Ayla
My body was strangely warm. I was floating, and a sense of peace surrounded me. My eyes opened, and I blinked several times, trying to get accustomed to my surroundings.
When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I let out a gasp, my heart fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird.
I wasn’t in the dungeon.
No, I was in a beautiful room. I sat up, and my eyes widened when I saw Alessio sitting next to me.
Alessio!
He was right there. Next to me. He found me! He came…he really came for me. Just like I knew he would.
My heart soared, and I jumped into his arms with a cry. “Alessio. I love you. I love you. I love you so much. Please don’t leave me. Please,” I sobbed in his chest.
“Shh…I’ve got you, Angel.”
Oh, his voice. Those words. They were exactly what I wanted to hear. What I had been so desperate to hear.
His arms wrapped around me, holding me to his body. He caressed my hair and placed gentle kisses over my face, soothing all the hurt away.
“Alessio, you…found me.” I hiccupped back a sob as he looked down at me with his captivating blue eyes, the ones I loved so much.
“I will always find you.” Placing a kiss on my forehead, he let his lips linger there for a moment. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting so long.”
My fingers tightened around his jacket, and I shook my head. “You came for me. That’s all that matters.”
Alessio hugged me tighter. “I’m going to take away all the things Alberto has done to you.”
I shivered in his arms at the mention of the devil’s name. “He hurt me, Alessio,” I admitted with tears streaming down my cheeks in a never-ending flow.
“I know. But he is never going to hurt you again,” Alessio said, pulling away from me. He pushed me flat on my back and loomed over me.
“Where did he touch you, Angel?” he muttered, kissing my lips gently and so softly.
“Everywhere,” I whimpered at the thought of Alberto touching me, defiling and humiliating me in the worst way possible.
“I’m going to take it all away,” Alessio vowed before taking my lips. The kiss was slow and gentle. He kissed me with care, as if I was a treasure, a precious jewel, someone who deserved to be loved.
And slowly Alessio replaced Alberto’s touch with his own. He traced my body with his fingers and lips. Slowly, softly, and gently. He explored my body with care and love. So much love.
But my heaven didn’t last for long.
Because I was suddenly thrust back into hell.
My eyes snapped open when I felt a finger probe my entrance.
“No!” I screamed, my voice filled with horror.
“Hmmm…is that for me, love? Are you wet for me?”
Horrified, I froze, and numbness washed over me. Alberto cupped me roughly against my legs, his palm pressing hard against me. I flinched and shuddered in fear and disgust.
He was sucking on my nipple, biting and torturing the skin. Alberto slightly pulled away until he was looking down on me.
The smile on his face made my stomach roll until I thought I was going to be sick. It held so many promises. Dark promises. Every day was painful. Every day my body was abused. Every day my heart broke a little more. Every day I wished I was back in Alessio’s arms.
And every day I hoped for Alessio to find me.
But he hadn’t come for me. Yet. I still hoped. I still believed. In him.
Alberto pulled away and pushed my knees up until I was completely open to him. I bit on my lips to keep from crying or screaming. I had learned fast that fighting only made it worse.
The tears fell down on my cheeks, and I didn’t bother swiping them away. Alberto smirked at the sight of them, and my heart ached.
Weak. I was so weak. Alessio would be ashamed of me. I was ashamed of myself.
I was dirty. Used. A whore.
I was not an Angel. Not anymore.
Instead of moving on top of my body and taking me like he always did, Alberto pulled out his phone. His knees were holding my thighs apart and in place. His torso was holding my hips against the bed. I couldn’t move. No, I was completely helpless underneath him.
He held the phone over me, right between my legs.
His next words sent me over the edge, and I was falling. Falling deep in the dark abyss.
“Why don’t I send Alessio a picture, huh? Let him know that his woman is wet and dripping for another man.”
My breath left my body in a loud whoosh, and I struggled to breathe. No. No. No. Please no. Anything but this.
I shook my head, or I thought I did. I felt too disconnected. Paralyzed by fear and humiliation. My breath was coming too fast, and my blood ran cold.
“No,” I protested weakly, my voice barely coming out in a whisper.
My heart thundered against my chest almost painfully, and my mouth tasted bitter with bile. I was going to be sick. My stomach rolled and tightened.
Tears blurred my vision, and my lips quivered with the effort to keep my cries in.
Alberto only laughed. When I saw the flash from the phone, I was suddenly snapped out of my haze, and I struggled under his body.
Alberto’s nostril flared, and his lips pulled back in a snarl. He slapped me hard across the face, and I whimpered.
My body was already aching from days of abuse. How long had it been since Alberto took me away? A few days? Weeks? I didn’t know. After all, I was trapped in the dungeon every day. I only knew darkness.
Except today. Today, I was in a room.
Was this Alberto’s plan all along?
I pushed at his chest, but he was unmoving. Let me go, I screamed in my head. My voice was gone. My throat hurt, and I felt dizzy.
Alberto threw the phone somewhere on the bed, and then he was on me. I felt him near my entrance, and I closed my eyes.
