The Prada Plan 2: Leah's Story (5 page)

Natalie didn’t stop until she was too tired to continue, and when she looked down at her daughter, all she felt was hate. She needed someone to blame for Slim’s departure and his refusal to love her.

“Your stinking ass in here pissing on yourself. You’re too damn old for that, Leah! No wonder he didn’t want you with your ugly ass!”

Her words were like swords to the heart for young Leah, and as she looked at her broken flesh and welted body, she believed it. Her daddy didn’t want her because she wasn’t beautiful enough and her mother hated her. Her naïve heart crushed right then and there, as she heaved cries of abandonment on the cruddy bathroom floor.

“Shut up with all that damn crying, Leah!” Natalie screamed. As she looked down at her beaten daughter, Natalie’s callous resolve broke. She had groomed Leah from the time she was born, hoping that she could make the perfect child for Slim to love. Now all of her efforts seemed futile, and the little girl, who had been her ace in the hole, had suddenly become a child that she resented.

She had thought of Leah as a valuable pawn in a carefully calculated game of chess. She had never anticipated Slim’s rejection—not a second time, not after so many years. She had tried her hardest to become everything that he wanted in a woman, and had instilled countless hours of preparation into Leah. Leah knew how to walk, talk, and charm her way through any situation, but before Natalie even had a chance to put it all on display, Slim shut her down. He didn’t want them. Neither Natalie nor her daughter was good enough for Slim, and that realization turned her bitter to the core. He had chosen his HBIC.

From the first day that she met Slim, she knew that Dynasty was his number one, but she had been determined to snatch him away. She wanted nothing more than the loyalty from the very pimp who had introduced her to the streets. Her love knew no limits. She would do anything to attain Slim’s heart, and if that meant returning to his stable, then so be it. Nothing was out of bounds. He loved her when she made that money, and that’s exactly what she intended to do, even if it meant sacrificing the soul of young Leah.

“Ooh, baby…yes. Give me that dick,” Natalie moaned, lying on her back while the white man atop of her had his way with her. It was her first trick in years, and Slim had sent her one of his most docile customers to make it easier for her. As she took dick like a professional, she imagined that it was Slim’s hardness drilling inside of her. Her hotbox was soaking wet as the man rode her into ecstasy. He was well endowed and had the stamina of a stallion, so she was enjoying the session just as much as he was.

It didn’t matter that her daughter was lying in the bed next to theirs. Natalie had to do what she had to do. The man on top of her hadn’t even looked her way. He stared intently at Leah, getting off on the fact that she was so close by. Natalie noticed the look of lust in her john’s eyes, and annoyance filled her as she reached up to turn his face away from her daughter.

“What you looking at, baby? I’m right here. I’m all the woman you need. This pussy good to you, baby?” she asked while meeting him thrust for thrust, grinding herself into him.

All he could do was groan as she snapped her muscles around his shaft, but it wasn’t long before his head turned toward Leah again. Irritated, she said, “Ain’t nothing over there for you.” What she didn’t know was that he had a fetish for young girls—little girls, in fact.

“There might be,” he whispered.

Natalie stopped abruptly and put her hands to his chest to lift him off of her a bit. Staring him straight in the eyes she asked, “What?”

“You heard me. I want her,” he stated.

“She’s only seven,” Natalie said.

“I’ll pay double,” he negotiated.

Terrified, Leah lay deathly still as she listened to her mother bargain with the man. The sounds that they made had stirred her from her restless sleep, but she had been too afraid to move. She didn’t want to receive another beating for doing the wrong thing, so she lay there motionless while she listened to her mother’s sexual escapade.

“She’s not ready for all that,” Natalie protested. “What type of mother do you think I am?”

“The type who fucks a nigga in the bed right next to your kid. I’ll pay triple. Just let me lick that. I’ll be careful with her. I won’t even stick it in. I just want to rub the tip on it,” the man said.

Leah’s breathing became labored as she waited to hear her mother’s reply.

“I’ma make her feel good,” the man continued as he reached onto the nightstand for his money clip. He flipped off eight crisp hundred-dollar bills and stuffed them between Natalie’s breasts. Too ashamed to hear herself agree to his conditions, but unable to resist the power of the dollar she simply nodded her head. The grin that spread across his face almost made her throw up, but she didn’t stop him as he climbed out of her bed.

Leah held her breath when she felt the weight of the man enter her bed, and her heart beat erratically, almost painfully through her chest. Every hair on her neck stood up as the man pulled back the sheet, exposing her to the cool wind of the night. His hands felt foreign on her body, and she trembled violently as he touched her. Every spot he invaded felt dirty.

“Mommy?” she called out. “Mommy!”

Natalie cringed at her daughter’s cries, but did nothing to intervene. She simply turned her back to the scene and stared out of the motel window as the man had his way with Leah. She tuned them out with thoughts of Slim. He would be pleased with her profits, and that fact alone was enough for her to allow her daughter to be victimized.

