Chapter 35
Harlow
STAY STRONG FOR ME, BABY.
I don’t want to. I want to be with you.
Think of Serenity. Fight for us.
I gasped, wincing in pain as a monitor screamed.
My heart was pounding outside my chest, and my mouth felt like I swallowed sand.
For a moment, I forgot my situation and prayed that Caterina would walk through the door and kiss me like she lost me.
Lord knew I’d do anything to be in her embrace right now instead of being in this hell on Earth.
How many days had it been now?
“Good, you're awake.” His voice was like liquid fire on my icy skin, burning me alive. “It’s been a long ten days without you, bellissima.” I hated that praise falling from his lips, the added torment it had to my damaged heart.
Ten days added to my torment, but hopefully he left me alone to heal instead of tormenting me in my sleep.
Vincenzo looked disheveled, like his entire life was torn from him and he was hanging onto the false reality he created in his head.
Good. He deserved to feel fear in his soul like he made me and so many other women feel.
Even if it was because he thought he lost me. I wanted him to fucking suffer.
“Water. Please.” I hated begging for basic needs, but I couldn’t handle the dry, burning sensation in my throat. The taste of blood and vomit lingered on my tongue, and it was not the best taste. The curve that spread across his lip told me it was a mistake asking him.
“You can have all the water you like once you give me a kiss.” There were always conditions with him.
You can have this basic need if you do this ungodly act.
Most of the time he’d force me on my knees to suck him off if I wanted a hot meal.
It was always the same thing everyone else got, just hot instead of lukewarm.
A kiss wasn’t the worst thing he could request. A kiss would taste just like the bile lingering behind, but at least with water I could clear his taste from my tongue.
My stomach recoiled as he lingered closer like a wolf about to attack a frail rabbit.
Just think of Caterina and get it over with.
You need to survive. He cupped my cheek and pressed his chapped lips to mine in a soft, disgusting kiss.
He tasted like tobacco and cheap vodka. His hands tangled in my hair, sending shockwaves of pain down my spine.
“Mean. It.” My stomach dropped. How was I supposed to mean something when the thought of touching this man made me physically ill?
I wrapped a hand around his neck, pulling him into me, and it took everything in me not to gag when he shoved his tongue into my mouth.
My mind was telling me to bite his tongue until I ripped it out, but that was just going to cause more misery for me.
I needed to find a way to escape before I attempted to do anything rash.
I didn’t even know where we were. It was not his home, the club, or the warehouse.
I imagined Caterina, her soft touch and her invigorating scent as I deepened the kiss. Caterina would be proud that I was fighting, even though seeing this, she would seethe with anger. Not at me, never at me, but at the fact that I was having to pretend to enjoy this monster to get basic needs.
“That’s exactly how I expect you to kiss your husband. You are mine. Every part of you belongs to me, Harlow. And once you realize it, we can have a happy life.”
I bit my cheek so hard I tasted blood, but I nodded. I would not submit, but I would play a part to get my freedom. He handed me a water bottle, and before he had a chance to take it away, I threw the cap across the room and chugged the bottle. The water was like a cool oasis in the Sahara.
Vincenzo climbed into the bed with me, wrapping his legs around mine as he cradled my body to his.
I was still too weak to fight. I needed to heal, but being this close to him made me ill.
I wanted to scream, to scratch him, to put some distance between us, but all I could do was accept his touch as it burned my skin.
“I love you, bellissima.” Bellissima…I’d never be able to hear the word the same.
“I-I l-love you,” I lied.
Comply and obey. I knew everyone was looking for me. Caterina would haunt them from the grave if she ever found out they left me in the hands of a monster. I just hoped they would find me before Vincenzo completely shattered my soul.
He whispered lies to me, telling me how much he loved me and how he couldn’t wait for me to heal.
He talked about how he would never have taken me at fifteen if it wasn’t for my father, but that was the funny thing.
My father made his choices, and Vincenzo made his.
I never would have met Vincenzo if it wasn’t for my father, and he was whispering fantasies of a different life to me.
He ruined my life because of a deal. If I was being honest, my father ruined my life, by ruining his life enough to make a deal with the devil.
Vincenzo said he loved me, but his love was venomous, attacking me from the inside out.
He didn’t love me. It was a twisted mind game he loved playing, a constant push and pull, leaving me broken and bruised.
He wanted me to break, to submit so he could mold me into his perfect wife, but I never would.
Maybe a year ago I would’ve given up, but not now. I was going to get out, and I would make sure Vincenzo died. Caterina’s death wouldn’t be in vain. I would avenge my wife’s memory.