her train of thoughts when her driver arrived at their school parking lot where Jack was waiting for her with Allison. Allison a blonde haired girl with beautiful blue eyes, she could never top that, no wonder Jack liked her. He could never see me that way.... She thought to herself as Jack engulfed her in a bear hug, while Allison stood there awkwardly with a fake smile plastered on her face.
It was clear that Allison didn't like her, but Jack was too blinded by love to see that. Puke.
"What happened?" Jack looked at Ruby, creasing his eyebrows. It was a habit he always did when he was worried.
She looked at Allison and immediately Jack understood, he went up to Allison and the next thing she was entering back into the school premises, now she had Jack's full attention. She could be vulnerable with Jack, he always understood her.
"I hate him".
"Oh-". Jack knew when to set boundaries so he just pulled her into his chest, as soon as her body made contact with his she lost it and let the tears flow, they stayed there for a couple minutes, crying in his arms, she had never felt more safe.