Outback

"Just send her back to fucking Australia then!" Tony shouted.

"She's my daughter. I'm not sending her back to that loser."

"Sort the little cunt out, otherwise I'll do it. She's ten years old and I get less respect from her than muppets I have to deal with at work."

"My daughter is not a cunt, Tony. Don't you dare call her that!" There was a pause. "Maybe we should just send her to that boarding school, honey?" she said softly, "Will that make you happy?"

"I'm not wasting all that money on her. Sort her out, Sally. I'm tired of it."

I smiled to myself from my position at the top of the stairs. I was getting to him. Good.

The day I turned thirteen years old, I skipped downstairs for breakfast. "Tony," I muttered. He grunted something in return. "Morning, Sally," I said happily.

"What did you call me?"

I gestured. "That's Tony." I gestured again. "And you're Sally."

"I am your mother! You will call me by that title!"

I snorted. "Yeah, and what a great one you've turned out to be. So, the normal question. Where's my father, Sally?"

She slapped me. Fucking hell, it stung like anything. My eyes watered, I staggered slightly at the hit. I felt even Tony was taken aback by it, the rustle of the newspaper. "You little bitch," Sally whispered, "All we've done is tried to provide you with a better life..."

I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand. "Where's. My. Daddy?" I asked softly, "You think I haven't figured it out, Sally. You know that thing called the internet? I know what you did. You stole me away from him."

"That's it, no birthday anything for you. You don't deserve it. You don't deserve anything, you ungrateful little cow."

"Fuck you."

I grinned at the shock that appeared on her face. I'd known that word for a few years now, just waiting for the right time to use it. I heard the chair scrape behind, Tony standing up and stepping forward. I turned towards him, hoping nothing but hatred appeared in my eyes. "Put a hand on me, Tony, and I go straight to CPS." I started to cry, going into great graphic detail about what Tony apparently did. It was an impressively disgusting performance. Even I shuddered at what I described.

Tony's face went white, staggering back at my words as he sat down. He knew I'd do it too. All lies of my own, as I hadn't let him even hug me in years, but it was to make a point.

"You evil little bitch," Sally whispered.

I turned around. "Just like my mother, it seems. This is the way it will be, Sally. I won't be sent to boarding school. I remember that conversation. Did you know I heard that?" Her face went even whiter than what it was. She'd lost her tan over the years. "You send me there; I say your husband is the sort of man that wouldn't last long in jail once they hear what he's in for. I will remain here until I'm done with school, then I'm leaving to find my father. I can promise you that."

"I should have left you there," Sally whispered. For the first time I could remember, she looked utterly defeated.

"Yes, you should have. I've never forgotten, and I'll never forgive you." I turned back to Tony. He leaned away from me. "Do anything that stops me from getting back home, Tony, I go straight to CPS. I'll got into all the graphic detail necessary to see you behind bars, and I'll ensure my dear old mother will be joining you."

I thought he was going to be sick. I was thirteen years old and I felt like I had both of them over a barrel. What Sally didn't realise is that I'd learned how to a manipulative bitch from the best of them.

My own mother. Bless her, it was the one thing she did right.

I kept a diary from the moment I could write properly. When I had my own computer, I kept an online diary, a letter to my father almost every day. Now that I was old enough, I recognised Sally and Tony leaving me out of things. Left behind when they went out for the day with the other two kids. I didn't care. They fed me, clothed me, Tony smart enough to keep giving me pocket money. It all went into a bank account.

I didn't have many friends, only keeping those I could trust with the secrets of my life. Those closest called me Katie, not Belinda. Three knew the whole story and, soon enough, I was spending a night or two a week with them. Whether Sally noticed I was missing, I'm not sure. I have a feeling she didn't care by the time I was fourteen. I got myself a job as soon as I was able, working the till at a fast-food joint, ensuring I continued to get good grades. That's one thing Sally couldn't complain about. Sally still went to those meetings. It was one of the few times she said anything positive to say to me. Tony barely spoke to me by then. I ignored his existence in return. It suited both of us just fine.

