Page 195 of Ace of All Hearts

I shake my head, denying his words.

“Yes, I can promise you. He had no idea we were right here. No one knows where my safe room is in this house. We were both hiding in there when he came. I’d hidden my car further down the street, but don’t worry, I’ve parked it in the driveway now so we can go to the airport as soon as possible. Who was that boy with him?”

Lik,I think as I squeeze my eyes shut. I just want Bianco out of my head.

“Hey,” he says softly as I feel him come in front of me. “Don’t be sad. I’m here. Look, I’m not even going to punish you that you might have let Sam and that boy touch you. See? I’m doing good. And you know I always take good care of you.”

I know you were always delusional.

I wish I could scream it in his face, but I probably wouldn't have the strength even if I didn’t have tape all around my face.

He grabs a piece of paper and a pen. “I’m going to untie your arms so you can sign this.”

I look down at the paper and finally understand why the blur is so insufferable. I must have lost a contact during this whole ordeal.

I close one eye and attempt to read, but it’s all in Italian. I can speak it fluently, but these are complicated words, and my brain isn’t functioning to its full capacity right now. Far from it.

“Don’t worry about what any of this means. It’s a sort of conservatorship, so I can take good care of you.”

My heart drops in my stomach and a scream of despair rises up my chest, blocked by the tape around my mouth. I shake my head but he’s too busy cutting through the tape around my arms to see. The air I can take through my nostrils is too little and I feel like I’m choking. My chest heaves but he doesn’t see it. He keeps my left hand free and uses handcuffs to cuff my right hand to the chair.

I attempt to stabilize my breathing as Bianco puts a fountain pen in my hand.

“Come on. Just sign, princess,” he says through clenched teeth as he bends closer to me. He’s struggling to keep his anger under control.

And then it happens. The flash of clarity that tells me this is real. This is going to be my life forever if I don’t escape right now.

As soon as he lets my hand go so I can sign the paper, I know what I have to do.

Thump. Thump. Thump,my heart goes, knowing this is it. It’s now or never.

It’s now.

I flip around and violently stab his neck with the fountain pen. He screams and tries to push me away but I do it again.

Again and again, I stab his neck until blood is spurting and he takes multiple steps back. I get up and fall right on the floor, the chair following me. At least it’s not a heavy, big one, and it didn’t hurt when it fell on me.

My legs are still bound, and I’m cuffed to the armchair. A scream of frustration swells in my mouth and resonates high in my head for lack of being able to let it out.

I turn around and drag myself to the desk to grab the scissors he was using a minute ago. From the floor, my fingers are running blindly on the desk until I can finally make out the shape of the item.

Bianco’s hand slams on mine on the desk, making me jump in fear.

My muffled shriek makes him laugh. He looks demonic, with blood running down his neck and shirt.

“Don’t be silly,mia rosa. You can’t escape me. Don’t you know that?”

There is no way in hell I’m giving up. I stab his stomach with the fountain pen, putting all my strength into it and he is forced to recoil again.

“Fucking bitch!” he screams. “You’re going to be punished for that.” I stab again, this time in his calf and he wails as he falls to the floor.

He sits up and punches me in the nose. Despite feeling blood trickling down my nostrils, I’m on him in the next second. I can’t straddle him or move much with the way I’m tied up, but I push with all my strength and he falls back, his strength is weakening from all that blood he’s losing. I lay on him and stab.

His hands come to my throat, but it doesn’t stop me.

I’m bound and I can barely breathe through my nose anymore, blood pouring and choking me.

But I keep going.

---