Chapter 122
My body tensed. I stood abruptly. “No, I don’t need anyone’s help!”
Alessandro stepped forward, his gaze steady but not unkind. He placed his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back onto the bed. “Quit being stubborn, Nikolai. You could get
get a serious infection because of the wounds. Is that what you
want?” His voice was still soft, but there was an edge to it–a barely restrained desperation.
I shoved his hands off me, my voice cracking with rage and disbelief. “Why do you
He didn’t answer. He simply turned to the doctor, nodding slightly. “Ray…”
care?!”
The doctor moved without hesitation. He peeled off the wet, clinging bandages with practiced hands, and I flinched as the air hit my raw skin. He applied ointments to the angry, swollen wounds that marred my body–each touch making me hiss in pain. Then he handed Alessandro a bottle of pills. Antibiotics. Sedatives. Painkillers. More ways to make me forget. To numb me.
When he was done, the doctor left with a nod, leaving me and Alessandro in silence once again.
“I’ll ask someone to bring you something to eat,” Alessandro said after a moment, his voice more of a sigh than a
statement.
“Why?” I asked bitterly, each syllable laced with venom.
He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“So you could insult me afterward?”
He tilted his head to the side, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. “Insult you?”
“I don’t think I can repay your generosity, Don Alessandro. I have nothing to give you!” I spat, the words tasting like
poison on my tongue.
He let out a breath.. “Don Alessandro… It sounds absurd coming from your mouth.”
“Just don’t want to forget my place,” I said, my tone colder than ice.
“Stop being ridiculous.”
“Stop acting like you want me here.”
“I brought you here, didn’t I?”
“I’ll leave soon. I don’t care what you say, I will run away!”
He nodded once, his jaw clenched tightly, fists curling at his sides. “We’ll see about that later. Right now, fucking eat something.” With that, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him with enough force to make the walls
shake.
I glared at the door, my chin trembling as the tears I had been trying so hard to hold back burst out again. I sobbed silently, mindlessly picking at the bandages over my foot, the frayed edges irritating my fingers.
1/2
Chapter 122
It’s not easy to just forget everything and move on with my life like it never happened.
The way those men made me feel… I wouldn’t wish this kind of torture on my worst enemy.
A few minutes later, a maid I had never seen before walked in, carrying a tray full of steaming food. I didn’t have the energy to fight. My body was too tired. My spirit too broken. So I ate silently. I had starved in that dirty, dingy cell. I never wanted to feel that kind of hunger again. I never wanted to feel that empty again.
But even as I chewed, I winced. A piece of bread grazed the inside of my cheek, and pain shot through my jaw. It throbbed bruised, maybe fractured. You get cuts, your own teeth cut through your flesh when you’re slapped again and again by men twice your size. I could still feel the phantom weight of their hands on my face. The humiliation clung to my skin like
sweat.
I sniffled, forcing more food into my mouth. My stomach churned, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
Does it ever go away? Would I ever be able to forget what has happened to me?
I wanted to go back to being myself. But it hurt to even think about who I used to be.
I was so stupid. So naïve. I wouldn’t have dreamed of something this cruel. I couldn’t have imagined the way they treated me–like an object. Like a thing.
Will it ever fade from my mind?
Will I ever be normal again?
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