Chapter 3
815 Words
I ripped off my outer layer as fast as I could. The sulfuric acid had burned away a huge chunk of my flesh, and a searing, bone-deep agony tore through me.
Once I got home and bandaged the wound, I started rummaging through my things for my ID.
That's when I stumbled on a stack of photos I'd stashed under my bed. Shots of Felix and me, taken eight years earlier. Even after he hung me upside down for three straight days, I'd never been able to bring myself to throw them away.
I'd always stupidly held onto a fantasy that one day, he'd remember what we once had.
I breathed out a heavy sigh, gathered all the photos, and fed them into the fire pit one by one.
'Burn them all,' I thought. The man I'd been waiting for was never coming back.
I was just about to toss the last one into the flames when the door crashed open. Felix stormed in, his usually ice-cold face twisted with hot, unbridled rage,
"Are you an i***t! Two brats threw acid at you. Why didn't you just dodge?! Let me see how bad the wound is!"
He tore at my sleeve frantically, but when his eyes landed on the photos in the fire pit, he froze dead in his tracks.
He fished the last photo out. It was us, tangled in an embrace.
The very next second, his fist flew and slammed straight into my open wound. He ground out through clenched teeth,
"How shameless can you get, photoshopping this disgusting garbage?! What, you wanna use this to mess with Selene? Make her stressed enough to have a miscarriage?!
"I actually thought you were being good today, that you'd finally changed. Turns out you're still the same scheming, desperate w***e you always were!"
He ripped the still-smoldering photo into tiny shreds in seconds.
When he lifted his gaze again, his eyes held that same familiar, icy indifference.
"Ariella, since you're that desperate for a man, huh? Fine, I'll give you what you want!"
A brutal force shoved me back onto the bed. I scrabbled to get up, but he pinned me down hard. There was no escape.
Moments later, I was completely naked. I squeezed my eyes shut, hopelessness swallowing me whole.
He leaned slowly in, to my ear, his voice dripping with cruel mockery.
"What, you thought I was gonna f**k you? Don't flatter yourself! You're not even worth that."
He straightened up, slung me over his shoulder, and dragged me down to the basement.
A small pile driver was set up right there.
Terror froze my face. I clutched at his sleeve, begging.
"Don't... Let me go... I'll step aside and leave you two in peace. I swear, from now on, we'll have nothing to do with each other ever again!"
Something in those words set him off. He slammed me down hard onto the machine.
The rough frame was covered in sharp wood splinters. A blinding, tearing pain ripped through my entire body, and I couldn't even make a sound. I hurt so bad.
He stared down at me coldly, and without a single moment of hesitation, he slammed his hand down on the highest power setting.
"You think you can just leave me? What other high-society socialite would ever accept Selene and my kids, other than you?
"Stop dreaming. You'll never get away from me, not as long as you live! You hear me? My little puppet wife."
The pain was so searing I could barely draw a breath. My groin was covered in blood.
Right before I blacked out, I swear I saw the old Felix, the one from years ago.
Brash, unshackled, totally alive. Back when I was kidn*pped, he'd charged straight to the enemy's place alone and slaughtered every last person there.
His blood-stained lips tugged upwards into a sharp smirk.
"Who dares hurt my wife? You're all asking for a death sentence!"
My vision blurred at the edges, and I mumbled the words so quiet they were barely a breath.
"Fefe… it hurts so bad… Fefe… come save me… When you're not here… everyone bullies me… Fefe, I hurt…"
The brutal snarl on Felix's face froze solid. Unbidden, a dream he'd had over and over these past few years flashed through his mind.
He scrambled in a panic and slammed the pile driver's stop button.
He shook me awake hard, desperate.
"How did you know that nickname! Not even Selene knows this! How the hell do you know it! Did we really know each other before? Say something! Answer me!"
*****
When I woke up again, every trace of blood had already been cleaned off my body.
Felix rubbed a hand between his brows, he thought his previous idea was total nonsense.
It was just a dream. Just a stupid nickname. What could that even mean, anyway?
- Writer
