To Intrigue a Cavelli [The Seven Cavelli Brothers #1]

21. | Tension |

Hello guys! It's been awhile since I updated years since I started this book. My writing style has changed quite a lot over the years and rereading some stuff has made me cringe quite badly.
That aside, since my style has changed, you guys might notice in the updates hopefully it won't be too off putting.
I hope you guys enjoy the update!
love,
ceelia.
*********************
TRIGGER WARNING:
Some amount of profanity. Mentions of physical and emotional abuse. Mentions of rape and domestic violence.
*********************
Vitelli was silent as he guided Ollie to the sofa, she was thankful for it as she wasn't sure if her legs could hold her up anymore. Ollie was staring at a spot on the carpet when Vitelli handed her a glass of water which she accosted with silent thanks.

Vitelli was patient with her, waiting until she had collected herself enough to allow herself to give him the explanation he was asking of her.
"Benjamin..." Ollie takes in a shaky breath, steeling herself for what she was about to tell him, "Benjamin was my neighbor. He lived next door to my parents and he a sick, twisted obsession with me." She looks up at Vitelli, expecting some kind on condemnation from him, it was instinctual as she had been harboring the blame for the past events for herself all those years.

"I didn't know it then, I was young and stupid and foolish. I thought I was in love," She let out a shaky breath as she placed the glass on the glass table in front of the sofa. "I thought he loved me. I had been a typical geek throughout high-school, utterly focused on my studies, avoiding parties and all my friends consisted of the same type of studious teenagers such as myself. I had been desperate for attention from the opposite gender. And then Benjamin arrived." Ollie let out a bitter laugh.

"He was so handsome, all mature with a degree in accounting and working at a prestigious firm at such a young age. He had his whole life figured out and it appealed to my teenage mind— the image on what he wanted other people to see him as. He was seven years my senior and having him direct his attention to me was exhilarating. We dated in secret and I thought it was thrilling. Before I knew it he had isolated me from my parents, my peers and my friends. I went against my parents and my brothers and went away with him to the city after he had gotten a promotion. And everything went down hill from there." Ollie looks away from Vitelli's eyes, unable to face him, she felt ashamed of herself and although her psychiatrist told her it wasn't her fault she still couldn't face it.

"We lived in an apartment, an expensive one that he owned. He said we would get married as soon as possible but I wanted to wait for a bit. It angered him. I knew it but I was persistent. The abuse started when I said I wanted to apply to medschool. He didn't want me working. It was very small at first, a verbal comment here and there when I displeased him. Then it became slaps and finally he was beating me. Anything and everything triggered him. He didn't want me going out and talking to people, he hid me from his friends at work. Like I was a dirty secret. And he started calling me names and forcing me to have sex with him." By now, Ollie's voice had turned cold, detached as though she was retelling a story that had happened to someone else. And Vitelli understood that she needed to detach herself in order to continue.

"Hey..." He kept his voice soft, waiting until she looked at him, those brilliant eyes so cold and blank. "It isn't your fault. He was a monster and undeserving of you. You aren't at fault, you were an innocent who had been taken advantage of a monster." His voice was resolute, daring her to argue.

"I found out later that he had planned everything. From moving in next door to slowly making me fall for his lies. Like a spider, he spun his web and set his trap and I fell right into it like the clueless fly I was. He had done it before, fixated on other girls, women and then he brought them to his little lair as his playthings. His toys he called them. Then he murdered them when he got bored and moved on to the next victim. I was the first to escape. I went to the police and we managed to catch him, the evidence was damning but I had shot him in the scuffle that resulted. He had taken me to an isolated cabin, where he killed his victims. There had been a stream next to it, the current was fast and it was deep. He fell in and they couldn't find a body, the police assured me that he wouldn't have survived."

"But he did," Vitelli's eyes narrowed, "Or someone pretending to be him is after you."

Ollie shook her head, she had no idea. "I had nightmares for months, I went to therapy and joined medschool. Shoved the ordeal into a box and threw it away. I thought I was done with him." Ollie paled and sobbed into her hands for a moment. She shook her head frantically and Vitelli drew her into his arms.

It wasn't how he reacted in most situations but Ollie was turning out to be a special case. She was a woman to be adored and worshipped her flare was something Vitelli would kill to ensure never died out. And he might just be in too deep with the woman, and past the point of caring.

She had fallen asleep in his arms from exhaustion and Vitelli had been thinking of nothing but her comfort when he stripped her out of her dress and pulled one of his shirts over her form. He was about to leave her when she had whimpered in her sleep, green eyes opening just briefly enough to whisper a command in that soft voice of hers that he had no hope of resisting.

"Stay." She had demanded and Vitelli had nodded almost on instinct. "Okay." He climbed onto the bed beside her, slipping underneath the covers and drawing her form to him.

It took him a while before sleep consumed him. Vitelli knew, the rage over what had been done to her would surface tomorrow, when he had processed it all and was far enough from Ollie to make sure he didn't scare her. Oh yes, the rage would build and build and build until it exploded and god help whoever stumbles across him in that moment.