Blind Loyalty - M J Marlow (i am reading a book .txt) 📗

long enough to know what Joanna’s father was like when he was forced. “He’s going to hurt me!”
“Joanna, please…” Rachel took a step towards her and the girl backed away, shaking her head and whimpering in fear. “Wait.”
“No,” she sobbed and turned away. “You don’t know what you’ve done!”
She ran down the hall to her mother’s old room, a room she always felt safe in; and locked the door. She remembered Hannah, her dark-haired mother with midnight blue eyes who was in a wheelchair, watching her play with a loving smile on her face; or turning from writing with a gentle smile as Joanna was brought in sobbing from a nightmare.
Joanna saw the desk and opened the top drawer to find the diary. Her finger traced the name on the inside cover – Hannah Winbourne. Her mother’s diary! She hadn’t been old enough to read it then and after her mother had died she had forgotten about it. Joanna wondered what she would find in there if she read it now. She set it on the desk and pulled out a folder that was in the drawer with it.
“You shouldn’t be reading that,” Charles said as he unlocked the door and stepped into the room. “Your father wants you to stay here until he comes for you.”
“Why shouldn’t I read it, Charles?” Joanna asked as he turned to leave. He didn’t answer as he closed the door and locked it. “Charles!” she called as she yanked on the knob and it did not turn. “Let me out of here! Please let me out.”
A familiar panic coursed through her as she beat on the door. No one came, however; and she finally leaned against the door shaking in fear. Joanna went to the rocking chair by the windows, a memory of being held and comforted by a woman with a gentle voice flooding into her mind. She pulled a pillow off the nearby bed and held it to her breast as she rocked. Her mother had died when she was five, but Joanna remembered how she had always been there to soothe her fears and make her feel as if someone in this prison actually cared what happened to her.
She nodded off and did not see the door opening. James saw the diary and the folder and frowned. She had not been meant to see any of that. He put it back in the desk and Joanna looked up at him, shaking in fear.
“I knew I’d find you in here,” he smiled as he pulled her into his lap. “You miss your mother most when you’re frightened and uncertain.” He held her close. “Before you go, we need to get a few things straight.”
“Go?” Joanna was confused. “Am I going somewhere, Father?”
“Judge Winbourne is here, Joanna,” James said as he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and gave her an injection. “He is investigating a nasty rumor that I have been abusing you.”
“Someone told him…”
“It appears that one of our former employees has betrayed us, Joanna.” He saw the drug kicking in and he smiled. “You will not believe these rumors, child,” he said to her as his hand moved up to the back of her neck and her mind became open to his control. “I am your loving father and I have never done more than spank you when you were being willful. That is the truth you will believe.”
“You would never hurt me,” Joanna nodded as the drug chained her mind to his control. “You’re my father and you love me.”
“That’s my good girl,” he smiled triumphantly. “I need you to sit still for me now, darling.” He took a box out of his pocket and a pair of tweezers. As she sat frozen in temporary immobility, he put the microscopic transmitter receiver unit inside of his daughter’s ear. Once this was done, he kissed her on the forehead and smiled at her gently. “Let’s go join your grandfather downstairs.”
Joanna got to her feet and wondered why everything was spinning around her. She felt jumpy and irritable and she just wanted things to be as they were. People were here to take her away because someone was telling lies about her father. She did not want to leave him. He kept her safe.
“Hello, Joanna,” Winbourne smiled gently as they joined him and his party in the entry hall. “I’m your grandfather, Judge Alexander Winbourne. You are going to be staying with my family for a while.”
“No,” Joanna shook her head and gripped her father’s arm. They couldn’t be doing this to her. It wasn’t right! “I won’t go!” She looked at the man standing in front of her. “You can’t take me away from my father!”
“Joanna…” Rachel started to say something and Joanna looked over at Rachel and the anger roared to life in her. She went over to Rachel and her eyes were blazing.
“This is all your fault,” she hissed and slapped the woman across the face. “Everything was fine until you came here!”
“Joanna…”
“I won’t listen,” Joanna broke in angrily. She went back to her father and he held her as she shook. “Please don’t let them do this, Father.”
