𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝚩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭 | 18+

30 || ECHOES OF TRAUMA

CHAPTER THIRTY | ECHOES OF TRAUMA
𓆩❤︎𓆪𓆩❤︎𓆪𓆩❤︎𓆪

Natalia glared at the camera nestled above the barred door, gritting her teeth as her senses overworked themselves, waiting for something to happen, for someone to arrive. But no one did. She'd been in that room for twenty hours, waiting for nothing.

Had Pepe abandoned her? Lorenzo?

She forcefully swallowed the lump in her throat as she tore her eyes away from the camera to her lap, unwanted tears dripping onto her bare bruised skin. She felt so insignificant and hurt, so robbed of her basic human rights as she stared at herself, wearing nothing but her lacy red bra and panties, bound and forced to remain in a place where no one cared about her.

Did anyone care about her?

Natalia drew her legs closer when she heard noises coming from outside the barred room. She quickly blinked her tears away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Natalia," he sang as if he hadn't kidnapped her and thrown her into a room with no windows or way of figuring out where the hell she was. For all she knew, they weren't in Colombia anymore. And that made her anxious. "Natalia!"

Natalia jolted at the sound of his loud angry voice and drew further into herself. She drew into the corner of the room and pulled at her binds once more only for the rope to burn her skin and a pained cry to leave her lips. She watched with terrified eyes as he jiggled the doorknob violently.

"I told you not to pull at your restraints."

Tears filled her eyes once again no matter how hard she tried to keep them hidden, to keep her fear at bay.

The door opened and in entered the blue-haired man who looked nothing like the goofy Stefano she knew. The man before her was a terrifying version she wanted nothing to do with.

"I wanna go home," she tried once again, voice quavering with every word.

Stefano only laughed at her, tipping his head back. "And why would I let you do that?" He stepped closer, drawing his finger along her bare shoulder, making her flinch away from his touch. He only laughed and crouched down to her level, forcing her to lock her eyes with his blue ones as he roughly gripped her jaw, nearly breaking it in his aggression. "Look at me."

Natalia reluctantly looked at him. "Let go of me."

"Don't give me commands."

"Let. Go."

His grip tightened and when he saw her unrelenting glare he finally let go of her only to strike her cheek, making her ear ring from how hard he'd hit her. "Don't fucking tell me what to do."

Tears pricked her eyes and her lower lip trembled with the sobs that crawled up her throat. Her skin stung and her ear rang, overshadowing the curses he screamed into her ear and for a second she was pulled back to the childhood she'd run away from, a childhood she rarely talked about.

Suddenly, she was a teenager once again, her father screaming profanities at her for not being the sweet little girl he'd convinced himself that she had been and always would be, as if the world was black and white and if she didn't follow his ways, she didn't even deserve to live.