my side.
Does she think what is happening to me is wrong? Will she help me escape?
If I were alone with her, I would ask. She seemed to have a heart the last time we were together. But I don’t dare ask her now with others in the room who could report back to Enrico.
I finish eating every last drop of food on my plate, and then I get up. Knowing that, even if Gia commands me to do something, she has no way of enforcing me to do it. Not with the men gone. She would be foolish to command anything of me and show what little control she actually had over me. So, when I get up from the table, she says nothing.
My plan was to grab some books from the library and then run back to my room. But, after breakfast, I can’t handle the thought of spending another second trapped in this house, replaying that moment with the disgusting slobber on my face over and over again.
So, instead of going back to my room, I do something impulsive. Something stupid. But it’s the only thing I know how to do after years of doing just that. I run.
* * *
I know the fastest way out of the house. I memorized the path when Matteo gave me the tour of the house. I never thought I would run.
I was done running.
But, right now, I’m running for my life.
It doesn’t take me long to run out of the house. Just three rooms and two doors were all it took for me to be outside. I’m sure I ran by staff, other members of the family, someone. But, if I did, I didn’t see them.
All I could focus on was getting outside as fast as my legs would take me.
When the warm air hits my face, my mind starts swirling, thinking about what I just did. The bracelet is warm on my wrist, reminding me of Matteo’s threat. My heels catch on the stone floor, and I trip, falling to the ground, rubbing even more dirt into my wedding dress.
There were plenty of clothes that I could have changed into in the closet. I had access to a full bathroom to shower in. But I did neither. That would have meant that I was giving in. That would have meant that they won. And I can’t have that.
If I’m still wearing the clothes from the night Arlo captured me, then it means I still believe that I’m going to escape.
But, as I lie on the stone floor, already feeling a bit broken and trapped, I realize I should have changed. I should have eaten sooner. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so weak.
“You shouldn’t run.”
I turn and look at the woman standing over me—Gia. I was hoping to get a second alone with her. She will free me. She isn’t heartless like everyone else.
“I wasn’t running,” I say, starting to slowly stand up. My body is too weak and sore to move very quickly.
Gia extends her hand to me, and I take it. She tightens her grip.
“You won’t escape. Not on your own.”
I smile. “But you’ll help me. You know what your family is doing is wrong.”
I see the change in her eyes, and it scares me.
“No. I won’t help you. My brother won’t help you. My father sure as hell won’t help you. So, stop thinking that you are going to survive this. You aren’t. The sooner your life ends, the sooner I get my family back. You put my family through hell, so you deserve what is coming to you, bitch.”
She lets go of my hand, and I fall back to the ground. Gia walks away, leaving me on the ground. I felt every ounce of emotion dripping off of every word that Gia said. She’s hurt. She’s in pain. A pain that I don’t have to imagine because I live with the same pain every day. And, for some reason, she thinks that I hurt her.
I thought Gia would be my savior. I thought she had a heart, but her heart is too broken to help me.
She’s grown up a lot in the past seven years. She’s no longer a sweet teenager. She’s a woman scorned, and I’d do my best to steer clear of her, just like her father. It hurts that not even Gia cares about me. The maids don’t care about me. It’s clear that Arlo doesn’t care about me. And, whatever Matteo feels about me, he’s just going to try to butter me up, so he can get in my pants. I’m all alone in saving myself from this madness.
I look up at the sun beating down on me. I’ll just spend my day here, soaking up the sun. It’s not really freedom, but it will give me the illusion of freedom, unlike the tower that I’ve spent the last few days trapped in.
I close my eyes, trying to think of someplace nice to take me away from here. I dream of Heath and me on a far-off beach somewhere on our honeymoon. I pretend that, instead of here, I’m lying in his arms.
* * *