Chapter Ten – Lunetta
I clutch the rosary hanging from my wrist tighter.
His presence is overwhelming. His scent hits me first—a rich, sharp perfume. It smells like danger but it makes my heart beat painfully.
But there’s something cold in his eyes.
My legs shake as I turn to run, but before I can make it to the door, the huge man is there. He’s blocking me.
He smiles at me then.
“Please…” I whisper, but my voice barely comes out.
From his pocket, he pulls out something—a syringe.
My heart stops. I want to scream, to run, but my legs won’t move.
He looks at the man behind me. “Hold her.”
The man steps forward and puts his hands around me, locking me like a metal chain.
No, no, Nonna is waiting for me. I was just coming here to send Bea my final goodbye. To cry. To let it out before I go back to Nonna, not wanting her to see my tears.
“Let me go!” I scream, my voice raw with fear.
What is happening? Please, someone—anyone—help me.
I hear footsteps, but they're far away, muffled by the bathroom walls.
I scream again, but it’s already too late.
The huge man leans in closer and pulls the syringe against my skin as the other man holds me in place. I feel the cold tip poke through my shirt as he pushes it against my arm, almost gently.
And then, he presses the needle in. It’s like my veins are on fire. It spreads through my arm, into my chest, down to my legs.
I scream again, louder, but it’s fading. My vision starts to blur.
Why does it hurt so much?
My body is going numb, no matter how much I try to fight it. I can’t stop it. My head feels heavy, like it’s sinking into quicksand, and my limbs won’t listen to me anymore.
The world turns fuzzy, and I can barely keep my eyes open.
I’m still screaming, but it doesn’t sound like me anymore. It’s far away.
I can’t breathe. I don’t want to stop fighting. I want to run. I want to see Nonna again, to say goodbye to Bea.
But my vision goes dark, and the last thing I hear is my own voice, soft, fading away.
****
I wake to darkness. I try to move, but my limbs feel like they’re bound by invisible chains, every inch of me weighted, every muscle aching. My skin is wet—sticky with sweat or something worse—and my mind stumbles, dizzy from the sudden absence of everything I knew.
I hear screams echoing from a distance, and I soon realize the screams are mine.
They break free from my throat before I can stop them. I cry out for Nonna, my voice cracking on her name. My fingers scrape the cold ground, my hands splayed out before me, tapping against the hard floor, searching, frantic.
“Nonna!” I gasp, pushing myself onto all fours, feeling nothing but the horror pressing in around me and my rosary still on my wrist.
I crawl, moving slowly. My hands are trembling, reaching for anything, anything to help me make sense of the darkness. My breath hitches when I touch something cold, something metal. The edges are sharp—like iron.
I pull myself up, my knees shaking beneath me, and as I rise, I hear a soft sound. The creak of a bed. I blink, my hands still gripping the metal frame, trying to steady myself. This is a bed.
I sob into the darkness. I raise my eyes, wiping at the tears, but all I see is more black. More nothing. I start to scream again.
And then, the door opens and light spills in.
The bulb above buzzes to life, the sudden light flooding the room in harsh waves.
The two men step in, those two from the bathroom stall.
The bigger one stands first, his silhouette massive, cutting through the light like a dark pillar. The other follows, smaller.
I drop to my knees before them as they approach, my hands clasped in front of my chest, trembling as I sob.
“Please... please, take me back to Nonna. She’s waiting at the airport. She’ll be so worried... She gets headaches when she’s worried... Please...”
The huge man lets out a small chuckle. He steps closer, his shadow swallowing the light.
“You won’t be seeing Nonna for a while.”
“What?” I whisper, my voice breaking. “What do you mean? No, please—please, I need to go back. I have to go back to her—she needs me—she...”
The man lights a cigarette, the glow of the flame lighting up his features for a split second. His smile is cruel, his eyes never leaving me as he inhales, the smoke curling around his face.
“My name is Vieri Tavano,” he says. “And this is Bugatti.”
He gestures to the man behind him. The man who had held me down.
Vieri's voice is steady as he looks at me, but I can hear the underlying command. "What's your name?"
My heart hammers in my chest, and my throat feels too tight to speak, but the words fall from my lips.
“Lunetta... Sofia Fiore,” I whisper, the fear in my voice barely audible, but the shame clawing at my chest feels so raw. So real.
Vieri nods slowly, the cigarette dangling from his lips. “Well, Lunetta,” he says softly, the cruelty in his voice seeping into every word, “you’ll be with me for a while.”
