Protect Me From Myself

Book 5 - Hidden - Chapter.1.

Welcome to Book 5! This is Nevaeh's story. This book contains trigger warnings of domestic abuse. Warnings will be posted!

Nevaeh

Two Months Ago.

I have to get out.

I have to get out.

I can't live like this anymore. I don't want to live like this anymore.

How did I allow myself to become this woman?

The woman too scared to look at a man the wrong way for fear of him snapping?

He's not even my man. He's just someone who invaded my life, took over, and made everyone believe I was his. He even fooled my parents into thinking we were in love.

How in God's name did he do that?

And furthermore, how did I ever let him terrify me so badly that I would go along with it?

When did I become so stupid?

I shouldn't be here. I should never have even gone on a date with him.

Why did I do it?

Because my heart was broken by the man I truly love, that's why. I thought one date with a friend of a friend would be fun. I never imagined it would lead to this. I never thought, for one second, my life would get so out of hand. All of this hell because I fell in love with a man who doesn't want me.

I should have never fallen in love with my brother's best friends, big brother.

What did I honestly think would come of that one night he spent with me?

Did I really believe he felt the same way?

Of course, he didn't; he wanted to fuc.k me, and I let him. Once he was done with me, he cast me out like I was nothing to him.

And now, here I am, stuck with a man who was nothing but a rebound date. A man who, for some crazy reason, believed we were more than what I offered, which was nothing more than a date. A man who told my family we were getting married when he hadn't even asked me. And stupidly, I didn't deny it because I didn't want to anger him. I didn't want him to beat me into oblivion more like.

How did I end up being so afraid of him that just the sound of his name had me shaking?

Stuff like this doesn't happen in real life. Stalkers, don't invade your life and create a new one, fooling everyone around you into believing he's some amazing man who loves you more than life itself. Stuff like that happens in movies and books.

Or so I used to believe.

But I'm really living it. I'm really engaged to my very own stalker, who really believes he loves me. But by believing this, he believes he owns me, and I should do exactly as he tells me. And that includes never talking to other men, any men, my twin brother included. Chance is the other half of me; we've always been super close.

How do you tell your twin brother you can't come over to visit today without him finding out the man who claims to love you beats the hell out of you if you so much as blink?

David, my stalker-s***h-fake fiancé – I say fake because he's nothing to me but a nightmare – fully believes that he owns me, and I am too terrified of what he'll do to me and to my family if I should go against him.

There are no words to describe how terrifying it is to have a man like David threaten those you love. Especially when he shows you time and again just what he can do and get away with if you dare to say one word to anybody about who he really is to you.

It doesn't matter how wealthy your father is, how much security you have, how much technology you design. A man like David can make everyone around you believe you're losing your mind.

I know what that means: getting committed to a secure unit. And trust me, David has made me look like I'm having a breakdown more than once. My only option not to end up somewhere they'd lock the door and throw away the key was to do as David told me, not act up, and he wouldn't hurt me or my family.

Be all that as it may, I can't take another beating like the one he gave me here today. And simply because I was ten minutes late home. He was waiting for me to return. I never gave him a key; he doesn't live with me, but he got a key and somehow moved in little by little. By that, I mean he stays almost every night. I couldn't even change the locks to stop him from getting access because he threatened to cut my fingers off if I dared. And I believed him.

I couldn't tell them at the security desk downstairs not to let him in because he had even them believing we were a happy couple very much in love. I can't help wondering if everyone around me is stupid.

Can they not see how desperate I am for someone to notice what's going on?

I have to get out now. My plan to leave has to be put into action right now. I've been planning this for weeks. I'm not a complete idi.ot, I know I don't want to die at the hands of a madman. I also know that if I don't get out now, that's precisely what will happen to me.

I could wait until the wedding day. Wait and let the world think I was about to marry the man of my dreams.

Nightmares, more like.

I would never have gone through with it; he couldn't force me, in front of a Church full of people and God, to say “Yes.” But somehow, I knew I'd never make it to Church; I knew this day would come sooner rather than later.

But getting out means leaving behind the family I love more than life itself. Every single one of them. Including my twin brother and the other half of me. Leaving them and allowing them to believe that I have been murdered.

