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MARIA

I barely had the chance to breathe before my hair was held, yanked back, and I was thrown against the floor. A piercing cry left me as the pain shot through my head. I screamed, being held by my hair, each strand pulling away from my burning scalp,

He leaned down, the heat from his face, red with fury, fanning against mine. The tears ran down my cheeks as I stared into those sadistic, malicious eyes of Giovanni. "Bastard..." I quietly let out, my head slowly rising to meet his cold eyes.

He chuckled menacingly, an intense and poisonous gaze on me. I shivered, unable to mask my fear as my eyes darted across his sweaty face. I gulped as my stomach dropped. I was caught, and there was no way I could escape again. I had made a grave and sloppy mistake that Giovanni would surely punish me for greatly.

"Didn't I tell you? You're mine and mine only." A loud whimper left me as he lifted me once more by my hair, another pained shriek leaving me as his hands tightened around the messy ponytail he had created. The tears bursted out of my eyes the soreness soared through me.

"No!" I cried, my hands clutching onto his as he began pulling me out of the room, my neck extending in his direction. My watery eyes met Camille's, a satisfied and heinous grin extending across her once benevolent face. Camille wasn't my friend, and she would never be again.

"Camille!" I helplessly screamed for protection, my desperate eyes clinging onto hers, as he dragged me. My bare feet slid and scuffled across the wood as I writhed under his hold, the tears streaming down my cheeks as I sobbed.
"Camille, please, I—"

I didn't get the chance to speak. Giovanni threw me against the floor, and I bellowed in torment, my body rolling away from him as he slowly and frighteningly approached, his tall stature intimidating me from the ground. A high shriek unwillingly left me as his strong fists came into contact with my body, each and every single one torturing me.

Uselessly, I shuffled across the floor, trying anything and everything to try and escape from my stalker, wailing as I tried to free myself. My hands came onto anything that could divert him: a pillow as we reached the lounge, an ornament, a glass, all of which he dodged and laughed at, enjoying watching my pathetic behaviour for survival before him. He indulged in my misery, a mocking smile and an entertaining, sadistic glint in his dark eyes.

"You scheming woman, you think I was going to let you go after you tried to run away from me!" He grabbed an empty, small glass on the table and threw it at me; the glass shattered against my bare leg as I let out a sudden scream. My shaking eyes met his again as I kept shuffling away, deeply drawing in breaths. "You promised me! You promised me you would stay and be mine! You deceived me!"

"I didn't promise you anything, Giovanni!" I shouted back in despair, my voice cracking. "You really think that I would stay with you? A stalker? A psychopath? Give it up, Giovanni! I want nothing to do with you! None of the girls did! Those pictures, those letters, those gifts were all unwanted and pathetic! I never wanted any of it! "

The palms of my sweaty hands pressed against the cold floor, my shoulders burning with pain as if they were on fire as I dragged my lower body in an attempt to run away. The tears ran down my cheeks as my whole body was struck with unbearable pain. I wasn't getting anywhere; he was still right behind me. My sore knees slid millimetres on the ground, barely able to move my heavy body. I couldn't. But there was no way I was not going to fight for my survival.

"You're my doll, Maria," his low and terrorising voice denounced, his menacing eyes piercingly stared down at me as he continued to approach slowly, my heart pounding at his close proximity. "Nothing can keep you away from me." I closed my eyes for a second and lightly whimpered, tired of being a victim of deranged men.

"You don't get it?" I exclaimed, my eyes filled with fury and hatred as I glared up at him, my body shaking in pain. My eyes drilled into his as I slowly made it clear to him, "I. Hate. You."

"And I will never fucking want you." I coughed out specks of blood, my eyes slowly glancing down at the stains on the ground before meeting his eyes once more. "I'm not your puppet, I am not your wife, and I am certainly not your doll. You're a sad old, mentally unstable man with nothing fucking better to do than stalk and assault young girls! You deserve to rot in jail!" All my interactions with Giovanni were a mistake; he was sick. He wanted to take me, to own me the whole time. Every performance, every gala. It was all a mistake. I was scared; I was scared that I had trusted a man I truly thought was normal.

He suddenly seemed insecure, his shaking lips parted as his dark eyes were filled with horror, disgust, and astonishment that I had actually rejected him. It was as though he had never heard the word 'no' in his entire life. He was livid; the short moment of shock had been quickly replaced by rage. His nose flared, and his face grew redder in colour; a deep glower settled into his face, and the muscles in his jaw grew tighter. He curled his hand into a fist by his side, a look telling me that I was about to be forced to be his doll. Giovanni suddenly looked like he had no control of his emotions or himself, and it was too late for me to even try to get out of his anger.

As I shuffled backwards on the hard floor, my back came into contact with the wall behind me. My eyes widened, and I quickly turned left, unable to stand as I dragged my body to the closest way out I could see. From the corner of my eye, I saw his hand open a drawer and pull out a large black hammer.

