Three years ago

Hiding through the hallway in saint Anne Hospital, Alissa knew that she won’t have any other chance to run from there if not now. Animals, all of them. She had thought that he was different. After what his tin had done to her, Alissa had believed his kind words and selfless intention. He was no different from his whole family.

Tears prick her lids and she sobbed at one point, right beside the fire extinguisher. She leans her back on the wall and falls in tears. Sobbing and crying at her condition, not even the agonizing pain in her tummy after the C-section could stop her body from shaking. Nine intense months of carrying her unplanned babies but she had cherished them so much as she awaits the arrival of her two miracle angels. A boy and a girl, both were promised to her when she had asked the doctor what she was going to have.

Not only the Walton’s has taken that from her, every single one of them has made her alone. She has no one now except for the angel wrap in her pink blanket in her arms. What was she going to do? What will she tell her daughter? How will she tell her how her twin brother is dead? Natural death would have made it at least slightly better but it was evil that has taken her son from her.

Memories of Alissa’s mother-in-law shoving her down the staircase when they were alone. She can still feel her anger, the pain of a mother who had lost a son all due to his lust. Why did she blame her? She didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, she was the actual victim. All she did was helping her mother clean his room. It was never her intention to wear a knee-length dress. It was never her fault she was dressed to entice, so to say. It was just a second-hand dress her mom has gifted her but she still chose to help her clean the house her mom worked at as a maid.

Clarke made her fear men. Rich men who bore the lust of an animal. Tearing her precious dress off of her body even when she had begged him to stop. Her eyes became blurry as she felt his lips trailed down her exposed back and sweat drip from his body to her every time he forces himself on her. She remembers how she felt her hair was ripped from her head in a bloody chunk and scratches with bruises marked her body.

Being held face down and having no mercy from the man she barely knew. Man who had been nice to her every time she had come to visit her mother. Her 18th birthday became a nightmare the moment she chose to leave her shabby flat to help her single mother just so they could spend her birthday earlier.

His cruel words played in her ear while being held facedown, “Happy birthday, angel.” His breath stinks of alcohol since he just drank after a fight he had with his dad. His clammy hands grabbing her thighs as he pushes wide to spread her apart and defiled her as she cried for mercy and help that never came.

As soon as he finished doing his inhumane deed, Alissa still lie face down on the bed and sob. Her body was in pain and she can feel his release flowing down her thighs. Surely her blood would be there too since she was a virgin and it broke her heart to know her first time was taken harshly. She hears his jeans were pulled quickly and strings of curses left his lips as he quickly leaves the room. Not a word of sorry or any effort to help her.

His leaving his room in a rush attracts the maid’s attention and when Miss Willow, an elderly lady in her fifty enters, her scream was the only sound she heard before Alissa passed out.

Alissa’s daughter's cries woke her from her thoughts. Her eyes were closed and her wrinkly hand was making a grabby motion at her. Probably hungry or cold, she didn’t know but one thing for sure, they weren’t safe there. As long as the Walton’s are still there, she would be a goner. She had to leave. The sound of alarm breaking the silence of the hospital made her shocked and her baby cried even more. The sound of heavy rain hitting the building can be heard loudly from the inside. Alissa crawl near a curved part of the wall next to her to avoid detection.

Doctors and nurses running around the building as they search for Alissa made her terrified even more. They would drag her back to the room filled with the evil family. She didn't want that. The fact that her son was killed by the matriarch of this family hurts her but there was nothing that she can do.

Quickly she covers her daughter’s face and ran as fast as she could till she found the door to the basement. Peaking at whatever around her, she ran for her life until she steps on the street and walks till her feet reaches a bus stop. The cries of her baby pound her head and her feet were swollen and all scratched from the road. Her body wet from the rain and the chillness of the night sky causes her to shiver so she wrapped her bundle of joy tightly against her chest so she wouldn’t feel what her mommy is feeling.

When a bus finally shows up behind her, she enters the bus slowly with the driver ignoring her existence, not an ounce of care for the woman donning a hospital robe and just stare ahead. Limping to the end of the bus, Alissa sat on an empty seat and a sigh of relief escape her lips when the bus starts to drove away. She turns her head back and in her chest, she whispers the words of goodbye to her past, her pain, her precious mother, and the cruel life she has left behind. Time to start a new. 

...

After three years

“Are you sure you have brought all the documents with you, Lisa?”

“One. hundred. percent. Trust me.” Alissa answered with a smile. One hand holds documents while another was fixing her hair which falls softly like a waterfall and curled at the end. She noticed that her caramel brown hair has grown fast and debated whether to cut the thick strands even though she was already liking the length. She did rock shoulder-length hair all her life so why not try something new?

Her boss, Gregory aka the man who had asked her to dinner twice now is tapping his feet nervously, looking all worried to face the new company delegation visiting their company. She was picked out among her colleagues when Gregory's partner called in sick and couldn’t be present.

All the documents she was supposed to carry were left on his partner’s table so all she had to do is take it and meet the visitor in question. Alissa was nervous herself but it was too late to pull back now. She took a deep breath and continue to stare at herself through the reflection from the elevator‘s wall.

Her make-up was applied in a simple yet elegant way. Cherry pink lips with her thick lashes accentuate her green eyes. Her white blouse with a frilly front works well with her fitting black skirt which tends to drag itself a bit above her knee.

“I don’t know, Lisa. I’m just scared. What if we are not fully ready and make an ass out of ourselves. These are not just any other people. It’s the Walton! We can’t mess up!”

Her hand holding her ponytail stops and she quickly turned to her boss, “W..Walton?’

Gregory turn to her and raised an eyebrow, “Yeah. Walton. You know them?”

She gave a burst of nervous laughter and turns back. Surely the name Walton is just a common name. She had traveled so far from where she had grown in until she arrived in New York and finally started her new life. Surely the Walton that she is going to meet is just another gentleman with the same name and not THE man who had haunted her nightmares.

Stepping out of the elevator, Alissa walks out with her head held high. The floor she was in was filled with her superiors, people more powerful than her and the last thing that she wanted to do is to show how fragile or lightweight she was, how easy it is to take advantage of her. To earn their respect, she made sure to be and feel more confident and careful with the way she acts around them.

Following Gregory, she couldn’t see where they were going since Gregory was taller and went to the gym regularly so his buff exterior wasn’t helping. When they enter what seems to be the meeting room, she hears Gregory spoke with such joy in his voice and walk faster to the man in front of him.

“Daniel! It’s so nice to see you!”

Alissa stops in her track and her eyes widen at the sight across her.