Topic: Poor Little Rich Girl

Victoria Gabrielli

Date: 2016-04-02 11:31 EST
Victoria M. Fox.

It's not my real name, but it's one of the names I went by after I left home. I'm not even sure what the M stands for anymore. Maria maybe. That was my mother's name, but she died a long time ago.

So, where does my story start' I suppose it starts the day I was born, but I don't really want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about Rhy'Din. I want to talk about why I went there and more importantly, why I left.

It's an old story, I suppose, one that's been told many times before. I ran away from home, but not because my parents didn't understand me. No, it was because of my father, or more accurately, something my father had done, and that's where Luke came in.

Lucas James Boudreaux, Junior.

I met him in Rhy'Din. He was a P.I., and in some ways he was my equal. Too handsome for his own good, he smoked too much, drank too much, swore too much, and had a penchant for pissing me off. I took a job as his secretary, of all things, not because I wanted his help, but because I needed the job.

Growing up a mafia princess doesn't teach one many skills, but I could find my way around an office if I had to, and how hard could it be really' And then, he started getting under my skin. I was falling for him hard, but like most men, he had a roving eye, and the ladies liked a pretty face, but that wasn't why I left.

My father had someone killed that I cared for once, and I knew he wouldn't be too happy about his daughter dating a P.I., of all things - or whatever it was Luke and I were doing together. We didn't get very far before I disappeared on him, so I never really found out if the feelings were mutual. He never came looking for me, so I figured he'd moved on.

I lost track of him after that, but I looked him up once before I left. It wasn't hard to find the number for Boudreaux Investigations. I hoped he was doing well, but I had no way of knowing for sure. I picked up the phone and dialed his number a couple of times only to hang up. I waited until he answered once, just to hear his voice. It was no proof he was okay, but at least he was alive. It was more than could be said for Danny.

I'm sure if I'd told Luke the truth, he'd have offered to protect me, but how do you protect someone from their own family' He'd only have wound up dead like Danny, and he didn't deserve that, so I left.

Not even Rhy'Din was far enough away to run from my ghosts. There was nowhere left to go after that but home, and there was only one person I could trust, and that was my brother.

((TBC))