I had never been more desperate in my entire life. The moment his legs quickened their pace and began approaching me, I crawled for my life. Hearing the fast pace of his deep footsteps, I forced myself to push past the burning pain coursing through my veins and lift myself to my battered feet, limping as fast as I could out of the living room and through a corridor that I had no idea where it could take me. The tears were already streaming down my face again as deep down, I knew I couldn't outrun him. His shaking breath was right behind me; I could feel the warmth of his body behind me, and I was crying out before he had even touched me.

Giovanni punched me to the ground. His fist knocked squarely into my face, and the whole world swirled the moment I fell back onto the floor, slamming my temple and ribs against it. Another scream left me. I lost stability; my sight became blurry as the dizziness made me nauseous and weak. That was it; I could no longer move my body. The pain had then become too much; I was on the brink.

I was brought back to full consciousness seconds later as he rasped angrily, "You're mine, Maria, whether you fucking like it or not. You and I will be together, alive or in death. You're mine, you will stay with me forever. I'll never let you escape from me again. You'll see. You'll see how much I love you." My eyes expanded in horror as he lifted my foot, his large hand clutching onto my leg as his other arm raised the black hammer he was holding.

I lost all reserve the moment I realised what he was about to do. It felt like the whole world had come crashing down. He had no conscience, no touch with reality. His eyes were as though he was in a trance, set out to do exactly what his lunatic mind was telling him to do. Injure me.

I failed to free my leg away from him as I cried, begging for him to stop.

The hammer slammed against my ankle twice, and I had never screamed so loud in my entire life.

It hurt. It hurt so badly that it felt like he had ripped off my entire leg. My head sunk into the ground, my hands out, clutching onto the air as I shrieked out in pain. I couldn't grasp the fact that he had actually hit me with the hammer on my ankle. It was as though I had felt it snap within me; the throbbing and piercing pain ran through my leg, throughout my body. My heart stopped; it felt like the whole world did. My mouth was unable to close as I cried out, squeezing my eyes closed as the sweat practically poured out of me. I was shaking uncontrollably, shrivelled on the ground and withering in agony, the burning and unbearable feeling halting my breaths and paining me. I bellowed and bellowed over and over, unable to take the final blow he had given me.

A shrilling, blood-curling scream that came from the depths within me, travelling through my body, up to my chest and out, echoing through the house. It was a noise that I had never heard from myself in my entire life. It wasn't humane, it wasn't normal; I screamed like dying animal in the wild, an unearthly, spine-chilling sound no one would ever hear.

I piercingly screamed and screamed until my voice could no longer release the anguish and searing shock my body was experiencing. The sweat dripped down my body as he dragged me solely by my broken ankle up the stairs. My heavy eyelids struggled to stay open; I was barely able to see clearly, the shock blurring my vision and leaving me faint. Dragging in air, all my body could handle were moans. My throat burned as though it had been scratched, torn apart, and damaged.

Ragged and harrowing groans of suffering left me; it was involuntary. I was like a dead animal being dragged up large stairs. The excruciating pain exacerbated; each movement was severe, the unendurable pain radiating through my exhausted body. I no longer had any strength. I knew then that I could die, that I would die. Giovanni would truly finish me that day.

He had attached my shattered ankle to a long and heavy metal chain hung onto the wall of the bedroom he was keeping me in as I lay on the floor, barely conscious.

Giovanni left at one point.

I could hardly hear anything any longer after that.

It was me alone, becoming numb to the pain, as I was slowly closing my eyes and too exhausted to fight.

I lay there waiting for my body to finally let go and send me to sleep to run away from the pain.

My dry mouth hung open as I heaved air, drawing in and out deeply short breaths. I was panting for life as I lay there, limp and still on the cold ground, in the silence surrounding me.

I was lightheaded and glad for that. All I wanted to do was pass out. I could feel myself slipping away second by second.

I cried in anguish, rasping breaths leaving me, unable to control my weeping as the image of my baby sister sparked in my mind. She would be all alone; I had left her all alone in such a cruel and evil world. Luna had been through enough; she would be heartbroken when she would find me, traumatised and hurt.

Leonardo. I would never see Leonardo again. "Leo..." I wholeheartedly sobbed. Coughs wracked through my aching body as the hot tears poured down my cheeks. I was gasping between tears, an uncontrollable flood of emotions rushing out of me as I cried for him, the pain burning in my chest as I struggled to breathe in wretchedness. Just one more time, I thought, if only I could see him one more time.

It was in vain; Leonardo would never know where I was, never care to know where I was, and would definitely never save me. I broke him, I hurt him, I betrayed his trust. But I loved that man and missed him; he was the final person on my mind before I lost consciousness, his warm smile, his tender, hazel eyes.

As my eyes stayed closed, I futilely continued to brokenly whisper, "Leonardo...Leonardo..."

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~ Author's Note ~

Camille's Revelation ~ Was it valid for her to blame the failure of her marriage solely on Maria and throw Maria into the Dragon's Den?

Giovanni's Outrage ~ Maria's ankle is a clear cause for concern. Should she really lose hope in getting out alive?

Will she be able to see her loved ones again?

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