Chapter 31

• “Ah!” Tapiwa cried out in fright. The sound of the ceramic vase crashing against the wall right by her head was enough to send her heart rate skyrocketing. Instinct made her duck her head even as she kept moving. She had to keep moving and get out of there. Her life quite literally depended on it.
• “Allen, stop!” Tapiwa heard her mother cry out behind her from somewhere down the hallway. The raw desperation in Miranda’s voice echoed the one that twisted Tapiwa’s guts. But she didn’t stop to see if her father would listen to his wife’s pleas or if the man would continue in his rage-infused chase after her.
• The latter was more likely to happen. The man had just thrown a vase at her for heaven’s sake. And it had been a nice vase too. One of the few her mother had ever spent a good amount of money on. Tapiwa thought it was a shame it now lay shuttered all over the floor, just like her life. Hell, she had to get out or she would really be nothing but broken bones on the floor if her father got his hands on her again.