5ARIAI stared at the woman in front of me.Bloodshot eyes, blotchy cheeks, short hair.She looked like me but she wasn’t. She was weak and pathetic.I stared at my own reflection in the mirror. I tried to find myself in it but couldn’t. The woman in the mirror wasn’t me.She was a stranger.An impostor.Weak.That wasn’t me.I let out a shaky breath, my eyes still staring back into the blue orbs of the woman in the mirror but my mind was spinning.Black dots assaulted my vision, my vision blurred and I swayed on my feet. My eyes rolled back to the back of my head and I fell into darkness.I slumped in the arms of a destroyer. My destroyer.***When I woke up bundled in silk, I was aware of my unfamiliar surroundings. I was aware that my life was ruined.Shattered.Destroyed.Burnt to ashes.I laid there, staring at the ceiling, wondering what to do next. I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea of what was going to happen to me.My eyes were dry, so was my throat. My heart was surpr
6 ARIA Everything was burnt down. Reduced to ashes. My plans. My hopes. My craving of freedom. Everything around me was black and gray, that was all I could see through my unfocused vision. Ashes. Storms. Thunder. Private island. An island thousands of meters away from civilization. An island surrounded my nothing but vastness of blue. Secluded and hidden, I was no different than a valuable gem to him. An object for decoration. But I was different than a gem. I refused to be like this. I refused to give up. I refused to become an object. I was a human. A survivor after all. I wasn’t taught to give up and run. I was taught to fight. Anger pulsated through me, spreading throughout my body. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, giving me the power, I needed for the fight. Because that’s what I chose. Fight. Not flight. Never flight. Fuck flight. With red covering my vision, my senses haywire and my insides a blur of emotions, I swung my fist at him. It barely touched someth
7 ARIA ‘It is cold.’ That was my first thought when I regained my consciousness. My lashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly. I blinked to adjust my eyes to the darkness that surrounded me. A shaky breath escaped me as I rolled over my back, pushing my feet on the cold surface to sit up. It was dark. Unusually dark. Was it night so soon? It was a stupid question to ask myself but I paid no attention as I shuffled to find some light. My hands touched something cold, I carefully ran my fingers over it while squinting my eyes to look around. The texture was smooth, yet cool. It felt like… metal. “What the hell?” I shuffled, my heart beat escalating with every second that passed. When I tried to stand up, pain exploded in my skull. I immediately ducked down, “Fucking shit.” Where was I? I rubbed my fingers over my scalp, soothing the pain as I struggled. I lifted my hands up, carefully and slowly. When the tips of my fingers met a cold surface, my heart dropped into a pit
8 ARIA Warmth seeped into my body, I sighed burying myself deeper into it, enjoying the way it warmed my body and soothed my chilled bones. I was covered in something soft and fluffy— it was so different than the metal box I had been caged in. Metal box? My muscles tightened as consciousness seeped back into me, making me aware of my surroundings. I wasn’t in the cold cage. Instead, when I peeked an eye open, I found myself covered in soft, warm and the fluffiest blankets that felt like clouds. If one could sit on clouds, I bet they’d feel the bliss I was feeling submerged under the weight of these fluffy blankets. Letting out a shaky breath, I pushed myself up, ignoring the ache that spread through my body like a wildfire. “Don’t.” I jerked in my place, gasping at the sudden intrusion. My head snapped towards it; eyes widened when I found a pair of vivid green eyes on me. The owner of the beautiful orbs-a woman just older than me stared back at me with wide eyes. “Don’t get
9ARIAThe mouth-watering aroma of food woke me up. My stomach growled in approval as I lifted myself up, blinking away the sleep from my eyes.The woman whose name I still didn’t know was pushing a trolly on my side of bed. She left it there and left before I could ask her what her name was.“Serve yourself.” She uttered when she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.My eyes went back to the trolly that was filled with all the food that would’ve made me drool. But when my eyes fell on a bowl of hot soup from which steam was rising, my mind flashed back to the past.The mansion was on fire, my friend was burning inside it. The chunks of flesh and blood painting the floor.My appetite evaporated, my mind spun and I looked away from the bowl of soup. I ignored the way my stomach begged for food and laid down, turning my back to the dinner that was sitting on the trolly.Gideon became the dinner of vicious dogs.My stomach churned, my heart ached as I closed my eyes and
10ARIAFool. Fool. Fool.I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth in anger. I was angry at myself. Where was my sanity? How could I not understand the signals Lina was sending me? The warnings. How could I be so careless?“Tell me.” I cringed, grimacing when he nipped at my earlobe.My body was rigid as wood and I was aware that he was naked. But so was I. His hard flesh was flush against mine.“Fabiano.” My voice came out breathless and raspy. Behind me, he groaned like he was in pain.“I missed you.” I froze, eyes widening at his admission. “I went crazy without you.”You’re already crazy, I wanted to scream.His hold tightened on me; his hand roamed over my belly. My legs were trembling, if not for his hold on me, I’d have fell down on my knees long ago.“So soft,” He muttered, his fingers reaching up to my breast. I stared down at the lean, tattooed fingers over my skin.I gulped audibly.Panic had me paralyzed, I wanted to scream and shout at him to move himself away from me but all
11ARIA“You haven’t been eating properly.” He jerked his chin at my body. I hid my surprise because I was preparing myself for his attack. I had thought that he was going to lunge at me and then…well!I blinked rapidly, shooing away the thoughts and focused on him.“Why haven’t you been eating?” I didn’t flinch when his hands landed on my waist as he held me.Because every time I looked at meat, all I could remember was my friend’s pained screams as the dogs ripped his flesh.Every time I saw the steam rising from a dish, my mind took me back to the night when he had burnt down the mansion and my friend.I couldn’t swallow more than a few bites without the food coming back up in my throat.“Where did you go?” I asked, ignoring his question. He didn’t appreciate it, his eyes flashed mercilessly as he bared his teeth at me.Feeling brave, I stood there, water rolling down my body as I stared up at him with a brow raised.His lips twitched; my eyes followed the little movement of his li
12ARIANo. It won’t be. I was already broken. I had seen myself like that. Broken. It was a very ugly sight. The ugliest.“The more you rebel, the crueler my punishments will become. If you test me, God help you Aria, I won’t control my demons. I’ll let them free and I’ll let them feast on you.”I let out a broken chuckle as I stared at him.“Your demons control you Fabiano.” I paused, “You never controlled them. THEY CONTROL YOU.”“Maybe. What about you then, Aria?”“What about me?”“What do you do with your demons?”“I fought them,” I leaned forward, staring into his eyes, “I survived them. I control them. They don’t control me.”His lips twitched at my comments but he didn’t say anything.“You said everything breaks, didn’t you?” He nodded at me.I palmed his cheek, rubbing my thumb over his slight stubble, feeling the roughness under my skin, enjoying the way his eyes grew cautious as if he was afraid of me. He wasn’t. I knew he wasn’t afraid of anything.“You can break too then.