Lost (Rewrite)

Chapter 9- Get up

Recap...

I sigh and get up following him to where he wants me next.

Ariana:

The area he brings me to is empty besides a big black mat on the ground and a stack of weights next to a cabinet against the wall.

He points to the ground and I look at it. There's nothing special about the ground.

"Give me 50 sit-ups, now."

I roll my eyes and get on the ground. "It's 60 now," Vincenzo says. I guess he saw me rolling my eyes.

I don't want anymore so I control my immense urge to not only roll my eyes but to slap him.

After I managed to do the sit-ups I lay down on the ground. I'm exhausted.

What if I just curled into a ball and slept here?

"You have a 10 minute break."

I sigh and continue to lay down for about 3 minutes or so before getting up and drinking some more cold water.

No matter how tired I am this punishment is honestly tame compared to what I'm used to. And I get breaks from it.

That's never happened to me.

"Follow me," Vincenzo says from behind me. I slightly jump at his voice but I recover fast. He leads me back over to the mat and says "Give me 50 push-ups."

I let out a breathe before I get back down on the floor to do the push-ups. I hope this ends soon.

The first few go by smoothly but I start to struggle by the time I get to 12.

The big problem here is, I've never been able to do 50 push-ups. My best is 30.

I don't know how I'm going to do 50.

I get to 26 before my arms give out. I take a deep breath and reposition myself before Vincenzo can say a word.

I manage to get past 30 but I collapse again at 34. This time I don't get back up right away.

"Get back up."

"I can't."

"Yes you can."

I slowly get myself off the ground into a position on my elbows. I can feel the sweat dripping down my forehead. I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

I almost feel sick.

I get myself into a push-up position and continue where I left off.

I shakily finish the 50th push-up and lay on the ground. I'm so tired.

"Get up."

I groan and reluctantly my body moves to a standing position. He leads me out of the room and back into the elevator.

I lean against the elevator wall.

We eventually make it back to the penthouse and I drag myself through the penthouse behind him.

He leads me to the kitchen and motions for me to sit. I gladly do and put my face in my hands. Everything hurts.

Vincenzo puts something in front of me but I don't have the energy to look up.

"At least drink," Vincenzo demands.

I groan and look up. He put a glass of water in front of me and a protein bar. I quickly grab the glass and down the water. I also grab the protein bar and eat half of it.

"Let's go," Vincenzo says.

I follow him up to the room and walk in. "Get some rest, I'll be back to take you to lunch."

Once the door locks I go to the closet and grab some clothing to slip on. I don't have the energy to take a shower yet so this will do for now. Vincenzo's sweatshirts are very comfortable. I may actually keep them.

As soon as my head touches the pillow a fall asleep.

Vincenzo:

I'm surprised how well Ariana did with her punishment. I expected her to fail on the first part of it but she made it through.

She may have some potential to join my Mafia rather than being a prisoner to it.

That's a dumb idea.

I can't have someone like her in my Mafia. She likes to talk back. Now that may have no serious consequences in private it will have serious consequences if she pulls that in public.

I don't have a desire to kill a child no matter how close they are to 18.

Maybe if I turned her into a secret weapon though? She'd have to gain trust which will allow her some freedom, it'd be good for business, and it'd be done in private so no harm to me.

No.

She has potential but I don't know about her being good enough to be a secret weapon.

At least from what I've seen.

I tense up in my chair when I hear a scream coming from Ariana's room. What the hell?

I rush out and unlock her door quickly. The screaming is only getting worse the more it continues.

But once I enter the room, no one's here.

I get closer to her bed to see she's sleeping. She's contorted within her blanket trying to back away from nothing.

"Pl-please no," she begs. Her tears are flooding down her face now.

I get closer and reach out to gently shake her. As soon as my hand makes contact with her arm she jolts awake and quickly backs up.

"Hey, it's ok," I try to soothe her. She just stares at me blankly. Tears are still falling down her face although she tries to wipe them away.

"What is that?"

"What are you talking about?" She asks.

"On your stomach."

She notices her shirt was lifted up a bit and pulls it down but it's to late now. "It's nothing don't worry about it."

"The fact you're covered in bruises is nothing?"

"Yes."

I simply stare at her. I'm surprised she could even say that about herself. I start to think back to my punishment and I don't know how she could've gotten those bruises.

She didn't fall or anything either. A simple fall couldn't even cause that.

She must've had those injuries when she came here. She did go to a boxing gym yesterday but some of those bruises were yellow so she couldn't have gotten them all there.

When she came out of her home she had a bruise on her face she didn't have before.

I'll have to call Anthony and Rider to figure this out.

"I'm calling you a doctor, you don't have to explain what happened just yet but you're going to get help," I say before I walk out.

She very clearly didn't want anyone to know about what happened to her and I want to respect that but I'm not going to allow someone in my home to be injured and not get help.

I'm also not going to allow abusers in my city, especially child abusers.