It may sound vile, and there won't be a body for them to bury, but I have to do this. It's the only way to get away from David. If I don't go very soon, they will really find my body in a shallow grave. Because that's where I'll end up by David's hands.

In truth, I've been planning my getaway for weeks with no help from anyone.

How did I do it?

I'm very smart. My father and brother are both geniuses in the Literal sense, and I have a very high IQ. That and I'm very good when it comes to forensic science. I majored in it. It's my job within my father's company: PA Archer LMT. It all comes in very handy when faking a crime scene.

All it took was a little more planning each day. Taking money from my own account and hiding it somewhere, David wouldn't find it for one. I needed to ensure I had enough to keep going until I found a job. Wherever I end up, I need to be able to rent a place to live and furnish it. Unless I can find one furnished. I also needed to ensure I could buy a new identity, passport, driver's license, social security number, etc.

I shouldn't know how to get a hold of things like that, but I do. My father's most loyal bodyguard's son helped me. He swore never to tell anybody that he had. But he did beg me to let him tell his father what had been happening to me. Sam said his father could fix everything and make David disappear. I don't want that. I don't want anyone's death on my conscience.

Just my own!

The trouble with taking large amounts of money from your account – even when you're a billionaire – throws up questions with your father about why you would need such large amounts of cash all at once.

What do you tell him?

That you've been overspending, and you're sorry, and you won't do it again. That you've also been helping out at the homeless shelter and giving them cash donations to help with repairs. It wasn't a lie; I gave the homeless shelter a cash donation of ten thousand dollars to help restore their roof. I spend a lot of time helping out there whenever I can. The place is much needed for those who have nothing.

They were so happy when I handed them the money. I love helping people, but I made sure they kept quiet. I wanted to remain anonymous. But I also needed to cover all bases. I had to ensure that I could provide the truth if anyone questioned me.

Of course, it's entirely up to me how I spend the money my parents gave me on my twenty-first birthday, the money that had sat in my account since my birth. But my father is a very well-respected man, a brilliant designer of majestic buildings all around the world. He is a genius where technology is concerned, a self-made multibillionaire, and he is not stupid. Although I sometimes wonder how a man so smart can't see what's happening right in front of his nose.

David is so good at manipulating that he even fooled my father into thinking he was this great guy who loves helping people in need. The background checks my father performed on David came back clear.

To my father, who loves his children more than anything and would never allow me to be with some criminal, the fact David has an excellent job in finance, his own money, and a well-respected father meant he was a good match for me.

If only he knew.

Anyway, I convinced my father that I wouldn't overspend again. He was proud of me for the donation I made; he just didn't want me going crazy buying things I didn't need. He always taught me to be grateful for what I've got and never to spend money where money didn't need to be spent. He taught me that just because we're billionaires doesn't mean we have the right to flaunt it, to make those less fortunate feel bad about their own situations.

I'll miss him. I'll miss my mother and my big sister, my baby sister. I'll miss my nieces, nephew, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.

But most of all, I'll miss my twin brother. Our bond is unbreakable. I hope even in death. I hope Chance can forgive me one day for what I'm about to do.

It's amazing how much blood one can draw from one's body over time. It's incredible how many vials you can keep in cold storage for a time when you need it most. The beauty of being a forensic scientist is the fact that setting the scene for murder or the fake reconstruction of one comes easy. It's almost therapeutic to a degree.

By the time people realize I'm missing, it will be too late, but I have made damn sure that I have left no sign, no way to trace me, and a room filled with enough hidden evidence that the cops with go crazy over it. It will probably have them talking for months to come.

One small suitcase with a few items of clothing, photographs, and a couple of gifts that were given to me by my family. Things that have too much sentimental value for me to leave behind, my passport and the money I've managed to save, that's all I'm taking with me. And the one thing I've kept hidden from David since the day he told me to take it off.

Goodbye, old life. Please be kind to my family, and don't let them mourn and cry for me for too long. And please, please keep my brother safe. I'm doing this not only for me but also for him in order to keep him safe, to keep them all safe.