Deception's Paradise

CHAPTER 1.3

SOPHIE

On the sidewalk, the cold night air seemed to cut her skin. The air carried the scent of rain mixed with car exhaust and a distant perfume of poutine, a delicacy that permeated the streets. She didn't care about the rain, which was evoking a feeling of disconnect, as if everything was out of place. Sophie's hurried footsteps echoed on the empty streets as she walked, the modern buildings reflecting the light of the streetlamps, creating an almost ethereal glow, as if they were lighting her way into darkness. Inside her, a single goal pulsed: Matteo would have to listen to her.

The night's silence was oppressive and tense, like a premonitory warning. The rain began to fall more heavily, as if nature were mourning her pain. The drops mingled with the tears she no longer cared to hide. The cold wind struck her without mercy. She cared little that her steps were disordered and hesitant on the wet sidewalk. She would make Matteo understand the truth. It was essential that he trust her. She would not allow the lie to destroy her.

It was at that moment that the sound of quick footsteps behind her made her hesitate. Sophie's heart pounded, an instinctive alert, but the need to flee that nightmare left her blind to the approaching danger. As she turned the corner, a firm hand grabbed her, pulling her back. She tried to scream, but a cloth bag was pulled over her head, muffling her cry into a panicked gasp. Her vision was obscured in a whirlwind of panic as she struggled without stopping. Her arms moved chaotically, but in an instant, she was shoved into the back seat of a car, the sound of the door slamming shut being the only echo in her mind. The engine rumbled, and the vehicle sped away, throwing her backward.

As the car drove off, Sophie tried to control her breathing, fighting against the mounting panic. The streets, bathed in the light of distant streetlamps, appeared in her vision as flashes. The muffled noises inside the car mixed with her agitated mind.

After some time, the vehicle slowed, and Sophie felt the car take a sharp turn. The movement threw her to the side, causing her body to feel like it was shattering from discomfort. Her heart pounded, as if it wanted to leap from her chest, and she felt sweat dripping down her forehead, mixed with the smell of leather and burnt oil that permeated the car's interior. The dense, heavy air seemed to bother her nostrils, as if with every breath she was inhaling a suffocating mist of tension.

The sound of tires on the uneven asphalt echoed but was soon replaced by the sound of the car slowing, creating a charged stillness. Sophie forced her eyes to adjust, looking for a point of light, something that could give her a clue as to where they were. But nothing, only darkness. And yet, she felt something more, a presence in the air, as if something were about to happen. A shiver ran down her spine.

The car stopped abruptly. The silence, now absolute, was broken by voices in the front. They were hoarse and muffled, and one of them whispered with an impatience that made Sophie's stomach churn. “Let’s go; she can’t stay here for long.”

The weight of those words hit her like a punch to the stomach, and she felt her muscles contract, trying to break free with more force. Each breath seemed harder than the last, and her mind filled with images of escape, of moments when she had learned to fight, to defend herself. But the darkness, that mantle of silence, seemed to wrap around her every thought, making the situation even more desperate. Fear was a constant, but she wouldn’t allow it to dominate her.

With a tremendous effort, Sophie turned her body slightly to the side, her muscles burning with pain. The ropes on her wrists were tight, tearing her skin, but she wouldn’t give up. Her mind searched for a single movement that would free her. She had to be fast; she had to act while there was still time.

She felt the side of the bag covering her head and, with a sudden movement, pulled it hard, allowing the cool night air to touch her face. The cold breeze mixed with the heat of her skin, a sensation that made her feel alive for a brief moment. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the shadows in front, and the figures became sharper in the darkness.

Two robust men, their faces rigid and cold, were a few steps away from her. The air around them seemed charged with hostility, an almost palpable aura. One of the men, with disheveled hair and a pierced eyebrow, held a dagger, whose presence seemed to amplify the tension in the environment. With every movement of the dagger in the man's tattooed hands, Sophie felt a chill run down her spine, as if her fate was being sealed right there.

She didn’t know who they were, but she felt that their eyes didn’t lie. The looks they exchanged between themselves were of disdain, as if she were nothing more than a pawn in a twisted chess game. The atmosphere was charged with something dark, a growing pressure that seemed to be on the verge of exploding.

