Finally free?

Sofia’s POV

“You stupid bitch.”

A slap resounded throughout the walls of the room, and I stumbled back to the floor, nearly hitting myself on the nearby wall. A cry tore through my throat as I raised a hand to my defense, knowing what was coming next. Rounds of slaps rained on me, and then a final kick to my guts that threatened to make me lose the dinner I had earlier.

“Please, Alessandro. I am sorry.” I sobbed out, still trying to shield myself from him.

He was unpredictable. I didn’t know the next time he was going to punch me or kick me like I was a freaking punching bag. I have at least three cuts and five bruises throughout my body from the beatings of this week alone. Yet, the bastard still expected me to conceal them when we were out in public.

Alessandro was one of the biggest figures in this town. He was a drug lord, disguised as a businessman who is known throughout the city to be a charitable man that takes out a fat share from his pockets to give out to the needy. He was the perfect man to the outside world, and with every perfect man, a perfect woman by his side was expected.

My stepfather who also detested me for no damn reason sold me to Alessandro when I was merely eighteen. He had been absent in my life since I was a kid and when he remembered that I was mature enough, he sold me to one of his allies to develop a better relationship with him. 

My stepfather had left me in the care of nannies all my life. I didn’t know much about my mother, or if I had siblings. I never got comfortable enough to ask him that. When he got me married to Alessandro, he told me that it was to settle a debt. For my sanity, I didn’t like to think of it that way. To think of myself as just a good that was used as a transaction when it became necessary.

“This is the last time I am ever going to say this to you,” Alessandro knelt to my level, then fisted a handful of my hair. I winced as I stared into his cold, heartless beautiful eyes that tormented me even in my sleep. “You are to smile like a fucking doll with the confidence of a mannequin. If you risk anyone seeing over your façade then I am going to kill you. Do you understand me?” He spat.

I nodded, “Yes.” I whimpered, my voice trembling.

“Good girl,” he said as he stood up to his feet. “Now, get up. Fix your body and let’s go out and enjoy the rest of the fundraiser.”

I got up to my feet also, slightly wincing from my aching ankle. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. No amount of makeup could conceal the darkness and emptiness in my eyes. I had a visible bruise from the slap and I didn’t have any makeup with me to conceal it, so I ruffled my hair to cover most of my face.

I looked ridiculous, but it didn’t matter because it did the trick of covering it up. It wasn’t worth having my bruised face in the news, and then having Alessandro probably assaulting and beating me to death because of it. I wouldn’t have anyone to run to for safety, either. My stepfather was the only person I knew in this city, and he would rather die than to get in the crosshairs of a powerful drug lord like Alessandro.

When I finished, I didn’t wait for him to round up whatever business he was doing in the room upstairs. I went down to the banquet hall where the annual fundraiser in the city was going on. All the major rich men in the city gathered here to raise funds for the less privileged. The main aim, however, was to compete on who was richer so as to appear on the front page of the daily newspaper and gain more publicity. 

I strolled around the hall that had started to suffocate me. I wanted space to cry and to inhale a little bit of fresh air. This hall made no room for that. The smell of their expensive perfumes and their expression of happiness all made me want to cry out in frustration. It felt like a mockery to the sad excuse of a life I had. I needed to leave this place. I looked around the hall, from where Alessandro’s private room was, and it was still locked. He wasn’t out yet.

Just like most of the properties in this city that he owned, Alessandro usually had a room inside. I didn’t know if it was for sneaking women in during events or for something more sinister, but I didn’t care. I tried to leave myself out of his business because ignorance was always better when it came to the kind of life he lives. It didn’t matter that I was his wife. To him, I was a useless punching bag that was given to him as payment for whatever deal he had with my stepfather.

There were bodyguards around, but it wasn’t a problem because I mastered the art of sneaking. I ruffled my hair more, making sure my face wasn’t visible and I wasn’t attracting too much attention to myself. I waited as people kept swarming into the hall, every one of them dressed to perfection, and not a single bruise was in sight. It nearly made me scoff in jealousy.

I always wondered what it would be like to have a life like that. I pushed the thought to the back of my head as I started to study the people swarming into the hall and those leaving. When the perfect chance came and the guards weren’t looking, I slipped outside the hall. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I sped-walked towards a corner outside of the hall. There weren’t many spaces where I could linger before I slipped outside to get some fresh air away from this, so I needed to be fast.

“Hey!” A voice called out behind me, and I was quick to recognize the voice. It was the voice of Alessandro’s chief guard, who I wouldn’t be shocked was made to watch me today. “Mrs. Moretti. Wait up, please.” He called out again.

I pushed through the crowd, my chest heaving up and down in trepidation. I couldn’t allow him to catch me. If he did, he was going to take me to Alessandro and then I would be dead, technically. He would shred my meat when his guard tells him that I am planning to run away, because that was exactly what it looked like.

With the fear that was still coursing through my veins, I managed to push through all of the crowd that was getting into the hall, and slipped into the car park. I got inside, and my heart nearly fell to my stomach at the sight of it. It was a dead end. He was going to thwart me, and then take me back to my grave.

No. I couldn’t risk it. I threaded through the parking space as I struggled to find a space I could fit my body in. I couldn’t get under the cars. A valet could crush my body, and the guard wasn’t stupid. There was a reason he was hired to guard a powerful man like Alessandro.

Panic rose in my throat as I heard his voice getting closer. He was reaching into the car park and he probably saw me getting into this place. I needed to act fast. I tried to calm my breathing to think logically. I looked around the array of cars, thinking of a way out of this mess. Just then, the side of my eye caught something that I shouldn’t even be considering.

The boot of a car was slightly open, probably left like that in a rush. My brain was yelling at me to not make that decision. The person that owned the car might be a serial killer or worse, they could be allies with Alessandro. I didn’t want to put myself at that kind of risk. But as I heard the guard’s footsteps coming closer, his voice deep and calm as he addressed me intimidatingly with my first name, I knew I had to take the damn risk.

I sneaked to the car and got into the boot, then curled myself and closed it up. I waited for a while as I heard the guard’s voice get closer and closer, like he was right before me. Then, I heard some other voices around me. There were two men, and they were speaking in hushed tones. I sighed in relief when I didn’t hear the guard's voice anymore, but then choked out when I heard the car beep and the men got in.

A second later, the ignition roared to life, and the person behind the wheels didn’t waste time before he began to drive. I tried to push open the boot, but it was closed. No, no, no. Panic paralyzed my lips as I tried to yell out for help, but the sound of the roaring engine drowned out my voice. It terrified me beyond comprehension that I was in a car with two strange men who, all I could know, were worse than Alessandro.

What the hell have I just done?