Sophia's POV
Alessia immediately stood up, rushing forward to the door, but I yanked her back.
"No! He can't see you! Alessia! no!"
My voice cracked, as I pulled her away from the door, pushing her into the bedroom. "Please, just listen to me."
She tried pulling away, her face was mixed with confusion and frustration. "I want to talk to him, Sophia. I want to—"
"Please! Please! Just stay hidden," I begged with my voice trembling.
Her face softened for a moment, seeing tears welling up in my eyes. With a reluctant nod, she finally agreed. I shoved her into the wardrobe as I whispered. "No matter what happened or what you heard, please don't come out."
Stepping back into the living room, I froze in one place, like one drenched in cold, filthy water, unable to blink or even breath when Matteo's murderous gaze swept over me, and then I saw it. The pregnancy result was in his hand.
"You're pregnant," he said, with a deadly tone, as he dropped the result back on the floor. The look in his eyes could bury me six feet under. My body started trembling, because I knew exactly what that question meant.
"Who's responsible for the pregnancy?" he asked, as he slowly pulled off his wristwatch and began folding his shirt sleeves.
He turned and walked into the bedroom. I rushed after him with panic clawing at my throat. When he reached for the wardrobe handle, I shouted, "The pregnancy belongs to you!"
He stopped. Then came closer, grabbing a fistful of my hair, and dragging me backward. He slammed me against the wardrobe, and landed me a deafening slap that sent me staggering.
He grabbed my chin, squeezing it so hard that my jaw ached. "When did I have s*x with you that got you pregnant?" He barked, his voice shaking the entire room.
"Huh?! Answer me!"
He shoved my face away, and ordered me to, "stay right there."
Then he walked into the changing room.
I quickly turned to the wardrobe and whispered, "Please..... I'm begging you, don't come out."
"But I can't let him keep hurting you," Alessia whispered back, with a breaking voice."
Before I could respond, Mattoe stormed back and dragged me by the arm, he hit my head against the glass table and pain exploded through my skull.
"Who got you pregnant? Answer me!" He roared, smashing my head against the table again and again, until my face was battered and wet with blood.
"Please.....don't make me lose my baby...."I gasped in ragged breaths, barely able to lift my head. But my words only triggered him.
He kicked me hard in my stomach with full force, again and again. I curled in on myself, but he didn't stop, he stomped on my belly, like he wanted to crush the life out of it.
Until I felt the warmth of blood spreading beneath me. "My baby.... I whispered weakly until my vision blurred, and I couldn't speak anymore. It was when he noticed I wasn't moving that he stopped hitting me.
"Hey, Sofia! Oh,—" I heard his frustrated voice as he tapped on my cheeks.
I need to call an ambulance, he muttered, running towards his phone in confusion. I heard him typing numbers....then silence followed.
The door burst open immediately. His mother, Magaret Hale, and Vivienne, his sister, rushed into the room.
"What have you done!? Magaret screamed.
"I—killed her, Mom," Mattoe said, scratching his hair in panic. "I killed her."
As Magaret came closer to me, I managed to open my eyes with the little strength I had left. I grabbed her leg. "Please...save my baby, mom," I pleaded, lifting my head just enough to meet her gaze.
"She's not dead?" Mattoe asked, as they both gave themselves a shocking stare.
In a flash, his mother kicked my hands away from her legs and marched on my tummy hard with her heels. I groaned in unbearable pain.
By now, I knew Alessia would be clamping her hands over her mouth, crying silently, and praying I survived this. I know her, she would be dying inside, wanting to come out, wanting to fight them, but trapped because of me.
She finally took her heels off my stomach.
"You did well, son, you did well. You should have killed her long ago, you know she never loved you," she said, patting Mattoe's back.
I saw a satisfied look on his face, and Vivienne was smiling behind them.
"We'll do as we've been doing before," Magret said, and dialled a number, ordering the person to come and clear my body.
I tried to move, but my limbs felt like stone. A wave of helplessness washed over me. I forced my eyes to stay open, but my vision blurred and I fell unconscious.
I didn't know how I was dragged outside the room, but when my eyes fluttered open, I was lying helpless at the back of a truck. The roar of the river filled my ear. And a voice pierced through the darkness, pulling me back from the edge of unconsciousness.
"I'm there already...I'm about to throw her into the river," he said, then hung up the call.
I recognize that voice. Even in my dreams, I would always recognize the voice of the one person who made my childhood a living nightmare.
It was my dad, Nathaniel. He was in prison the last time I remembered. I never knew he was out already.
He came close to the truck, and when our eyes met, my breath got caught in my throat. He was indeed the one, it was him.
"Dad," I whispered with a broken voice.
I could swear I saw a flicker of shock in his eyes, but it vanished instantly.
"You worthless daughter," he hissed. "I knew you would eventually end up exactly like your mother.... I killed her, and you're also going to die by my hand too." His devilish smile echoed through the air.
"Dad.... you can't do this to me, please..." I stuttered with teary eyes as I struggled to speak. "I'm your daughter."
"I'm not your father," he said coldly, lifting me off the truck. "Send my regards to Isabella when you get there."
With the last strength in me, I spoke through clenched teeth, my voice deadly even as my vision dimmed. "I'll haunt you all.... even if it means burning hell."
Regardless, he threw me into the river. Even when he knew I couldn't swim, he didn't hesitate. I struggled in the water until I could no longer move, darkness swallowed me completely, and for a moment silence was all I knew. Yet, even as my last breath slipped away, the fire of vengeance burned deep inside of me.
If there's life after death, I'll rise, not for love, not for trust, but for the pains and scars they carved into my heart. And when I return, everybody
Involved in my misery will learn that even in death, a soul never forgets who cost it pain.