Chapter Fifty Seven Willow
Chapter Fifty Seven
Willow
It’s been fourteen days now.
Nero came in earlier bringing more clothes for me and the usual extra meal of soup. The clothes are gradually getting bigger and bigger on me, which I have realised is not because of Nero’s incapability to judge women’s clothing sizes, but because I’m losing weight.
I feel weak, disorientated and flat out disheartened that I’m still here and I still don’t know if Dragna is alive or dead, if the girls are okay or what the hell is happening in the outside world.
Nero is still keeping his promise of not leaving me alone with any of the other men should they be the ones to come in to bring me to the toilet or to question me on anything and I am thankful for that.
There have been times he’s had to be rough towards me and I can see the pain in his eyes when he’s grabbed my face, swore at me or when one of the men spat in my face and he had to control himself to not react in any way.
He warned me he would have to play his part in front of the other men, and I don’t hold it against him, but it feels like this is some sick joke that will never end.
The only sleep I get is from passing out from exhaustion and I still haven’t been granted a shower. I thought two weeks ago was me hitting rock bottom, but now… I’m starting to wish they would just kill me to put me out of my misery.
I have absolutely no hope left and with the comments some of the men have made towards me about what they would do to me, what they will do to me when they get the chance, death would be the easiest way out.
I’m laying on my back staring up at the blank white ceiling when the door smashes open making me jump. I look up quickly and immediately freeze when I see it isn’t Nero or Silvio who has entered the room, but Matteo.
“Up.” He says as he snaps his fingers.
I’m too dazed to follow his instructions, which only makes the already apparent anger on his face worsen. He strides over to me and grabs me by my hair, pulling me up to stand and he begins walking me to the door, ignoring my screams.
“You’re proving to be more of a fucking hassle than you’re worth stupida ragazza.” He hisses in my face.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask in a panic, wondering if everything the other men said is going to come true? That Matteo is going to sell me.
I will myself to breathe and try to calm down as much as I can, remembering that Nero is here and he won’t let anything happen to me.
Surely he has a way to contact Dragna or Lev or someone.
No, because if he did then he would of already done that.
Oh god this is it, Nero can’t help me and Matteo is going to either kill me or sell me.
“You will keep quiet and listen to my orders.” Matteo replies while still dragging me by my hair down a long corridor. We finally reach a set of doors and he kicks them open before throwing me inside.
“Prepare her for transfer.” He barks out and I look up from the floor and notice a few men standing looking down at me like lions hunting a gazelle.
“Don’t do this to me, please. Matteo I’ll—” The sting across my face and the ringing in my ears disorientates me and I bring a hand up to clutch my own check, heat radiating from it already.
He slapped me, and he slapped me hard. My eyes sting just as hard as my cheek with the tears beginning to form and I feel a terror in my body like no other.
“Don’t you EVER let my name pass your filthy lips again.” He seethes towards me as he pulls on the arms of his suit jacked, then buttons it up, fixing himself to look smart and to cover the evil that lies beneath him.
As he leaves the room, all I notice is how silent it is. It’s so quiet it’s almost deafening.
I’m waiting for one of the men to make a move, but as I look around they all just remain in their places, smirking and looking between each other.
“Stand up.” One of them says as he puffs on a cigar.
Do I do as they say? Will they beat me or hurt me in other ways if I don’t?
“He said stand up. Are you deaf?” Another one of the men speaks out.
Okay Willow just do as they say. They are angry. Do whatever they want and try to find a way out of this situation. I tell myself to stay calm, stay alert, to just breathe.
I stand up and keep my head lowered, looking at my bare feet as I push my toes into the plush carpet. It feels so good against my skin, so much better than the cold concrete floor of the room they’ve been holding me in, so I focus on the feeling of that to ground me.
“Mmm, good. Now, take off your clothes.” The man sitting smoking speaks again and my breathing hitches as I sink my toes in deeper to the carpet and I bring shaky hands to the bottom of the sweatshirt I’m wearing.
There is no way out of this. I just have to accept I’m going to have to do what they tell me.
Lifting the sweatshirt up, I pull it over my head and hold it to my chest to cover my bare breasts from these pigs for as long as they will let me before I know what will inevitably happen.
“Drop the sweatshirt tesor.” One of the men purrs out while the snickers from the others echo from all around me.
I close my eyes as I let go of the sweatshirt and stand there in a room with all these men not yet ready to accept a fate I cannot change but knowing I will have to.
