THE DARKEST HOUR

CHAPTER 7

"Hey darling!"

As I turned the door open, the voice that I hated the most,  welcomed me.

ORA'S POV:

I stood rooted to my spot and kept staring at the man, standing right in front of me, with a smirk dancing on his lips.

"Take a picture. It will last longer." He pushed me aside and entered inside.

I immediately closed the door and ran after him.

" Elana, go inside your room." I wiped her face with a tissue paper and held her hand.

"But mommy, weren't we going to the ice cream shop?" She questioned innocently.

"Don't argue! Do as I said. To. Your. Room." I pointed towards her room while emphasizing each and every word.

"Woo...Woahh! Calm down lady! What's wrong with going to an ice cream parlor? Let me take Elana. Come Elana, let's go!" He said while rolling his eyes and extended his right hand towards Elana.

"No, I don't want to go with you. You are a bad person. Go away!!" Elana said while hiding herself behind me.

"What did you say? Who is the bad person? Me?" He gritted his teeth and let out an evil laugh.

"N...No.  She didn't mean that." I stammered but managed to complete my sentence.

"You keep your mouth shut! No one speaks before me. You understand that!!?" He slapped his hand hardly on  the wooden table making both of us to jump in fear.

"Y...Y...Yes!" I again stammered and mentally slapped myself.

"You, first learn how to speak!" He averted his gaze from me and climbed up the stairs.

I let out a breath, which I don't know I was holding for so long and placed my hand over my heart in order to steady my breath.

A tear escaped my eyes and I hugged Elana tightly. I knew she was crying too. But, what could I do? It seemed like we had to cry for the rest of our lives. My one wrong decision was going to make us suffer for the rest of our life.

***Six years ago***

I was welcomed by the beautiful fragrance of red roses.  There were two hearts made of red roses, and three candles were placed in the corner and in the middle. A dozen of red balloons were dancing around the room.  What outstood the most, was the word 'LOVE' written beautiful on
the marble floor with the rose petals and small, yellow cup candles beautified it even more.

I  was awestruck by the amazing effort and scrutinized the whole room. I, carefully placed my white heels on the floor, trying my best not to ruin any of the decorations.

I sat down on the soft bed and started playing with the petals.

Suddenly, I heard the door knob turned, and the door opened, with a slight creak.

I placed the petals back onto their place and interwined my fingers.

I heard small footsteps making their way towards me but I did not dare look towards them.

I knew it was Blake, not Drake. Just few hours ago, I saw my Drake, laying lifeless on the stretcher. I have never felt this helpless before. The whole world came crashing down, when he didn't open his eyes , after I called out his name several times.

It was all my fault. Because of me, he died. I wanted to run away from everyone. I had not even begun crying over my loss, when Colton took me back inside the church, whispering some, really hurtful sentences into my ears.

' He deserved it .'

'Look, what a coward. Didn't have the guts to fight.'

'Thank God, you didn't Marry him.'

God knows, how hard for me it was to not cry in front of the guests. I kept my head down, the whole time and could see small diamonds , making their way onto my black dress.

Blake sat across me and closely,
examined my face. I didn't look at him and kept playing with my fingers.

"Here. This is your wedding ring. Wear it." He threw a red velvet box towards me and it fell right next to me.

I was taken aback by his stance and my eyes darted towards him and I kept staring at him for a while.

"What? Stop staring at me." He said while unbottoning his shirt.

I kept staring at him and did not utter a single word.

"God! Airhead! I really regret my decision of marrying you. Now, stop staring at me and you know what you have to do next." He said, while taking off his shirt.

I ,again stared at him with a blank expression on my face.

He rolled his eyes and scooted closer to me. He placed his hand on the back of my head and took my hair in his fist, and pulled my head with a jerk.

A slight scream escaped my mouth but he clamped his other hand on my mouth.

"Don't you dare shout. Or else I will cut you into pieces and feed them to stray dogs. You know why I have married you, right? I never loved you. I just wanted to get you into bed. But, your stupid boyfriend never allowed me to do so. But, fate has taught him a great lesson. I wish he rots in hell forever. "

Tears came running down my cheeks freely and I couldn't believe my ears.

" When you proved to be difficult, I approached your brother. My elder brother turned out to be his best friend and he had also assisted him in getting that job at the cafe. So technically, he owed my brother. My brother asked for our marriage, to which he happily agreed. And, here we are!"

He tightened his grip on my hair and I could actually feel my head being ripped apart from my body.

"Now, go and undress yourself. I want you laying naked on this bed, when I return. " He pushed me away from him, and my head landed on the bed.

I broke into sobs and my throat became parched. An excruciating pain took place all over my body and my heart ached with pain.

**BACK TO THE PRESENT**

"Mommy! Please stop crying, or else Elana will cry too. Please mommy. Stop crying."

I opened my eyes and saw Elana, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Sshh. Mommy is ok. Now let's go and get some ice cream." I took my bag from the sofa and held her hand, and hurriedly came outside the house.

I didn't want Blake to be around Elana at any cost. No wonder he could beat
up his daughter, like me.

I locked the door behind me and walked towards the near by cafe.

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