Page 16 of Crescendo

He growls, unsatisfied. Once again, I’ve done it wrong; the words came out too breathlessly.

“Say it again.” Another blow.

“I—” My teeth clatter together when he hits me again, unexpectedly hard. A real moan drips out onto the bedspread before I can smother it. Without even having to look, I know he broke the skin. Raw agony sears through flesh and muscle. “I...” I fight to suck in enough air. “I n-need you.”

“Damn right, you do.” He hits me again, the force unrestrained.

The resounding thud echoes in my bones. My entire body jerks when he strikes again. Again. He’s grunting with the effort, bracing his other hand on the small of my back so that I can’t wiggle away—not that I try.

I float beyond the pain and just listen. The sound my bow makes whenever it connects is almost beautiful. A violent, staccato rhythm that would sound lovely when paired with a few notes from my cello. Something low and haunting, in G-major. I can almost hum it—it sounds so real.Da da. Da dum...da da...

“Look at me.” Snapping me from the melody, Vinny grabs my collar again and flips me over.

I can’t smother a groan that breaks loose when I land faceup on the mattress. My backside is on fire. Vinny staggers back at the sound, his nostrils flaring—but he’s not ashamed. He breathesin my fear like it’s a potent narcotic. It fills him with every deep, heavy breath he takes until he’s drunk on me.

“Do you know how much I’ve done for you to scoff at that fucking ring?” He jerks his chin toward my hand.

A part of me wonders if he’ll go get his knife and cut the offending digit off. Maybe he’ll take the whole hand—both of them. Fervent desperation flares up so sharply that I have to squeeze my eyes shut against it. Maybe this time he’ll lose his mind and kill me in the process.God, please...

Let him do it.

“Look at me, Daniela.”

I obey, but my eyes are painfully dry. It hurts to keep them open like this, but I don’t dare close them for a second. I don’t even blink.

“Do you?” he questions. “Do you understand everything I’ve given up for you?”

I don’t answer, and not expecting one, Vinny stalks forward. I don’t react when he bends over me and harshly undoes the clasp to my skirt. With one hand, he yanks it down while the other wrenches at my blouse. I’m not wearing a bra underneath, and my breasts are bared. So is the message he himself etched into my torso.

He inhales sharply when he sees it, and his eyes shoot black. “You are mine,Mi Bella,” he breathes out while his thumb traces one of the letters, smearing his possession into my skin. “Mine.”

The hand that attacked my skirt moves over to his waist. He tugs impatiently at the buckle of his belt, and something inside me goes numb. Dies. His ring becomes a lead weight. Is this therealreason why he wanted me to wear it? Can he justify “spoiling” his promised fiancée more than he can his pure, perfect, virginal Lynn?

I can see him wrestling with the decision as he lets his pants fall down to his ankles. He observes me carefully while twisting his fingers around the waistband of his boxers. I hold my breathwhen he tugs them down his legs, revealing toned hips. There’s a tattoo etched into the skin of his left thigh. The shadows of the room obscure the script, but my mind fills in from memory.Victory.

“Look at me.”

I do. My eyes are glued to him. He looks ghoulish in the dim light spilling in from my window. When did it get so late? The moment the thought crosses my mind, my fingers throb. How long did I really play? How long was that man tortured? How long?

“Is this why you don’t want to marry me?” he wonders, his voice dangerously soft as he gestures to my body with a wave of his hand. “Are you afraid?”

He palms his cock with one hand...but I don’t look. I eye the ceiling instead, counting the flourishes in the speckled ceiling.One. Two.

“Answer me, Daniela.”

Threefourfivesixseven—

“Look at me, damn it.”

My neck cranes down slowly. It seems even darker than it did seconds ago. Vinny is a specter standing at the foot of my bed, formed of shadow—my nightmare come to life, getting off at the sight of my pain. The veins in his neck pop while his right shoulder pumps up and down...

“Don’t you know how much I love you?”

“Yes, Vinny,” I chant on cue.Please don’t. Please.

“I love you, Lynn.” He takes a step forward...and then he lashes out, grabbing the woman who’s pressed herself against the wall instead.

She doesn’t shout when he wrestles her to the floor and tugs at her neat blouse. He strips her torso bare, leaving her in nothing but a bra while he positions her on her hands and knees.