𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐓- 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎 - 𝟏𝟖+

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A N D R E A 

Something was wrong.

I couldn't feel Lorenzo's warm body around me. It wasn't that it was unusual for him to wake up before me. It was just that whenever I'd woken up in the middle of the night, he'd been here. And since he'd spent the better part of tonight buried inside me, I would expect that he'd be here.

I sat up against the headboard, only to realize it wasn't the same room I'd gone to sleep in. Somehow I was back in the hell I'd escaped from, and I was alone. Sure, it wasn't hell in a conventional way. I had food, and a warm bed to sleep in, except I could never be sure of Carlo's intentions.

One minute he was my friend, asking for forgiveness, the next minute he was begging me to love him, only to get angry when the reality washed over him. I was almost certain I had splintered glass in my veins because everything hurt and made me bleed in ways no one would see.

That was the least of my worries right now though.

I didn't know how I got here but I knew I had to get out. So I did what I knew best, rushed out of the bed I'd been in, and walked towards the room opposite the one I was in. My heart stilled as a chill passed through my spine when I heard Carlo's soft snores.

I didn't understand what was happening. It was all like looking at broken mirrors, each one showing a new fractured image of what was supposed to be my reality.

I rushed downstairs to find the cash and keys I'd saved up, sighing in relief to find them still there.

I was almost out to the car when a hand caught in my hair and pushed me back towards the house I'd just walked out of. I was pushed forward and I stumbled, falling down on my face. Something nipped my side and I squeezed my lips shit in hopes of not screaming and alerting Carlo of the only arsenal I had. Carlo didn't notice the bleeding as he got in my face, suddenly taller than he was.

"What have I not done for you, Andrea?" He hissed, the alcohol on his breath apparent as I turned my face away from him. "I told you the last time, you can't get out of this alive. Do you think that fucking husband of yours will believe you? It was your face he saw before he dropped down."

I closed my eyes, reassuring myself that it wasn't the time for me to let Carlo get inside my head. If Lorenzo wanted to punish me for what I'd done, I'd take it, but even I knew better than to think he would kill me without a second thought because Lorenzo Santini was many things, impulsive he was not.

"Answer. Me" Carlo spat in my face, his fingers digging into my jaw as he forced me to look at him.

"Whatever he does to me is none of your business," I whispered, my voice too low for him to feel the bark in my words.

"Andrea you're pushing me. I'm making enemies here trying to keep you safe!" I flinched as he screamed, and tried getting away, but his hold on me kept me pinned to the wall. "You know what? I'm done. I warned you the last time I caught you. If you try to run, I am done with you."

My eyes widened, surely, he couldn't mean he was killing me after keeping me alive for all this time. My vision blacked out as he pulled me up with my hair and tugged me up the stairs with him. I felt every single step settle in the pit of my stomach with e deep feeling of dread that I just couldn't shake. Unable to help myself, I gasped when my toe hit the edge of the staircase as he kept walking up, uncaring that he was hurting me.

Once he'd reached his room, he lurched me forward and began rummaging through his closet, Shivers passes through me as taking a breath became laborious and my vision started failing me. I was certain I'd fall to my death right in this room when the throbbing pain in my side became impossible to ignore and I reached for it, only to realize it was a knife. Now with a weapon in hand, I rushed towards Carlo with newfound zeal, all of the aches and protests of my muscles long forgotten as I rammed the knife into his back, and twisted.