Inessa

3

Inessa's chain of thoughts broke when she discovered a car near the end of the alley. As she went closer she saw that the mirror was crushed and the car was in very bad condition making it look disastrous.

God, this looks like a horrible accident.

Without wasting even a second she called the ambulance. She hastened her speed to reach the car as soon as possible. The door was locked. The only way to open it was through a window but it crashed from the places. After many attempts, she successfully opened the door though got a few cuts in the process but she cared less about it. It wasn't her main concern at the moment.

"Mister, can you hear me?" She asked. She prayed for the man to be alive. "Save me." He said as he turned in her direction and then lost his sense. She gasped when she saw a familiar face. He was the same person who fired her an hour ago. The same man who was confident, cold, and arrogant at their earlier encounter, was now covered in blood, fighting for his life and he begged her to save him.

'Just hang in there. I am going to save you.' She managed to get him out of the car. The ambulance was finally there making her sigh in relief.

Inessa was sitting beside him. He had her hand in his grip, holding her like his life depends on it. She sat there thinking about the whole situation. How did he end up like this? What happened after he left the diner? She thought.

Finally, he was inside OT, getting operated on by doctors. Her part was done. She paid half of the bill and left when she saw that Leo's assistant was already there, talking with the nurse. Earlier when she got the call from Leonardo's assistant, she gave him the address of the hospital he was taken to. She was at ease that there was someone with him after she left.

She was back at her house. She was jobless, left with little savings, not enough to survive even a month. Her mind was fighting between past and present. She was battling to not think about unpleasant events of her life yet she was losing like every other time.

It wasn't her fault that she was an illegitimate child, was it? She was innocent in this yet was blamed and punished for the sin she never committed.

"Go and ask your mom who is your father?"

Her father started asking this question at the age of three when she was not capable of understanding a single word. And it never stopped until she ran away.

"Be grateful that I am raising you."

The same man who fed her leftovers, starved her till she would beg for a sip of water, who never paid for her education, said. He had no right because he never considered her a human. For him, she was dirt, a worthless burden he never wanted.

"You are filth, Inessa. You were never meant to be born."

Said the guy whom she trusted and loved enough to show her vulnerability. She believed him, put faith in him and in return he betrayed her most brutally.

"Be grateful that I love you. Is there anyone else who will love an illegitimate child?"

Said the same vile man when she refused to marry him. The abuser who once was as harmless as a feather turned into her worst nightmare.

She remembers that incident when she found out that he was stalking her.

"You whore, where were you?" He asked. He was furious, his eyes were blood-shot red.

"I went to buy groceries." She mumbled. Saying that she was scared would be an understatement.

"You are lying. You were with Mellisa, weren't you?" He took a handful of her hair in his fist and tightened his grip making her help.

"How do you know?"

"That doesn't matter. Didn't I warn you that Mellisa is a whore, stay away from her?" At this point, he had lost his control. She was afraid of him because he wasn't behaving like a human. He was acting like he has been possessed by a devil.

"Noah, you sent someone to stalk me, right?" She confronted.

"Yes, I did. Because you lie." He admitted to making her feel so stupid to figure it out this late. Of course, he had someone to watch over her, or else how would he know what she was doing even if she lied?

"Don't you know why I lie? You always restrict me from my basic human rights, Noah. I am a human who has freedom. You can't control me."

"Remember Inessa, you are mine. You will do as I tell you."

" Let's break up Noah. This relationship is suffocating me." Her brown eyes were filled with tears. She blamed herself for trusting him.

"You don't want to be with me? Okay. I will call your dad and will tell him everything about us." He threatened her. His grip on her hair tightened. He looked at her like she was his possession like she was a toy he owned.

"No, please don't." She begged.

"Then say that you love me." She couldn't believe that he still had the guts to mention the word 'love'. She realised that he was sick, and his love was nothing but a toxic obsession.

" I- I love you." She closed her eyes in shame and let tears fall. She was ashamed yet she could do nothing. He had trapped her. He used her weakness, her vulnerability against her. He made her give in to him forcefully.

Stalking, blackmailing, manipulating, he was good at everything.

She felt dumb to never realise his true colours until it was too late. She had fallen into the deep abyss of lies and deception. Indeed she had left that place long ago, but the memories never left her. They never let her breathe peacefully in broad daylight nor let her sleep at night. Panic attacks and nightmares were other names of her past.