02

Tonight there’s a party at my house which my dad intends on getting me a job with the Santos family, their new friends to my dad and he wants to make a great first impression, what’s a better way then having his teen daughter be their nanny.

Fun

« You look gorgeous, Cricket. » My mom says as she flattens my dress. I simply roll my eyes at her affectionate words.

Cricket is a nickname my family calls me, it started when I was six. I had a fascination with crickets, don’t ask why.

« I don’t know, I think this dress covers too much. » I smirk while turning around to see her expression.

The dress is perfect, it’s cherry red and reaches above my knee. It was short but everyone knows I like wearing short dresses. My hair had tight curls which made me look way older than what I actually am. I just wanted to mess with my mom due to the fact that my uncle will be attending and my dad’s assistant will also be attending.

« I want to talk about everything baby. » My mom holds my small, delicate hand in her old, cold ones.

« You mean me catching you and uncle Paul together ? » I asked, my attitude clearly showing how angry I am at her. I pulled my hand out of hers and glanced at my door.

« Your father did it too. » My mom tries to justify her actions by bringing my dad into it.

« Unbelievable. » I laugh sarcastically.

« My dad valued our relationship more, at least my dad had the balls to tell me what was going on ! »

« You have so much faith in your father, maybe you should find out the whole truth instead of pointing fingers. » My mom shouts back.

I cocked my eyebrow up, not understanding what she meant by that.

« What are you suggesting ? » I questioned.

My mom gulps before turning around, she regains her strength. « I’ll see you downstairs at the party, Adora. »

My mom walks out the door leaving me confused by what she had said. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl, my dad was always the one to make me smile and laugh and my mom was always the bad cop, the one that made me cry and hate life.

But there’s always been a certain dark side to my dad, not with me but with other people.

With that stuck in my mind, I headed downstairs to the party. The theme was Cigars and Champagne, which I could neither have, legally of course but I’ve always been one to break rules. Cameras flashed in my face as I walked down my long staircase, I moved my hand in front of my eyes to avoid the harsh, blinding lights.

My house was filled with rich, stuck up people. Once I made it to the center of the room a waiter was walking past me when I grabbed the champagne from the tray, once I got it my dad took it from my grip while winking at me. I smiled sarcastically at him as he walked right back over to my mom’s side.

Great, now I can’t even drink

My parents aren’t revealing their divorce yet, my grandmother would murder my father if she found out her sons marriage didn’t work out and the public would go crazy with the affairs.

« Hey, babe. »

I turned around to see Victoria, she looked stunning as always with her hot pink maxi dress. Thank god I’m not alone, I quickly hugged her while kissing her cheek.

« You look gorgeous, Tori. » I said while gawking over her dress, which has to be Gucci.

« No, all you babe. » She smiles.

« Where’s Ms. Astor. » I ask, referring to her lovely mother who’s like a second mom to me.

« I didn’t come with my parents, I came with Jakob. » Victoria says.

My smile dropped. There’s a secret behind Jakob that I’ve never told anyone, a secret that could do some serious damage.

« I have to find my-«

I struggle to find my words. « My grandma, excuse me. »

I left before she could reply, I pushed through the busy crowd. I ran downstairs to my dad’s wine cellar, finally peace and quiet. I typed in the code, I entered and immediately grabbed a hold of some red wine. I was in such a hurry that I almost broke the wine in half, once it was open I chugged down the wine not caring about the end result.

Why is he here ? What more does he want from me ?

It’s been almost three months and the trauma never left me, the memory never left my thoughts. He still haunts me in my nightmares even in my dreams. I wiped the red wine from my lips, I threw the empty wine glass in the garbage. I looked at myself in the mirror and wiped the mascara from under my eyes.

I could still feel him, his harsh breath brushing against my cheeks, his chemical filled cologne that makes me want to vomit, his weight, everything.

Don’t let him win, Adora, you’re a Ridges

I gracefully walked back upstairs, once I got to the top I noticed that I started to feel a little tipsy but nothing I couldn’t handle. Soft music was playing as everyone was paired in big groups, talking about their boring lives.

I stood in the corner, looking at everyone in front of me. People were having a great time, why wasn’t I ?

« Pretty girls like you shouldn’t be alone. »

That voice, the voice that haunts my dreams. I turned my head slightly, Jakob was standing next to me, facing the bar.

« Excuse me. » I tried walking away but he grabbed my elbow, holding me back.

« Don’t touch me. » I snap.

He didn’t remove his hand, I didn’t want to cause a scene. I didn’t do anything.

« It’s nice seeing you Adora, I’ve missed you deeply. » His words gave me bad shivers, he was disgusting.

« Let go of me. »

« I miss your body more than anything. » Jakob smirks, I felt completely disgusted.

« You fucking raped me, bastard. » I whisper-yell.

He roughly pulled me back to his side, I kept my glaze on the people in front of me. His mouth was extremely close to my ear, I tried pulling my arm but he wasn’t letting go.

« Who’s going to believe you ? » Jakob chuckles into my ear. « Remember sweetheart, you’re the wild child, the misguided child, no one is going to believe you. »

« You don’t think my parents will believe me ? My dad will make sure your family gets nothing, you’ll suffer just as much. » I seethe.

« Maybe but you’re forgetting that I know that your daddy cheats on your mommy and your mommy has a relationship with your uncle. »

Jakob was able to find that out about my dad because his dad works for mine and when he sexually assaulted me I woke up the next morning running to my house with him trailing right behind me, that’s when we caught my mom with my uncle and now Jakob is holding that over my head so I remained quiet because of his threats of exposing my parents.

« Maybe I’ll have another round. » He kisses my cheek, I almost vomit from how disgusting he is.

« If you don’t let go, I’ll scream. » I told him, trying to save myself.

« Have a nice evening, Ridges. » Jakob smirks, he throws my elbow back before walking off into the crowd.

My heart was beating so fast, tears gathered in my eyes, I was breathing so hard. I turned around holding onto the wall in front of me, I placed my hand against my chest with my eyes closed.

Victoria is going to hate me and my parents will disown me, I can’t ruin my family anymore

« Adora, I’d like you to meet the Santos family. » My dad calls from behind me, I exhale and inhale before collecting myself.

I displayed a fake smile before turning back around, that’s when I saw him. Ricky, the sex god and a whole ass family, his family.

« This is Faust Santos and his wife, Deborah Santos and their children, Kenzo and Livia. » My dad introduced them to me, I stood there with my mouth open in complete shock.

He’s married, of course he is.

I struggled to smile, so did he. He seemed just as shocked, he can’t be more shocked then I am.

« Adora Ridges. » I stuck my hand out to his wife, she smiled before shaking it. My dad sent me a look that was basically saying ‘shake his hand too.’

His hand softly touched mine, our eyes connected. I was almost distracted by his warm touch then I realized he was married so I retracted my hand.

« My daughter is so excited to start her new nanny job, she’s been so bored lately. » My dad says, completely lying.

« That’s not true, you see I crashed my daddy’s expensive car after he told me that my mother was cheating on him. » It was the wine, maybe I shouldn’t have drank.