My siblings? Guess they were the innocent victims. I barely knew them, to be honest. Tony made sure I had next to nothing to do with them, while I kept to myself, and when I was older, I wasn't home often enough to spend much time with them. No idea if Sally was manipulating them. Wouldn't be a point really. I figured Tony was waiting until I turned eighteen so he could kick me out.

I had social media when growing up, but promised myself not to check to see if I could find my father until I was old enough. While I was fifteen, that's when I started my search. The only problem was... I actually didn't know his first name. He'd just been 'Daddy' to me. That meant I needed to find my paperwork. Mum kept it all in a box, so one day when they were out, I grabbed everything I needed, including my passport. Thankfully, there was enough time on it to get back to Australia when I was eighteen.

My father's name was Mark. Mark Samuels.

And Sally had been a very naughty woman. I figured out quite quickly that my father wouldn't have signed some of the forms his signature appeared on.

There were a lot of Mark Samuels on social media. The best place was Facebook, of course. I never found him in weeks of searching. "Must have set it to private," I muttered. I'd asked Sally what exactly happened when she took me away from him. She told me it was none of my business. I could have made a big deal of it, but by that stage, it was better just to keep the tentative peace than have another argument. There'd been enough of them in the intervening years. She knew how much I hated her.

A couple of months before I turned sixteen, I finally thought of a way to find him. Don't look for him. Look for relatives. I struggled to think of the others. I never knew the name of my father's parents. I remembered Uncle Brian... I tried to look for him, but I stopped quickly. There was always something about him that I never liked. And I remembered how he was around him. My father didn't like him.

"Auntie Kelly," I whispered. She'd always been nice to me, and he had liked her.

I found her within a day. And that's when I realised how much things had changed. He had changed his name to Mark Smith. On Kelly's profile, it said she only had one brother. My hand was shaking as I moved the mouse to click on his name. And I wept as soon as his profile appeared.

The picture was of my father and I. We were both looking into the camera smiling. I couldn't quite remember the day, being so long ago, but he took me to the park every weekend. I could see trees behind. The photo was probably taken by one of the other mother's. I remembered how they all looked at my father at the time. I remembered seeing him blush from time to time. No doubt they hit on him.

Then I checked his profile. 'Father to five children. Katie..."

I couldn't read anything after that. But I looked at the pictures. He had married, he had four other children. It looked like he lived in the outback, on a farm. Kelly looked like she was living near him too. There was no sign of other family I remembered. Maybe... they didn't talk anymore? Maybe they were involved in taking me from him?

What made me cry were the messages. Each and every birthday, mine and his, he wrote me a message, pouring his heart out, each and every time. I had to know more, clicking onto the picture of his wife, Cathy Smith. 'Mother to five children, one unfortunately missing, but I love her just as much from everything I've been told. I can't wait to meet her one day.'

My father had married a good woman. Better than Sally. They looked happy, in love, devoted to each other. The look in their eyes matched the love in all the photos of my father and I.

I'd had a plan since I was thirteen. It was time to adjust the plan. Sally and Tony had ripped my heart out by taking my father from me. It was time for some revenge. Albeit juvenile revenge, but I'd read a lot, seen movies. Even in my adolescent mind, I could think of a way to get my own back.

I desperately wanted to contact him, but I didn't want to do it online. After so long, it wasn't right. And it wasn't time. I'd see him soon enough. I promised myself I'd tell him everything once I found him. I knew his wife and sister would help me in the future.

Now it was time for revenge. Served cold.

I woke up the next morning, heading to the bathroom to splash cold water in my face. I looked in the mirror and faked looking sad and pathetic. Slowly going downstairs, Sally and Tony looked up from the table in surprise. "Can I join you for breakfast please?" I whispered. I'd rarely eaten breakfast with them for two years.

Sally took a moment before she stood up and grabbed me a plate, placing some bacon and eggs on it before placing it in the empty spot, getting me a knife and fork. She sat down and watched me. I shuffled across and sat down. "Thank you, Mum," I whispered.

"What was that?" she asked softly. Even Tony's eyes widened in surprise.

"Thank you, Mum."

