Chapter Twenty-Three
Almost three years ago
I don't want to wake up. If I could, I would bury myself in these sheets and disappear, but I'm not that lucky.
My muscles scream in pain and I can feel the sore bags under my eyes. All night I stood in front of Vincent's crib and listen to his little, uneven breaths.
My big growing boy, turning two next month. He's a ray of sunshine in this house, in my life. The bad feeling from last night isn't gone. I can sense something dangerous but I don't know what.
Since Keres got engaged and left a year ago, I've been a freak. All I hear is Papa's laughs, all I see is his disgusting group of friends.
All I feel is their hungry eyes on me.
I'm keeping my distance as much as I can. These days all I do is paint and take care of Vince.
I let out a sigh as I rise in a sitting position.
I'm lonely. Mamma left, Keres left. I'm alone with the person who wishes every day that I would just die.
I am different, so what? I like arguing and I love fighting with the guards. I like cursing and I love tattoos.
I've been compared to my sister so many times that it's getting boring.
A lady doesn't behave like that.
A lady doesn't speak so dirty.
They don't accept me, so why would I accept them? Being different is refreshing. It's extraordinary. To know that you're the only white tulip in a room full of red ones? It's powerful. People stare with wide eyes at the anomalies you have and the feeling gives you adrenaline through your veins.
You're not like everyone.
You're different.
Hold on to that.
And I am.
Keres begged me to behave in front of Papa and that she's gone, but she knows better. I will never let Papa think he tamed me.
Not when it's his greatest desire.
I walk toward Vincent's crib and I look at his little hands that are on his stomach. Tears swell my eyes at the love I have for this creature. He saved me more than he'll ever know.
I feel the phone buzzing, knowing exactly who it is.
"Ciao, sorella." I whisper so that I don't wake my bug. He's tired and needs his sleep to grow into a man Papa will never be.
"Happy birthday my sweet beauty." Keres says in Italian. My heart cracks at her voice and at the way my body misses her. "My little sister who turned twenty-one years old." I hear her voice crack and I can feel her tears through the phone.
"Grazie". I murmur and let my finger trace Vince's cheek.
"What are you doing?" She softly asks.
"Watching Vince having the sleep of his life." Keres laughs.
"Oh, to be young and untroubled." I bite my tongue when the words 'you were never troubled' want to escape my mouth.
Papa's little girl. Of course she had everything she ever wanted.
And now spoiled by her future husband.
I don't let my heart shatter at the thought.
My sister feels the change of atmosphere and she sighs. "Althea-"
"I think Papa is looking for me, Keres. I should go." The lie comes naturally.
"Oh, okay." I know she's sad or angry because she knows I'm lying, but she doesn't argue with me. "I love you so much, Althea." Yeah, me too.
"I'll always love you more." I say back and hang up quickly.
With one last look at Vince, I walk out of the door and go to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
The house seems empty and I almost sigh in relief.
I take a glass filled with sparkly water with me and I go back to my room. Before going up the stairs I hear voices coming from my Papa's office.
And my only birthday wish is gone.
I get closer to the door and I listen the conversation like a freak.
"Were's our prize Capo?" I hear Enrique asks with curiosity. Enrique is my Papa's second in command. A cunning man worse than my father.
"Yeah, Capo." I hear Teddy Smith, the brother of Chicago's Senator, say with amusement. "I hear you're a man of your word."
"You sick fucks. I was high as a kite when I made
that bet." My Papa snarls. I narrow my eyebrows.
What bet?
"That's on you, fratello. You made a bet with us and you lost it." Pablo, one of Papa's business partner, says.
"We want the girl." Teddy says.
"It's her twenty-first birthday today, no?" Enrique asks with a smirk.
My heart stops and the world around me crushes over me.
M-my father made a bet and gave me a prize? To these men?
The glass in my hand slips and the water stains the floor. The sound makes the men stop and look at the door.
I feel my body tremble and my mind screaming at me to run.
So I did.
I run up the stairs until I reach my room and close the door with the key. I grab my phone with shaky hands and call Keres.
