Shattered Dreams

Isadora

"One night with me would change your life."

My stepbrother's rancid, alcohol breath wafted over my face, and the look in his eyes made me shudder with revulsion.

"Get away from me," I cried, trying to push him off, but he weighed twice my weight not to mention that he got aggressively strong when he was drunk.

"Don't be a goody two shoes," his hand reached out and began to creep up my thighs, "Aren't you tired of living like a pathetic slave? If you submit to me, you could_"

His words ended with a howl of pain as I raised my knee and connected it sharply with his groin. Georgio staggered back, screaming like a little girl, his green eyes filling with tears.

"You bitch!" He roared.

"One of us is screaming like a bitch right now, and it isn't me," I spat.

Just as I made to turn around and flee as fast as I could, his hand shot out and grabbed the loose material of my dress, yanking me backward. I let out a pained cry as I was flung into the wall, my head knocking into the concrete.

"I'm going to kill you today," he roared, stomping toward me.

Just as he raised his beefy hand in the air, my stepmother's voice rang out around the room, "Georgio, stop that at once!"

My head shot up to see Giuliana Marino gliding into the room. Once upon a time, she had been married to my father, but it had only taken her three days after his death to announce her engagement to Uncle Franklin.

"You don't know what she did," he snapped, "She tried to kill me."

I swallowed back my protest, knowing that it wouldn't do me any good. My stepmother would never pick my side over her precious son's.

"Get up," she ordered, staring down at me with hatred.

I climbed to my feet, my gaze fixed to the floor to hide the fury burning in my gaze. Three more days until I could make my escape from this living hell, and I'd never have to see the Marinos ever again in my life.

My freedom was a piece of paper lying under the loose floorboards in my attic bedroom. And in just three days, the scholarship money would be paid into the secret account I had created a few months ago.

Freedom was just an inch away from me and I could almost touch it.

Next thing I felt was a burning sting against the side of my face, followed by a ringing in my ears.

"Insolent brat," she said, "You think you can touch my son and get away with it? I would have killed you with my own bare hands a long time ago if I could."

Tears beaded my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to show any ounce of weakness to them, "He tried to_"

"Shut up!" She barked, cutting me off, "You should be grateful that he even showed interest in a useless thing like you. Georgio has hundreds of women throwing themselves at him everyday, and you think you're too good for him?"

My gaze shifted to the fat, red faced young man staring at me smugly from behind his mother. He was taller than my five feet four with only a few inches, and the first thing you noticed when you looked at him was the rolls of fat around his torso. My stepbrother looked like a worm, and only a girl with no sense of smell, sight and sound could ever consider him.

"I've been waiting for the day when I could finally get rid of you for good," she continued, eyes narrowing, "And it seems that day has arrived."

My eyes went wide, shock rocking through me, "Wh-what do you mean by that?"

Her painted red lips curled up at one corner in a smug smirk, "Oh haven't you heard?" She chuckled, "We've finally found someone that's desperate enough to buy you off our hands."

My fingers curled into fists, "I'm not cattle. You can't just sell me!"

Giuliana's smile only widened, "On the contrary, I can do whatever I want with you. You think you are a human with human rights? Well, you're wrong. You're nothing but a piece of property, to be used, bought and sold as one sees fit."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "How much did you buy me for? I'll pay everything back."

This time around, her useless son joined in her laughter. The sound caused something inside of me to clench with distaste.

"I hope that was a joke," she finally said, "even if you spend your whole life working from sun up to sun down, you would never be able to pay back eight million dollars."

The sum made me stagger back unexpectedly and I gaped at her in disbelief, "You're lying," I hissed.

Her mouth curled up into a sneer and I knew what was coming even before the slap landed on my other cheek, harder and more brutal than the previous one.

"Watch your mouth, rat," My stepmother snarled, "Who are you calling a liar? You think I would ever waste my time fabricating stories for you?"

"I-I_" my words trailed off as I stared at them helplessly.

"Tomorrow, your new owner will come to take you away, and you can spend the rest of your short, pathetic life spreading your legs for that monster."

I gulped, "Who?"

"Dimitri Romanov," she informed me.

All the blood in my head drained away, leaving me feeling dizzy and sick. No. It was impossible. How could they sell me to the most dangerous Russian Don?

"I'm not going to marry that heartless beast!" I screamed, "I don't care how much he paid for me. Marrying that man is a suicide mission. I won't do it."

I was expecting another slap, what I didn't expect was for my stepmother to smirk at me and then hold out a piece of paper between us.

"Do you think you have a choice because of this?" She asked coldly.

I stared at my scholarship letter in her hands and felt my stomach sink.