I noticed Tony's surprise again. The two kids didn't really notice. I ate quietly, ensuring I looked as downcast as possible. There was a little conversation. Once I finished, I waited until they were finished before rising with them. I took my plate to the sink and washed it. Sally watched me. Approaching her, she was curious, no doubt wondering what was going on.

When I went to hug her, she froze. But as soon as I squeezed her, I felt her arms around me. "I'll see you after school, Mum."

When I got home from work, Sally was sitting by herself in the living room. I sat next to her on the couch, glancing to see her looking at me curiously again. Before she could ask a question, I forced myself to cry. I didn't just cry. I wailed. I sobbed. I fell apart as she grabbed me tightly, rocking me as I sobbed. Holy shit, I was a good actress.

She didn't ask what I was crying about, but I'm fairly sure she was smiling to herself. She knew I was searching online, she wasn't stupid. And no doubt she would be putting two and two together. I doubt she looked for Mark Samuels, and she wouldn't have found him. He would have blocked her anyway. But she stopped caring about him the day we'd left. So I would have gone looking, and the fact I was now sobbing in her arms perhaps confirmed her truth.

"I'm so sorry," I cried, "I love you, Mummy."

Hook. Line. Sinker. She lifted my chin and met my eyes. I'd perfected the look in the mirror at school. Shattered. Heartbroken. Desperate for love in return. She hugged me tightly, whispered she'd always loved me. It would take time to forgive but she understood, but I was her daughter, and she'd always love me.

I ate dinner with them that night. I had no idea if they knew what I did apart from go to school, so I told them. I worked a job after school and on the weekends. I was planning on going home but that was no longer happening. I couldn't call Tony 'dad' but... I'd promised to respect him in his home. He had helped raise me since I was five. I shouldn't take it for granted. I thanked him for everything and apologised for my behaviour.

It took time for them to believe me, but within a month, I had Sally totally convinced. She had her daughter back. Approaching my birthday, we were going out together when I had time off. I was invited to family events. Tony's parents visited and met the 'real' me for the first time. I didn't get too close to my siblings. I couldn't hurt them for what I had planned, but I acted like a big sister, at least. Helped with their homework. Played games with them.

I knew Mum was convinced but Tony was always going to have doubts. I'd gotten used to snooping around and I heard another conversation a couple of months after my sixteenth.

"I'm just not sure about this new Belinda," he said, "Over a decade of nothing from her. I know for a fact she hated my guts the entire time. And from thirteen, she hated you just as much. Then, just like a switch, she's a well-behaved young woman."

I heard my mother giggle. "Honey, don't you see? She went snooping and found out about her loser father. He blocked me years ago so I don't have a clue, but he's probably drunk himself to death or something. She's realised how alone she is in the world now if her father is no longer around. Or maybe he's moved on, found another family, and simply forgotten about her. Who knows, and I'll be honest, I don't care. I have my daughter back. I can forgive her for everything because I see the love in her eyes for me again."

"Are you sure she's not manipulating us? I mean, I remember what she said. I've never forgotten that."

"Honey, I know the wounds remain inside, but there was no missing the sorrow in those early weeks. She knows she did us wrong. She's said sorry to me more than once for everything she did. And you've told me the same thing. She won't call you dad. Step-parents are not called that anyway. But you have to admit she treats you like her father in every other way."

He was silent a few seconds. "Wish she was like that from the start," he muttered, hearing genuine sadness in his tone.

"We tore her away from her father. I underestimated the bond, and I'm sorry for that, honey. But don't forget, while we were busy fucking at his parent's house at least once a fortnight, he was doting on her, doing whatever it was they did while I wasn't there. And don't forget the visits you made to our dump of an apartment, fucking me in the same bed I shared with him. I knew he was suspicious but I never gave him cause to start asking too many questions. I made sure his focus was his daughter. I could lie to his face without a problem."

The anger boiled in me hearing all that, but I swallowed it down. I figured out Sally had been having an affair. Just... not to that extent of disrespect.

"I still can't believe his own parents set us up," he said, hearing the smug tone in his voice. God, I hated the man. Acting like I was his daughter... I needed to throw up afterwards more than once. "Nor the fact his own brother was my best man at our wedding, and the fact his parents flew here to give you away."