The feeling of his mouth between her legs surprised Leah. A weird sensation overcame her. Physically, it brought her pleasure, but psychologically, she knew it was wrong, and embarrassment filled her. She felt dirty, like something was wrong with her, as a river of tears cascaded down her pillow. “Mommy! Make him stop!” she shouted, but her pleas were in vain.

“Shhh. Be quiet, Leah. Don’t fight him. You’re doing this for Daddy. Make that money for Daddy, sweetie. Enjoy it. It won’t hurt for long,” Natalie said without looking her way.

The smell of her youth in his face made him rock hard, and he couldn’t contain himself. He grabbed his penis and began to rub it on her opening as she squirmed underneath him. No longer able to speak, Leah choked on her own tears. Sobbing, she prayed for God to save her.

“Hey, you bastard!” Natalie shouted.

Thinking that her prayers had been answered, Leah reached out for her mother.

“If you want to do all of that, it’s extra!” Natalie stated. “You said you wouldn’t go all the way!”

At that moment, instead of being her savior, her mother became the devil.

Excruciating pain ripped through her, and all she could do was scream as her virginity was snatched away from her, along with her sanity.

“Are you still mad at Mommy?” Natalie asked as she stood behind Leah and combed her long, thick hair.

Leah didn’t respond. She was despondent, almost detached from the world as she sat between her mother’s legs with tears running down her cheeks. She had washed herself a million times since being raped. She had scrubbed her skin so hard that she had begun to bleed, but still nothing made her feel clean. She felt stained, as if she would forever be branded with the stamp of disgust and shame.

“I know it hurt, baby, but I promise you it starts to feel good after a while. It was your first time. It won’t hurt like that the next time. We have to do this. We have to make this money for your daddy so that he will keep us around. Do this for him. Make him love you, Leah. You want a daddy, right?” Natalie asked.

She was manipulating Leah’s young mind, confusing her. Of course she wanted a daddy, but if this is what she had to go through to get a father of her own, she wasn’t sure it was worth it. Why did she have to work so hard for a man to love her? The tender place between her thighs ached, and instead of being a gift of womanhood, it felt more like a curse.

Natalie stood to her feet and walked over to the vanity table. She pulled out the chair and motioned for Leah to sit down.

“I know what will cheer you up, baby. Let Mommy make you feel pretty again.” Mistrust filled Leah’s eyes.

“Come here.”

Leah rose and went to her mother. “It hurt, Mommy,” she said.

“I know, baby. It won’t hurt ever again. I promise,” Natalie replied as she pulled out her makeup brush.

“Let me make your face up. This will make you feel better. You’ll feel special again.”

Leah sat with her hands in her lap, nervously wringing out each finger while her mother applied makeup to her face. As the powder brush tickled her tiny nose, it sent shivers up her spine. She giggled as Natalie pulled out her lipstick tube, and her angry resolve dissolved slightly.

Leah couldn’t help but to be excited, feeling like a grown woman as she admired the job her mother was doing in the mirror. Natalie never allowed her to play in her cosmetics, but today she was applying the makeup to Leah’s face personally. Leah felt like it was her mother’s way of apologizing, and she wanted nothing more than to make things go back to normal. She wanted to be the little girl that her mother used to protect and be proud of.

Ever since they had come to the big city, her mother had changed. What young Leah didn’t understand was that around Slim, Natalie wasn’t the same. She reverted back to the naïve seventeen-year-old whore, desperate for attention and willing to do anything to get it.

“You can even wear my satin robe tonight,” Natalie said as she wrapped the material around Leah’s shoulders, making her smile.

A few days had passed since her vicious beating and Leah’s molestation, but for the first time, Leah felt pretty again, as if the makeup and silky fabric had revamped her demolished spirit. Leah had watched her mother lay in bed crying for days. She had been unable to bring herself to look at her own daughter, but with this change in attitude, Leah was hopeful that her mother loved her again.

Her smile spread all the way across her face when Natalie finally finished. Leah hopped up from the bed and ran to the mirror.

“I’m pretty now, right, Mommy? You made me look like a princess,” Leah said as she jumped up and down while clapping her hands. She couldn’t get enough of herself. It was as if she were seeing herself for the first time as she stared intently at her reflection. She was in awe.

A knock at the door caused Leah to turn away from the mirror, but when she looked at her mother, she frowned in confusion. A pool of fresh tears had gathered in Natalie’s eyes. The look on her face sent a chill through Leah’s body, and her bottom lip began to quiver. It was as if the devil himself had come banging at their door, and an instinctive fear settled into Leah’s bones.

“Mommy?” Leah called out uncertainly.

Natalie didn’t respond as she walked to the door and opened it. A thin, dark man crept inside. The overwhelming stench of his cheap cologne wrapped its scent around Leah’s throat, choking her as her chest heaved up and down in fear. She knew what he was there for. She could tell by the look in her mother’s eyes.

