Betrayal in Black

- Chapter Six -

SABRINA

You know that feeling when you can only hear yourself breathing? That feeling when everyone else in the room disappears and time feels like it's stopped?

Yeah.

That's the feeling I get as soon as the hot iron is pressed into my skin.

Time quickly resumes, and I scream louder than I've ever done before. I pull against the sharp zipties that tie me to the chair and let out hoarse sobs. I try to pull away from the hotness, but there is no escape.

The room suddenly starts to smell like burning skin, and it's making me sick. I dry heave and gag as the man pulls the metal off of my back. My skin feels like it's on fire, and I want to tear it off.

Anthony watches me from his spot on the sofa with a small smirk creeping onto his face. My throat burns, and my body shakes violently in the chair.

He gets up and walks around me, examining my new mark.

Anthony talks to the man, but I can't tell what they're saying. My mind is racing, and I can't focus. Tears and cries fall out of my mouth and eyes as I heave.

Anthony buttons up the back of my nightgown, and I cry harder when I feel his touch.

"Va bene tesoro.." (All right baby..) I hear softly from behind me. The zipties are soon cut from my wrists and ankles, and I'm lifted off the chair. My eyes blur from the amount of tears flowing from my eyes, and I rub them vigorously. Small sobs keep coming out of me, and I can feel myself shaking.

"This way." Anthony says as he opens the door to the room. I take tentative steps towards him and exit the room.

I cry as we walk, not bothering to hide it. My skin is throbbing from where it was marked, and it's becoming hard to focus on anything other than the pain.

We reach the staircase, and he says something, but I can't hear him. His words sound blurred and inaudible. I don't bother to listen though anyway.

This asshole can suffer in silence.

As we make our way back to the dining room, the maid appears again. She has her hands folded and her head down.

"Portala nella sua stanza. Prendile qualcosa de manguare." (Take her to her room. Get her something to eat.) Anthony says as he walks past me. He leaves the dining room, and I'm left alone with the maid.

She sighs and says something under her breath.

"This way, Miss." She says, leading me out of the room.

___________________________________________

I lay on my stomach on the warm, comfortable bed. I didn't have any energy to eat, so the maid left food on the bedside table. I can't seem to fall asleep, though.

My body feels numb, used, and disgusting. I took another bath before getting into bed, but it hardly helped. I scrubbed my skin until it was raw, but his fingerprints are still visible.

I can still feel the touch of his hand around my neck and wrists and the pressure on my back, suffocating me as he ripped me open.

I can't even start to imagine what he must have done when I was unconscious in that alley.

I squeeze my eyes shut, and tears slip out of them. I've done more crying in the past two days than I think I've done in my entire life.

The door to the bedroom opens softly. It's probably the maid. She comes in every half-hour to check on me.

I feel so shameful and embarrassed that she knows what's going on right now. She probably knows everything and all the details. She's seen my bruised, naked body and had to help me walk. I couldn't even walk on my own.