CHAPTER TWO Dolcezza
CHAPTER TWO
Dolcezza
I could hear myself breathing slowly and deeply.
My body was tied to something I assumed to be a chair.
I couldn’t move, and it crept more and more into my senses than it should.
My eyelids twitched, and after several attempts, I managed to force them open.
I was in a dim room, barely recognisable.
Concrete with no windows, just a metal door.
The events of last night came rushing in. I remembered looking… Adrian. My chest tightened before a sob broke through.
The man. The gun. Blood. And the needle.
How did… everything crash in just one night? Why?
Where was I? Why was I here? How did I get here? I wanted to scream, but my throat was dry and sore, like my limbs. And this alien feeling frightened me more – a lack of control over my body such that I could only gasp for air.
I screamed, and this time, though guttural and strained, it was audible. I shifted, moving my limbs, only to realise the ropes were tight. Tears came unrequited to my eyes, streaming down my cheeks in cold rivers.
My movements were clumsy and unnatural. I managed to unbalance the chair, and fall to the ground, still bound. The armrest broke, and my limbs came free.
I crawled away from the broken chair while ripping the ropes off of me, half-tripping over the long pale blue fabric of a long dress I never remembered putting on.
I began sprinting as fast as I could towards the metal door when something yanked me back, slamming me forward, scraping my chin and knees on the floor.
My instincts had been too slow, not allowing me enough time to balance myself.
Tugging, I was met with hard metal chains bound at one end to my right ankle and the other to the metal ring, which was bolted to the floor. Oh god…
Kidnapped. The realisation harassed my thoughts.
Someone kidnapped me. But that didn’t halt my struggles.
I wiped the tears off my cheeks praying that all this would turn out to be one of my nightmares.
I wasn’t rich or valuable, so why did someone kidnap me?
Why did they… kill Adrian? And even if someone wished to use me to their advantage, no one would care if I was abducted or not.
My thoughts wandered to the darkest reality.
I was probably taken by some sick predator who meets women and rapes them, and then kills them in such a way that no one could recognise their mutilated bodies. Shivers ran uncontrollably up and down my spine.
The metal door creaked, jerking my head up.
A soft light infiltrated first. Even though it was not bright, I was blinded for a moment.
Then I saw him.
He stood in the doorway like a bringer of death. His hair fell over his forehead, dark and slightly messy.
Last night, I’d been too panicked to look at him, but now… The way he was dressed and carried himself, he hadn’t broken into our apartment to steal.
Lethal and terrifying.
“Hello, Dolcezza,” he said softly, stepping into the room.
I scrambled off my arse as he stalked towards me like a hungry tiger circling the rabbit. Something in his eyes glinted, and I noticed the wildness too quickly.
I was going to scratch his face if he touched me.
A step closer from him, a step back from me. Then another and another, until I was pressed against the wall, the chain tight around my ankle, dragging me down to sit.
His shiny, polished shoes blocked my vision, and I craned my neck to look at him.
He tilted his head, and my eyes caught the scar that ran down his cheek.
It was faint, yet not something you could miss.
Unhinged stormy grey eyes trained on my face, dragging down my body, lowering to my bleeding knee. His lips twisted.
“Who… who are you?”
He lowered himself, and I flinched as he knelt in front of me. I stared at him, wanting to ask him so many questions, but couldn’t with my heart hammering in my throat.
He patiently watched me, observing my shaky limbs and trembling lips.
I made myself stay still when his hand was raised to touch my face. I just sat there. This murderer’s fingers were gentle on my skin, almost tender. For a moment I was disoriented.
“Who am I?” he repeated my words. “Who do you think I am, Dolcezza?”
My ankles ached against the chains, and I knew I was bleeding, yet I couldn’t stop pulling. Futile, useless, desperate. My body fought for freedom even as my mind sank deeper into the hole.
“Why?” I spat, my voice trembling but firm. “Why did you kill him? Why are you doing this to me?”
His lips twitched—a ghost of a smirk that never reached his eyes. He tilted his head, studying me like a puzzle he had all the time in the world to solve.
“Knowing why will not make this hurt any less.”
This time I flinched when his hand trailed down my cheek, deceptively tender, until it gripped my jaw with bruising force. My teeth clenched under the pressure, and I whimpered, hating the sound that escaped me.
“You want to know why I killed him?” he continued, and I glared at him with hatred burning in my eyes. “Because he was in my way.”
Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. He didn’t deserve to see me break. My throat ached as I swallowed down the sob clawing its way up. Adrian was gone. His laughter, his warmth—stolen by this monster that now crouched before me.
“You’re sick,” I hissed, my voice cracking.
His grip tightened, forcing my head back against the cold wall. His face was calm, unnervingly so, like my words did not have any impact on him.
“I’ve been called worse.”
I thrashed, trying to pull away, but he held me easily, his strength a cruel reminder of how hopeless this was. My wrists burned, and I felt the sticky warmth of blood pooling beneath the chains.
“What are you going to do to me? Kill me?” I hated how he scared me.
He chuckled as if my trembling voice amused him.
“I find you worth keeping, Dolcezza.”
His words sank into me like knives, and all I could do was shatter more and more.
“Why… why did you do this? What have we ever done to you? What do you want from me?”
For a moment, his jaw tightened and a faint tick betrayed an otherwise eerily calm demeanor. Then he chuckled, sending a chill down my spine.
“What do I want?” he echoed, his tone deceptively soft. His storm-grey eyes bored into mine before raking over my body. “What any man wants—sex.”
My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled back.
“Let me go!” I screamed, and the chains rattled against my frantic movements. “I’ll call the cops!”
His lips moved into something between a smirk and a sneer.
“And what would the police do? Rescue you from a man they’ll never find?” He leaned closer.
“Stop it, please!” I begged, tears blurring my vision as I pressed myself tighter into the wall. “Don’t you understand that this is wrong?”
His head tilted slightly, as though considering my words. “What is not right? A man wanting to have sex?”
I thrashed against the chains, panic coursing through my veins. He was disgusting. “This is kidnapping me and caging me against my will. Threatening to rape me and-”
“Threatening?” his chuckle was darker this time.
He reached out, gripping my chin with one hand and forcing my gaze to meet his.
“You’re using some heavy words, Dolcezza.
I just want to fuck you, hard and raw, so that every breath leaving your body ends on me.
I want to see your swollen red cunt after I’m done fucking you, the sounds you make while my cock slams into your-”
“Stop it!”
He pulled back just enough to look at me. Then, without warning, he grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, dragging me to my feet. I stumbled, barely catching myself.
“Why? You asked what I wanted, so I’m telling you. This will be the last time I’m explaining this. Next time, I show you.”
“Let me go-” I thrashed as he gripped my dress and pulled me to his chest. My head was pulled back harshly. His eyes penetrated through my soul, the scar glistening.
“No can do. Not till I have my fill and you’re fucked loose for any other man out there.”
I shut my eyes. My head hurt. My body did too. And everything else.
“You’re insane!”
He chuckled. “You didn’t like it when I was gentle, so I figured you’d like the hard way better.”
I sobbed.
I heard him take a deep breath before his grip on my hair loosened, and he released me. My body crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath as his words settled over me.
“Twenty minutes. Wash up, change, and clean the mess you made. Talk back and I’ll cut out your tongue. Run, and I’ll break your legs. Disobey me in any way, and you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t. My mind reeled, trapped in a storm of grief, fear, and rage. Adrian was gone. The life I’d known was gone. All that was left was this—chains, blood, and the man who had destroyed everything.
I would fight even if it broke me, even if it killed me. I would not let him win.