Page 23 of Desolation
“I said thirty minutes. That’s it. I expect her to be ready when I get back,” Dominic growls as he leaves the room.
Shaking, I take a seat. The women start getting to work on me. The cover up comes first. One of them also works on my hair at the same time too. She curls all of it so they can cover the bruises on my neck that are still showing through the makeup.
They aren’t able to cover all of it. Some of the bruises are too dark, but for the most part they are able to do it. No one speaks to me or each other the entire time except to ask each other to pass something to them.
My anxiety is through the roof. Before I know it, I’m having a panic attack. I can’t breathe, shoving the chair out from under me I drop to my knees. I’m ruining the make up they just did, but there isn’t anything I can do about it.
One of them comes over to me and pats me with equally shaky hands. They must have been threatened to be here somehow too. “Breathe, you have to breathe. You have to get your shit together or we are all done for. I don’t know your name or why you are doing this, but he will sell all of us if we don’t do this like he says,” she says.
I’m trying, I really am. Trying to get my wits about me, I take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. The woman continues to rub my arm. It’s not as comforting as she probably thinks it is, but at least she is trying. I honestly don’t know what will happento them, but if she’s correct, I don’t want to be the cause of them being sold.
Making my way to my feet, I reach out for the chair. As I drop down to my seat, I see that I have streaked the makeup with my tears and I now have mascara streaks as well. Taking some makeup wipes, they quickly wipe at them and start doing my makeup one more time. Filling in the places they had to wipe away and blending it with what they were able to save.
Looking at myself in the mirror, my eyes look dead. Will they ever have the life in them again like they’ve had the last couple days? Being with Drake and his family healed something in me, even if it was for a short time. I felt safe, and cared for. Not to mention the moment we had where things got a little heated between Drake and I. It was a taste of a life I could have if I were able to just reach out and take it.
Was I foolish to think I was ever going to escape my parents and this life? I should have never let Drake give me hope.
The women move away from me and examine their work. Makeup has been repaired. They did the best they could. One of them pulled up the left side of my hair and draped it to the right to partially cover where the right side of my face is busted up the worst.
Taking my hand they led me to the dress. There is so much satin and lace. It looks like a mafia wife dress. I don’t know how to explain what I mean by that, except to say it reminds me of the wedding dress in the Godfather movie. Shuddering, I begin to step out of my clothes. My phone is gone, my pockets are empty, and my wallet is nowhere to be found.
Makes sense that they would have taken my phone but there shouldn’t be any reason to take my wallet away. They barely have me in the dress when Dominic walks in. The woman had only just got the last button done up in the back.
“Good, let’s go,” he says. Grabbing my hand, he puts it in the crook of his arm and leans in to whisper in my ear, “You will look happy and smile. You will not ruin this by acting scared or like anyone is forcing you to do this. Understood? If you mess up in any way, Reba dies.”
I barely nod.
Pasting a smile on my face that I hope will be sufficient, I let him lead me along until we come to a large room filled with about 30 people. I see my parents, both of them look almost as bad as I do. And in the back, sitting next to one of Dominic’s men that were in the room with us earlier, is Reba. Her face is swollen and bruised just like mine.
Biting back a sob, I look at her, trying to tell her I can fix this somehow with my eyes. She is silently crying. I’m sure they have told her to be on her best behavior as well.
How did it come to this? How did I go from getting beaten by my parents, to Drake’s and being happy for a few days, and now this, the worst day of my life.
Dominic leads me to the front of the room where a priest is waiting. He looks nervous too. In fact, the only one in this room that’s truly smiling is Dominic. He’s really insane isn’t he?
The priest performs the ceremony, and I somehow speak in all the right places and before I know it, Dominic is shoving a set of rings on my fingers and kissing me with his slimy mouth.
I don’t kiss him back and I see the threat in his eyes when he tries to play it off like I’m just being shy. Nothing is ever going to be the same again, I just hope I don’t break completely before I can get away from here.
A little while later I watch silently from the window as they let Reba go. Honestly, I didn’t think they were going to do it, but I have a feeling Dominic wants her to report back that we’re now married. Judging by the smirk on his face, that’s exactly what he’s thinking.
(Trigger Warning: Violent on page Rape scene. Skip the rest of this chapter if needed for your mental health.)
Drake is going to hate me. Hell, I hate me. But Reba is safe, and now that I’m married to Dominic there’s no need to start a war over me. I will fight Dominic every step of the way though. I will never go easily. And every day I will try to figure out a way to leave. No matter what it takes.
Dominic turns to me and looks me up and down. “I can’t wait to get you to the suite. You don’t know how long I have been waiting for this. I told you, you were going to be mine, Elodie. And look, now you are. I’m going to punish you for telling me no and running to that pretty boy Drake and his subpar Familia.”
I start backing away, but he snarls and grabs me, dragging me to a door down the hall. Using the key again, he opens the door and shoves me through it. I trip over the bottom of the hideous wedding dress and fall to my knees.
Dominic is looming over me, sneering. “You can’t even walk correctly. When I’m done with you, Elodie, you’ll be the perfect little Mafia wife. Meek, submissive, quiet, and will do whatever I want, whenever I want.”
“I’ll never be your perfect anything. I don’t care what you do to me. I did this to save Reba, that’s it. I will never love you or ever want to willingly be in the same room with you,” I say, hands and body shaking.
I know what’s about to happen. I’m not stupid. He will get his way, because I can’t fight him off. I’m already hurt and haven’t recovered from the beating my parents gave me, not that I’m particularly strong to begin with. Not that I won’t try.
He growls and pulls me up from the floor by my arm, throwing me onto the bed. I try to crawl away from him but he grabs my dress and rips it down the front. Taking out his knife, he cuts my bra and panties until I am bare before him. I cover myself, but he grabs my arms and holds them above my head and he lays his body over mine.
Bringing the knife up to my neck, he puts it against me, as I feel him fumbling to unbutton his pants. I bring my knee up, getting him right by his balls and he grabs himself to protect them, cutting my neck in the process. It’s not a long cut, just a small one, but it’s bleeding pretty badly.