Page 100 of Tainted Ties

“You’rehurtingme!” I sobbed.

The farther down the stairs we went, the more panicked I became.

With my free hand, I clawed at the wall, trying to free myself, and breaking my nails in the process.

The pain from my fingertips didn’t compare to the horrendous ache originating in my stomach that crept all the way to my chest.

My energy depleted when I took the last step.

It felt like I had been beaten with a baseball bat. The pain was all I could focus on. It was agonizing and overwhelming.

“Wait!” I pleaded when he pushed me onto the hard floor with little effort.

He turned on the small bulb hanging from the ceiling, the light casting dimly on his shadowed face.

It shook me to my core to find his stare blank. No anger or fury was present in those obsidian eyes.

“Please.” I wept when I heard the clanking of chains erupt.

The cold metal bit into my skin, binding my wrists.

“I’mbeggingyou, don’t do this, Roman.”

He tightened the shackles further, eliciting a broken whimper from my lips.

Yet, a part of me wanted this. I deserved whatever punishment was awaiting me. I betrayed his trust.

He hated liars and I had become the biggest of them all.

When he came down on his haunches in front of me, I couldn’t even recognize him. Not even the MafiaDonwas present.

Fresh tears mixed with my sweat streamed down my face in scorching beads.

Roman stared at me for a long moment, and I held my breath the whole time before he pushed my face away roughly in disgust.

It was the first emotion he had shown, and it ripped me apart, right down the middle.

He stood, staring down at me as he reached for the bulb switch. “When you acted unusual this morning, I hoped I was wrong, but you turned out exactly like the one person you hate.”

When darkness surrounded me, the cold grasp of terror assailed me.

The sound of his footsteps fading away from me was the last thing I heard before the door slammed shut and I sat in the unbearable silence of my thoughts.

The ache in my lower abdomen that had begun earlier in the evening contracted to excruciating levels.

My body tightened as the pain gripped me in a vise all around my stomach and back.

Horror rolled through me when the feeling of warm liquid pooled between my legs, flowing free and heavily.

My body trembled, muscles spasming to the point that I was afraid they would snap.

With a shaky hand, I touched the front of my jeans with my fingers before bringing it up to my nose.

The smell of metallic hit my nostrils and I recoiled, vomiting onto the cold floor beside me.

This wasn’t happening.

It was impossible.

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