Psychotic Love (a mafia love story)

Chapter 41

BIG TRIGGER WARNING ⛔️. THIS CHAPTER TALKS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT.

it has been shortened and doesn't go into detail about the actual assault. This is not the original chapter but it has been written to not be as detailed. I didn't want to trigger readers too much.

If you know you're easily triggered by the topic of SA please skip this chapter. Don't feel like you have to read.

ECHO'S POV

I sit in the corner of this cold concrete room naked and shivering while looking up at a camera. The only thing I've consumed in the past three days of being here is the water dripping from the ceiling. I'm dehydrated and famished. The slightest movement sends my head spinning. I need something to fuel my body.

I haven't seen Arturo since he beat me into saying his name a couple of days ago. I'm not allowed to leave this room, not even to use the restroom. I have to use the bucket he already had sat in here. It's all just so humiliating and dehumanizing. Luckily I've only had to urinate.

The bruises on my body are dark. They scatter the surface of my skin and ache deeply. I haven't seen it but the bruising on my shoulder blade is the worst. Simply moving shoots pain through my bones.

I hope Luca is looking for me. I need him like never before. If he doesn't find me soon, I'm surely going to die. Whether it's at Arturo's hands or his neglect, I don't know, but I feel myself slowly fading.

I find myself praying a lot. It's about the only thing I can do. If I'm being honest I feel that it is a waste of time, but that's all I have, time to waste.

The big metal door starts to unlock in front of me. I bring my knees even closer to my chest. The clicking of the locks inject an intense amount of anxiety into my heart. The door opens and Arturo walks in. My heart rate skyrockets at the thought of his intentions.

"I got you a little something," he says.

He brings what is definitely a collar from behind his back. He's going to put it on me, and I'm gonna let him. I don't have any energy to put up a fight.

"Get up."

I rise from the floor, covering my chest with my crossed arms. My head lightens from the quick ascend. I stumble my way in front of him.

Arturo holds the collar up to my face to give me a better look. It's black and leather with a silver tag that reads Property of Arturo Marchetti. As possessive as Luca was, he never took it to this extent.

He turns me to where my back is facing him. I feel my soul almost leave my body as he puts the collar around my neck. Once the collar is secured, Arturo reaches his hands in front of me. He removes my arms from my chest before groping my breast.

A familiar lump forms in my throat as I dread what might happen next. His hands move from my chest to my vagina. A tear falls from my eye.

Statistically 1 in 6 women have been sexually assaulted. I never thought I'd be one of those women, but here I am on the very verge of having every part of my being stripped away from me.

Arturo walks us over to a wall before pinning me to it. A piece of me keeps begging myself to fight, but I physically can't. After that beating three days ago, I don't want to fight. I fear another one.

"Please, don't do this," I say in barely a whisper.

He brings his hand to cover my mouth. He uses the other one to undo his pants. The rattles and jingles of his belt buckle combined with his hot breath in my ear send me into a state of paralysis.

He pulls himself from his pants. His hardness pushes against my bottom.

Please don't do this. What did I do for this to happen to me?

Nothing at all. Echo, you've done nothing. This is only how the world works. They tell us not to wear this; don't provoke him. They ask us if we ever said the word stop. None of it truly matters. If he wants it bad enough, he'll take it. It doesn't take a skimpy dress, or a flirtatious attitude for a man to strip you of your dignity. It simply takes being a woman. That is not only proven in the society of humans but in the animal kingdom too. It's almost written into the rule books of life, and it's almost as if no one truly wants it to stop. So even we as women revert back to don't wear this and don't act like that, instead of teaching him to keep it in his fucking pants.

As I realize he's not going to stop, that no one is coming through that door, that Luca is not going to save me, my cries become audible. My pain is being muffled into the palm of his hand as he pushes my back in to gain access to me.

I feel him at my entrance, he hovers over it as if teasing me. Like he wants to let me know that he's going to do this and there's nothing I can do about it.

I close my eyes tightly. I can feel all my tears between my face and his rough hand. He brings his mouth to my neck. His teeth sink deeply into my flesh. It hurts, probably the worst pain I've felt in my entire life right next to that belt buckle colliding with my shoulder blade. It feels like he might take a chunk out of my body like a lion ripping away at the carcass of a gazelle. The two worst pains in my life have been caused by this monster in three days.

I'm stuck with no way out. Not even a small ray of light beams through the boulders keeping me in this cave.