She answers immediately and I can't get the words out of my mouth. I breathe fast, hard, trying to clear my head.
He made a bet with me as a prize.
"What happened, Althea?" Her desperate eyes are staring at me. I called on video.
"I-I-" I try to say something but the words just aren't coming out.
"You want me to come to Italy?" I shake my head. I want to get out of here.
I need to get out of here.
"Keres," Tears are making my vision blurry. Does he hate me that much? Am I really such bastard in his life?
My chest is numb.
I'm numb.
"Paint, Althea. Paint anything and I promise I'll take the first plane to you." I shake my head but she hangs up.
No, no, no.
I'm so fucking scared.
Your heart is safe with me, Althea .
No, Mamma. It's not.
It never was.
I hear footsteps coming up to my wing and I look with frantic eyes at Vincent.
I can't let them hurt him.
I can't let them even touch him.
I run to my wardrobe and I unleash Scarface. He looks at me with angry eyes and he's flashing his sharp teeth at me.
I walk closer to him, my right hand in front of me so can feel that I'm safe.
He stiffs me and then he looks at me content.
"Stay on guard, Scarface." I say the words I've been teaching him since Vincent got him. His eyes flash and the anger is back.
Bang bang bang.
I flinch at the sounds in the door. I grab Scarface by the collar and I bring him next to the crib. I look scared around the room and I find the pair of headphones that could block the sound.
I lean over Vincent and gently, I put the headphones over his little head, seeing him sighing in content.
Bang bang bang.
"We know you're in there, Principessa." Enrique says and he continue punching the door.
With my heart in my throat, I pick Vincent up and bring him into the wardrobe, putting him on some pillows that are on the ground.
Scarface comes next to him and puts himself around Vincent, like a mother around her pup.
"Stay on guard. Kill everything that goes near him." Scarface flashes me his teeth again and with tears rolling down my cheeks, I close the door of the wardrobe, letting them alone in there.
I pace around the room trying to block out the laughing from the other side of it.
A loud crash makes me flinch and I see Enrique smirking at me, eyeing my body sinfully.
"It looks like you've been waiting for us, Principessa." I look down at my satin black top and matching short pants.
I grab the lamp from the bedside table, throwing at their head but of course they duck.
What have I done to deserve this, Papa?
You could've killed me, but instead, you like torturing me, seeing me in pieces.
The three men cornered me and I realize that I'm trapped. My tears won't stop falling and my chest is numb from all the emotions.
"P-please d-don't," I beg for the first time in my life.
"What? No sneaky comment? What's wrong?"
Everything happens too fast for me to fight back. Pablo comes at me and slams to the bed while Teddy takes my hands and brings them up, holding them tightly. I try to release myself but I'm not that powerful.
I'll never have the strength to beat three men at once.
Teddy holds my hands up and kisses my collarbone
in the most disgusting way possible and Pablo rips my top off me.
I start sobbing when I feel his hands tugging my breasts and how cruel he bites my nipples.
If I stop crying, will it hurt less? Because I feel dirty. I feel like I want to throw up.
"Jesus, you have some tits," Pablo murmurs and he keeps biting my flesh. With one of my legs, I try to kick him in the balls but Enrique is quicker than me and he catches my legs.
"You're a wild one. Your Papa always says that about you." Another sob makes my chest hurt so bad and I wish I could die.
I feel someone tugging my pants down and my muscles hurt from all the fighting.
Pablo goes lower and when he's in front of my private part, he inhales the smell of my pussy.
"You're so lucky we promised our Capo we won't touch your pussy. Mhm, you smell divine. Lucky bastard your future husband." I ink when Pablo forces my legs wide open and he spits on my pussy because no doubt, I'm drier than Sahara.
"Such a perfect Italian slut." Teddy whispers in my ear and I close my eyes tightly.
I want to die.
Please, God, take me now.
What about Vincent? My heart beats faster at the thought of my little brother.
Keres will take care of him. They don't need me. They never will. Not in the way I need them.
I feel my waist lifted in the air and two pillows put under me. Confused, I open my eyes and look at the two men that are looking at me with hungry eyes.
