Heart of Stone - Stone and Fire #1 [17+] (REWRITING)

Chapter 12

TW: Rape, assault

keep in mind this chapter's very dark, can and will be triggering for some as well so if you wanna skip that's fine 🫶🏽

Two Years Earlier (Flashback)

Adriana's POV

I turned the lock. A giddy sort of excitement spread through me, and I expected Petrov's face to greet me as I opened the door.

Instead, the motel room lay empty, the same bed we always used covered in faded, white sheets.

I pouted and stepped in, fixing my white dress's strap because I knew that's how he liked me. Clean and perfect, so he could dirty me up.

I sat on the edge of the bed and checked my phone. I was ten minutes late because of the rain, and he still wasn't here. 

Did he get caught? A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. He had a temper, and on his bad work days, it'd show during the sex. 

The bruise on my inner thigh from last weekend seemed to throb in remembrance.

He never talked much, but I did know that what we did every week- if someone were to find out, he would be labeled as a traitor and killed. I was an Italian, he was a Russian; it was like mixing oil and water.

Instead I hummed Billie Holiday's Sugar that played a soft hum through the motel speakers, tapping bare nails on my knees to catch up with the soft jazz. I wanted to wear my red acrylics- although he never seemed to like those. He never seemed to like much on me. It was almost like they were obstacles, little unsufferable things that got in the way of his hands. 

But making love was far from what Petrov did. It always started rough and ended the same way. Sometimes, I'd wish he stayed, just to give me a kiss. Maybe a 'good job', or an attempt at cleaning up the mess. 

Instead, he'd grab that guard of his who stood outside and speed off in whatever car he brought that day. It was usually old and musty, something that had me rather confused. He was rich, and I knew he worked in the Bratva. I only wondered why he was so hasty when it came to meeting me. Of course, it could be an insecurity issue, but he had none. His confidence was up to the mangy roof, his looks decent enough to make me heat up in bed. 

If only I'd known that merely catching his sight from across a bar would lead to this, I would've done it earlier. 

I practiced my smile in the standing mirror across from me. 

"Wrap those around my dick real nice, will you?"

He always says that, but he never kisses me.

I played the piano on my knees, the same kind Aurora tried teaching me last week, and the music in the background finally played along. 

I'd make a million trips to lips

If I were a bee

Because he's sweeter than chocolate candy to me

He's-

The door opened.

I flinched but sat up straight, making sure my heels were tucked into the corner properly so he wouldn't trip.

My eyebrows ruffled seeing the bloodstain on his white dress-shirt. I opened my mouth, then shut it. I'd seen him up close enough times now, and the expression on his face.. it was a new one.