Hurts So Good

❥𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝟎 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆

"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮. 𝘼 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢." 
─𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧

 "𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙚𝙨. 𝘼 𝙣𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚."
─𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐬 𝐝𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐲
What will happen when this nuisance turns into obsession for a man who has only ever hated the word 'love' itself all his life? Will he let her have her freedom? Will he sacrifice his own empire for her and choose to ruin himself? Or will he do the opposite when he finds about her betrayal?
.
.
.
My legs hurt from running. Fog clouds over my mind. Painful cold wind hurts my ears as I blink away the blurriness from my eyes. The winter stings my skin as I run.
Just a little more. I huff, taking huge gulps of breath. The anxiety was growing deeper second by second. My throat was now bursting with pain.
Soon I find myself standing in front of the bakery shop. The biting cold around me pierces through my ears to my brain as I take a look around.
There is nobody on the streets. The glass windows of the shop are shattered. The shards lying on the concrete outside. The heavy wooden door which once separated the coffee smelling warmth of inside from the harsh cold outside is left wide open.
My breath hitches before I wipe my face with the long sleeves and gather myself to enter the shop.
The furniture inside is all smashed; the tables and chairs lying splintered. The lamps, lights, serving dishes, bowls─ all lay before me broken and shattered on the pine wood floor.
"M-Mom?" I gather enough heart to call out to her, but my own voice echoed back to me with no visible sign of her.
No, I whispered to myself, No, this can't be happening.
I force myself to inhale a breath as I take a step forward. The entire place was disarrayed, unrecognizable for the person herself who had helped put the place together.
I stop abruptly as my shoe lands somewhere. My eyes snap wide as I look downwards.
Blood. My spine chills. Bile rises in my throat. My hand flies to cover my mouth. A low whimering sound leaves my mouth as I tremble, staggering back. That dark red liquid on the floor, it was unmistakably blood.
My head spins with dots of dizziness. I nearly choke out vomit but control myself and turn myself around away from the sight of it. My shaking hand finds its way to my pockets. 911, I think as I fumble to take out my phone, I need to call 911.
But as I glance up, I stop myself abruptly. Two dark silhouettes emerged from the shadows of the doorway leading to the exit of the bakery. My lips tremble. "Who..."
*         *          *
"Leave me!!" I scream as loud as I could even though my throat feels like ripping apart. I thrash against their grips on me as they dragged me inside a hospital. The doctors and nurses around me notice, but they do not do anything to help. They look at me with pity, but as though they were scared to do anything about it, they turn a blind eye to my cries of help.
I do not have a clue who these men are, or what they want from me and why am I being carried to a hospital room.
But as soon as I look at the patient bed through the small window of the hospital door, my struggle of breaking free die down. The men who had been dragging me push the door open and I nearly fall on my knees when they shove me inside.
But I gathered myself upright and rushed to the bedside.
The oxygen mask fits over her face, fogging and defogging as she struggles to breathe with her eyes closed.
"Mo-Mom?" My voice breaks as I manage to speak. I hurriedly take her hand in mine. "Mom. Mom, wake up. What happened? Why're you here? Answer me, Mom." I shake her, tears falling from my eyes on the hospital gown she is wearing.
The door opens again and I turn my head quickly towards it. More tears blur my vision. "Leo," I speak. "Leonard, what happened to Mom?" I ask.
But he speaks nothing. He stands before me wordlessly. And I... I only notice now that his face is bruised. Cuts on his arms, and blood on his shirt.
"How did this happen?" My voice strains as I speak, looking up into his eyes. "Reply to me, Leo!" I grabbed his collars and shake him but even as I shout he stands completely still.
Some men dressed in suits, just like the ones who had carried me here earlier, entered through the door behind Leo, filling in the space of the hospital room, instantly turning the air inside suffocating.
My grip on him loosens. "Leo, who are they?" I ask staring at him, hoping he would speak at least something, that he would tell me what the hell was going on.
A sound of wood tapping on the floor reaches me, and I turn towards it. The wooden can came into my view as a man enters. He limps a little on his injured leg, but otherwise seems fine enough with his large built and greying hair. "Oh well." He looks at me through his spectacled eyes, which makes an unsettling feeling swirl in my guts. "Ms Claudia, right? A word if you please, Ms Claudia."
*         *          *
My world begins to shake beneath my feet as the cunning eyed man in front of me makes an offer. An offer of marriage with his nephew. But the way his face carried a carefree look and evil twitch of a smile tells me that it was not an offer; it was a do or die option. I don't have a choice. If I accept, they'll let me and my family live; if I don't...
My throat feels dry. I don't want to think about it.
But why me? What did I ever do wrong to them? I ask but he brushes me off.
"You were bethrothed to him ever since you were a kid. I saw it myself. Your bethrothal," he says.
A breath of disbelief leaves my mouth. "What if I refuse to accept your so called offer?" I openly disregard him, my eyes daring.
His old face relaxes more into a smile, a stomach churning disgust infusing smile which made me more anxious. "You wouldn't be this brave if you knew who he is," he says.
"Whoever he is, I neither care to know, nor─"
"Carlos de Monroy," he cuts me off as he says, a cunning glint in his eyes. "He is the one you're bethrothed to."
My heart drops to my stomach. I could feel myself hands and feet growing cold and numb, colder than the winter around me. My head throbbed.
I had heard of him only through tell tale stories. The eyes like that of hungry wolves, the body like that of a demon, and the thirst like that of a starved beast...
The hell was happening? My head spinned with a hundred of questions. What the hell is this man saying?
I am... I am to marry the most ruthless head of the mafias?
My arms unfold as I take a step back. "No..." I whisper out.
"And if you still refuse..." he says, a smirk taking over his face. His hand waves behind him and my eyes quickly snap to the door of the hospital room. My eyes widen in shock and I gasp as I see the men take out guns from their jackets and point them behind my brother's head who was sitting near my Mom. Another men pointed the gun at my Mom.
"You bloody b**tard─" My mouth speaks out in anger before I even get a chance to process it all as I lunge for him but─
"Ahh!" I screamed as I was yanked from behind by my hair.
"This b**ch sure talks a lot." A man's voice hisses right near me. I look behind. He had a scar on his face. "She doesn't know her place."
I scream again as he pulls my hair, his grip going tighter. Scratching at his hand I try to break free.
He instead grabs my arm and throws me to the ground. Even though the pain from falling hurt me, I quickly try to distance myself from them as I shift away, my eyes trying to find something to fight back, or anyone down the corridor who could help me, but it is all empty and dark, filled with nothing but shadows.
The old man who was earlier talking to me clicks his tongue. "Now now, Javi. We don't want bruises on her during the wedding." The wooden stick taps as he walks towards me.
He bends so that he is facing me. "Now, you have two choices." He glances briefly at the man who was probably Javi.
The gun in Javi's hand clicks as he points it at me.
"Either you watch yourself and your family die," the old man says. My eyes shifts to the hospital room door in terror behind which my Mom and brother are present, probably still held at gunpoint. "Or..." he continues "Help me kill your soon-to-be husband."