“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”I got up in a jump, not knowing where I was. I had slept, apparently, for a whole night (or day). I was still in that place without windows and with a single iron door and, in front of me, sitting in a lonely wooden chair, was my tormentor; the man with the scar on his face.At the moment, he wasn't smiling. It was very clear that seeing me in a comfortable situation was not exactly the kind of fun he was looking for. Or maybe he stayed a long time in that same position, waiting for the moment when I would move and give signs that I was still breathing. Maybe he was hoping I wasn't.“What’s going on? "I asked with suspicion, diverting my eyes from him to the soft furniture below me. I was shocked to realize it was a bed."I brought gifts," he said, shrugging.I must have fallen asleep after eating, and that episode had been so unprecedented and exciting that I had exhausted my strength that was no longer that big. I didn't find the big table with the b

"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

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

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

"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