My body shakes violently as I stare at him in shock, my hands clutching at my chest as I sob harder, shaking my head. "No... no, I can't. Nonna and Bea will be so worried. I can't—"
He steps closer. I feel his eyes fall on me, traveling down my body, his gaze so heavy that I instinctively curl my arms tighter around myself, trying to shield my chest.
“You’ll be fine,” he says, voice smooth like silk. “You belong to me now.”
“Let me go. Please, let me go...”
He chuckles. "But you just got here."
“No!” I scream. “Let me go—”
He slaps me across the face and I gasp. The shock of it is instant. My body jerks back, my vision spinning as I fall to the floor. The taste of blood floods my mouth where my lip has split. I tremble, face hot from the sting, as my body crumples into the ground.
I push my hands against the floor, trying to lift myself, my chest heaving with each sob. “Please... just let me go. I can’t—I can’t be here, please...”
“Be good, I’ll be back to see you,” he says, turning his back to me.
Something snaps in me.
I jump to my feet, lunge at him and throw myself at him with all the force I have left, my hands gripping his coat, my nails digging into his chest as I shove him backward, knocking him down onto the cold floor.
My heart races in my chest, the adrenaline rushing through me like fire. I grab his hair, fistfuls of it in my hands, yanking his head back, forcing him to look at me as I scream—scream for all the pain, for all the terror, for all the helplessness he’s caused me.
“Let me go!” I roar, my voice breaking with pure desperation.
He smiles and I know I am done for.
The other man is already on me, pulling me off him with brutal force. His grip tightens around my wrist, yanking me away from Vieri, but I won’t go down without a fight.
I lunge at the other man, biting down hard on his hand, my teeth sinking into his flesh with a sickening crunch. I feel the blood pour from his wound as I yank back, pulling, ripping at his skin like Bea did.
“Fucking bitch!” he screams. I hold on to his shirt, biting into him harder and harder until I feel his blood splatter across my face.
Then Vieri’s hand grabs the back of my head, his fingers digging into my scalp, and he slams me into the ground.
The air is knocked out of me and before I can push myself to my feet, Vieri’s boots come down, connecting with my ribs with a sickening crunch.
The pain is immediate. White-hot, blinding. I gasp, my mouth opening in a silent scream. Blood wells up in my throat from the impact of his kick, and I cough violently, spitting it out.
I can’t breathe. My vision spins. I try to crawl away, try to push myself up, but my arms are too weak, my legs too numb. His boot lands on my back and I cry out in pain, falling to the floor. I can feel the blood spilling from my mouth.
Vieri steps back, his boot still resting on the edge of my body for a moment longer, before he finally turns away, opens the door and walks out, mumbling under his breath. Bugatti follows behind him, his hand still dripping blood and the door shuts behind them.
I should scream. I should scream until I can’t breathe anymore, but I don’t. I just… I just lay there, unable to move.
I close my eyes, my hands trembling as I press them to my chest. I whisper the words softly, as though speaking them out loud might ease the suffocating weight in my soul.
“Ave Maria, piena di grazia, il Signore è con te…”
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...
My prayers flow from me, comforting like the softest touch, like a balm on a wound.
“Santa Maria, Madre di Dio, prega per noi peccatori...”
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners...
I tremble as my body reacts to the pain again and the blood floods my throat but the prayer presses on.
“Oh, Madre, proteggi Nonna. Tienila nel tuo abbraccio…”
Oh, Mother, protect Nonna. Hold her in your embrace...
I picture Nonna in my mind—her kind eyes, her gentle smile. Tears sting my eyes.
“Proteggi Bea, la mia amica, la mia sorella... Che la tua luce li guidi, che la tua forza li difenda.”
Protect Bea, my friend, my sister... May your light guide them, may your strength defend them.
“Dio mio, datemi forza. Non posso più combattere da sola…”
My God, give me strength. I can no longer fight alone...
My voice falters and my body shudders with pain. I feel the darkness pressing in on me.
“Madonna mia, perdonami... darmi la forza per affrontare tutto questo…”
My Madonna, forgive me... give me the strength to face all of this...
The world around me feels distant, as though I’m sinking deeper and deeper into the void. My breath is shallow, ragged, and I feel the last of my strength leaving me.
“Prega per noi, ora e nell’ora della nostra morte... Amen.”
Pray for us, now and at the hour of our death... Amen.
And then, I fall into oblivion.