Special thanks to @jiyoungmochi for the cover!!
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❝𝐀 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥. ❞
Renata Vartanov had been through hell. Sold to a brothel and thrusted into prostitution at thirteen along with her then toddler...
I was in my room, doodling and writing random shit in my notebook.
I'd been anxious and jittery since Cata and Vincenzo had left for their mission.
Zietta Giulia had visited me a few times, checking on me and asking if I wanted to come to the gardens and pick berries with her for a jam, but I had refused.
She was a sweet woman, and berry picking outdoors sounded fun, but I'd preferred to be alone with my thoughts and patiently wait for their arrival.
Unfortunately, my patience evaporated faster than puddles under sunshine in the first hour of waiting.
I was never a patient person, and the wait was killing me.
𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡, 𝑅𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎.
I told myself so many times to ground my worries and impatience.
I'd missed Rowan so fucking much, and I couldn't wait to see him, hug him, and tell him how sorry I was for not being able to save him on time.
I sighed as I drew what looked like a mix between a stick figure and a giraffe abomination. (I could never get the neck right in these, and they're just fucking sticks!)
Seriously, people who drew perfect stick figures were gifted, mine couldn't even classify as one figure with its neck making it look like a distant cousin of Pinocchio... Necknocchio?
𝑂𝑘, 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼'𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑏.
Or bored, who knows?
I slid my notebook aside and got up from my seat, kicking my legs in a stretch and walking toward the door.
It was already eleven thirty at night and news of Catalina and Vincenzo was yet to be heard.
I decided to go downstairs and wait in the living room for them. It was better than waiting in the darkness of my room like a serial killer.
I was walking through the white washed corridors, searching for the large staircase that led downstairs when I came across the person I'd been waiting for for several hours.
