Page 10 of A Sinner's Saint

Fucking beautiful.

“Why me? I’m your son,”I ask my father. He’s brought me here again. I almost thought that maybe this month he wouldn’t. That he’d stop.

He laughs at me, and then his hand snaps out, hitting me across my face. “Why you? Because everything is your fault,boy. You think you’re my son?” He laughs again and then spits at me. “You’re nothing to me, Vincenzo. Nothing.”

He shakes his head and walks out of the room before the hard metal door slams shut.Leaving me alone in this living, breathing nightmare. But I know it won’t be that way for long. They’ll come for me. They’ll do whatever they want with me, and I can’t do a single thing to stop them.

I thought about telling Gio. My big brother would help me. At least, I think he would. Unless he already knows? What if he’s in on it? He works so closely with our father. I mean, how could he not know about this place?

Sitting down on the filthy mattress that’s the only thing left in the cement-walled room, I bring my knees up to my chest. I won’t cry. No matter how much I may want to.

Men don’t cry,my father’s voice echoes in my head.

I don’t understand why these particular men do this, though… I do know that when I’m older, when I’m bigger, I’m going to find them and kill them all. That day will come. I might not know who they are now, but I’ll figure out a way to find them. And one by one, I will come for them.

If they don’t kill me in this shithole first…

The handle on the door turns and my heart starts beating faster, as not one but two masked men walk in.

“On your feet, boy,” the first guy says while the second one slams and locks the door. The noise makes me jump. “Look at that. We got a frightened little one.”

“Good. I like 'em jumpy,” the second guy says before stepping forward. “You deaf or just dumb, boy? On your fucking feet. Now.”

I scramble off the mattress. I don’t want to. But I also know if I don’t, whatever they’re planning to do to me will be much worse. I spent two weeks in a makeshift hospital bed last month. My brothers asked how my trip was when I was finallyallowed to return home. They thought I went with a friend’s family on holiday. I didn’t correct them. I should have. I should have told them. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in right now.

“You look familiar. Have I seen you before?” the first guy asks. He closes the distance before crouching down to meet me at eye level. I can feel his glare searing through the mask as he continues to study me.

I shake my head. I have no idea who these men are. I don’t recognise their voices. When the second guy reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder, bile rises in my throat. I push it back down.

I am not here. This isn’t happening to me.I want to remove myself from my body. I want a pill. I don’t want to be here.

“Open your mouth,” he grunts.

I do as he says, because not doing it is always worse. He drops a little white pill on my tongue.

“Swallow,” he tells me, and I listen. I know this pill will make me forget.

“Now, on your knees,” the first guy says.

My eyes widen. What? No, that’s not how the pills work. They usually wait. I’m still lucid. I’m still me. When I don’t move, his friend shoves me down. I fall to the concrete, my knees hitting the ground hard.Then they both undo their belts.

No! I don’t want to be here.

I jolt up in bed. Covered in sweat with a silent scream trapped in my throat. Looking around my room, I take a mental note of everything. I’m okay. I’m alone. I’m not back there.

“Fuck.” I run a frustrated hand through my hair.

Chapter Six

Have you ever experienced something so life-altering you know it’s going to be one of those moments that changes you forever? Except, you don’t know it at the time, when you’re living in that moment. That realisation comes later, when the moment’s already passed, and you can’t do a damn thing to take it back.

That’s what Saturday night was like for me. A moment I know is going to change my entire life. Although, if I could do it all over again, I absolutely would. Just to experience it again. Vin was nothing like I expected him to be. He was caring, tender even. He touched me like I was precious. Like I was something worth millions.

Yep, a night I won’t be forgetting anytime soon, if ever. I don’t think anyone else could ever compare to Vin. I get it. I’m young and I’m sure I’ll meet plenty of other men in my life. I also know that I’ll compare every single one of them to him from this day forward.

I might have spent all yesterday contemplating if I should call him. Message him. Slide into his DMs. After a few hours, it finally hit me that I didn’t even have his phone number. And when I went to search for him on social media, he didn’t exist.

What kind of seventeen-year-old doesn’t have socials? Vin De Bellis. That’s who. Someone who doesn’t care about societal expectations or social norms.

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