In the Closed Arm of the Don

Chapter6

I didn't know what to feel or say at that time. He wasn't supposed to be back until next week. So how… “I asked you a question. What are you doing outside?” Di Angelo growled and I shrank backwards. Before I could get any word out, he grabbed my arm and dragged me inside, ignoring my protests. He flung me across the room and I grabbed a chair for support. My heart rammed fearfully against my chest and I instinctively placed my hand over my belly. “ I made myself very clear the last time or have you forgotten??” Di Angelo half yelled. “ Sir…” Nadia tried to speak up for me but he smacked her face so hard, she fell to the floor helplessly. He grabbed her by her hair as she cried. “ I… I'm so sorry. Pl…Please, for…” Those were the last words she uttered before Di Angelo slit her throat. Her eyes stared at mine in shock and pain. “ No!!!” A scream tore out of my throat as I crawled towards her lifeless body. “ Why??!!!” I found myself crying. Why did he have to kill her? “ She did nothing wrong! You had no right.” I yelled to my greatest surprise. Nadia wasn't just a maid, she was my friend. She didn't treat me like everyone else. She made me feel like I deserved kindness and love. Now she was… “ Oh my my, it seems my little cub has grown in my absence.” Di Angelo said with a crazed smile plastered on his face as he walked towards me. “ I didn't even go outside!! I was just in the garden.” I cried, fully aware of what was about to happen. “ I told you, never step a foot out of the house without my permission!” He grabbed my hair and slammed my head on the table. “ Ahhhh!! Please no!! Ahhh!! My baby!!” I continued to scream but my pleas fell on deaf ears as he continued to hit me without relent. Minutes later, I was lying in a pool of my blood, all parts of my body screaming in pain. “ My baby,” I muttered before losing consciousness.

My eyes slowly opened as I tried to adjust to the lighting. Every part of me was hurting but I was just…numb. It didn't take a genius to realize that I was at the hospital. A nurse was busy changing the IV drip bag. “ My..my baby,” I said with a croak. “ Thank goodness, you're conscious. I'll go get the doctor.” She proceeded to leave but I held her back. “ Is my baby okay?” I asked again, only in a clearer voice. There was a sad look on her face as she looked at me with pity. “ I'll go get the doctor.” She struggled to free herself from my weak grasp and she left the ward. At that point, I felt a weird ache in my chest. I felt like a part of me was gone but I just wasn't ready to consider the possibility of it being true. The nurse returned a couple of minutes later, with the doctor and two other nurses. The doctor proceeded to check my vitals and I asked again. “ Is my baby okay?” “ …Mrs Conte, I'm sorry but when you were brought in, the fetus was already dead. We had to perform a surgical evacuation to…get rid of it.” At that moment, my heart felt like it was pricked by a million needles. Just like that, my baby, my only support, the only reason I looked forward to every day was…gone. Worse, my husband took him away from me. Where did I go wrong?? All my life, I only ever wanted security and a little bit of care. Just why did bad things keep happening to me?? Di Angelo never showed up at the hospital. My parents however came two days into my stay at the hospital. My mother didn't bother trying to talk to me. It was obvious she was just putting on a show for outsiders to see. My father, however, had a couple of things to say. “ How could you be so careless?” He half yelled as the veins on his head bulged. At fifty-five, he looked better than most of his peers. His dark grey eyes glinted with anger. Come to think of it, he never showed any emotion besides anger to me.

“ Careless?” I asked in a low voice, still bummed by the loss of my baby. “ You were carrying the heir to the Conte family empire. Your child would have given me the edge I needed to dominate my peers and you… You just went ahead and ruined my chances with your foolishness.” He spat unrelentingly. It felt like I had been drenched with ice-cold water. How…He was my father. How could he say something so hurtful??? Then again, what did I expect from a man who valued his loyalty to his boss over his family? Turning to look at my mom, there was obvious disdain and disappointment on her face. “ So,... it's my fault I was beaten so brutally to the point of losing my child.” I said softly, but my words were loud enough to be heard “ He wouldn't have hit you if you had just behaved. Is it so hard for you to just…keep him happy?? I waited for eight long years just to hear the news and what!!! You made a stupid mistake and the child is dead…” I don't know how or when I stopped listening to his words. All my life, I tried to be the perfect daughter because of the guilt I felt towards my dead little sister. I even went ahead to marry someone I had no feelings for, a complete animal and I tolerated constant physical, mental and s****l abuse just to keep my parents satisfied with me. What did I get in return?? Constant pain, torture and the loss of my child. I made up my mind then and there. I already had enough of everything. I was tired of life taking things away from me over and over again. It was finally time for me to break out of the shackles that had bonded me since my childhood. I was discharged four days later and I was met with Di Angelo's absence. It gave me time to strategize my escape plan.

I waited for the right chance and I made my escape when the guards got busy. A couple of minutes away from the main gates of the estate, I bumped into a child. His innocent eyes peered into my soul and it struck a chord within me. Then I remembered Di Angelo's men talking about bringing a hostage to the mansion… I felt the need to help him and so I did. I had to carry him whilst dodging the attacks from Di Angelo's men. One of them tried to hit the boy with a metal bat and I instantly shielded him with my body. “ Argh.” I groaned in pain as I reached out for a knife in his pocket and I stabbed his neck with it. His lifeless eyes stared back at me in shock but I felt nothing. I just killed a man and I felt no remorse whatsoever. What have these people done to me? Just when I thought we already escaped Di Angelo's men. Someone struck me across my face and yelled. “ I found him.” The turn of events led up to me meeting the man I left, for the sake of my parents. However, I needed no one to tell me that he was no longer the man I used to know.