One and only warning: This book contains religion, catholic guilt, sex addiction, drug abuse, graphic sexual content and heavy violence. Read at your own discretion.
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"I am a priest, Anna. A child of god. You are a temptation," He whispered out, h...
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"No, no! You can't wear that to Italy. Are you serious?"
"What's wrong with it?!"
"Anna, it's Venice! The city of love! Have you never seen the movies? I mean, come on, you have to dress accordingly! Do you not have any other clothes?"
I clutched the clothes to my chest in defense, jaw dropped in shock. I didn't think that my clothes were that bad, sure they were mostly church clothes, but that's all I had. Since my mom ruined my other clothes, I hadn't even thought about shopping amongst the other things that's been thrown at me.
"Well, I'm sorry," I huffed, tossing the clothes onto the bed, "The last thing on my mind was getting new clothes. I'll just wear a sweater and some pants tonight."
"No!" Gracie waved her hands, "We are going shopping. There's a cute boutique down the road, we are going to get you some clothes for Italy."
I sighed with a shake of my head, "I can't afford that, not right now. I haven't even worked in what seems like forever. I don't even know if I still have my job after disappearing like that..." On top of everything else, I hadn't thought about work. I took a while to, I guess, mentally recover from the last month and didn't even think about reaching out to the school. They all probably think that I gave up on my kids.
I missed them so much. Sometimes they were the only thing that made my days better.
"My treat," Gracie said with a wide grin, reaching out to grab my arm as she pulled me towards the living-room, "It's just a couple outfits. I just want us both to look good, don't you want us Madrid girls to show out?"
Anxiety started to rise in my chest, just at the thought of leaving the apartment without Harry or the others. What if something bad happened? What if they were waiting for us downstairs, just waiting to get me alone? I can't even leave the apartment to check my mail anymore. The thought of it makes it hard to breathe.
"S-stop," My hand pried hers off of mine with a choked breath, taking a step back from her while my hand clutched my shirt tight where my chest was, "W-we can't leave the house. We have to stay here...where it's safe."
She turned towards me, confused, as she watched my body start to shake with feathery breaths surpassing my quivering lips. I refused to put myself back in that position; vulnerable. I would never let my guard down again and that's exactly what I was doing. I was putting myself in a spot where they could easily take me again and the thought made me want to curl up and cry.
"We are safe, Anna," Gracie said softly to me, her hand reaching out to touch my arm, "I'm with you. Whatever it is, they won't get you. I'm here."
"How do you know that?" I pressed quickly through short breaths, the ache in my chest only got worse the more I thought about it, "They could be waiting outside for me. I-I feel like they are watching us, I just know it, Gracie. They--they are gonna take me again and I can't--I can't leave the apartment. It's safer here."
