*Violent Scene Ahead*
--READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED--

~~~ CHAPTER 56 - THE RING ~~~

I opened my eyes and I was in an unfamiliar room. With my whole back pressed to the surface of the bed, I had my eyes fixed on the ceiling. Suddenly, it dawned on me that both of my legs and both of my arms were tied with ropes to each of the posts in each corner of the bed that it was absolutely impossible for me to escape. My mouth was also tied up with something so tight to my skin which I presumed a duct tape.

Where was I?

I twisted and turned my head from left to right and vice versa. I noticed that nothing was in the room except for the bed where I was lying down and the tiny table in one corner. The place was definitely an old room with a faded yellow paint.

Where the heck was I? God, where was I?

No, Nigel must have been looking for me now! I needed to get out of here!

Oh, please, God! Just let this be a nightmare! Just let me wake up and discover that everything was just a nightmare!

What happened? Why was I in this room?

Then, my brain did remember my encounter with Dylan Fernandez. Oh, no!

Nigel! Nigel, I need you! My mind screamed.

By and by, the door creaked open and in came the man who obviously abducted me and put me in this situation!

Just as who I expected, it was Dylan, who was in black tank top now. "How are you? You slept well," he said very calmly. He was giving me that serious look and it felt so terrible to be gazed by a pyscho. Though he tried himself to look calm, still I couldn't disregard his bulging eyes penetrating through me.

What? I slept. Oh, my God! I did sleep. How did I sleep? I remembered I was in the grocery store when I saw him. How did he get me out of there?

What did you do to me? I wanted to ask but I couldn't due to the hindrance of the duct tape covering my mouth. Tears started to roll down the sides of my face like waterfalls. I was trembling terribly.

My mouth started to hurt now, even my arms and legs that were tied with rope.

Looking up at Dylan, I sensed that there was no need to ask whether he was sane or not. It was obvious. He really was not sane.

Suddenly, he showed me something as he sat at my side.

A knife.

A knife with a blade that glittered against the light of the room.

Then, I remembered, it was probably the middle of the night now. Had Nigel arrived the condo already? Had he learned that I wasn't around?

What was I going to do now? As I thought of my horrible, desperate state, tears didn't stop falling from my eyes.

"You know what I want to do with you?" The madman placed the tip of that sharp object against my neck.

I closed my eyes and trembled in panic. Would this be my end? Would he kill me? Was he really capable of doing it?

"Your Nigel Sarmiento ruined my family and I won't rest until I ruined him and all those around him... I will kill you..." he said in a whisper bending his face nearer to mine, "just like how he killed my father."

Oh, God, please! He really intended to kill me.

He didn't kill your father! I wanted to shout at him as I opened again my eyes. Your father killed himself! He killed himself because of shame for betraying the Sarmiento Corporation! Why can't you understand it?

Dylan smiled at me in a devilish way while he pressed more the sharp portion of the knife in my throat. I stretched my throat out and controlled myself not to move even a bit for I was aware that one wrong move that I would make, I would have my throat cut.

Dylan's face was sweating this time, even his arms, and probably his whole body. It was because the room was too hot. There was no aircon or even a fan in there. I felt I was sweating, too, a lot. With the stressful situation, it wasn't questionable why sweat and tears just kept on coming out from me.

"But before I do that, let's have a game first, Thea Ruiz," he whispered again and it caused goosebumps everywhere my body.

Game? What kind of game? What was he going to do?

He finally pulled out the knife from my throat and I was back to breathing again.

"You've always been a delicious treat... I want to taste you," he said.

I jerked when he placed the tip of the knife under my blouse in my stomach. For a second, I thought he was going to thrust it there in my belly. I closed again my eyes. I felt like I was passing out any moment from now.

Then, unexpectedly, with the use of his sharp weapon, he ripped open my blouse all the way from the bottom to the top of it. However, ripping my blouse completely open was in vain because my neckline was hard enough to tear. In irritation, Dylan settled on top of me, cornering my body with his knees and legs. Putting the knife on my side, he ripped open the neckline with his bare hands.

I moaned out now. He couldn't do this to me! No!

He held the sides of my face with his hands as he bent his face to me. "I really come to find you... I've been searching for you everywhere."

He moved on top of me and brought his mouth close to my face. His breathing reached my nose and I almost died of the disgusting smell coming from his mouth.

Oh, filthy Dylan!

Then, he pressed his lips to my left eye, kissed and licked it that I wanted to throw up.

