(Filippo Valentini)“You have to eat!” Renata exclaims again.“I'm not hungry.” I repeat for the fifth time without looking her in the eye.From the time we got home, the only thing I did was to take a shower and sit on the bed. I put my cell phone in the center of the mattress and didn't take my eyes off it for a second. It has been about three and a half hours that I have been in the same position, I am agonizingly waiting for news.“Filippo.” Renata calls me, sitting down next to me on the bed. “I know you are worried about your brother, I am too, but I need you to drink at least a glass of juice, I don't want you to faint from faintness, you have been more than six hours without eating. Please, can you do this for me?” I can feel the concern in his voice.I look away from the cell phone and look into her beautiful eyes, they are watery, you can see how much she is holding back from crying, I take a deep breath. I know that she is worried about me, and it is nice to feel that someo
(Renata Valentini)I grope to Filippo's side of the bed and don't find him, not strange, I never manage to wake up before him, even though I wake up at six in the morning. Yesterday I slept so well, Filippo kept cuddling me until sleep consumed me. I hope he was able to sleep too, I know well what he was feeling yesterday.I shake my head, I want to push away the saddest memories of my life, the death of my parents, right in front of me, I hate to remember that day.I stretch and get out of bed, with light steps I approach the bathroom, Filippo must be taking a shower by now. But I wonder if I don't hear the sound of the shower. I turn the knob and find the bathroom dark and empty, 'Is he in the kitchen?' I ask mentally and walk, I open all the doors in the corridor, but he is nowhere in the house.I run back to the bedroom and grab my cell phone on top of the nightstand, I dial his number, but it just says it's out of range, I feel my chest tighten. Today is still an ugly Thursday, I
(Renata Valentini)"- Live, in an abandoned shed, the bodies of two FBI agents were found, a man and a woman, we have no information on who the man is, he is disfigured, the woman has been identified as Camily Fox, head of the alpha team... One second... We just confirmed, three bodies were found, the third is of a woman identified as Veronica Lins, a civilian, she worked at the Computing Diamond company, she was butchered, her body parts were burned and..."My eyes flutter and I feel my spine freeze, a fearful chill runs through my entire body, I feel as if the air is thinning inside my lungs and I end up swallowing without chewing the cookie, which Amanda gave me after I calmed down from my crying fit on her lap, scratching my throat. The reporter's voice is muted in my ears, I can only hear the sound of my heart beating hard in my chest. Camily. The woman who was looking for Filippo is an FBI agent; Veronica is also dead... On the same day that Filippo left...“Renata?” I come out
(Renata Valentini)I can't stop crying, it's been a day since I found out that I am pregnant by the man who abandoned me and who is also most likely already married to another woman.It took me a week to accept that I was really abandoned. For seven long days, I called every five minutes, stopping only when the female voice on the line said that the number dialed did not exist. This was like a bucket of cold water in my head that insisted that he would come back, that he would explain himself and that we would continue together.At work, Sophie disappeared the day after the discussion in the boardroom. I asked Lucas, and he replied that she went back to her country with her husband. At lunchtime, without wanting to, I overheard some girls gossiping that the current president (Lucas) was having an affair with Sophie and that this was why he was so angry, because his mistress had left. I was shocked, I would never have imagined that a woman as gentle as she was would be capable of betra
(Renata Valentini)One week later:“Mi scusi!” - “Excuse me!”, I speak with my face burning with embarrassment and quickly close the door to the presidency.I really don't want to have seen that scene, my stomach turns, tears are burning in my eyes. On that table... in the same position that woman was in, two months ago I was too, and Filippo was between my legs as we kissed madly before we went to the meeting room.I sit on the chair at my desk, and lovingly caress my belly. I am now seven weeks pregnant and tomorrow will be the day I can hear my baby's little heartbeat, ah, I am so excited!Again, I feel my heart squeeze, Filippo will not be with me, he will not follow the development of our baby, nor meet him... I still miss Filippo, even though I have been abandoned, I really wanted to see him walk through that door, enter the President's office, sit in his chair and tell me: this is all just a bad dream. I wish so much that I could wake up and have him beside me; open the bathroo
(Renata Valentini)Although I feel like I have opened my eyes, it feels like I haven't, the darkness is so thick that the feeling is that I have gone blind. I get up from wherever I am, and my head throbs, it feels like no mammoths have walked over me. I feel the floor, it is soft and fluffy, I keep crawling and find the walls, they are the same texture as the floor, soft, fluffy and cold. With slow steps I walk until I find a corner of the wall and sit down, hugging my knees, I feel my eyes burning."Why am I here? What are they going to do to me?" - Fear cuts through my chest and tears fall like waterfalls, I don't know how long I slept, and I don't know where I am, I couldn't see the faces of the men who kidnapped me. My heart hurts so much. Before I blacked out, I begged Filippo to show up and save me one more time, but that won't happen, he won't show up for me, maybe he won't even remember my existence anymore.Realizing this hurts me, even though two months have passed, the pai
(Renata Pelegrini)“cough-cough!” I wake up feeling my face getting wet, the cold water has entered my nose. It stings.“I thought I would never wake up.” An unknown man's voice speaks near me, I open my eyes and see him with a bucket in his hand.“What do you want?” I ask in a weak voice, my whole body still aches.Yesterday, they came into the room where I was, and as soon as the door opened, I tried to run away, but before I could reach the door, I was punched so hard in the pit of my stomach that I felt the metallic taste in my mouth, I ended up vomiting too, and soon after I passed out on top of my vomit mixed with blood. And now, I wake up here, in a totally different place. “Behind that door is a bathroom, take a shower.” The man throws a towel and a dress on my face. “You have five minutes, if you don't leave, I'll come in and finish bathing you.”A horrifying shiver runs down my spine, even though I feel weak and a little dizzy, I get out of bed and with hurried steps foll
(Renata Pellegrini)“I gave your mother to me.” James asks with his hand outstretched.I have cried for so long that I have lost track since the time James left to answer the phone. I don't know if it has been minutes or hours, I am lying there hugging my legs, the tears still falling bitterly down my eyes. Amanda... Caio...did they report me missing?“I'm in a hurry!” He bristles angrily.James grabs my wrist forcing me to break my upper arm, my wrist burns with his grip, he slides down my finger a ring with a solitary stone in the center, I try to pull my hand away but he squeezes even tighter forcing me to remain still.“If you take the ring off, I will cut off your hand.” He threatens me and jumps my hand.I massage my wrist; my skin is burning.“Why did you put that thing on my finger?” I ask, my voice hoarse from crying.“To let everyone, know that you are now my bride.”“You fool! I'll never marry you!” I shout and at the same instant my face turns sharply to the side, my cheek