Chapter 62: Chapter 62

Chapter 62:

Tatiana’s P.O.V

I was woken up from my nightmare by someone throwing ice cold water on my face.

I blinked and opened my eyes but my vision was blurred. What was wrong? Why was my head hurting so much? Why couldn’t I reach for my head? My hands felt like they were tied behind my back in an uncomfortable position.

The pounding in my head increased with every breath I took until it was almost unbearable. Something must be wrong! Why couldn’t I see properly? All I saw was through a red haze.

And then, almost like a lightning bolt had hit me, I remembered exactly what had happened. Connor, my ex-boyfriend and abuser was here in my apartment and he had been waiting for me to show up. I’d tried to run as soon as I’d seen him sitting on my bed with a knife in his hand, but he had been faster and he’d caught hold of my hair and given me a hard shove where I’d fallen face first on the ground, hitting a table on my way down and injuring my head. I must have passed out after that since I didn’t remember anything else.

I raised my head and looked around groggily, my vision still wasn't clear but I could tell I was still inside my house. Even through the haze I could realize that I was sitting next to my dining table, on one of the chairs that were around my counter...and someone was standing right in front of me.

Connor.

Just the thought of him made a jolt of panic run through my body and I began to struggle in my chair, trying to get free from the binds on my hands and legs, but it was next to impossible. All I achieved from the struggling was getting rope burns on my wrist.

“Relax, sweetheart.” Connor’s calm voice came almost near my ear, making me whimper in fear. “I haven’t even started on you yet and you’re already panicking. What will happen to you when I’m done with you?”

Without warning, he stabbed a knife through my leg, a few inches above my knee and the pain was instant and blinding. A scream tore through my throat as my mind went numb from pain, threatening to take me under once again.

“That’s it! Scream!” He laughed. “Scream louder, you whore!”

And then he twisted the knife inside my leg, making me scream louder. Blood poured down my leg in gushes and the pain almost made my eyes roll back in my head, but I stayed conscious with all the strength I had left. I couldn’t faint, no matter how unbearable the pain. There was no telling what he would do to me if I fainted. I wasn't going to die like this! Not today and definitely not by his hands.

Then, just as suddenly as he had stabbed me with his knife, he removed it with one swift tug. I yelped and cursed as my leg throbbed; the only thing I could hope for was getting out alive. I panted, my throat felt raw and my head was killing me. Connor stepped back and watched as I struggled with the ropes helplessly. I knew I had blood in my eyes from my head wound, but when tears started streaming down my face, it helped clear away some of the blood so that part of my vision returned.

Connor looked horrible. His hair was greasy and he had a lot of overgrown facial hair. He was wearing a black hoodie with black pants so that no one could recognise him. But the worst part about him was, his face was covered in bruises, dark purple one and some faded yellow ones that meant that his time in prison hadn’t been pretty at all. Good, I cursed vehemently. He deserved everything that had happened to him. I hadn’t done anything wrong, at least not wrong enough to get abused for it.

“Like what you see, bitch?” Connor spoke through gritted teeth before kneeling in front of me with the knife in his hand. He smiled when I shrunk back in the chair on a whimper. “There are all kinds of bastards in jail, did you know that? Some people were there because they had forced themselves on a woman, some because they had killed. And I thought; why was I with them if I hadn’t done any of those things?”

He placed his free hand on the knee of my uninjured leg and slowly, began to move his hands up my leg. “You’ve denied me so much, little whore. And yet, you go and fuck that bastard! The brother of the man who threw me in prison!”

Connor rose up from his crouch and grabbed on to my neck, making me jolt back in shock and a fresh wave of pain shot up my leg. I cried out in pain but this time, he wasn't amused. A slap across my face proved just how angry he was as my head whipped to the side and I tasted the saltiness of iron in my mouth as my lip split open.

“Shut up, you whore!” He screamed in my face. “I’ve had enough of your whining and crying! It’s because of you that my life is ruined! Did you know that Clarissa won’t even look at me after she found out I was thrown in prison? She was the richest bitch I’ve ever fucked and now I won’t even have her money because of you!”

The realization stung worse than the pain did. I had known something was wrong even when I was in a relationship with Connor, but to find out that he had been unfaithful to me even when he was with me? It hurt. It hurt more than I wanted to admit.

“She wasn't pretty and it made it so easy for me to get into her head. And then there was endless amount of cash.” Connor said almost gleefully. “But you had all the looks. So I couldn’t leave you either. It was fun watching you getting all worked up, knowing that you’d do anything to make me stay. But in the end, Clarissa’s cash helped me to follow you to Hawaii, and then I followed you back, so I could take care of you once and for all.”

Why me? I wanted to scream. Why did I have to be the one to punished this way? What had I done wrong? I was being tortured, hurt by Connor over and over again and no one ever realized it. Why didn’t my friends come to help me? Did anyone ever care?

And then, as if the Gods had heard my prayer, the doorbell to my apartment rung once and then again as no one answered. Connor had frozen in front of me, like a deer caught in the headlight and I took the opportunity to scream ‘help’ at the top of my lungs, with whatever strength I could master.

My head pounded, my lungs burned, my lips bled and the numbness in my legs increased, but nothing could stop the flood of relief that I felt in my veins when I heard Damien’s voice from the other side of the door, screaming my name.

“You bitch!”

This time the stab was in my shoulder, hard and fast. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. The shock and the pain trapped the scream in my throat and I saw black spots dancing in my vision.

I don’t know what happened next as the blackness consumed me, but I vaguely remembered the sound of the door being knocked off its hinges and Damien’s voice calling my name.

And then the bliss of darkness.