Arranged love

“You fucking bitch!” he shouts. His hand reaches over his shoulder and manages to grab hold of my ponytail. He yanks on it, and I cry out.

I reach around and slap my hand over his face to try and obstruct his vision, and he trips into his desk. He tilts his head, and I take the opportunity to shove the metal bunny ears into his neck.

When I yank it out, blood sprays all over me. He falls to his knees, taking me with him. I stab him again. And again. Until my hand loses its grip because the keychain is slippery.

Screams pierce my ears, and I wonder if it’s me. Something hard hits my body, and I’m on my back, looking up into a face that resembles mine. My mother is on top of me, hitting my face and chest.

“You ungrateful little bitch!” she screams, spit flying from her mouth to mix with my father’s blood. “You killed him!” She slaps me. “Do you realized what you’ve done?” Of course, she chooses him. Always has. He was about to kill me, and she was going to stand by and just watch it happen. “You will die for this!” Her fist connects with my cheek, and I twist my body to lie on my side underneath her and see the keychain that had slipped from my grip. I reach out and grab it. Turning onto my back, I raise my hand and shove the ears up her neck into her throat.

Yanking it out, I feel more blood cover me and choke on it. Shoving her dead weight off me, I get to my hands and knees just as the door bangs open. I did it. No matter if I die right here or not, I at least did what I told myself I’d do. I stumble to my feet just as my father’s guards enter.

“What the fuck did you do?” a guy shouts, charging at me.

I lift the keychain, and he hits my forearm with his, knocking it out of my hand. Gripping my throat, he lifts me off my feet. Placing his face in front of mine, he makes me gag from the smell of cigarette smoke.

I bare my teeth, and he lets go of my neck, but before I can even suck in a breath, he slams his fist into the side of my cheek.

Pain explodes up the side of my face and neck, and I’m then grabbed by my hair and slammed facedown onto my father’s desk. His computer and papers go crashing to the floor. My breath is taken away once again from the impact. The taste of blood fills my mouth, and I spit it out onto the surface.

He holds me down with his large hand wrapped around the back of my neck. “Call Matteo,” the man orders to one of the other guards who has now joined us.

The side of my face slides across the desk from the drool that runs out of the corner of my mouth. I spot two of the other guards checking my mother and father for a pulse. When they realize that’s not a possibility, they move them to the corner. Throwing my mother’s body on top of my father’s.

A phone is placed next to me, and I see it’s calling my brother on speakerphone.

“Hello?” I hear his voice, and my eyes fall shut. He’s supposed to be dead.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” the guard states.

“You know how much I love those,” Matteo jokes. “She better be a blonde with big fake tits.”

I open my mouth to scream at him, but the guard slams the side of my face into the desk, making me moan instead while my vision goes in and out.

“More like a brunette with a flat chest.” The man laughs. “Seriously, you’ll never believe who showed up,” the guy holding me down says cheerfully. They don’t care that their boss is dead because they know my brother will now inherit it. They have job security.

“Who?” he asks.

“Your whore of a sister.”

I try to wiggle out of his hold, but he tightens his fingers into the back of my neck. I grind my teeth, refusing to give him the satisfaction that he’s hurting me.

“You-You have Mia?” he asks, sounding unsure. That makes sense, considering I’m supposed to be in France right now via the tracker he placed inside my neck.

“Talk, bitch!” the man growls while the other holds the phone up to my face.

I refuse to give them what they want. So the guy holding me down yanks my head up off the desk and the other holds a knife to my throat, his face in front of mine. “Tell your brother hi, or I’m going to cut up this pretty face of yours.” He gives me a crooked-tooth smile. “They won’t even be able to give you away.”

I feel the cold blade pressed up against my skin, and I suck in a breath, hoping that will give me some space, but it doesn’t work. His smile widens when he sees what I’m doing.

“She’s really pretty, man,” he adds, his eyes dropping to my parted lips while I hold my breath. “It’s too bad she’s nothing more than a whore now.”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Baring my teeth, I snarl. “Go fuck yourself.” And spit in his face. It’s the only option I’m capable of.

The guy holding me down pulls me up and throws me across the room into the opposite wall.

Falling to the floor like a rag doll, I roll over, sucking in a deep breath, only to come face-to-face with my dead mother’s body. Blood drips from her face, eyes open and on mine. I get up as fast as I can and scramble back against the wall, shoving the blood-covered hair from my now bruised face. My once high ponytail is now loose, hair falling all over my face.

“I’m on my way,” Matteo growls.

“I can’t promise she’ll be in one piece.” The guy holding the phone hangs up and then drops it to the floor before smashing it with his boot. He steps toward me, and the guy who threw me grabs him bringing him to a stop.

“We don’t touch her until Matteo arrives.” He glances over at me. “Whatever you have planned for her, he’ll make sure it’s ten times worse once he sees what she’s done.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t play with her, right?” he asks, smiling.

One of the guards who hasn’t said a word goes over to the desk and opens a drawer. He pulls out some zip ties, and I get up to run but am met by another guard. He picks me up and tosses me back onto the desk, where my arms are pulled behind my back and secured. I can’t help the tears that run down my face. Matteo is going to kill me. But when he sees what I’ve done, it’ll be a slow and painful death.

Why is he alive? Where are Dillan and the Kings? I begin to cry.

“It’s going to be okay, whore,” one of the guards says. “We’re not going to kill you. Just play with you.” They all laugh at the situation I’ve put myself in.

They are not why I’m crying. It’s the fact that I didn’t get to tell Dillan how I felt about him before I left. He was going to start a war over me, and I’ve ruined everything. At this point, all I can do is pray that he and the Kings forget about me because there’s no way I’ll survive. I once told him I was not worth it, and I meant every word.