"You can do this." Joni muttered under her breath before she walked in through the doors into the school. She clutched her books to her chest and walked quickly to her locker with her head down and her hoodie covering her face. She'd opted to wear the sweatsuit since it was Wednesday and it did a better job of hiding her bruises than her uniform would have. She got to her locker without any problem and input her code opening her locker to drop her books. Her father had taken the King's words to heart - any sane man would if he wanted to live and he'd not touched her but he'd told her that she would not eat any food in his house for two weeks. Even after the time has passed, he'd decide whether to let her eat or not. Right now her stomach was crying out for help and food. Food and water. "Did you really think that you can get away with what you did to my boyfriend?". Shania demanded from behind Joni.

Celestina let out a sigh of relief as she took out her purse to search for her keys to open the door. She was glad she'd successfully found a sales person to man her store for her so now she could stay at home if she wanted to and also drop by at the store anytime she wanted. She found the keys and inserted it into the lock and turned the key but she was surprised when the door opened immediately and her heart skipped a beat in her chest. "We have been robbed." She gasped in horror. She pushed the door a little wider to peer inside the house and frowned when she saw that everything looked to be in order. The flat screen TV was still hanging on the wall and the home theater system was safe, the sitting room was as she left it so she walked into the house and closed the door. 

The first thing Joni thought of before she woke up fully was how soft her makeshift bed was. The second was how clean the air in the storage room was. It wasn't stuffy or smelled like rat and lizard piss. The pillow was soft and so was her bed sheets. Maybe it was her imagination but she could swear on her mother's grave that she smelled roses. Was she dead then? Was she finally in heaven with the angels singing hallelujah or was she in a place that wasn't earth or heaven either?. One last thing, she could hear music playing somewhere in the room, it wasn't loud at all but the song was nice and her brows furrowed because she didn't own any sort of music player. Hell, she didn't even have a phone. "Leon, you should go to bed." She heard a voice say. "Let the maids take care of her." "I'm not really sleepy mom." A voice that sounded very familiar replied. "I'm thinking she'll wake

"Are you okay?". Leon knelt down beside Joni after they helped her out of the pool and she coughed out the water she'd swallowed.   Jax removed the clip from her hair since it was hanging and used his fingers to straighten her hair but she pushed his hand away.   "Don't touch me." She snarled glaring venomously at him. She removed her shoes and scrambled to her feet. "I want both of you to stay away from me." She walked away.   "Are you happy now?". Jax demanded.   "Don't talk like you're not the cause of it." Leon snapped. "Don't start acting like you care about her either."   "And you do? You barely know her!".   "I'm not having this conversation with you. Just stay away from her." Leon turned and walked away.   Anna was talking to someone on the phone standing on the terrace when she saw Joni crossing the lawn holding her shoes in one

Joni let out a beleaguered sigh when she walked into the compound and found her stepmother sitting on a bench right in front of the door probably waiting for her. The woman never let an opportunity pass to torture her. It seemed that she lived for it.   "Today was a good day." She thought and her subconscious seconded that.   "It was, wasn't it? You got to spend so much time with sexy. You even skipped class." Her subconscious taunted her.   "Stop it. Not now." She chided as she got closer to the house. "Good evening ma." She greeted Celestina.   "And where are you coming from?". Tina eyed her disdainfully.   "School." She replied.   "Do you what time it is?". Tina demanded. "7:00 and your siblings have been back since three."   Joni might have been shirking her responsibilities at home by staying so long in school. It was a day and board