Regaining Her Heart

21| Ivy

TESSA SARIANO

My eyes began flickering open and I became more aware of my surroundings, my heart beat quickened. A pounding in my head became apparent making me grimace at the pain. Fuck.

I had no idea what happened until the events from last night thawed out in my mind.

That Leah girl did this to me.

I still have no clue as to what she was talking about. Why does she think Gio is her soulmate or something? I mean, I knew these women would be jealous...but damn.

I'd been tossed on the ice cold ground. My dress is torn at the bottom and completely ruined. I loved this dress. My whole body aches. I sat up, and quickly noticed a large bucket catching the drip coming from the ceiling. The water that had dripping at an agonizing rate was brown. If you get close enough to the bucket, you'll smell a rotten egg smell. Ew.

I'm also chained to a pole. Handcuffs with a long chain were attached to one of my wrists. A piece of stale bread has been left on a plate for me. A fly had taken the chance to have a feast, on said bread.

I'm in some sort of basement or storage area by the looks of it. All I know is that it's dark, freezing cold and it smells like mold. The floor that I'm laying on is dusty and stained with what looks like blood. I don't even want to know what's been done down here.

There's not even so much as a window for me to climb out of. There's no way for me to get out of here. I'm fucked.

I scooted my body closer to the pole and sat with my back against it. I felt a bit better as I was able to slump against the pole and no longer had to hold myself up. I was thankful that I didn't have to use up any energy that I don't have.

I looked down at my wrist to see my tesoro bracelet was still there. With a sigh of relief, I looked up at the ceiling and felt tears fall down the sides of my face.

In hard times my mind always reverts to Gio. No matter what the situation is, I think of moments with him. It always helps. Whatever memory I choose to go back to doesn't even have to be extremely happy. Just one where Gio is there.

I don't know why or how he makes everything okay. Even when he isn't around.

"Tesoro?" a sixteen year old Gio walked into my room, shutting the door behind him.

My back was turned towards the door and I was laying in bed. "Ivy" by Frank Ocean was playing and I turned it up in an attempt to drown everything out. I wanted to drown out the sound of Gio's voice, my mom's voice, my own thoughts. Everything. I couldn't deal with it all.

I have severe depression and anxiety. My personal triggers make things worse and set me off, of course. Although, sometimes I fall into depressive episodes for what is, or what seems like no reason.

Sometimes having no reason is worse than having a reason.

All I knew was that I was hurting. The pain was piling up. My parents never really made it better. Just the morning before my mom screamed at me to get out of bed until she got tired of it. She just left.

Dad came into my room drunk two nights earlier. I thought he'd hit me like usual, he didn't though. He just went on a rant about wanting me dead and telling me that I was nothing like him or my mother. He told me that I was nothing but a whore who'd end up with nothing. After a while I became numb to his words.

The Frank Ocean song finally ended and something else began playing.

"Tessa. Come on, talk to me." he pleaded.

I knew he'd come over sooner or later. I also missed four out of five days of school that week. I'd declined any and all invitations to hang out and I ignored his calls. Most times I'd just watched the phone ring.

"Go away, Gio." I managed to speak, despite my voice breaking when I said his name. The only reason I didn't want to face him is because I was afraid of breaking down. Him being the only one to care and be patient with me is enough to make me break.

"You know I can't do that, tesoro." I could hear him smirking in a moment of nervousness and I knew he meant what he said.

If I was ever not okay, he acted as if he couldn't leave me until I was better.

I rolled my eyes as I felt the other side of the bed dip behind me.

"You don't have to speak to me, but I'm going to hold you." he moved closer to me and did just that.

I turned around in his hold and looked him in the eyes.

"It just hurts Gio." was all I could say before chocking out a sob. Thankfully, he understood.

"I know, baby." he kissed me on my forehead and stroked my hair.

The thought of not knowing if I'll make it out of here overwhelms me with anxiety. I know that Leo is an expert at tracking people down and Gio would go to the ends of the Earth to find me. But what if they can't?

Gio tells me that he rarely fails at any mission. What if this is the one he fails at? What if I never see him again? What if the worst part of this has yet to come?

While the anxious thoughts piled up in my mind I began lashing out. I tugged furiously on the chain and began yelling for help. This could easily make things worse for me. Do I care? Not as much as I should.

My eyes slightly widened and my hands shook at the sound of the door opening. Well what did I expect to happen?

The footsteps were loud and they grew louder as the person reached the end of the stairs. When the person made it into the light I raised a brow at their appearance.

That is not Leah...

1067 words

A/N- As always, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!!

I added a flashback bc it would've been kinda boring w/o it lol

Who do we think "not Leah" is?? 🤔

Who is your favorite character?

Next chapter will be out tmrw or in a few hours 🫶🏽

Thanks for reading and thanks for 66K!! ❤️

-defnottb 💋