Chapter 51

Chiara

The soft sounds of clinking glass and the sensation of something cold and sticky on my neck are what rouse me from sleep. It’s from the same spot that Alessio bit from last night too. It’s quite strange.

Confused, I open my eyes and try to look around, but my eyes get seared by this too-bright overhead light that feels like it came straight out of a surgeon’s operating room. Pure alarm jolts through my body and I immediately sit up, only to be nearly brought back down by the sudden onset of vertigo.

I put my hand over my eyes to shield myself from the glaring light, blinking hard and looking at my surroundings.

I’m not in Alessio’s cabin anymore. I’m lying down on a metal table with a blanket wrapped over my body, stained with a pungent black liquid. I want to kick it off me, but I’m buck-naked under it.

My heart is already beating really fast, but what accelerates even more is when I see where I am. A basement of some sort, the concrete walls barely visible behind the shelves