Chapter 33
Harlow
The sounds around me grew louder as the world rushed back to me, and I regretted every moment.
The vibrations of the metal frame sent ripples of agony through my body that I could feel in my very bones.
Each bump of the road felt like a million nails being hammered into my skin.
Every breath was agony, and I slowly became aware something was wrong, but my mind was still foggy.
I tried to move, but my stomach rolled. A metallic taste coated my tongue and my head throbbed. Everything was blurry, and I couldn’t focus. My stomach churned as I vomited all over the seat. It was putrid, but I couldn’t help it. Nothing stopped the misery inside me.
It felt like I was underwater. Everything was muffled and distorted. What happened? Why did everything hurt?
There was a familiar chuckle which paralyzed me.
God, no.
Please.
My pulse hammered in my chest, the sound filling my ears until it drowned out the engine. Panicking would be my demise, but what else was I supposed to do? This was a nightmare. I was not trapped with him. I would wake up and this would be a horrible dream.
“No,” I whispered, the word broken like my body.
“I’ll deal with you soon, baby.”
The car swerved slightly as he made a sharp turn, the motion knocking me from the seat.
My eyelids fluttered as the world started narrowing once more.
He did it on purpose. I was already in agony, but he wanted to add to my misery a little more, telling me this was in fact my reality and I was trapped.
Darkness closed in again, soft, suffocating, yet inviting as I slipped under its cold embrace.
A dull, throbbing pain slowly awakened me as the rest of my senses slowly joined. My head was heavy with a loud ringing in my ears. I winced as a harsh light flooded my vision, causing the ache in my head to intensify. Everything was blurred together in a disoriented haze of pain and confusion.
Fragments of my memories slowly began to piece themselves together as a sob ripped through my chest. I remembered it all as it came tumbling back like a ton of bricks, crushing my very existence.
A blinding light, a bone-crushing crash, and pain, followed by bloody images of Caterina slumped over and not breathing.
She was dead, and I was trapped once again with a monster.
He killed her to get me back like I knew he would do, but I never thought Vincenzo would succeed in killing Caterina Moretti.
Vincenzo took the coward’s way out and used an object at high speed to kill her instead of fighting, but what did I expect for a weak man?
I swallowed the bile that was working its way up from my stomach to the back of my throat.
Once again, I was trapped in the den of an angry beast without Caterina to rescue me.
Despair clawed at my insides as I tried and failed to steady my breathing, but I needed to be strong for her.
Silent tears fell from my eyes as I thought about Caterina.
Her intoxicating laugh, her soft touches, and her calming voice.
She was my savior. I loved her so much, and now I would never see her again.
My heart hurt, the agony of knowing he took the last good thing that happened to me.
He wouldn’t let me go this time, not without making me pay and taking my last breath.
A whimper fell from my lungs as pain slowly creeped into every part of my body.
The adrenaline was finally wearing off, and everything ached and I was still bleeding.
Vincenzo didn’t bother to get me checked, instead he just shackled me to the wall like an animal.
My throat tightened as a sob got trapped.
I couldn’t breathe, each inhale a shallow, ragged gasp as the air turned to lead.
My chest hurt, and I was positive I had multiple broken ribs, maybe even internal bleeding with how much pain I was in.
Black dots danced across my vision as my head hit the wall behind me, my body screaming in agony as it was wracked with sobs.
The darkness faded as a bright fluorescent light was turned on, blinding me and making my head scream.
It was like it was when Caterina had me bound in her basement after she kidnapped me.
It was a vicious cycle, but I was back where I started.
My heartbeat was in my throat, and my skull throbbed violently as I trembled against the wall.
Heavy footsteps told me my demon—my tormentor—was getting closer to me.
I sank into the wall, praying it would swallow me whole, but it was useless.
The only person who could save me now was myself, but I was too fragile and weak from the car accident.
Except I would escape him this time. I was not the same girl I was when he took me at fifteen.
I wanted to believe I wouldn’t cower to him, but I already knew that was a lie.
Strength and my love for Caterina were the only two things that would get me out of here alive this time, and I was going to fight.
I squeezed my eyes closed, wishing it would make Vincenzo disappear, but he curled his fingers around my jaw. “Open those eyes,” he hissed, venom on his tongue. He tightened his grip on my face and I gasped, my eyes fluttering open. He smiled, and I flinched. “Look at those pretty eyes.”
I glared daggers into his soul, and he laughed bitterly. “What? Don’t like the defiance you see?”
He trailed his fingers down my neck before wrapping his fingers around my throat, constricting my airway. “Did you really think she could keep you away from me? She took you, but what’s mine always comes home.”
“I’m not yours,” I jeered.
I’d never be his again. No matter what he did to me, my heart belonged to Caterina Moretti, even if she was gone.
She showed me what it meant to be loved fully and all at once.
My heart and soul belonged to the woman who saved me.
Even if my utopia wasn’t permanent and my happiness was a semi-sweet lie.
Vincenzo closed the gap between us, his tobacco odor suffocating as his grip tightened around my throat.
His lips curved as he leaned forward, his hot breath sending shivers down my spine.
I forgot how rancid his touch felt. A year away, being touched and loved by Caterina replaced the memory of him.
I didn’t want him to taint her touch because I would never get it back.
“I missed your skin, bellissima.” He made her word vile.
“Don’t. Call. Me. That,” I hissed through gritted teeth. My adrenaline was back, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever.
He slapped me hard enough for my head to jerk to the other side before he grabbed my jaw, digging his short nails into my face.
“It seems like I have to break you all over again, sweet Harlow. I’m going to show you who you belong to once more, and then we can start our new lives together. You are mine forever.”
He wouldn’t have victory.
He could rape me, beat me, dehumanize me, but he wouldn’t make me shatter.
I would fight for the woman that saved me.
She might not be walking the Earthly plane anymore, but she would be my reason.
She gave me freedom, a taste of a happy life, but fate was cruel and had a different outcome for us.
I wished fate would have let her survive.
Caterina didn’t deserve to die. I didn’t deserve to live.
My life had been nothing but misery since I was fifteen.
A violent death was something I expected.
I thought of her.
Caterina Moretti made me the happiest I’d ever been in this life, even if it wasn’t forever like we promised.
She loved me, my scars, and my darkness.
She showed me that love was beautiful and sex was meant to feel like the sky igniting.
Caterina was my sunshine after a gloomy night, my hope after a lifetime of despair.
I needed to fight. Even without Caterina.
I had our little girl waiting for her mama to come home.