Judge Winbourne looked at the fifteen year old and felt a familiar ache in his heart. This was his daughter Hannah all over again. Joanna was clinging to her father now in terror at the thought of being removed from this house. Hardly the behavior he expected from a child who was abused by her parent. But then he remembered what his daughter Rachel had told him about the drugs and the beatings and he steeled himself to get through this. He was not leaving his granddaughter in this monster’s hands a moment longer than necessary.
“I’m sorry, child,” Winbourne sighed; “but we have to do this.” He had hoped this would not be difficult. He had forgotten whose child he was dealing with in this matter. “Some serious charges have been made and we cannot, in all good conscience, leave you in your father’s care until they have been confirmed or disproved.”
“Someone is lying to you,” Joanna said stiffly, staying glued to her father’s side. “My father would never do such things to me. Never!”
Joanna looked at her father for some assurance this was not happening. She saw his jaw clench in anger and knew she had no choice. She threw her arms around her father and clung to him, shaking her head. James looked over at Winbourne as she burst into tears. The older man was practically white with shock.
“I know you’re frightened, darling,” James said gently as he hid his pleasure at how well his little drug had worked. He made Joanna sit down and he took her hands in his. She looked at him in distress. “Judge Winbourne is going to take good care of you. I wouldn’t let him take you away from me if I wasn’t certain of that.”
“But I don’t want to go, Father,” Joanna whimpered as she gripped his hands tight. “Please tell them to go away.”
“Judge Winbourne is going to take you into his own home, Joanna,” he told her gently; not in the least ashamed at what he had done. “You have a cousin named Sarah, and two half-brothers named Patrick and Ryan, who are waiting to meet you.” She was not appeased. “You’ll be going to school with them…”
“School?” she sniffled as saw him nod. “With other children?” Despite her distress she was growing a bit excited by the thought; but it wasn’t enough to stop the behavior his drug had triggered. “No,” she shook her head and looked at the Judge. “I don’t want to go to school if I have to leave my Father.”
“You’ll be allowed to see him, Joanna,” Winbourne broke in gently as he looked at his watch. “With supervision.” He held his hand to her. “Come along now, child. My family is waiting to help you settle in.”
James moved in to help her stand up. She was shaking now as the emotional storm began to wear off. In another moment, he knew she would not be able to stand up. Ten more minutes and she would pass out and remember nothing of the past half hour, including what she had seen in her mother’s room before he had found her there. Nothing except that he was her loving father and he would never hurt her. He saw her seated and bent down to kiss her on the forehead.
“Be a good girl, Joanna,” he said as he pulled away. “Don’t give the Judge and his family any trouble.” Joanna nodded and James went to stand on the front stairs. The Judge stood beside him as the car moved away. “I’ll be talking to my lawyer, Judge,” he said stiffly as he turned and went inside.
Joanna saw her father go and she felt abandoned. These strangers were taking her away from the only home she had ever known. Once she had been eager for this to happen, but the reality was terrifying her. They were accusing her father of a crime she knew he couldn’t possibly have committed and she was being forced to live with people she did not know.
She glanced over at Rachel and saw the redness on the woman’s cheek. She had actually slapped her friend. She saw the forgiveness in Rachel’s eyes as she let out a tiny cry of dismay and then slid into the darkness rushing towards her. Rachel took out the antidote and gave her a shot, hoping it was not too late to undo the damage.

“Is she all right?” a girl’s voice sounded in her ear as she came back to her senses. Joanna saw relief on a pretty face surrounded by a cloud of auburn hair as she opened her eyes. “Hi! I’m your cousin, Sarah Winbourne,” the girl beamed, her midnight blue eyes dancing. “You’re going to be sharing my room with me.”
“Sarah,” the dark haired woman seated by the bed who was removing her stethoscope from a doctor’s bag laughed. “Back off now and let the child breathe.” She put the stethoscope to Joanna’s chest and listened as she smiled at Joanna gently. “Please forgive my daughter, Joanna. She’s excited about having a girl her own age around here. Are you feeling better?”
“Was I sick?” Joanna sat up too fast. The room spun around her sickeningly and she did not argue when Lora made her lie back down. She waited until the dizziness faded and sat up more slowly.
She was in a pretty room with two twin beds under canopies of a cream colored silk with tiny roses patterned over it. The entire room was decorated in shades of rose and gold and cream, Joanna noted. There was a window seat in a bay window on