ERICAMy knees bounced as my anxiety started to get worse while I sat there at the end of the bed, looking around myself feeling alone like I was in a well, forgotten and helpless. Thor got tired of my agitation, at least that’s what I think was the reason for him to go sit near the windows. But I couldn’t help it as no matter how much I tried to think of something else my thoughts circled back to what Mac had said to me, and my body buzzed with an unfamiliar energy as my mind conjured up all the unwanted stuff that must be happening back at home. The emails. The threats. Antonio’s ultimatum. And my sister... Fuck. Gabe and Summer must be devastated from the miscarriage. And I was here wondering about how I could keep Antonio for myself. Having the time of my life with him despite knowing how hungry he was for revenge. Unknowingly I had become so selfish, looking forward to an impossible future, that I forgot about everything else.I stood up and had to stop for a moment as black dot
ERICAIt was loud enough. The cracks that formed in my heart and how it started tobreak into pieces as I opened the next email.There was another picture of me. It was edited in such a way that it highlighted my hands with a bandage and my back to be specific, with red lines that looked horrible and blood smeared on theside of my arse cheek. The picture in itself looked horrific, like someone was beaten so severely. My whole back looked like any moment it’d start bleeding and while I knew that wasn’t the case, sobs started to pour out of me to think that my sister saw this and Gabe saw this. They must’ve been so scared for me, and Antonio’s words accompanied with these pictures were cruel and heartless. The way he described what he did and what he would do if Gabriel didn’t surrender himself.
ANTONIO“What's going on with you?” I looked up at Ephraim, arching a dark brow at him like I didn’t know what he was talking about. He said, “It’s the fourth time you’re checking the time on your watch.”“Nothing.”“You can tell me. It’s obviously something about Erica, right?” “Not per se about Erica, but I didn’t like how Gianna was behaving with her. I know her, she’s my daughter. And, as much as she was smiling and was sweetly behaving toward Erica, I don’t trust her. I’m just afraid she doesn’t cross the line.”“Do you want me to call Mario and get an update from him?” He asked, pulling out his phone from his pocket.“Leave it. We will be there soon enough.”Ephraim shook his head and muttered, “I’ll just do it. You are too tense.”I couldn’t explain it but since we left the factory site, I have got this bad feeling for some reason. And I have this urge to go back to the castle and have my little devil in my arms, look at her beautiful face. I focused back on Ephraim and notice
ANTONIO “Erica!!” I dropped down on my knees, every cell in my body screaming at the scene in front of me. It was like someone pulled out a worst nightmare and made it a reality. “No. What did you do!!??” Fear escalated inside me, poisoning my heart as I took her in. My heart cried. My little devil. This couldn’t be happening. I have already lost enough, suffered enough, but this would end me. Her face was ashen, her lips blue and there was a thin line of white foam dripping down her chin from the corner of her mouth. It was a nightmare that never even imagined will come into existence as I realised that her chest wasn’t moving.“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Ephraim cursed as he came up behind me. With sheer determination I pushed terror away and took a shuddering breath, trying not to fûcking lose it. Because she needed me right now. I turned to Ephraim, noticing Gianna and Mario entering the bedroom behind him. I said, “Take them downstairs. Call the chopper. Now!”I didn’t wait as I focus
EPHRAIM If I had even a miniscule of a doubt about what they meant to each other, it vanished as I watched Antonio fussing over sleeping Erica. We were in a hospital since last seven hours. The dawn was about to break over the horizon but Antonio was still aggravated even after the doctors told him that she was out of danger and all her vitals were good. When we had reached the hospital, the female doctor hadn’t paid heed to Antonio as she had checked Erica like any other patient and told the nurses to wheel her into a public emergency room. I knew how close Antonio was to strangling the doctor in front of everyone so I had managed to stall him long enough to have Doctor Mackles— which was on a retainer for us, and was available whenever for whatever we needed from him, arrive at the premises. Doctor Mackles treated Erica, aware of Antonio’s reputation and how much the situation was affecting him— the way he vibrated with tense energy, he had taken his time and put her on ventilat
ANTONIO I don't want to lose her. Ephraim’s words were rattling around my mind and all I could think was that I don’t want to lose her. Even the thought made bitterness and a hollow feeling fill me up like one by one my organs would shut down if it became a possibility. And yet I still couldn’t come up with a solution. I knew Ephraim was right and I knew I made a mistake by sending these pictures and keeping her in the dark when I was moving forward with my plans. But the question remains, haunting me and poisoning my heart with guilt, how could I possibly let go of something that had driven me all these years. Let the killer of my sister live happily while she died so young? It would be equal to not only betraying her memory but the brother I was to her. And even if I managed to put my hatred of Gabriel Wolfe aside, if I laid my revenge to rest, will it solve our problems? Will Erica stop hating me for the pictures I shared with Gabriel? Will she forgive me for the betrayal? Wi
ERICA“Don’t touch me.” My voice was hoarse from the long hours I had been unconscious or asleep, but it was filled with enough steel that he paused. The nervous, unrelenting energy thrummed in my veins as I pushed away from him. There was this urgency to get away from him like if I stayed any longer with him, I’ll suffocate. He tried to touch me again like it was just an involuntary action and he couldn’t stop, but when I shot a disgusted glare at his hand he dropped it and said, “Okay. I am not touching you, but please, relax.” His voice was soothing, calm but it grated on my nerves which already felt frazzled with everything coming back to me in a rush, memories slamming back into me with a force of a bullet train. Heeld his hands back, a picture of surrender as he said, “Don’t...” He stopped when I didn't listen to him as I turned my back to him to slip out of the bed. There was this nameless force pushing me to get away from him, the betrayal that made my heart weep in agony w
ANTONIOErica refused to talk to me. After her outburst in the hospital, I had managed to control her and received many little scratches from her blunt nails. Her words still echoed in my brain and made my blood run cold. “I should've died. Why did you save me?” She had fought me and cried all the time until the doctor had come and given her medicine to calm her down.“It’s not something out of ordinary. Panic attacks are a norm after overdosing. Patients feel a little overwhelming with the effects of drugs still in their system and especially with someone who took them with the intention of commi—” At my hard glare the doctor had stopped and told me to keep an eye on her and to give her as much fluids as we can. And suggested that we should also consider a psychiatrist for her. She wasn’t fucking crazy, my little devil. Ephraim had saved the doctor’s face from being rearranged when he had pulled him out of the hospital room. But right now, I couldn't help but feel all the more guil