Mafia's African Rose

Resurgence

          woke up to a sharp, searing pain that radiated through my stomach. It wasn't just physical—it felt like a wound deep in my soul. My eyelids felt like lead, too heavy to lift, and even though my mind screamed at me to move, my body refused.

Footsteps echoed nearby, followed by a soft, clinical voice. "You can come in now. She's no longer in danger."

Then I heard Nora's voice, "I wonder how she would feel... with the loss of her baby."

Baby?

My heart twisted violently in my chest. I wanted to scream, to jump out of the bed and demand answers, but my body betrayed me. My limbs were stiff and foreign, my mouth dry and silent. It was as if I was trapped in my own body, unable to move, unable to speak.

I drifted back into the darkness, swallowed whole by memories that refused to stay buried.

No, no, please don't! I screamed, my voice barely escaping before he slammed a hand over my mouth, silencing me. I choked on my breath, my body trembling violently beneath his weight.

Then the pain came.

It ripped through me, stealing every ounce of strength I had left. I wanted to fight. I wanted to claw at his face, tear him apart. But I couldn't. My body wouldn't listen. My soul felt like it was being shattered piece by piece, and all I could do was lie there, drowning in my own helplessness.

I wanted to die.

Then Sasha's face loomed over me, his twisted grin stretching as he dragged the blade across my skin, carving his initials into my flesh like I was nothing. I could hear him laughing, his voice filled with sick pleasure as he marked me as his.

The weight of it all was unbearable. The pain. The humiliation. The endless suffering that had followed me from Nigeria to this moment.

I just wanted it to stop.

I felt myself slipping—welcoming the darkness, surrendering to the cold embrace of death. It was easier this way. No more pain. No more fear. Just silence.

"Angel... baby, don't die on me. Please."

That voice.

Even through the haze, even on the edge of life and death, I recognized it. Deep, desperate, broken.

Butterflies.

It was ridiculous, wasn't it? That in the midst of all this agony, the sound of his voice could still make my heart flutter? Could still remind me that I was something more than just a victim?

His voice wrapped around me, pulled me away from the abyss, back toward something warm. Something safe.

I gasped, my lungs filling with air as my body refused to give up. My eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the sudden brightness.

           
      "Thank goodness you're okay," Adrianna said, relief evident in her voice.

I blinked slowly, still adjusting to the brightness of the room. My body felt like it had been through hell—because it had. But seeing them here, their faces filled with concern, made the pain just a little more bearable.

Nora looked the worst. Her eyes were red and swollen, like she'd been crying for hours. The sight of her like that made my chest tighten.

"I'm so glad you pulled through, Angel. I always knew you had it in you," Alexa added, her voice light, trying to lift the mood.

I gave her a lazy smile, the best I could manage.

"W... where is..." My throat felt raw, each word a struggle.