CHAPTER 91 - ARIANNA
CHAPTER
Arianna
M Y EYELIDS ARE STICKY and my throat dry. I blink, the room a blurred mess. My head pounds, and I feel sicker than ever before. What on earth have I done to feel like this?
I can’t remember. Did I drink too much?
I move to brush the hair out of my face and turn over towards Red, only to find my arm is stuck. Blinking harder, seeds of worry sprout. I force myself to pull the room into focus. “Red?” I croak. “What’s goi...”
“Ah! You’re back with us!”
I jolt, my senses snapping to alertness. Matteo?
I pull my arms; the clanking sound my movement brings realizes my worst fears. Twisting my head, the pain in my stiff neck worsening my nausea, I see my hands are cuffed to a bed.
And it’s not my bed. Neither is this the room I’ve begun to feel safe and treasured in.
The dark green ceiling takes on crystal clarity, an opulent chandelier shining reflections of its many crystals in pretty patterns over the cream brocade wallpaper.
But there’s nothing pretty about this .
Memories of my journey in the car with the bulletproof windows steamrollers into my brain. The vehicle I was tricked into getting into. The vehicle that took me away to this.
By my own brother.
And Luca Bristoni...
Fuck !
I tug harder on the wrist restraints, the clanking sound of metal against the ornate bed frame amplifying the thumping in my head. And there’s blood on my hands...
It’s then that I recall my journey being cut short with a smash to the face, and the pain in my broken nose and swollen eyes kicks in.
“Fuck me, she’s a bit of a state, Matt!”
The figure of Luca Bristoni slides into view. The two men - one being my own flesh and blood - stare at me like a lot at the meat auction.
“Yeah, it’s a shame about that, but it’ll mend in a few days,” Matteo sneers. “The rest will work just the same. I’ll get someone to clean her up before you get started.”
“Nah.” Luca runs his eyes over me and starts unbuttoning his shirt. “I’d rather get straight onto it.”
My mind spirals. Started?
Bile rushes up my gullet. My sister’s fiancé is going to...
“Where’s Red?” I scream.
“Well, he’s not here, is he?” Matteo laughs. “I guess you got things wrong, sis. No one’s here, apart from us, so you must have misread that your fake husband gives a shit!”
“NO!” I yell, pulling harder at my restraints. I’ll kick Luca. I’ll kick him off me if he tries anything. I won’t have him touching me. “I’m not wrong! Red won’t leave me here. He’ll turn up any minute!”
With horror, I realize my ankles are also restrained and that I’m naked . My clothes have been stripped.
Panic avalanches.
“I’m afraid you won’t get your knight in shining armor, if you can call the lowlife that. Redmond Bateman won’t find you here. No one will.”
Sweating, I twist and turn, my pain excruciating. If I passed out, it would be a relief, but I won’t. I can’t . Red will come for me wherever I am. He’ll track me somehow.
“Leave us to it, then,” Luca mutters. “I don’t need an audience!”
“Enjoy!” Matteo grins.
I watch wide-eyed as my brother leaves the room, then screwing my eyes tightly shut, I feel weight on the bed as Luca kneels on it and trails his fingers between my breasts.
Now I know what’s about to happen and I can do nothing about it, something inside me dies and drifts away in the breeze like the remnants of a dream.
A few hours ago I was filled with hope and excitement about what the unexpected shift in my relationship with Red meant. Giving in to our desires last night was one thing, but realizing this morning that what we had between us was real and he felt the same, was another.
Now nothing can be the same again. How will he want me after this?
“I’ll be the last man you ever touch,” he’d said.
I belong to Red now.
But that’s about to change, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Hearing the telltale sound of a zip undoing, I know without any shadow of a doubt that Roberto has been sent from beyond the grave to complete his destruction of me, via his brother.