Chapter Forty Four:
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"Here, where the sky's falling,
I'm covered in blue.
I'm running and I'm crawling,
Fighting for you.
When the rain stops, then, darling
What will I do?
And I know I go all in,
But why do I?
You give me a reason, something to believe in
I know, I know, I know.
You give me a meaning, something I can breathe in
I know, I know, I know.
It's a bittersweet feeling
Longing, and I'm leaving
I go, I go, I go
But I wish I was there with you."
I opened my eyes and the first thing that I felt was a throbbing pain in the side of my head. My hand shot up to touch it and I felt it come in contact with a liquid substance.
The room was unfamiliar and there was a single lamp drilled in the wall across me. My eyes darted around the room in search of something familiar, anything, but I came up with an empty room that was as big as my room back home.
Home.
My eyes widened slightly at the thought and that was when the panic started to bubble in my chest.
All the unfortunate events flooded through my mind and I looked down at myself to see that my clothes were intact.
A small wave of relief washed over me but it vanished in thin air when I realized what had actually transpired right after I left home.
I did not reach my destination.
I remembered sitting in the car and we were not much far from the restaurant when a truck collided with our car from the driver's side and the car was turned upside down on the road.
I had only a few seconds to grasp whatever was going as I saw Damon's body flying out of the car. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out, instead, my head collided with the side window with so much force that the glass broke.
Black dots appeared in my vision but I blinked rapidly, my eyelids becoming heavy as I felt my shoulder being rammed into something hard after the car rolled once again.
I tried to call out to Apollo but my heart was beating too fast and the sound that my ears could register was the pumping of blood.
It felt as if someone was playing drum, a constant thump rang in my head.
I wanted to move but my body was hanging upside down. I did not feel any pain at that moment except in my head.
"Darius." I whispered, my voice barely audible.
Suddenly, the car door was ripped apart and I saw a man's shoe clad feet come in my view. He bent down to my level and I tried to keep my eyes open but my energy was being drained every millisecond.
My eyes shut on their own accord and I felt myself being pulled out of the car before everything turned dark.
And now when I opened my eyes again, I realized that this was not home.
Someone had taken me.
Someone other than my brothers.
Someone other than Darius.
I brought my hand down to see the tip of my fingers painted in red.
My head was bleeding.
I tried to move but my limbs gave up. My muscles felt frozen and when I moved my right foot, pain shot up my leg.
I winced loudly and a wave of severe nausea hit me but before I could puke out the contents of my stomach, the door was pulled open with a rather loud thud.
The ringing in my head increased and I clutched my head while groaning in pain.
"You're awake." An unfamiliar gruff voice cut through the air.
I remained quiet and my body started to tremble in fear as I heard his footsteps getting closer to where I was leaning against the wall.
"Don't worry, I won't harm you. It's your bastard of a husband who I want to bring down. If everything goes according to the plan, I'll soon have Adrian Knight flying in this very country and then we can take him down along with your husband."
Does he want to harm Darius?
And Adrian Knight? Isn't he one of Darius' allies?
I was not able to see the man's face properly but from where I was sitting, I could make out a thick beard on his face and burly, huge body that seemed to be towering over my form.
"You're just a pawn. For over a decade, people have waited to spot any weaknesses of the mighty and powerful, Darius Pantazis." He scoffed and shook his head.
"My brother and I had planned to overthrow his rule on the Drug Mafia, on the government of Greece but the bastard was a tough nut to crack. All the women of his family were well-protected and knew how to look after themselves making them unapproachable." He narrated his story as if I was some part of the audience of a storytelling club.
"But that bitch Adrian had to refuse Natasha's proposal and kill him for threatening the boss lady's position." The tone of his voice was now dripped in venom.
"And everything went downhill. In a matter of few minutes, everything came crashing down on the ground. I wish I hadn't gone to California that day." He gritted out.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to figure out where I fit in all of this.
"W-What di-did I d-do?" I croaked out as the tears streamed down my cheeks.
He chuckled, an ominous sound, "You, my darling, are a prize. As I said, many people like me have been looking for a weak spot and we couldn't find any but then you came. And tada! We found what we were looking for."
My head was buzzing with too many questions, "We-w-weak spot?"
"Yes, you! You became his biggest weakness and deep down even he knows that. Bringing a woman in this life, especially a woman you intend to make your wife, is like diving in the deep sea with a blindfold on. It's dangerous."
"People will attack you like you're a piece of meat to snatch. The people who want to hurt your beloved husband."
He kept calling Darius my husband but I did not dare correct him. I was too scared to do that and it was all new.
It had never happened before.
Not with me.
"Anyways, you've been here for a whole day now. We should get to work." He stated and stood up.
I thought that my heart could not beat any faster but it did.
I was petrified.
I wanted Darius.
I needed Darius.
"Oh, don't be like that." He huffed.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen, I am a fair man. We will wrap you up like a burrito and play soil with you."
Saying that he turned on his heels and walked out without giving me a chance to speak.
A moment passed before two short ladies came inside with something transparent in their hands.
I could not make out what it was due to the lack of brightness inside the room.
