Page 53 of Vow of Darkness
So I tried to attack him and that’s when I got my scar. But he didn’t just give me an ugly scar on my face. No. He also tortured me for days for disobeying him.
Cuts and bruises everywhere. I thought I was going to die so many times but I always pulled through. For my family. My parents would have wanted me to survive.
When I found a chance to escape, I did. It was a moment of weakness on Giovanni’s part. He saw the boy he had helped raise up high in the mafia. He loosened my ties and I managed to get myself free. It was just him and I in that disgusting dungeon where he held me for a week. I don’t even remember where it was now. Some house far away from here.
I overpowered him. I remember standing over him with a chance to end his life… and I couldn’t take it. I was disgusted with myself. The one thing I vowed to do and I couldn’t do it.
So I ran and I built myself back up after the torture.
Now here I am, desperate to find Giovanni again, who went into hiding after that. I will not make the same mistake twice.
I pace around the hospital waiting room. Aurora was in bad condition when I brought her in. Lost a lot of blood. All because she went into my dungeon where I was torturing Mark, one of Giovanni’s closest allies. All because I let her get under my skin and I touched her when I shouldn’t have. All because I wanted to control Aurora and turn her to the darkness with me by getting her to kill Mark. But it gave Mark the chance to escape his bind and hurt her.
Now I could lose her. Just like I lost my family.
I’ve been holding onto Aurora so tightly because of the light I see in her. The spark. The bravery. I care for her even though I don’t show it much. The last thing I want is for her to die.
A doctor finally approaches. “We managed to stop the bleeding and stitch up her wound. She’s doing better now. You can go into see her.”
I rush to where Aurora’s room is to find her asleep in a bed with cold, fluorescent light shining down on her. Her wrist where Mark cut her is all bandaged up.
I gaze down at her beautiful face. Her sweet, innocent face that lights up with fury for me. I love that she stands up to me. No one else ever does the way she does it.
I grab her hand and hold it tight, letting her know that I’m here, even though I know I’m not the comfort she needs. Who she needs is her father but I’m too much of a selfish asshole to let her go back to him.
What I did to Andrew was petty of me. He tried to steal from me, yes, but I’ve let other men go for worser crimes. I don’t know why I wanted to hurt Andrew so much. Maybe in my darkness to get to Giovanni, I let myself grow colder. Andrew was caught in the crosshairs and now so is Aurora.
I’m an asshole to her but I can’t seem to stop. I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know how to get rid of the memories of my family’s murder. Of the pain. Of the anger and destruction.
Aurora makes a soft sound as her eyes flick open. They land on me and for a moment, I see them soften, before they harden again. Harden against me.
She looks at my hand on hers before pulling it away. I deserve that.
“What happened?” she asks, sounding groggy.
“Mark cut you. You were bleeding from the wrist. Badly. You’re in the hospital now. You’ll live.” My voice sounds a lot more curt and cold than I mean it to.
“Why were you holding my hand?” She looks at it like she can’t believe I’d actually show her any kindness.
“I… it doesn’t matter. You’re all right now. We can go home after you’ve had time to rest.”
The fire I love within her sparks to life. “It does matter. You rarely show any sort of vulnerability. Why now?”
“Aurora…”
“No. I almost died, Gabriel. Open up to me. Talk to me.”
“Yes, you almost died. And it was naïve of you to go into that room in the first place when I was busy.”
“Busy torturing that man.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do to you to make you torture him like that? Did you ever do that to my father?”
Her question throws me off guard. “No. I never did that to your father.”
“How can I believe you? You never tell me the truth. I know you’re keeping something from me.”
