Page 124 of In Ruins
“You can deny it as much as you want, but you’ll still end up doing everything I tell you to,” he sneers.
“And if I don’t?” I question. He grasps my chin in his hand, his hold tight as he squeezes down on my jaw.
“Then you’ll face the consequences. Things will go much easier for you if you play your role correctly,” he says.
“And what role would that be?”
“You belong to me now. You are going to start acting like the perfect wife, just like it should have been from the beginning,” he says with finality in his tone.
“B-but I’m pregnant with someone else’s baby,” I tell him, stating the obvious.
“Is it Andretti’s baby?”
“N-no,” I lie, because there’s no way in hell I’m telling this maniac that I am indeed carrying Enzo’s heir. “He just said he’ll help me take care of the baby.”
“Good. I’m glad it isn’t his. Even though I’m fucking enraged that you spread your legs for someone else and him like a common whore it doesn’t matter if you’re my wife or his. I’ll take care of the brat as though it’s my own. And all you have to do is follow my rules. Speak when you’re spoken to, fulfill my every wish and desire like a perfect little Italian wife, and don’t ever disobey me.”
“You’re insane,” I mutter.
“And you’re going to stop pretending like you have a say in any of this,” he says, voice sharp.
He’s acting like all of this is a done deal. What the actual hell? Just then, a thought occurs to me. What if he’s done something to Enzo? That would be the only reason he’s so sure I’ll be his wife, because otherwise he should already know that Enzo would come for me when he notices I’m missing. But if he’s already dead…
Shit! I’m not going to even think like that because he can’t be dead. I’d know it if he were. He’s my soulmate. I’m sure I’d know if something happened to him. I’d feel it in my soul, wouldn’t I?
It’s like he must see the war going on inside my head because he smirks at me.Asshole.
“Forget about your old life. This is the one you belong to now. Do you want to know what will happen to you if you don’t obey me?” he questions.
“What?” I whisper, feeling drained, in pain, and just over this day.Well, I still have no idea how long I’ve been here so…
“If you don’t stop fighting me, stop refusing to be my wife, then I’ll cut that brat right out of you and either throw it in the dumpster or hand it over to your father to deal with,” he says, his words landing with the cruelty in which they were intended.
“You’re a monster,” I whisper, barely able to hold back the sob that wants to come out.
“Think about what I said because the next time I come in here, it’s to either take you as my wife with the brat or cut it out of you and discard it. Either way, you’ll still end up being my wife, but you’ll end up without the brat. You’re lucky I still want to marry you. Many have ended up dead for betraying me with far less severe offenses. You have until morning to decide before I decide for you.”
Well, I guess it’s still the same day, maybe? It must have been just a few hours since I’ve been missing, then. Guess time really goes slow when you’re kidnapped and locked away by a maniac.
He turns around and leaves, the door shutting behind him. The sound of the lock clicking into place is final. A sharp reminder that I’m nothing but a prisoner here.
I’m alone once more, and the silence that follows his departure is deafening. My breaths are coming in uneven bursts, and the added pain in my shoulder, as well as the rest of my body, is agonizing.
My body starts to shake uncontrollably, as if the delayed shock of everything that happened in the last few minutes is finally catching up with me.
Heart-wrenching sobs escape me because I don’t know what to do right now. I’m too injured to actually fight him when he comes back. I just hope I can make it through the night and face whatever else tomorrow brings. Though it already feels like I’m losing all the fight left in me, because I can feel it draining away.
Curling myself into a ball as much as I can, I lie there and sob until my eyes are aching and the headache is back with a vengeance, not that it ever went away.
You belong to me now… Salvatore’s words keep echoing inside my head over and over again, and I’m driving myself mad with the thought of actually living with that man.
“Enzo,” I whisper, voice hoarse in the empty room. “Please find me soon before something happens to our daughter…” I beg, plead, and pray to any god that’s listening.
Just then, I finally feel a kick from my girl. A half-laugh, half-sob escapes me, and I break down some more. My girl is letting me know she’s fine, at least for now.
“I guess you were just sleeping, huh? And wanted to give Mommy a heart attack instead of making your presence known earlier,” I whisper to my tummy. Somehow, feeling her kick, knowing she’s still alive has my hope returning full force, and I just know that Enzo isn’t dead and he’s going to find us soon. I have to believe that for all our sakes.
CHAPTER 36
