"Do you know any Elide?”I had the impression that Madeleine asked that for at least five times. My blood pressure should have dropped or I was in shock, because I didn't respond to any of them. I was down, looking at Joana with a mixture of disbelief and despair. I didn't know if I could consider myself stupid for never suspecting Elide and his habit of depressing everyone, or if Joana was just a psychopath who had tried to reach me in every way, even arriving in Elide."What is the real degree of intimacy between the two of you? “I asked in a low tone."She found me here, just like you," said Joana, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her coat. She cast a look full of resentment in the direction of Maddie, but continued to offer information without blinking. "She introduced herself as a close friend, and said that you were not at all happy with my contact attempts. I promised that I wouldn't do anything else, and that you didn't need to send people after me to make threats. She said it
"Waiting for me? “I asked."Elide said you would be interested in talking to her," said Bruce, smiling in his strange way. "So she gave me the address so you can look for it and don't waste time making unnecessary turns.”I opened a singing smile. There was something very wrong there. Not only because Elide already imagined that I would first have looked for her in the BDSM club, but because of the way the man tried to disguise the anxiety. If I hadn't had a great ability to understand a person's body language, I would have let go unnoticed the way his shoulders looked bent, as if on alert.Madeleine was no longer by my side, apparently, she thought she should forget that we were on a search mission and got stuck among the dancers. She wasn't dancing, but anyway, she was among them. You could still notice the dark hair and the skinny body trying to make way. Whatever she saw, I didn't notice either.In fact, I couldn't even watch my sister, because she had a weird feeling in her chest
I unconsciously locked my jaw, feeling the anger grow. He was doing the same as Joana. The difference is that you could notice the cynicism. He wasn't making a point of hiding. Yes, he knew. And he knew Rebecca. And the fact that I was looking everywhere was a trap. A way for me to suspect him so much that he didn't stop to observe the coincidences either."I want all these people out of here," I asked in tone of order, out loud. "And I want the police on their way.”Bruce turned totally to me, without making any gesture to move my hand away from his shoulder, but with such a peculiar boldness in his eyes, that he almost looked like a feline in front of his prey. Little did he know."You don't give me orders, Mr. Hanson.”"I didn't talk to you.”Bruce watched my back, where Tyler should be, but now he was marching to the DJ's table. As soon as he reached the place and turned off the music, pulling wires and producing a high-pitched hum in everyone's ear, the lights turned on and the d
Surprisingly after that banquet, I was no longer disturbed by any of the men.I must have had two nights of sleep completely, and I was able to use the improvised bathroom. It took me a while to understand how the shower worked, but I remembered a thin bidet hose, so I knew the water was counted. It was good to clean myself, to feel that my skin was no longer made of dirt or pain. I was still sore, I still had marks and ripples "both on my face and on the rest of my body", but at least I was more worthy than before.The vase was also of great help, and its operating system was a little more basic and understandable. Basically, during a few intervals of hours, those men who tortured me so avidly entered and removed a box that was under the vase, closed and sealed. Probably all the desires accumulated there, and were discarded in some way.It was still something miserable and humiliating. I still watched them with suspicion as they entered the shed and took me some food. However, I also
It was obvious that I would not get any credibility carrying that thing, and even without showing my faces, I could notice that the men smiled. I was still weak. I was only feeding myself a few days ago, compared to the months almost going into starvation.I would never win a fight against them, armed or not. Maybe before, I wouldn't win either. The second man was shorter, but the body was also wide, and he could have been one of those in the dark months who beat me without the slightest remorse. They wouldn't contain themselves now, especially when the goal was to get me out of there as soon as possible."You can't kill me," I said in a trembling voice, trying to get on the bed to have a space between us. I managed to do it, but I stumbled, and it almost didn't fall. I also didn't have as much stability as I thought. Running would be hard. "You had a lot of chances to do that and you didn't. Besides, now that everything seems to be ending, I can guarantee that I won't say anything to
Rebecca's return caused the uproar that everyone was already waiting for.Even though she was escorted by the police, security guards, and a heavy medical team, she was also chased by photographers and journalists who tried to understand the mystery of her disappearance and who could be behind it. I had professionals to deal with that kind of situation, but I preferred not to involve them. I preferred to let people really wonder what had happened in those months.Rebecca had episodes of fainting from the moment she entered the ambulance, until her hospitalization in the private hospital of which my grandfather was a director and doctor. At least in there, she was not harassed by the press. My security guards were ready at the entrance and exit doors, as well as in Becca's room.Even though she was going through great stress, I didn't allow myself to leave her alone for a single minute. Even if she was erased most of the time, or saying disconnected things in the other, I didn't leave
"I really should," I agreed, apathetic. I wasn't in the mood for fights, but Becca's mother looked like an angry and wounded animal in front of me. "But I never thought she could suffer any consequences after the return of our relationship, Soph. Only we know what we really face together, and everything we promise to face. It's easy for you, looking from the outside, to say that kind of thing. It wasn't you who rescued her from a filthy place, where she was on the verge of death, and still had to drive away as many people as they wanted to take a piece of her and her traumatic history. I was there. Not you.”"You were there because it was your fault," accused Raphael, straight out of hell to torment me. I sighed. "You didn't save Becca out of love, but out of weight on your conscience. Everyone around her, be it her mother, her friends, and even me, knew that you two shouldn't have resumed. It was a matter of time for you to hurt her in some way. I just didn't think it would have been
For the first time in months, I had a dream that wouldn't make me cry when I woke up.Even if it was the kind of dream a lot, the one you never want to leave, I didn't feel terrible for opening my eyes and taking a deep breath. I didn't feel afraid to find the darkness or excessive light right on top of my head. I found myself in a white room and lying on a comfortable bed. In an environment whose smell was not rotten and I didn't even remember blood and urine.I woke up looking at the white ceiling, at the purity of the sunlight that entered through the open shutter, and at the yellow flowers that rested on the nightstand next to my bed. It was like still being inside my dream, which was in a very blue place and with the sea water touching my knees. It was like being back in life, although my head still buzzed with the confusion between the realities.My left arm was holding a serum pipe in my vein, and it was sore. The rest of the body didn't hurt. But even so, I could see the marks