Please, God, send someone to save me tonight. Please, send someone! Send my Nigel! Let him know that I was kidnapped and about to be raped now! Let him find me! Please!

Could my Nigel do it?

Would it be possible for him to do it?

Sensing the impossibility of my expectation, I cried even more.

Nigel wasn't God and he didn't have some kind of power! And even if he indeed was searching for me now, there was no way that he would ever find me because even myself, I didn't f-cking knew where the hell I was!

Dylan was indeed insane... because he was insanely kissing all parts of my face leaving his disgusting, sticky saliva on my skin. He appeared like a mad dog and I loathed him like hell!

I was at least a bit thankful of the tape covering my mouth because if I didn't have it, he probably had kissed my mouth as well. If he would do that, I'd definitely spit his face.

Dylan, this time, didn't cease his kissing and licking of my skin. I found his mouth travelling now to my neck. When he reached the portion of my cleavage, he seemed annoyed of the presence of my bra.

No! He really was doing it to me now! Dylan would force himself to me!

He had a grip of the knife again and, laughing this time, show the blade near my eyes. I moaned at the sight of the glittering blade.

"Nigel Sarmiento, I'm coming after you! I'm coming after you. I'm going to cut your throat. I'm going to kill you!" he said loudly as he looked at my eyes.

Oh, no! He was thinking that I was Nigel this time!

"Finally, dad was gonna get his revenge! You're finally gonna have your revenge, dad! This is it, dad!"

Truly trembling now, I just had to lift everything up to God. If he was going to kill me now, I prayed that Nigel and mom and all other people who loved me would not have a hard time accepting.

But, I cried even more thinking of Nigel. If he would lose me, I didn't think he would accept it so soon. The loss of his sister was too much for him and it took him years to finally moved on from it. If he would lose me, perhaps, he wouldn't ever move on from it...

All the beautiful moments we had lately appeared in my mind. His love and devotion for me were so strong and powerful that I believed he would even die for me! If he would lose me, I couldn't imagine what he was capable of doing to himself!

"You f-cking son-of-a-b----!" Dylan shouted and held his head with both of his hands. His loud voice reverberated and echoed the whole room. "I got it, dad! I got it, dad!" he shouted, closing his eyes!

What was wrong with him?

"I got him now, dad! Got him finally! Mom will finally be happy for us! She will finally be happy for you and for me! Finally, she will be proud of me!"

God! Dylan! Where was the former angelic Dylan that I knew? What exactly happened to you? I wanted to ask him.

Trying to find an escape, especially this time that he seemed to be lost for a while, I tugged my hands. I pulled both of them from each corner of the bed where each of them was tied. I tugged and pulled but I couldn't really make it! The tie was so tightly done.

When he noticed the tugging of my arms, he gazed at me.

"Planning to escape? Really, planning to escape?"

Please, just let me go! Just let me, please...

He jumped to the side of the bed and looked at my left hand. He held it and stared at it for a while. "Ring?" he muttered.

What? He saw my ring?

"Ring?" He asked again.

I just had to blink my eyes at him.

"Marrying him? Marrying the bastard, Thea Ruiz?"

Though I wanted to spit the word 'Yes!' to his face, I just couldn't do it! How would I deal with a madman?

Then, unexpectedly, he took off the ring from my finger. He did it by force that it produced a tingling pain in my finger.

What the hell are you doing? Why are you taking my ring?

He stared at it as he held it with his thumb and forefinger. "Marrying him? You are really marrying him?"

I just stared at him with abundant tears in my eyes.

Then, with tears in his eyes too, he cried. He cried as he looked at me. "I love you, Thea. Don't do this to me... Don't marry him. I love you. Don't marry the bastard..." And he was back to kissing my face and licking my skin. He was really disgusting.

I gulped the saliva that was stuck in my mouth. At the moment, there was nothing anymore that I could do to save myself. I felt so helpless. Would I ever still have a chance to escape? Would this be my end?

I twisted my head and struggled. I wanted to be freed from the ropes. I pulled my hands and feet again.

Seeing my reaction and remembering his knife, Dylan once again held it in his hand and brought the tip to my neck. "You can't marry him. D'you hear me? You can't! You're only mine." Still with tears rolling down his cheeks, he grinned widely at me.

Seeing his hand holding the knife, I suddenly noticed that he was no longer holding my ring.

"Where's my ring?" I finally uttered but all that came out were incomprehensible sounds due to the tape in my mouth.

