Protected by the Beast ✔

60

Word count: 3233

Heavily unedited. But it's worth the read. I'll edit it as soon as I can.

Riley's POV

*

The feeling of two hands grabbing me was the last thing I remembered as everything suddenly went silent around me.

I was in the clouds. I couldn't open my eyes. What was happening?

"What the hell Trisha? You can't do this here, much more on your wedding day. What if my cousins finds out? Keanu and Amelia will be pissed and The Beast definitely won't spare you." I heard Ingrid hiss.

The jingling of the bell still continued.

"I can't keep seeing her like this. Capo has accepted her for the camouflage she took but I refuse to do so. This isn't the childhood best friend I know. This is another personality Riley has taken up. She deserves to live her own life, unapologetically so." Trisha argued. "Thanks for helping us carry her, guys. Just step out. I'll let you know if we need your help again."

"Ugh. This didn't work. Now she has slipped back into that lucid state once again and we don't know if she'll be out of it anytime soon." Ingrid complained even as I realized that there was a source of bright lights flooding me but I couldn't open my eyes or even do anything.

I struggled but couldn't move my body. I could feel the wetness slipping down my cheeks as I struggled to control my own body while I sobbed in pain.

"We have to try one more time, Ingrid. We can't give up." Trisha grumbled.

"But we've tried several times over the years. She doesn't even remember who did this to her. They locked up all the memories. What's the assurance that she wants to uproot all that?"

"I can't give up on her. I've spent almost two years learning about hypnosis just to help her snap out of that web. This Riley might be calm and respectful and cute but she's not the Ice princess, the daring assassin the world knows and fears. The one person that puts Don Luciano, The Beast in his place. She has buried all her memories but I have this strong covinction that she would want to be back to herself. This is not her."

"You're right though. I low-key miss the Riley from the past. It's hard pretending to not know her sometimes because to her I'm just someone she met when she came to Italy with Beast. She was even afraid of uncle Ron, someone who used to be terrified of her. Worst of all, she doesn't even remember her own grandma."

The jiggling of the bell began again. "Riley. I know you can hear me. You're in that little box you built for yourself but I need you to come to me. You're a beautiful, bold and strong fighter. You're known as the Ice princess in the underworld. You were kidnapped and then the bad guys did something to you and you can't remember anything else. We couldn't find the person that kidnapped you but they brainwashed you and put another idea of your childhood in your head. You grew up with love, from your brothers and parents. I'm your best friend and Ingrid joined along the way when you met Luciano during a shootout and instantly fell in-love with him. You love to go out, you love to do things that make your boyfriend, Don Luciano go crazy and you love your family to death. Your dad has been sick since you lost your memories. You didn't grow up in an orphanage. Your mom wasn't a druggie and your dad isn't dead. I know they locked your memories but I promise you, you can get it back. You can get your life back."

"Tell her the story again. Tell her how it happened." Ingrid pressed.

"Okay. Two years ago Riley, you were kidnapped by a terrorist organization. Before the kidnap, you were just a regular girl who was trained in the use of arms. Your boyfriend loved you to death. Your brothers loved you too. Your dad was so protective of you. Then after everything happened, you didn't remember any of us. We spoke to a specialist and had you examined but each time a hypnotic session was conducted, it got worse than the former one. You kept missing parts of your memories, of occurences that happened even before the kidnap. So we came up with the 'Dan' murder case and Beast pretended to kidnap you afterwards because he wanted to keep you from the public eye totally. The whole Dan issue was a ploy to see if it would trigger back your memories but it didn't work. Your boyfriend isn't Dan, it's what you were made to believe after we just rescued you from the enemies. Over time, there's been an almost assassination on your life twice or so and your brothers still resent Beast for not protecting you from that kidnap that turned you into this."