My stomach churned for some unknown reason.
Darius must be home now.
He must be looking for me.
What if...
No.
He said he won't harm me.
In a flash, I was picked up from the floor and my head spun badly. I felt something going around my body and a woman holding me by my arms.
Her grip was painfully tight.
Didn't she know that I am unable to fight back?
Why was she holding me?
My eyes snapped open and I looked down to see one of the women going in circles around me and she had a tall roll of plastic in her hand.
I felt my legs pressing into one another as if someone had glued them and realized that a plastic film was being wrapped around me.
I began thrashing, lightly, in the woman's hold and opened my mouth to shout.
My screams ripped through the air, deafeningly loud, and I clamped my mouth shut because it was hurting me way too much.
My head was killing me.
"P-p-please." I begged and sobbed.
"Shut up. It's the boss's orders." The lady who was holding me still spoke.
"H-He s-said he will no-not haa-harm me." it was getting harder and harder for me to move my tongue.
She let out a bitter chuckle, "Look at you, so naïve. Who would have thought Christopher's daughter would be such an angel." She mocked.
I froze.
Christopher.
She knew my father.
Was he behind all of this?
The plastic wrapped higher and higher up my body and my muscles were already so weak that I felt as if somebody was trying to squeeze me into a closet that was not even meant to hold clothes.
"I-I;m so-sor-sorry." I cried but none of them turned a deaf ear to me.
It was suffocating me.
I tried to move my head but it hurt like hell.
I felt something prick my arm, a needle and a small hiss escaped my lips.
This was too much for me.
Was this it?
Was I going to die?
This is the conclusion of Eirene Petrakis' life?
And suddenly I was pulled into my childhood where I saw my mother baking a chocolate cake for me as she sang and danced around the kitchen like a ray of sunlight.
Aegeus who was sat beside me on the counter with a big chocolate stain on his mini apron.
I was giggling and clapping whenever my mother twirled, her beautiful blonde locks whipping in the air making her look like a Disney Princess.
Her bluish-green eyes twinkling with joy and the sunlight peeking through the blinds made them shine even brighter.
Another memory flashed in my head, this time we were in the living room.
It was a cold night and we three were sat by the fire as my mother made our favorite hot drink for us; hot cocoa.
Aegeus and I were wearing matching red sweaters, which our mother had knitted especially for Christmas.
She was reading us a story as we sat cocooned in her warmth.
The image of her placing tender kisses on our heads as she tucked us in the bed flooded my mind.
A smile stretched across my lips as my mind played happy memories, one after another, like a reel.
My mother, my beautiful mother.
As if I was in a travel time ship, the scenery changed and we were now in our apartment where Aegeus, Angelo, and I played monopoly.
Aegeus was hiding a stash of money beneath his knee and Angelo had caught him. He was grabbed by his ear as Angelo gave him an earful causing me to giggle.
Served him right for always cheating in games.
My heart was not beating loudly anymore. In fact, it was at peace now.
In my head, I was at Angelo's house and he was sitting beside me as I slept just like he did every single night so he can pull me out of my nightmares.
He was whispering something to me as he stroked my hair, telling me how incredibly strong I was.
Every night, I would fall asleep to those sweet nothings that my brother whispered to me.
Aegeus was my twin, my brother but Angelo was not just my brother but rather a father figure in my life.
"Take her away." I heard the woman's voice and my eyes shut close.
A pair of emerald eyes flashed behind my lids and the bareness of my heart was instantly replaced with a garden that blossomed with beautiful, little flowers in spring.
My subconscious mind registered my body being dragged to somewhere but I was too deep relishing in the few good moments of my life to take notice of it.
I felt the touch of his hands on my skin, spreading warmth all over.
A duct tape was placed on my mouth but I did not protest because instead of the sticky material, I felt soft lips mingle with mine.
I was pulled back in time when he took me out for a date.
The day he first kissed me.
My eyes opened and I saw that I was outside, under the sky, and it was daytime.
It was a cemetery.
I watched as three unfamiliar men were digging a grave but I did not care even though somewhere in my gut, I knew whom it was for.
I was too busy thinking about the newfound happiness in my life, even if it lasted for a short while, to care about the death that now stood at my door.
Everything was a blur.
Well, everything except the man who was dressed in a black tux and was sliding a ring through my finger.
Everything except the man whose arms wrapped around me as I fell into a deep slumber.
And every single thing except the face of the man who looked at me like his world now revolved around me.
The women on either side pushed me forward until I was stood in front of that man who had come to talk to me in the room a while ago.
He grabbed me by my shoulders, "I'm sorry." He said and started to lower my body to the ground.
I couldn't move.
I won't give up on you, Eirene. I told you, you're the only woman for me now. It's you, it will always be you.
The sound of my favorite voice played in my head.
And as I was being lowered to my grave, I realized I was in love.
I was in love with Darius Pantazis.
I was so in love with Darius Pantazis that even the reality of me being seconds away from death could not bother me.
Life had been kind enough to give me a chance to experience true love.
I felt something hit my face.
It was the soil of the ground.
My lips moved and my last words were, "I love you, Darius."