Living With The Enemy

Elena

The second Romeo’s arms wrapped around me in a hug, I knew I was done for. I knew that night was about to turn into another living hell, I just knew it.

The reception hall was packed with women in evening gowns dripping with precious jewels, men in dinner jackets with black ties, some even in frock coats. Everyone looked wealthy. Everyone looked happy.

Salvatore wasn’t left behind. He wore a colorful tuxedo and looked like the angel they all said he was. The angel I couldn’t see. The demon only I knew.

He walked toward us almost instantly, that fake smile plastered on his face. His left hand landed on the small exposed part of my back. I was wearing a backless dinner gown after all, one that was way too shiny and uncomfortable but I’d been forced to wear it.

“Baby, what’s going on here?” He looked between Romeo and me, his fingers digging into my skin just enough to hurt without anyone noticing.

“Oh! If it isn’t the man of the moment.” Romeo beamed at him, completely oblivious. “I’m Romeo, Elena’s friend. We go way back. I was just in town for something when I heard that my favorite girl was getting married and I knew I couldn’t dare to miss it.”

“Hey, nice to meet you. Thank you for coming around, she sure appreciates it and so do I.” Salvatore’s voice was smooth as silk, charming even.

I looked at Romeo, who had his gaze fixed on me. I could see the confusion in his eyes, like he was wondering why Salvatore was speaking for me. Why I’d suddenly gone mute the second Salvatore stepped into our space.

I blinked several times, like someone had just told me to blink three times if I needed help.

Romeo just smiled and the moment passed.

As we walked around the hall for the rest of that evening, I felt every single pinch. Every painful squeeze Salvatore gave me each time I did something he thought was wrong. Each time I smiled too long at someone. Each time I laughed at the wrong moment. Each time I breathed wrong.

And then when it was all over and night fell, I knew what was coming. I dreaded it with every fiber of my being.

I took a bath to wash away the day’s sweat and dirt, trying to scrub away the anxiety crawling under my skin. He barged into the bathroom without warning and grabbed a fistful of my hair, dragging me out while I screamed. Water dripped everywhere as he threw me onto the bed like I was nothing more than a rag doll.

“Do you know how many times you embarrassed me today?” His voice was ice cold, each word a threat. “Do you know how much embarrassment I had to face just because of you? How dare you go around hugging and kissing other men? Elena, how many times do I have to tell you to always think about what I’d do to you before you take some steps or do some things? Am I such a joke to you now? Oh, I’m not to be taken seriously? Is that it?”

The questions came one after another, not giving me time to answer. Not that he wanted answers anyway.

He took off his shirt, muscles rippling under his skin. Then he got to his belt.

I screamed as soon as he began to pull it out because I knew exactly what was going to happen. So I started doing what I’d been doing for the past three years. The only thing that sometimes worked.

I begged for mercy.

“I’m so sorry, please. I’ll never do it again, please. I’m so sorry.” The words tumbled out between sobs and tears streaming down my face.

“If everything could be solved just by saying sorry, do you think we would need the police, lawyers and judges?” The first whip landed on my skin and I cried out, the pain sharp and burning. “I own you, Elena. You are mine and no one else’s.”

“Turn around!” His voice was a command I didn’t dare disobey.

I turned immediately, my body shaking. The whipping continued, each strike worse than the last.

“You must do as I say every time and I can do anything I want to you. You are mine and mine alone. You are my property. You are nothing.”

After he was satisfied that I was bruised enough, that my skin was marked with his anger, I felt his naked body press against mine. Then him pushing inside me, taking what he believed was his. What he did every single night since I was given to him by my father like I was some kind of bargaining chip.

Someone came in unannounced while he was in the middle of his brutal act. No one cared to knock around here. Their master had taught them that way. He loved to share. He loved to show me off. He’d said it several times, always with that sick smile. So many of his men had seen me naked without my permission, without my consent meaning anything.

“The boss wants you.” The man announced simply before leaving, not even bothering to close the door all the way.

Salvatore groaned in frustration, pulling out of me roughly. He slapped my *ss so hard I knew it would bruise, adding to the collection of marks already covering my body.

“I’ll be right back to finish what we started. Do not think Daddy being here saves your d*mn *ss!” He threw his clothes back on, not bothering to button his shirt properly, and stormed out of the room.

Tears rolled down my face as I laid there on the bed. Bruised. Abused. Maltreated. Broken.

And then something inside me snapped.

I suddenly got off the bed, moving like I was on impulse, like my body was acting without my brain giving permission. I walked toward the large window and looked down. It wasn’t too far from the ground. Not impossible. Maybe survivable.

I grabbed the nearest dress I could find and threw it on, not caring how flimsy and light it was against the cold night air. It barely covered anything but I didn’t have time to be picky.

I could hear my father and Salvatore talking loudly in the other room, their voices carrying through the walls.

“You interrupted the nice time I was having. Why do you always show up at the wrong time, huh?” Salvatore snapped, his irritation clear even from here.

“You know d*mn well that I do not care what you do to or with my daughter.” My father’s voice was cold, dismissive. Those words cut deeper than any whip ever could. “But do you think a nice time is more important than the shipment of weapons that suddenly sank in the middle of the sea last night, and all of a sudden at that? Do you?”

Once again, he was placing everything above his own daughter. Business. Profits. Power. Everything mattered more than me.

I’d never understood my dad or his relationship with Salvatore, his wingman, his beta. I’d never even tried to understand because it was clear I didn’t matter enough to be part of that world.

I shook my head bitterly as I looked around the large room one more time, taking in everything I was leaving behind. Then I climbed out of the window, gripping the ledge so tightly despite the fact that my palms were sore and burned from earlier.

My nails dug deep into the wall to give myself a better grip, to give myself one more chance at hope. One more chance at survival. A tear rolled down my cheek but I didn’t let it stop me. I had to stay focused. I had to survive.

My feet finally touched the hard ground below and without a second of hesitation, I took off running.

I didn’t bother to look back.

Elena

“Run. Keep running. You can do this. Don’t look back. Just keep running.”

Escaping wasn’t easy. I’d planned it for years but never found the courage to actually do it. But tonight, I had to escape from the nightmare I’d been born into. I’d had enough. I wanted to be free from the shackles. I needed some hope, even just a sliver of it.

My father never cared. He knew everything I went through and always turned a blind eye. He was never a loving father. He’d always allowed the family to treat me like I was nothing even though I was his daughter, his own flesh and blood. 

Family didn’t matter to him. Not my mom when she was alive. Not me now. My father only cared about profits, about power, about his position.

Despite being the leader, the Alpha of the Amato Pack, despite being the feared man that he was, I was always nothing to him. Just a pawn