Prologue
My name is Da'shawna Brown, and once upon a time, I believed my life was perfect.
I had dreams of becoming a successful woman, a loving family, and a future I could look forward to. I believed that no matter how difficult life became, I would always have someone to turn to.
I was wrong.
Everything changed the day my mother discovered I was pregnant.
The woman who had raised me, comforted me, and promised to love me unconditionally looked me in the eyes and told me to get out of her house. She didn't care that I was only a teenager with nowhere to go. She didn't care that I was carrying her grandchild.
She wanted me gone.
For months, I slept wherever I could find shelter. Some nights, I curled up beneath abandoned buildings. Other nights, I sat in bus stations, hugging my stomach and praying that my unborn baby would survive the cold.
I was hungry, exhausted, and terrified.
Then, one evening, a stranger approached me.
He was dressed neatly, with a long black coat and polished shoes that seemed strangely out of place on the dirty sidewalk where I sat. He studied me for a moment before his eyes settled on my stomach.
"How long have you been out here?" he asked.
I lowered my gaze. "A while."
"And you're pregnant?"
I nodded.
He sighed, looking almost disappointed.
"A pregnant woman shouldn't be sleeping on the streets, starving herself and her unborn child."
I didn't know what to say. People had walked past me for months without giving me a second glance. Yet this man stood in front of me as though my suffering personally offended him.
He extended his hand.
"Come on. Let's get you somewhere warm."
I stared at his hand.
Something inside me whispered that I shouldn't take it.
But hunger has a way of silencing fear.
I placed my hand in his.
"My name is Da'shawna," I told him as he helped me stand.
He gave me a small smile.
"Blake. You can call me Blake."
I would remember that name for the rest of my life.
Not because it belonged to the man who saved me.
But because it belonged to the man who destroyed me.
