Page 10 of From My Past
Tears fell steadily against my cheeks and a sob left my chest. I did know it. I was stuck between this hell for my lifetime; being a doll, a maid, a slave, in exchange for protecting my sister. She was beaten within an inch of her life seven months ago by her boyfriend who was not a good guy in any regard. Why she started dating him, I’ll never know. But he was a bad guy and so I didn’t know about it until I walked in on him beating her. He was throwing punch after punch and she wasn’t breathing.
I lost it. My sister, who is my everything, was laying unconscious in a pool of blood with a guy straddling her waist and beating her. She was going to die and I knew it, so I grabbed the closest thing and I hit him over the head with it. He stumbled but it got him away and off of my sister so I ran. When he turned his fighting to me, I saw in his eyes there was no stopping him, no reasoning, and no way he was going to let me or my sister go…I did what I had to do to stay alive.
There was a fire poker by the small fireplace in her apartment and I grabbed it. When he advanced on me, I swung as hard as I could and the poker…the poker struck him in the temple, through his face and he fell. I’ll never forget the moment I realized I’d killed him. The moment I saw the light leave his eyes and fall.
I couldn’t dwell on it when it happened, I’d run to my sister and gotten help.
I called the one person who I thought would be there for me, the one person I knew could make this go away. Luca hadn’t straight out told me that he was in the Mafia, but I wasn’t stupid.
So, I’d made the call. Begging him to come help my sister, to protect her. And he did. But it had come at a price.
It was a secret I’d kept closer to my chest more than any other, that it was actually me who had killed him. I killed her boyfriend, called Luca to help clean up and he assumed she’d killed him… with a bit of convincing and acting from me.
I made a deal with the devil. More importantly, I made a deal with the Italian Mafia by way of their Prince. I didn’t know exactly that was the position he held when we met, I just thought that his father owned the Italian Stallion, the most popular Italian restaurant in Charleston. I was unpleasantly surprised when I found out and discovered exactly how fucked I was.
Now, Luca charged towards me in anger and I bolted backwards like a gazelle running from the lion. I dart towards the bathroom, turning my back on him in favor of being able to run faster.
But just as I reached out for the doorframe, I felt a hand on my ankle and my body slide backwards violently.
Chapter Three
Talia
Ahand wraps around my ankle tightly and yanked my body backward. My knees hit the floor hard. I broke my fall with my hands so that my face didn’t hit the hardwood floor.
“Get back here!” He yells and pulled me backward again as I tried to hold onto anything. I just needed something to grab onto so I could pull away from him. Adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“Please! Leave me alone!” I cry out, hoping my screams would alert someone but in the back of my head I knew no one would come. No one ever has.
My hands clawed at the floor, trying to get any inch of space from him. I wasn’t a tiny girl, but I was definitely smaller than Luca.
“You’re going to make this worse, but keep fighting me. I like it.” He laughs, his words full of promise for more than just beating me, and it was terrifying.
“Please! Please! Help!” I scream, one last hope that he would leave me but knowing it was futile.
“Shut the fuck up!” And his fist came down on my face. Pain bloomed under my cheekbone, white hot searing pain radiating up my face to my brain as my head snapped to the side from the force of his blow.
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up!” Each of his words was met with a strong punch to the face. He alternated sides so I knew I wouldn’t look like myself when I looked in the mirror next. Tears and sobs heaved through my swollen eyes and busted lips as the pain was excruciating. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. He’d never hit my face quite this much at one time before. It was always a slap or one well-placed hit so that his handy work could be hidden.
But not this time.
He didn’t care. And that, that was terrifying.
“You don’t seem to understand the weight of what I have on you. Of what would happen to your darling Auggie if I pulled my protection. Unless you want your sisters prison sentence on your hands, I’d suggest you start fucking acting better.” He snarls, I could feel him shifting closer to me, but his face was still blurry as I watched his face coming in close to mine and I flinched.
“You got off easy this morning, amore. Next time I won’t be so nice.” And, he was gone. I didn’t dare move, in case he came back. I was in too much pain, my head and face felt like they were on fire and bloodied, to do anything but lay there and cry. I heard the front door slam shut and I sob.
* * *
“Hi, Mark. I’m not going to be able to come in today,” I told my manager through the phone. I stood in the bathroom, the door firmly locked and blocked with as much stuff as I could find in the bathroom, and I tried to clean myself up. The cuts weren’t too deep, but they would take time to heal. The bruising however, that would take weeks. Hissing, I dab the cotton ball with alcohol over a particularly deep one on my cheekbone.
“Are you okay?” Mark asks. I honestly and truly tried to find a job in the aerospace industry, but after talking with Luca about some of the places I was interviewing at, he convinced me that was the wrong direction for me at that time. I didn’t want to give up my dream, but what could I do?
“Yes, I’m fine, I just don’t feel so well and I don’t want to get anyone else sick.” I tried to make my voice hoarse and keep the tears out of it as well.
“Okay, so just let me know tomorrow if you are feeling better. I’ll have someone else cover your shift.”
“I, uh, I don’t think I’ll be in tomorrow.”