“You take orders well. We’ll get a lot for you la mia bambola. Now, turn around and take the sweatpants off. I want a nice view of you bending over while you do it, so do it nice and slow for me.” The man smoking says again.
I try to control my breathing as I turn around slowly, composing myself as best as I can and I notice my cheeks are wet with silent tears falling from my eyes.
I don’t make a sound as the tears continue to fall, or as I do as I was told, pulling the joggers down further and further and bending over to bring them to my ankles before finally stepping out of them.
I have never felt so vulnerable and so degraded in my life.
I want to die.
If I do something stupid enough, will one of them just kill me?
I press my heels into the carpet as far as I can, squeezing my toes in amongst the soft fibres, enjoying the small little pleasure in this reality of a nightmare.
There are laughs and groans of pleasure sounding out around the room and I begin to look around at the faces of the men surrounding me.
Some of them lick their lips at me, some of them smirk as they rub themselves over their trousers, but it’s the man who is sat behind me, who wanted a view of me who flares the panic within me.
“With a body like that, it would be a shame to send you off to your new owner without testing you out first, hm?” He says through a smirk as I look over my shoulder at him and the other men begin chanting their agreements.
One of them appears in front of me and spins me around slowly, showing me off to all of them and to fully face the man who seems to be in control of the rest of them all.
“Don’t be shy Willow.” He winks at me as he puffs on his cigar again.
My throat stings with the bile rising within it, knowing this is it. There’s no coming back from what is about to happen to me. I had to go to therapy for finding out my ex cheated on me for fuck sake. How am I supposed to survive this?
I’m pushed towards the man and slowly take the last few steps it takes to reach him. He sits forward and runs a hand up the back of my bare thigh before squeezing my flesh so hard I let out a yelp.
“Oh, you’re a weak little thing aren’t you.
I’ll have fun breaking you.” He digs his hands into the tops of my thighs and I can feel the tips of his fingers brushing against me between my legs.
He brings his head forward more and looks me in the eyes as he licks up my bare stomach to underneath my breast, then bites me so hard I think he’s broken the skin.
I let out a weak scream as he pulls me down on top of him, positioning me so he can grind his erection against me.
I can see a gun sitting on a table right beside us and I try not to stare at it too long so I don’t give away that I’m about to grab it.
“What do you say tesor.” He whispers in my ear as he unbuckles his belt and frees himself from his trousers.
“Let’s give everyone else in this room a show hm?
” He licks up the side of my face as he positions himself against my entrance and the feel of his bare skin against mine makes me feel rage and fear like I have never felt before.
I glance at the gun again and before I can even think of grabbing it, I hear the door opening, distracting the guy whose body I’m being forcefully held to.
“Gentlemen, I thought you had more manners than this?”
I hear that familiar voice and I turn around to see Nero walking in and sitting down on one of the couches, hands in his pockets and looking as suave as ever. He doesn’t look at me for more than a second and shows no signs of disgust at the fact of what one of his men is about to do to me.
“Just testing the merchandise Nero. Isn’t that right tesor?” The guy below me says as he rubs himself against me again and I hold back the vomit I can feel rising.
“Alesso, I wouldn’t do that if I was you.”
Nero checks his watch as he speaks, then finally raises his head to look at me properly. He winks at me, and then looks around the other men in the room.
He has a plan. I know he does.
As soon as the thought comes into my head, the windows in the room shatter, the doors all bust open and I’m thrown to the floor as Alesso and the rest of the men grab their guns and aim them towards the surrounding chaos.
Nero rushes to me, covering me with his jacket and scooping me up in his arms. He rushes past the men who entered the room, out the door and down the hallway with me held tightly to his chest.
“Oh mia cara, cazzo! I am so, so sorry.” He says as he grips me tighter.
“My father is meeting with Marco, this was the only way to get him away but I didn’t know he would plan to leave you with those men.” He adds as he tries to cover as much of me as possible with his suit jacket.
I cry into Nero’s arms as I hear gunshots firing from the room he’s rescued me from.
“I told you your dogs would come.” He smiles coyly at me as he continues carrying me through hallway after hallway until we come to a set of doors that are already open to the outside world.
A car pulls up and Nero squeezes me tighter, saying goodbye without having to speak any words.
“Your carriage awaits mia cara.” And as soon as the words leave his mouth, the door to the car opens and a man I had mourned, a man I didn’t think I would ever see again, a man who I know now without a shadow of a doubt I love and want to be with, steps out.
Dragna.