Page 1 of Forever Enough

Prologue

MACKENZIE

Day Before Eighteenth Birthday, Atlanta, Georgia

I couldn’t tell if the hot water on my skin soothed or burned. Closing my eyes, I stepped farther in so that the water ran over my entire body as I held back the tears. What I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs. Since I knew I couldn’t do that, I clenched my fists in balls and internally did what I longed to do.

My father had passed away when I was twelve years old after a fight with cancer, leaving me, my sister Emily, and our mother alone. I could still hear my mother crying in her room, in my mind. She was terrified to be alone, so when she ended up marrying my father’s best friend not long after Daddy passed away, no one was truly surprised. I always thought that my father knew our mother, Anna, wouldn’t be able to handle things once he was gone, and that was why he’d left trusts for my sister and me. He put his lawyer in charge of our trust funds until I turned eighteen. Then I was in charge of my sister Emily’s trust until her eighteenth birthday. It spoke volumes if you asked me that our father knew not to put our mother in charge of the trusts. My stepfather had been talking non-stop about how he should be in charge of our trust funds, and he had even tried to take it to court to have a judge place him in control of the trust and not my father’s lawyer. He lost and I would forever be grateful to that judge.

A single tear slipped free when I squeezed my eyes shut.

Why? Why did you have to die, Daddy? Why?

My arms instinctively wrapped around my body as I drew in a long breath. The hot water slowly turned colder and colder until I stood shaking. Turning off the faucet, I flinched as pain shot up my side.

I slowly stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. My ribs hurt from where that monster had kicked me when I stepped between him and my mother. I hated him. I hated him more than I hated anything in my entire life. I hated him for hitting our mother. I hated him for yelling at my younger sister, and I hated that he thought he could take my father’s place.

And as much as I hated him, he hated me equally. Where my mother couldn’t stand up to him, I could. I paid the price over and over, but I would never let him break me down like he had my mom. For years I’ve watched her wither into someone I no longer knew.

I’d kept his dirty little secret only because my mother had begged me to. She was terrified of being alone again. She would tell me over and over if I told anyone and he was taken away, she wouldn’t be able to support the three of us. So I kept it a secret, the beatings he gave my mother, and to me whenever I stood up to him. The verbal abuse was worse than the physical, though, and I knew if I stayed a day longer, I would lose my mind. A part of me was also ashamed I hadn’t had the courage to tell anyone.

Tomorrow I turned eighteen and my father’s inheritance would be mine. And like a sign from beyond, I would also be the one in charge of overseeing my younger sister’s inheritance until she turned eighteen. Not my mother, me.

When George, my stepfather, had found out neither my mother nor him would have control of the trust for Emily, I thought he was going to come undone at the kitchen table when Dad’s lawyer dropped that bombshell earlier today. I wasn’t sure why the lawyer never told my mother before that I would be in control of Emily’s trust. The way my stepfather had looked at me after he found out the news, caused my skin to crawl. I knew if I didn’t leave the house before my birthday, I would be in deep trouble.

Packing one single bag, I snuck into my sister’s bedroom and gently woke her up. She snapped her eyes open and sat up in bed.

“Did you do what I asked you to do?” I asked.

She nodded. A single tear slipped free from Emily’s eyes as I told her, “He won’t hurt you, Em. He hasn’t touched you in all this time. And if he does anything, so much as puts a finger on you, you call the police and then me. Do you hear me?”

She nodded. “But with you gone, he’ll be really angry. Do you think he’ll try to hurt me?”

I shook my head, even though I knew I couldn’t promise her that. “For some reason he’s never touched you before. If he does, you do what I said. I’ll do whatever I can to get you away from them until you turn eighteen. Even if it means taking them to court.”

Emily looked confused. “How much did Daddy leave you?”

“More than I need for college. Don’t worry about it; just try and stay out of the house as much as you can. Stay at your friends’ houses or come stay with me. I’m going to get an apartment.”

She nodded.

“Listen to me, do not let him get into your head. One year, Em. You only have to stay here for one year then I’ll get you out. If not sooner.”

Another nod. “I love you, Kenzie.”

Hugging my baby sister, I tried to ignore the sick feeling I had at leaving her behind. I couldn’t bring her with me though, since my mother would never give up her rights to Emily. I’d already talked to a lawyer about guardianship, but by the time it moved through the system, Emily would be eighteen. I just had to hope and pray she was safe.

“I love you more, Em.” Standing up, I blew her a kiss. “Remember what I said.”

“I will.”

When I slipped out of my sister’s bedroom window, I had no idea what kind of fight I would be in for. Or that I would be fighting to save my own life, and my sister’s.

Chapter One

BRADLY

Present Day (Four Years Later) – Hamilton, Montana