"What do you want from me?" Sophie blurted out, her voice coming out firmer than she felt. Even with her hands tied and her heart beating wildly, she couldn't let herself be shaken. With every word, her mind forced her to appear unwavering, like a rock before a turbulent sea.

The man with the piercing let out a cruel laugh that reverberated off the car walls like an echo of disdain. His voice, low and venomous, cut through the tension of the moment. “We’re not your enemies, sweetie. We’re here to... encourage your boyfriend to give us money. So, be a good girl and wait. He's going to pay your ransom.”

Sophie swallowed hard, but her mind refused to submit to panic. She tried to process those words, but the reality seemed much more absurd than she could have imagined. Her heart squeezed, as if an invisible hand were squeezing it. She didn't know what was worse: the fact that she was there or the feeling that something even more terrible was yet to come. If someone had told her that her night would take this dark turn, she would have run far away, to any place that would take her away from that growing pain, this feeling of powerlessness that now reached into her soul.

But one thing she knew: she wouldn’t stay there forever. She wouldn’t give up.

MATTEO

Matteo was in his apartment, in a state of indescribable fury. The room looked like a battlefield, with displaced furniture and broken objects. He had lost count of how many times he had punched the wall or knocked something over in his avalanche of rage. The image of Sophie's terrified expression when they brought her back to recent moments of the strange night would not leave his mind, and powerlessness consumed him. He was a player, a strategist, but now he felt like a puppet, with invisible strings wrapped around his hands and feet, unable to act.

"i***t! How did you let this happen?" He yelled at himself, his voice echoing in the void, as he wallowed amidst the broken things. A picture frame shattered under his foot, his memories laughing at him among the shards. In a fit of fury, Matteo threw the rest of the glasses against the wall, watching with satisfaction as they multiplied into shining fragments across the floor.

After a few minutes left to the mercy of his wrath, he collapsed onto the sofa, panting and in a state of emotional exhaustion. His eyes fixed on the liquor cabinet on one of the walls, a seductive call amidst the chaos. Without a second thought, he got up and went to it, throwing open the doors and grabbing a bottle of whiskey. He felt like a castaway rescuing his only life raft.

He took long gulps, the burn of the liquid going down his throat giving him a kind of relief, as if each dose pushed him a little further away from the painful reality surrounding him. His thoughts became hazy, the edges of his rage softening as the intoxication wrapped around him like a warm blanket. With each gulp, he allowed himself to sink into the fog of unconsciousness, fleeing the scene that tormented him.

The next day, Matteo woke up in a jumble of sheets and empty bottles. The sunlight, penetrating and relentless, entered through the window, blinding his senses, haunted by the hangover. His head throbbed as if a rock band was playing inside it, and he struggled to remember the events of the previous night. What happened? Sophie... where was Sophie?

He sat up on the bed, feeling his stomach churn. With difficulty, he looked at the clock and saw that it was already late. His schedule was full of commitments that now seemed irrelevant. He canceled each one, one by one, with a hand movement that became heavier and heavier. The idea of being among people, for him, was torture. All he could think about was her presence, about how she should return to get her things.

"She will come back," he thought, determined. And if the rage was still there, he would need to use that opportunity to finally release everything he was holding back. He didn't want to lose her again without at least clarifying things, making her pay for what she had done to him and his family. Because his siblings had worked just as hard as he did on the projects that were now in the hands of his competitors. Just the thought of it, the rage came back strongly, squeezing his throat.

Matteo remained in the apartment, each minute dragging on as if time were playing with his emotional state. He waited for the phone to ring or the door to open, but the only thing he heard was the sound of his own heart beating out of rhythm. The entire day passed, and the expectation turned into despair. And he didn't even know why. For him, this feeling should have been transformed into pure rage. However, he couldn't help but feel desperate about the fact that Sophie didn't even bother to come and get her things.

In the late afternoon, as the light began to fail, he found himself once again in that storm of emotions. Anxiety and frustration mixed, forming a tight knot in his chest. Why didn't she show up?

But, to his dismay, the door remained closed, and silence continued to reign. In the warmth of memories and loneliness, Matteo faced the reality: perhaps the only person who could save him now was himself.