I vaguely remembered the wedding. I'd hated the entire day.

"I know for a fact they never approved of the relationship he had with me, or the fact I had a child, but considering you were their friend, it was a three for one deal. You get the hot young wife, I get the fabulous new life, and we all took what mattered most to him."

I had to cover my mouth as I almost released a cry of anguish. How could they all be so cruel? I couldn't tolerate anymore, quietly returning to my room. I cried on my bed the rest of the night. But it also renewed my determination. I doubled down on the love and affection. Constant hugs for Sally. I took to calling Tony 'step-dad'. Kissed his cheek. Cuddled him. I'm sure he probably thought I was hitting on him, though I kept it innocent, simply 'daddy and daughter time'.

Hook. Line. Sinker. By the time I was seventeen, they were putty in my paws. The affection he'd withdrawn now flew towards me in earnest. Sally doted on her beautiful oldest daughter, blossoming into a lovely, well-behaved young woman. Behind the closed door of my bedroom, I laughed to myself constantly. Sally thought she was manipulative. I was besting her at every turn. Tony now loved showing me off, buying me the fanciest gowns, taking me to garden parties. It was all fake. I was as fake as they were. Sally beamed. Tony told me he'd never been prouder.

I learned as I grew up I didn't like boys. I never told them about my private life. They respected that mostly. Sally would occasionally ask about boys, but I said I wasn't interested. I wanted to focus on my studies while also working. I thought Tony would have told me to stop, but he appreciated the fact I was being responsible, but I suckered him in. He had so much money, he'd take my weekly wage slip and put the same amount in my bank account. I'd kiss his cheek and whisper 'Thank you, step-daddy' every single time.

I gagged internally every single time.

It was while waiting tables at a well-known national chain of restaurants that I met Jennifer. I was blonde, blue-eyed and still tanned as I made sure to keep my skin lovely and bronzed, Sally going so far as to book me time at a salon each month. Jennifer was a raven-hair, hazel-eyed, pale seductress and temptress. I fell in love with by our second date. The first time we kissed, I knew that was what I wanted.

I told her everything after two months of dating. She was shocked but not surprised. She came from a well to do family and knew what people were like. "My parents are arseholes," she said, "I'm just lucky I'm an only child, so they have no choice but to dote on me. Can give them attitude but that's cutting my nose off to spite my face."

She called me Katie. There was no doubt we wanted to have sex, but I wanted to wait. She agreed to wait for me. What made me fall in love with her completely was what she told me three months before my eighteenth birthday once I confessed entirely what I was doing.

"I want to come with you."

We organised everything over the next few months. I would turn eighteen before my father turned thirty-eight. I would have a gap of four months to organise everything. Being the now perfectly behaved, lovely daughter, Tony and Sally threw me an enormous birthday bash. Friends and family were invited. Thankfully no-one from Australia, but all of Tony's family came along. Tony gazed upon me with pride. Whether the decade lingered in the back of his mind or not, I didn't know. Sally doted on me more than the other two nowadays. Her first daughter was now a woman.

Jennifer was there that night and saw everything for the first time. Heading to the bathroom together as I needed a pee, she waited me by the basin. After washing my hands, I kissed her deeply. "You are quite the actress, Katie," she whispered, "I'm almost concerned."

"When I say I love you, I mean it with all my heart, Jen."

"I know. They are totally clueless. It's hilarious."

Returning home that night, Tony and Sally hugged me tightly, whispering how much they loved me. Watching them go to bed, I kept the smile on my face until the door shut. It disappeared immediately as I stepped into my bedroom and got to work. I had things to get together.

First thing, an adult passport. That was easy to get from the Australian High Commission. We lived in London so it was a simple matter of hopping on the Underground. Had all the paperwork I needed and I had the passport delivered to my place of work instead of home.

Jennifer and I secretly married within a week and we worked on getting her a spousal visa. While that was being processed, I started to slowly move certain possessions out of my bedroom, just a small backpack each time, but with each passing day, the things I needed ended up at her small apartment she kept nearby. She'd moved out of home during our final year of school, basically kicked out by her mother but her father supported her by paying all the bills and giving her an allowance.