My body filled with dread, and my throat was too tight. My chest ached with knowing what was coming. He brutally gripped my body as he aligned himself with me.
“You’re mine,” he hissed into my face.
I looked away from him, moving my face to the side. I thought of Alessio and our happy moments.
I heard his voice in my head, and I smiled.
I just want you to know that you are loved…you matter.
You bring happiness to others. You bring light, Ayla. You have people who care about you.
You are worth more than you think.
You are a fighter, Ayla. So keep fighting. Don’t give up now.
Ayla…do you know how strong you are? You are the strongest woman I have ever met. Your strength shines brighter than any others.
Strong. Alessio thought I was strong. Even Nikolay and Maddie thought I was strong. But they were wrong. I wasn’t. I was weak.
My eyes fell on the lamp, and for a brief moment, I heard Alessio yelling at me to fight.
Alberto pushed inside of me, and my already broken soul cracked further. But still I heard Alessio telling me to fight. Pushing me to fight.
I stared at the lamp as Alberto started moving inside of me. He was slower than usual, taking his time. I shuddered, my body itching with the need to hide and fade away.
Fight, Ayla.
Without thinking, I reached for the lamp. Everything happened so quickly. One minute Alberto was inside of me, and the next, I was smacking the lamp into his head. I hit his head twice, hard enough to make him bleed.
He roared in pain and pulled away from me.
My body felt light as soon as he shifted away, and without wasting a second, I was rolling off the bed. My legs gave out under me, and I fell down.
I could barely stand. My whole body was trembling. I crawled toward the door and was finally able to push myself on my feet. Stumbling forward, I reached the door.
But I was too slow.
Alberto was on me again. He grabbed my hair and wrapped it around his wrist before smacking my face into the door, right over the knob.
Pain splintered its way into my head and my skull. My neck ached with the impact, and my vision blurred.
Was my jaw broken? My cheekbone?
My whole face was hurting, burning like it was on fire.
The pain traveled down my spine until black dots appeared in front my eyes. I blinked, trying to clear them away, but the pain was too much.
He slammed my head against the door again, holding my cheek there. He pressed his knuckles into my skull, and I screamed as the blinding agony spread through my body.
Spots danced in front of my eyes with the searing pain. Red droplets fell in front my eyes. My blood.
“I thought you learned your lesson, but you clearly didn’t,” Alberto said. “How many times do I have to tell you that you can’t run away from me?”
He chuckled, his chest moving against my back. “And why are you running? To whom? Alessio? Did you forget he gave you to me? He left you here at my mercy,” he taunted in my ears.
Those were the words he fed me every day. But I didn’t believe him. No matter how many times he said them, I would never believe him.
“Why are you running to him, huh? He doesn’t care about you, Ayla,” Alberto continued, his fingers getting tighter around my hair.
I closed my eyes and tried to block him out. But Alberto was a man impossible to block. He was a disease that infiltrated everywhere.
“He is probably buried balls-deep inside another pussy right now. That’s how much you mean to him, love.”
Stop it! I sobbed against the door. My heart cracked open, and the pieces flew everywhere. Empty. That was how I felt.
“Aww, does the thought of Alessio fucking another woman hurt?” he goaded, caressing a finger down my neck. “He can get any pussy he wants. You are not anything special, Ayla.”
I sobbed harder, my head and body too heavy to do anything else. “Are you imagining it right now? Another woman’s legs wrapped around his waist as he fucks her?”
For the first time, I begged.
“Stop it. Please…Please…stop…pl…please,” I begged. Everything hurt. Even my soul was aching, screaming in pain.
Alberto gasped, but it was fake. “Are you begging, love? Well, isn’t that a first. I’ve never heard you beg before. So beg. C’mon, beg me to stop.”
“Please…”
“Alessio doesn’t care about you,” he whispered. “He doesn’t. Because if he did, he would have come for you by now.”
I tried to shake my head, but I couldn’t.
“Of course, he isn’t coming. He has probably forgotten all about you.” He laughed, and I cried.
“He isn’t coming for you. Forget him. Whatever hopes you have, it doesn’t matter. Because he doesn’t care. It has been more than a month.”
More than a month? No. This couldn’t be true.
More than a month and Alessio still hadn’t come.
He doesn’t care about you.
He isn’t coming for you.
Alberto’s words rang through my eyes, and the tears blinded me.
What if I was holding on to a hope that wasn’t even there?
“You are a ghost, love,” he whispered before dragging my body away from the door. He dragged me by my hair and pushed me onto the bed until I was face down. I didn’t fight him.
My body had given up as I slowly started to lose consciousness, the pain unbearable.
Alberto mounted my body, and as he slammed into me, I didn’t make a noise. No sound at all. I thought about Alessio.
As he drove into me faster, Alberto taunted me in my ears.
But I didn’t listen.
As I sank deeper in oblivion, I only thought about Alessio. My Alessio. My savior.
You’re my Angel.
His voice was a mere whisper in my head, but I heard it. It was the only thing keeping me sane. Keeping me alive.
I lived for him.
Because I knew he was coming for me.
Where are you, Alessio?