Imprisoned

4 | secrets

I have understood my fate since a young age. I've been trapped ever since I can remember. No escape in sight.

My father never had much interest in having a daughter. He wanted sons. I can picture how thrilled he must have been when my mother announced she was pregnant with Lucas.

Eight years later I came along, the idea of me didn't excite him. A daughter could never be enough.

He didn't want anything to do with me at the beginning. His focus was on Lucas, preparing him for what was to come. However, it didn't go exactly as he had planned.

Lucas hesitated and felt bad when he was around violence. He was always afraid, exactly like my mother. It angered my father that he wasn't naturally like him.

As we grew up my father realized how similar I was to him. He saw himself in me, his appalling temper and insensitivity. In his own words, I was born for this life.

When I was 5, my father made the life changing decision that I would be kept a secret. My mother says she only agreed because it meant that I wouldn't be pressured into an arranged marriage. I know she didn't have a say in the decision, she was forced to agree.

My birth was kept on the low, no reason to celebrate a daughter. Hardly anyone knew about my existence as a child, making it even easier to fake my death.

If anyone asks, the daughter of Sebastian and Lucia Cruz died of pneumonia when she was only five years old. It was unexpected and sudden, may her sweet soul rest in peace.

The 'funeral' was private but news spread quickly. My family received home cooked food, baskets with muffins and flowers for months.

In order to truly keep my identity a secret, my father terminated anyone that knew of my existence, close friends included. House staff members were forced to secrecy, speaking or even mentioning me resulted in death. My parents went to great lengths to keep me hidden.

My father spent all of his free time with me. He would bring me to the gym while he trained or let me stay up late and watch movies all night.

When he was working, nobody was allowed to disturb him. Yet I was able to burst into his office at any moment and it wouldn't bother him. I can vividly remember all the times I sat next to him and played while he was in meetings.

I was pulled away from thoughts, reminiscing the years before my family was broken apart, before someone knocked on my door.

"It's open," I said as I pushed the laptop off of my lap and onto my bed. My mother walked in slowly, "Honey, did I wake you?"

I shook my head, "No, I was up." She walked into my room and sat on my bed next to me, "Lucas wants you downstairs, the meeting is starting."

I rolled my eyes, these meetings were always so boring. Nothing interesting ever happened.

This didn't go unnoticed by my mother, she tilted her head and placed her hand on my leg, "Yo se que no quieres ir pero su apoyo es importante para el."

[ translation: I know you don't want to go but your support is important to him ]

I sighed and nodded my head. "It's only close members so no pressure to be secretive or discrete," she said gently. I think part of her feels bad for making me a prisoner to this world.

Only a select group of my brothers men knew about me, it was kept quiet and they understood the consequences if they mentioned anything about me.

I made it abundantly clear when one of them threatened to expose me if I didn't give him a blowjob and I cut off two of his fingers. Ever since then they all avoid eye contact.