I see Enrique unbuckle his belt and my skin is on
fire. Do something, Althea. Move your fucking body.
But I can't.
I see Enrique taking his boxers down and I look away. I can't see this. I don't need to see how they'll break me.
I hear a foil being unwrapped and then a weigh on my lower body. I sob louder, drowning in tears.
All the fight for nothing.
If I ask them to kill me after this, will they?
Because I really want to die.
I feel Teddy grab my leg and lifts it toward him and then a pressure on my back hole.
The fear settles in my body and I shake brutally.
"NO," I beg again but I'm ignored. "Please, please, please-" My pleas are silenced by the pain that suffocates my body. I arch my back at the horrible stretch my body is being forced to.
"Happy birthday, Principessa." Enrique whispers while he pounds into me. I feel my body split in half, the pain making my vision blurry. My mouth is wide open and my sobs are gone. My tears are gone.
I'm just... numb.
"We're going to have so much fun with you." Teddy whispers and the pain intensifies as Enrique thrusts with hard pumps, making me bleed everywhere.
Present
The entire kit full of tools smashes to the wall, the sound making me flinch.
I watch with tears in my eyes how Everette loses his battle with sanity. He grabs his laptop and crash it to the floor.
We moved our conversation into the bedroom, not
wanting to wake Vincent.
"Keaton," I whisper but he doesn't listen to me. He isn't hearing me.
He continues to break things and to punch whatever is in front of him. His face is twisted in pain and his body is tight with anger.
"Keres came that day to you." He says to me and I hear his question.
"I couldn't look into her eyes again, Keaton. If she saw the broken girl, she would've stayed and she just escaped from that place." I shake my head, the memory too painful. "She was happy here with you and I made it permanent. Told her I hate her and other hurtful things that made me want to throw up." I cry because she'll never know how much it destroyed me to tell her those things.
This time, a painting went flying to the wall, shattering like my heart right now.
"Keaton stop, please." I walk in front of him and touch his arm gently.
"How long?" I frown at him. "How long did they-" He chokes up and pales more and more.
I look at my husband, my enemy who is slowly dying at what happened to me and I swear my heart can't beat faster.
"The whole month." Every week, every day.
"And your father?" Keaton spits.
"He always hid in his office." And called me a slut afterwards.
"I'm going to kill every single one of them." I feel his muscles spam and with a speed I've never seen before, he goes straight for the door.
"Keaton stop," But he's not hearing me. He's blinded by anger, by vengeance and he'll kill everyone in his
path. I want to kill them too, but I don't want them to have a quick death.
He's out of the room, running down the stairs like that will get him quicker in Italy. I run after him and he's so fucking fast that I don't have time to stop him from getting in the car.
Without thinking, I throw myself in front of the car hearing the guards yell for me.
Everette stops the car inches away from me and his wide eyes are burning.
"Step away, Althea." I shake my head, feeling my body tremble.
"Don't leave me like this, Keaton. I just told you my deepest fear and trauma! You can't fucking leave me here alone." I cry desperately. He punches the wheel and exits his car.
His face is white as a sheet, his eyes are torment and his hands are shaking.
Oh, Everette.
My big, scary beast.
"I can't fucking let them breathe for another day, Althea. I need to go." He comes in front me and my heart cracks at the pain he shows.
I take his cold face in my hands and I look at him, feeling my heart burst and my blood pumping with force.
"Althea please," But he shuts up when my lips meet his in a desperate kiss.
For the first time since we got married, I kiss him first. Because I can't stay a second longer without his lips on mine. I'm obsessed with him, my heart clings to him, scared that he'll leave us. I kiss him hard, separating his lips with my tongue.
Don't leave me, Everette.
His hands grab my back in a painful hug and he bites my lips until they're sore.
"Stay with me. Make me forget them. Make me feel what I haven't felt with them." I beg him, and in this moment, when our eyes are lock on each other, so pure and fragile, I realize that I trust this man with my life.
With the heart I thought I don't have.
"Make me truly yours, my beast."