Page 57 of Unwritten Vows
Liza
It might be a dream, so I say his name cautiously, too focused on how the light plays off his skin. It’s hard to tell if he’s scared, or angry, or anything, really. He’s got his false mask on, and he can trick anyone with that.
That must be how he got in here. Why shouldn’t he be here? Because it’s dangerous. I know it’s dangerous, and I’m scared as hell, even though I have only fragments of memories.
He holds still, looking at me out of the corner of his eye, talking to the man who sexually assaulted me earlier through barely moving lips and gritted teeth. “What the fuck, man?” he asks, as if he’s surprised, although again, no emotion registers on his face.
That’s when I realize that the man has a knife in his hand and is slowly dipping the tip further into Derrick's chin. Blood runs down his neck in rivulets.
“Stop that!” I say, suddenly realizing I’m trapped by the disgusting white sheets around my body.
I’m freezing cold; I feel like the cold is coming from inside of my body and radiating out instead of the other way around.
Drugs . I remember the shot and feel the pain now, looking over to see a roadmap of angry red marks on my right arm.
I’m so clumsy, my limbs so heavy, that I can’t even move the sheet. I feel like I’m trapped. As I focus on getting just one arm free, the man who took me speaks again.
“It’s just some extra insurance that you don’t get too fuckin preoccupied with Instagram, other leaders, some shit like that.
Most of the guys who have fucked with me have this same mark.
The fish hook. It’s a nice way to identify them.
Doesn’t look so great, and it’ll give that charming little face of yours a nice, hard edge to it.
And no cheating. Everyone who works with us lets it heal on its own.
Princess Andreeva here might not like it, though.
She might not like her pretty prince to be scarred—”
I’m not fully following all of the words he’s saying, but lucky for everyone, he stops talking when the man holding Derrick’s other arm gets shot in the head, his brain exploding all over us like a popped watermelon.
I feel it in my face and my hair, and there’s no way to even wipe it off with my arms pinned under the sheet like they are.
The man with the knife slips, and with it, his hand moves harshly up across Derrick’s face.
I watch as the gauge in his face gets deeper and wider than before.
Derrick stands up in a rage, taking the man’s throat in his hand and giving a guttural cry.
He bends the man’s head back by his hair and pushes into his neck with his fingers.
He doesn’t seem to care much about the bullets flying around us.
He’s single minded, with a vicious, bloodthirsty look in his eyes that I don’t think I’ve ever seen.
“That wasn’t nice, and you’re in so much trouble now. My guys are finally fucking here, without a word from security, which is a nice touch. They’re stealthy as fuck. Too bad for you and this guy over here.” He nods to the dead man with an exploded head right beside him.
“What’s happening?” I ask, breaking through my frozen haze.
Derrick looks at me, face covered in blood, eyes swirling with rage, and everything seems to cool. I thaw and he melts. He seems to forget completely about the man at his mercy, whose life is being choked out before my very eyes.
“I’m saving you,”he says simply, maybe even a little uncertainly, even though he’s clearly prevailing in his current undertaking.
I feel tears form in my eyes, staring back at him with hope. “You are. Even though I didn’t think you would.”
He sighs out harshly, gritting his teeth together at my words. The man’s eyes bulge even further out of his head as Derrick squeezes harder. “I’m sure you didn’t. I’ve been a shitty fiance.”
He presses harder on the throat of the man he’s holding, but the man reaches for his own gun.
Derrick knees him in the balls and he drops it as another man goes down beside us.
Just like that, silence fills the room. Derrick holds the man up before his face and speaks directly to him, eye to eye.
“There’s not much more to do here. My guys have infiltrated fully now, and I think they know that you’re mine to kill, you little fucker. ”
He then grabs the man’s knife and holds his purple, bloated face in front of mine. “You’ve been very fucking impolite to this good, beautiful woman. Say you’re sorry.”
I might not remember everything, but something in my body does, because it recoils immediately. I’m disgusted to have this man’s face so close.
Derrick doesn’t seem to notice as he runs the knife down the man’s lip.
I don’t hate the part when this man who kidnapped me, drugged me, and did god knows what else to me, moves his mouth voicelessly.
I hate it even less when Derrick moves the knife down to his chin, carving out a second fish hook as he pushes the apology through broken vocal chords.
“Not sure she heard you, fuckface. Here, I’ll make it easier for you.” Derrick takes his hand from the man’s throat and puts the knife there instead, pushing in so hard that a thick stream of blood starts pouring out. “Say it again.”
“I’m—I’m sorry, just don’t fucking kill me, we can make a deal.”
“What are you sorry for?” He asks, as if with mild curiosity, as he moves the sharp knife to the man’s nose and begins sawing it off his face.
Although this piece of shit probably deserves it, it’s far too vivid for me, and I feel nausea rising in the back of my throat.
I gag at the sound of the cartilage crunching, but Derrick lets out a satisfied sigh.
“Are you sorry for demeaning my Little Bunny? For trying to extinguish the light of such a perfect, rare creature because you’ve never been able to touch one without drugging them first? ”
Hearing the nickname he has for me in English finally causes my tears to start flowing.
There’s fear in the man’s eyes as he nods, but although he cries in pain, the noises are nothing but whispers. Derrick is nearly through sawing his nose off when he finally looks at me. He looks surprised, as if he had forgotten I was there. “Liza, are you okay?”
Obviously I’m not physically okay, but I’m also not emotionally okay. I feel sick, and I’m shivering now for more reasons than the drugs that are slowly leaving my system. “Derrick,” I breathe out. “Just kill him. Please.”
“Wait, wait, I can get you whatever you want! Once Edoardo gets out-”
“He’s never getting out of there, you fuck. I’m gonna make sure of it.” There’s a wet squelch as Derrick crushes his windpipe and he dies instantly.