“Here, let me take your jacket, baby. Make you more comfortable.” Natalie slipped her hands across his broad chest and down the sleeves of his jacket before he could respond. It was one of her first official tricks since returning to the city, and it was just like riding a bike—she could never forget how to do it. With a PhD in seduction, she knew that the slightest grazing of her fingertips against the zipper of his pants made him more eager. The more he anticipated the sex, the more money she could get out of him. The more money she made, the more pleased Slim would be.

“I have a little surprise for you, baby,” she whispered. “I hear you like ’em young.”

Leah’s eyes bucked in fear as she saw the man turn her way. All dolled up, she was every pervert’s fantasy, and when she saw the man hand money to Natalie, she knew that she had just been sold—again.

“Where the fuck is he?” Natalie asked as her eyes scanned the digital clock on the nightstand. Slim had called her hours ago, saying that he was coming to pick up his money. She had an entire week’s profit waiting for him, $5,500 to be exact, and she was confident that he would be pleased.

After discovering how much more men would pay to sleep with Leah, she sold her daughter’s innocence repeatedly. The guilt she felt eventually subsided when the money began to pile up, and whenever her conscience crept up on her, she simply drowned it out with her favorite Five O’Clock gin.

“Not even that bitch Dynasty is bringing in this much dough. He’ll see that he needs me,” Natalie told herself as she lit a cigarette to calm her nerves.

When day turned to night and the clock struck midnight, Natalie’s patience had run out. Slim hadn’t shown, and he wasn’t responding to her pages. Anticipation turned to anxiety, which turned into anger.

“That mu’fucka promised he would stop by! He knows I have this money here waiting for him. I’m always last on his list of things to fucking do!” Natalie screamed to herself as she paced back and forth. She was a wreck. Slim was the only man who had ever held power over her emotions. He had a strong hold over her; one that she couldn’t shake, one that she didn’t want to shake, but the unhealthy fixation was causing her to become unstable. She was coming apart at the seams as she nursed her bruised ego with a bottle of cheap gin. Slim’s adoration was worth more than gold to her, and she proved it every time she sacrificed her daughter for the sake of making him a quick dollar.

Leah watched, but remained silent as she witnessed her mother grow more and more agitated. She had learned that it was better to be seen and not heard. Exhaustion plagued her as the hours of the night passed them by, but Leah was too afraid to close her eyes. Too many men had visited her bed in the wee hours for her to ever rest peacefully. She was always on guard, always paranoid, and she no longer trusted her mother to keep her safe. So, as Natalie desperately looked out of the blinds for Slim every few minutes, Leah nervously looked at the door, praying that no one came to hurt her.

This routine lasted for hours, until the sun came up and Leah was too tired to keep her eyes open. With her back against the wall, her head drooped down onto her chest as her mother’s weary red eyes pooled with emotion. She was chasing a man who didn’t want to be caught, and the way he handled her made her feel so unimportant, so dispensable—so unworthy.

“Fuck this,” Natalie whispered. “He doesn’t want to come to me, then I’ma go find his ass.”

She shook Leah out of her sleep. “Get up. We’re going to find your daddy!” she shouted. Leah wiped her eyes and slowly got out of bed. Her mother didn’t even give her time to put on her shoes before she pulled her out the door.

Natalie raced all the way to Slim’s blocks outside of Jimmy’s Bar. She knew that night or day, Slim always watched his money. He had women working all shifts. Rain, sleet, or snow, his ladies worked 24/7, 365. There was money to be made around the clock, and Slim didn’t want to miss a single dollar.

“There that mu’fucka go right there,” Natalie seethed as she parked illegally on the curb and watched Slim walk out of the bar. She was about to call out to him, but when she saw the smile of endearment on his face, she froze. Natalie’s eyes connected the dots between Slim and the target of his affection—Dynasty. Her heart fell out of her chest when she saw him wrap his arm around her shoulders and saw their little girl, Disaya, jump into his arms.

“She’s not even his real daughter! That fucking bastard!” Natalie shouted as she hit her steering wheel furiously.

Leah peered over the steering wheel, and the sight of Slim hugging the girl proudly made her bottom lip tremble. She was working so hard to get the same attention from him. Natalie had promised her that once Slim realized what a good moneymaker she was, he would love her, but he still hadn’t come around. She had done everything that her mother had asked. She had entertained the likes of old dirty men, and still Slim never came. She needed him to look at her the way that he looked at Disaya.

Enviously, she looked on as he kissed the girl’s cheek. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as her stomach turned in turmoil. Slim was the only father she knew. Her mother had put it in her head since the day that she was born that the smooth-talking player from New York City was who she belonged to, and seeing him so fond of another child broke Leah in two. Anyone with the sense of sight could see that Slim’s adoration for the little girl in his arms was immeasurable, and as Leah’s heart filled with sorrow, she looked up at her mother for answers.