Page 25

Is this how my night is going to end? Being raped.
He was suddenly taken from me, and I gasped for air. The fight started when the music got louder and louder. Everyone was watching. I was tripping over my feet, and my clumsy hands ended up on my cheeks.
Sebastian was hitting him, and before he stood up, he hit Gary in the face one last time.
“Don’t ever touch her again or any other girl.” He stomped on his ribs, and I could hear them breaking. Gary was bleeding on the floor, and everyone else was drunk but still looked scared of Sebastian.
Sebastian turned back to me and grabbed my shoulders. “I think someone…Maya.” I said. “I need to find Maya…” I pulled away from his hands and tried to walk, but my legs were giving up on me.
“Caleb has her,” he said as he picked me up and I rested my head on his chest.
“Why did you leave? Why did you stab me?” I cried softly. I was losing my train of thought because I was feeling so many things at once.
“Go to sleep, Aria.”
“I’m sorry, my little pumpkin,” he whispers in my ear, thinking I was sound asleep.
I woke up in my bed, and I was home again. I thought about last night, when I almost got raped and Sebastian beat up the guy who almost raped me. I sat up and put on my sheep pyjamas. Did he make me different?
“Don’t worry, I didn’t change you.”
I turned my head to see where the voice was coming from. Sebastian was lying on my couch with a blanket around him. He slept in my room and watched me.
How sweet, f*****g a*s
Sebastian says, “His name is Larry Johnson, and he’s a s*x trafficker. When he’s out with his brother Justin Johnson, he goes by the name Gary to trick young girls, then he kidnaps them and rapes them.”
I was shocked. The barman didn’t look like his brother or a s*x trafficker, and he didn’t look like a pervert. This is why I don’t like redheads; they’re the worst.
“He didn’t look like it,” I said quietly.
Sebastian yells, “You could have been kidnapped, raped, or killed. You put yourself in danger last night.”
I’m angry inside. How could he? Doesn’t he know that just loving him and knowing him puts me in danger every day? Because of him, I’m always in danger. I pulled the blanket off of me, got up, and walked over to him.
“Don’t you dare act like you care,” I yelled. “We both know you don’t care about me at all.”
Sebastian laughed in a way that made me feel uneasy. There was something scary about this laugh that made my stomach turn. He had me pinned against the wall with his fist inside the wall in a flash.
I gasped.
I wasn’t scared of him; I was angrier than ever. This man in front of me is the most hated person I’ve ever met.
“You’re a murderer; you killed your own family; you’re nothing but a lonely bastard, and you’ll always be one.” I screamed at the end, “I’m tired of living like this; I can’t do it anymore.”
“You don’t know anything about family,” he whispers harshly. “Come on, your father left you because he didn’t want you. No one does.”
I felt nothing but betrayal right now; his harsh words made me doubt everything about myself.
“I wish you had died,” I yelled. He quickly realised what he had said and his eyes filled with regret right away.
He moved closer to me and tried to touch my arm, but I pulled away, hard. I looked out the window, which was the only thing that could take my mind off of things.
“I—” His words faded away, and guilt filled his body like it had before.
“Leave,” I yell angrily.
He was going to say something before he gave up. He ran his hand over his new beard, then he turned sharply to the right and left the room, slamming the door behind him. After he left, I cried so hard that my body shook with pain.
I slowly made my way to the mirror, afraid to look at myself and see how badly he had hurt me mentally.
I am so dumb.
Tears were running down my neck and onto my shirt, making me cold.
Maya opened the door to my room and skipped over to me until she saw that I was crying.
“He’s a f*****g d**k for making you cry.” She hugs me and I put my head between her neck and shoulder.
“Did he send you?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “There’s a business event tonight. Everyone who runs a cartel will be there, including your dad and Henry.” She told me.
“Sebastian told me to help you get ready because you’re going out with him tonight.”
“Henry…” I said his name softly. I missed him so much. He’s not just my fiancé; he’s also my friend.
“Maybe they can take you home,” she says.
I softly shake my head from side to side. Sebastian said they wouldn’t be able to, even if they tried. He said he’d have to wait a month and a month. Not me, my dad, or Henry can do anything. He’s in charge.
She just looked down, and the little bit of hope she had was gone. I know she felt bad for me, but I couldn’t comfort her because that’s how I feel every day.
It was hard to get ready; I felt numb to everything. Maya kept trying to make me feel better, but it didn’t work. I thought I shouldn’t be alive or even breathing.
I’m hurting my mum for that piece of shit, that thing that calls itself a man but is really just a little boy.
Before I met him, I was Aria Callahan. Caleb’s betrayal broke me, but I put myself back together piece by piece and got stronger. Now, though, that’s all gone.
My mom wanted happiness and love, but she couldn’t have them because I was so selfish. I was so desperate for someone to love me that I’m hurting everyone around me as I try to make it happen. Henry picked up the pieces and tried to put them back together with new ones. I just cheated on him for the devil.
Sebastian chose a long, pretty, white dress for me to wear tonight. It made me think of the dress I wore when I first met him.
I whispered, “I can’t wear this,” and put the white dress back on my dresser. Maya stood back and looked at me.
I looked through my closet for another dress, but I couldn’t find one.
“Put it—”
“I don’t want to wear that white dress.” I cut her off in the middle of her sentence, and she nodded. It made me think of a lot of old memories that I didn’t want to remember. “Stay here,” I said to her.
I pulled my robe tightly around me and opened the door. I walked down the hall to find a room that wasn’t being used. I found Sebastian’s office, where I did my wrong and where it all began. I ran my fingers over the wall, and the pattern has always stood out to me.
I never saw this before; there was a door hidden in the pattern.
I didn’t feel this when he was banging me against the wall. To be fair, I didn’t feel anything after that.
I was interested in this room, but the door knob was missing. What could the great Sebastian Devereux be hiding behind this door?
What if something came to mind?
I kicked the door and broke it. I poked it one last time before it broke all the way open.
Damn, do you think he’ll notice? No kidding