Chapter 12
1119 Words
She slowly opened her eyes. He sat next to the bed, his black hair falling over his dark eyes.
Shit, where was she? s**t—Cristiano—what if he’d found her?
He turned to look at her, smiling.
"Good morning, gorgeous."
"Where am I?"
"In my home, Sweet Pea."
"Shit."
"Well, that’s not very ladylike."
"Sorry."
"That’s okay, Sweet Pea. I'm Rocco Costello. I’m... well... You were running across the road, and you went over my bonnet, so I brought you back here and got my doctor to look you over."
She looked at him, confused.
"Why were you running, Sweet Pea? And more importantly, who from?"
"My life... and what it's become."
He nodded.
"Alex Alessandro."
He looked at her. "Are you serious?"
She nodded.
"May I ask why? You seem too much of a nice girl for the likes of the Capriolis."
"He saved me."
"What was the catch, Sweet Pea?"
"He wanted to make me like him."
"You didn’t look too much like him when I brought you back."
She looked down. She was no longer wearing the maid's dress, but a knee-length black dress.
"Who...? How...?"
"My maids changed you. Now tell me—why the f**k were you dressed like a maid when you're not one?"
"He insisted. Said no one would think twice about k********g me. They all made fun of me and laughed at me."
"Did they give you your bruises too?"
She nodded.
"Don’t worry, Sweet Pea. I’ll help you build yourself up and take them down."
"He told me that too."
He placed his hand over hers.
"I'm not him, Sweet Pea. I will help you. I promise."
She smiled, and he picked up her hand, kissing it.
"You don't belong in his world. In my world, he should never have brought you into it."
---
Alex paced back and forth. He couldn’t believe he’d lost her. He couldn’t believe his eyes when she jumped the wall like it was nothing.
"We’ll find her, bro."
"This is all your fault! If I hadn’t listened to you, she’d still be here with me!"
"You’re not going soft on her now, are you?"
"I promised her I’d help her! She was supposed to be like us—not a f*****g maid to laugh at and beat. She didn’t deserve any of this. I took her away from all that and let you torment her with your disgusting comments!"
"You were the one who tried to f**k her in the hallway in that f*****g uniform!"
"She turned me on! Unlike you, who was degrading her!"
"Says the one who beat her every f*****g night!"
"I was trying to make her stronger!"
"Instead, you made her hate you."
"She hates all of us now... I’ve lost her."
"Chill, bro. We’ll find her. They’re going through the footage to see where she’s heading."
“Sir, this just came.”
He looked up and took the note. "Thanks, you may go."
The man bowed and left. Alex opened it. His hands shook. His eyes were filled with rage.
"What’s that, bro?"
He dropped the note on the table.
> I HAVE YOUR SWEET PEA. DON’T TRY TO FIND HER—CAUSE YOU WON’T.
WE HAVE BUSINESS, ALEX. ONCE THAT’S TAKEN CARE OF, I MAY THINK ABOUT GIVING HER BACK.
– BLACK KNIGHT.
"f**k!"
"He won’t get away with this, bro."
"He already has. I want that footage."
They all piled into the security room and watched the footage. She ran, jumped the gate like it was nothing—their mouths fell open.
"How the f**k did she do that?"
They were impressed. Maybe they shouldn't have been so hard on her.
She landed not far from the gate, ran across the road, and flew across the bonnet of a car. The second car came to a halt. A large, well-built man stepped out, picked her up, put her in the back seat, then drove away.
"Stop."
The footage was paused.
"Find that number plate. Find out who the car belongs to and where they took Vivian."
"Yes, sir."
---
Where the hell was she?
We thought she’d show up to school today. We all knew he had her—yet we couldn’t find her. I figured she may have jumped out a window. Wouldn’t put anything past her after the stunt she pulled escaping the mansion. We all stared in disbelief—even our men did—as she flipped herself over that gate.
We needed to get her back.
"I see you’ve lost your little maid and punching bag, Alex!"
"f**k off, asshole, before I make you my punching bag," I sneered.
I knew he was right. I’d beaten her so badly most days she was barely recognizable. The truth was, I was starting to have feelings for her. I didn’t want any other guy to see her the way I did—especially not my brothers.
I’ve been such a f****d-up i***t.
She’ll never look at me the way I want her to. Not after everything I did.
I finally snapped so badly that my brothers had to pull me away from that prick before I did something stupid.
As the day went on, one thing became clear—she wasn’t going to show up.
My brothers shook their heads.
She hadn’t been in any of their classes, and none of the teachers even knew where she was.
"We’ll find her, Alex."
"We better. She’s mine," I said bitterly.
As we left the school, we overheard the head and deputy head talking.
“Vivian won’t be attending school here anymore. She’s moved schools.”
"I see. Should we inform her class teachers?"
"There’ll be a meeting tomorrow. Her parents weren’t too happy we didn’t notice the bullying. They’re furious we did nothing."
"Agreed. That kind of behavior should never be tolerated. No student should feel too scared to come to staff for help."
We all looked at each other.
What an utter crock of s**t.
We’d done all the digging into Vivian’s background when we brought her into our world. We knew she had no family besides her parents. We knew exactly who had done this.
And we knew why.
He wanted to keep her away from us. To mold her into something she wasn’t. Someone she could never be.
"We need to find out what school he’s sent her to—and bring her back before he turns her into something she’s not."
They both nodded in agreement.
As we approached the cafeteria and slid into the car, the driver pulled away—taking us home. We had work to do.
We needed a plan.
We were going to get Vivian back.
- Writer
