Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 86160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
I'm not going to apologize for thrashing you, you know I won't, and if you put yourself in that kind of danger again I will do the same, you know this too, do you understand?"
"Yes." My voice was small and childlike.
"Any questions?"
"Uhm...." I bit my tongue, how do I say this without getting myself in deeper shit?
Roderick in no way mistreats me, neither is he abusive, in fact he's far from it, but when he gets pissed or more to the point, scared, he can lose his shit. I should know I've got the ass whippings to prove it. So how do I tell him how I feel without turning this into a major issue?
"Simone?"
"Can we talk about it after we put the boys to bed?"
He looked at me for a long minute before nodding his assent.
"Fine, let's go eat."
"What did you make?"
"Your favorite of course."
"Whew, vegetable lasagna, thank you daddy."
I got a hug and kiss before we headed out to get the boys.
Dinner was boisterous fun, Roderick and I like to interact with the kids while we eat, in an appropriate manner of course, there was no chewing and talking at the same time, but conversation is plentiful with two four-year-olds who were full of stories and a million and one questions about everything under the sun. There was lots of 'mommy guess what' and daddy did you know?'
Roderick was really great with them I liked to watch him, his patience and understanding so completely different from my father's.
I bathed the boys and got them ready for bed while Roderick took his shower. I was in bed under the covers by the time he was finished. It got dark early up here this time of year, by seven it would be pitch black, we would either watch TV or read but I knew we needed to have this conversation so I left my book sitting on the nightstand.
"You ready to talk little girl?"
"Yes daddy."
"Go ahead."
I fidgeted a little because although Roderick has always maintained that we could discuss anything I've never really questioned his authority before.
"Uhm...it's just that...I didn't deliberately go looking for that Sam guy...."
"Is this the first time some guy tried to talk to you on there?"
"Uh...." Shit, I knew I should've left well enough alone.
"No....." My voice was barely above a whisper.
"And how did you handle it the last time?"
"I just ignored it."
"And did he stop?"
"Eventually yes."
"This group you're in, do you know anyone there personally have you ever met any of
them?"
"Of course not."
"How do you know they are who they say they are?"
I shrugged my shoulders; this is not going at all the way I expected it to.
"Do you remember about ten years ago? You might've been too young to remember but it made international news, there was a young girl that went missing. Her family begged and pleaded for weeks, the media was all over the story because the girl came from a very influential family."
I did not have a good feeling about this. I wanted to stop him before he went any further but that train had already left the station and I just knew he was about to tell me something horrible.
"The police, the FBI, every possible government agency was called in, money was no object, with all those resources there was nothing to be done, she disappeared without a trace. Finally a cyber task force took over, when they took her PC apart they found all these emails and private messages between her and an unknown man.
It took them months to piece it together but by then it was too late, she'd been dead since the first week she'd been taken. That thirteen year-old girl was my sister Janet, she met her predator in a chat room where she'd been meeting other kids and sharing information, you're an adult, you're not a thirteen year-old girl, but you're my wife and I'll be damned if the same thing will happen to you."
"Oh my gosh, oh daddy, I'm so sorry." I hugged him as tight as I've ever hugged him before, my heart breaking into a million pieces for him, for his remembered pain.
That answered a lot; though I always suspected it had to be something horrible that had sent him running from civilization, I’d never imagined something like this. He hardly ever spoke of his past and his contact with his family was minimal at best. Now I understood why he was so overprotective so anal about our security, it's a good thing I didn't mind being hidden away up here, had I been one for big city lights and the party scene we would have major issues.
Now with this new revelation it was a wonder he even let me near the computer at all.
"I promise to be careful I won't talk to people on there."