Where's my ring? No one will ever take it away from me!

Dylan was truly grinning like he enjoyed watching me suffer with the knife in my neck.

I hate you, Dylan Fernandez! I hate you!

"Wheeere's my riiiiing?" I shouted desperately, because it wasn't just some circular object... the diamond ring was my future, my love, my life, my Nigel Joaquin. For years, since I was young, I longed to receive that ring from my Nigel Joaquin and, now that I had it, some psycho would just take it from me that easily!

Probably sensing my words, he began to wonder about the ring as well. Taking off finally the sharp object from my neck, he stared at both of his hands. Indeed, the ring was gone.

He seemed to panic as well as he surveyed the space he was sitting on. I looked at the surface of the bed as well where he was sitting even if it was difficult for me to bend my head too much since I was lying down. I couldn't get a glimpse of the ring.

Nigel, my ring is lost! The psycho lost it!

All of a sudden, he brought his fingers to my eyes and, there, I saw again the circular object! Thanking that it wasn't lost, I breathed hard.

Dylan also appeared happy seeing the piece of jewelry. He laughed loudly. "Marry me, Thea Ruiz. Marry me, Thea Ruiz," he kept on saying as he offered me the ring. I wanted to snatch it from him but how could I do it when my hands were tied up?

"Marry me, okay?" he said, pleading now as he scratched his hair with his fingertips that were holding the ring. He scratched and scratched his head. He scratched it hard... until my ring fell down on the bed. I watched it as it rolled down the bed's surface going to the edge until my eyes lost it as it dropped to the floor.

My ring! No, my ring! I swore I was not ever going to lose my ring!

Watching my engagement ring roll down away from me, I became really frantic now. It was the time that I felt my stomach wanted to release something through my mouth. I felt sick... so, so sick...

I felt nauseous as well.

With the feeling, I remembered why I went to the grocery store --- to find green mangoes to satisfy some peculiar craving, some craving that I happened to sense since two days ago...

Craving.

Could it be...

Could it be that I was pregnant?

Was I?

I shut my eyes when I felt something inside me want to disgorge all contents in my stomach... It was not a very good feeling.

God, I feel so sick. Please, somebody help me...

Truly, as I couldn't help myself anymore, some bitter liquid run from my stomach up to my throat then to my mouth. Since I was lying down on the bed and with the duct tape in my mouth, it was hard for me to throw up completely the unfavorable liquid from my stomach. I wanted to release it all. How I wished I could release it all to at least make me feel better! Suddenly, it struck me... I was now trying to gasp some air as I felt the lack of oxygen in the room. My nose wanted to take in oxygen yet I felt my sweating skin absorb all the air around me. I felt so cold --- terribly, terribly cold.

My lips under the duct tape turned cold, too. I wanted to breathe.

Oxygen, please! I need oxygen!

But, it was too late for me...

Dylan, on the other hand, as I saw through my peripheral vision, was like a mad dog as he jumped to the floor to search for something. "I neeeed the fff---cknggg riiinnng!!!" he yelled.

That was the last thing I remembered and heard as darkness enveloped my whole being...

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

A/N

I'm sorry, guys, that I have to do this. I'm not happy doing this. This is the most hateful chapter that I've ever done. I hate it so much that I have to make it short. :(

I've thought of Dylan's role since I started writing this novel. If you remember I asked in my A/N in Chapter 19 about his role in our heroine's life... This chapter is the answer. Sorry if this has become violent but this is how his character is originally planned. Dylan's hatred to Nigel Sarmiento and the love that he developed for Thea are the two main reasons why he is an important character here. So, what is going to happen next to Thea? 😷😷😷😱😱😱 It's for you to find out next update... 😢😢😭😭😭😭😭😭

Hey, by the way, I've spotted typo and grammatical errors in this work. Just bear with them for a while, okay? I'll just edit after I complete this work... Oh, yeah, Engaged to the Heartless Heartbreaker is coming to an end... and, yeah, I'm sad but I'm happy... mixed emotions I'm feeling here. Althea and Nigel (#Angel) will always be a part of my life... They are two characters who have affected me in a lot of ways, two characters who give me a lot of sleepless nights, producing pimples on my face (hehe), with the urge of giving you regular updates. I love Althea and Nigel so much and the thought that their story is about to end, I want to cry... Oh, I'm getting emotional already. Can I have a tissue, please?

Anyway, if you love the story, don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT, and SHARE!

Thank you so much as always.

Love you, guys!
(sapphiregirl22) ~_^