new start

James grunted deeply as he released inside Adrian. Panting, he slid out and slowly removed the pillow from Adrian’s face while moving back.

Adrian ’s legs fell off his shoulders while James’s dick got limp.

He looked closely, but Adrian was still. Panic surged through him as he quickly grabbed his pants, sweat dripping from his brow. He picked up Adrian ’s limp body with his heart pounding. Taking Adrian’s shorts, he hurriedly dressed him before lifting him and stepping out of the house.

Fear coursed through Adrian’s veins as he thought of what his brother would say. He walked out of the yard carrying Adrian toward the clinic desperately, trying to piece together a story he could tell the nurses.

At the clinic, Helena stepped out of the doctor’s office, holding a few sachets of pills. She walked past the long queue, her eyes searching for the man who had helped her.

Flynn stood as soon as he spotted her. “Are you okay? What did the doctor say?”

“I lost the baby.” She spoke quietly. “That’s why I was bleeding. Everything else is fine. The bruising will heal.” Her voice shook as tears filled her eyes. “The doctor said he was taken by the police.”

“See? I told you they’d help.”

She shook her head, tears rolling down. “They only helped because you were there. They never helped me before. They always sent me back…” She choked on her pain, then breathed out. “But I’m happy today.”

Nigel pulled her into a hug. “It’s alright now. He will never hurt you again.”

She sniffled. “Thank you.”

Flynn smiled. “You are welcome. Where should I take you? I’m headed to Suncity, I can drop you off anywhere before I leave.”

“My mother won’t let me go back home. I can go to Suncity with you. You can drop me off at the rank. I will figure something out.”

“Do you know anyone in Suncity?”

“No, but I will make a plan.”

Flynn frowned. “I’m not leaving you to the wolves, Helena. Why would I help you this much just to abandon you in a strange place?”

“I can’t go home. I have nowhere to go. At least if I-”

“You can stay with me until you sort yourself out.”

“What about your wife? I don’t want to cause trouble.”

“I’m not married. You can relax.”

Helena stared at him, overwhelmed with emotion. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll clean, cook, wash your clothes-“

“It’s okay. I’m offering a helping hand, not asking for a servant. Let’s go.”

She walked beside him out of the clinic.

Outside, James reached the clinic entrance, breathless, still carrying Adrian whose eyes were still shut, though his heart was still beating. faintly.

Adrian ’s body twitched. His eyelids fluttered before opening. His heart pounded as he saw his uncle staring down at him. He moved his head to the side, and his body jerked.

His mother.

She was walking out of the clinic.

Adrian ’s heart thundered. “Mama!” He screamed, kicking his legs. Helena turned her head. James flinched, struggling to hold him down while Adrian fought to get free.

“Mommy! He hurt me! Mommy, help me!”

Helena turned away and kept walking toward Flynn’s car.

Flynn glanced at her. “I think he’s calling you.”

Helena shook her head. “I don’t know him. He must be mistaking me for his mother.”

“Oh…”

They got into the car.

Adrian tumbled from James’s grasp and scrambled to his feet, wailing. “Mommy! Help me! Help me, Mother!”

Flynn watched the boy as James grabbed him, dragging him away. “It’s like he knows you.”

Helena inhaled sharply. “I know, but I don’t have kids. This would have been my first. I don’t know him. Kids probably think all women look like their mothers. Let’s go, please. I just want to get away from all this.”

Flynn nodded and drove off.

***

Meanwhile, James carried Adrian away while he sobbed uncontrollably. He walked toward a nearby bush where he set him down and put his big hand over his mouth.

“If you keep screaming, I will do it again.” James hissed. “Is that what you want? No one is coming to help you. I will kill you if you keep making noise.”

Tears streamed from the corners of Adrian’s eyes, pooling at his temples.

James slowly removed his hand. “I was taking you to the hospital, but since you are making so much noise, I’m taking you home instead.”

He picked him up and slung him over his shoulder, heading back.

***

At the police station, Officer sebastian shook his head as he glared at David. “You are in a lot of trouble. There are witnesses to this case. If you thought the police were soft before, think again. I’m here now. You are going to rot in prison. Maybe there, you can fight your own age, mates. I will put you in order.”

“But she burned me!” David protested.

“In self-defence, yes. She should have done worse.”

“You don’t know who I am!”

Officer Sebastian nodded. “Neither do you know me.”

***

Helena stared out of the car window as the landscape blurred into streaks of gray and gold. Her fingers trembled in her lap, still smelling faintly of smoke, of boiling water, of fear. Every mile that passed should have felt like freedom — but instead, it felt like a knife twisting deeper in her chest.

She closed her eyes.

All she could hear was her son’s desperate screams echoing in her head — the sound of small fists beating on a locked door, the tear-choked words that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Mom, don’t leave. Don’t leave me.

He had to understand. Someday.

For the first time in years, she was choosing herself — choosing survival over sacrifice. One day, he would grow up and realize she had no choice. One day, maybe, he would even forgive her.

Or maybe he would never forgive her at all.

Helena swallowed, pressing her nails into her palms to keep from crying.

Flynn glanced at her from the driver’s seat. Calm. Controlled. The kind of man who never raised his voice — the kind of man who made promises sound like facts.

“You’re quiet,” he said gently. “Are you okay?”

She opened her eyes and forced the weakest version of a smile. A survivor’s smile. A lie wrapped in gratitude.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Thank you… for everything.”

Flynn nodded, returning his attention to the road — and Helena wondered, not for the first time, whether safety ever really existed… or whether she had only traded one kind of danger for another.

15 YEARS LATER…