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My heart began to race as the memories came faster in quick flashes.
'Some guy just sideswiped my car.'
'Are you okay?'
'Yeah, but he—fuck.'There had been a loud crashing sound, followed by something that sounded like a rock tumbler before the line went dead.
'Teo? Teo?'I yelled into the phone, but the line had disconnected.
Trembling, I drew my knees up to my chest and allowed myself a few minutes to fall apart, hiding my face and letting the tears flow.
There I'd been, wondering if there was any way that Teo might think to look for me in Corsica when I didn't even know if he was alive. Someone had sideswiped him but that sounded a lot worse than a little fender bender. The timing of the accident was suspicious as well and made me wonder if it wasn't an organized attack to keep him from being able to come find me. I felt sick at the realization that something bad could have happened to Teo. Violent sobs constricted my chest, making it hard to breathe. I had to get a hold of myself. I forced myself to take in a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before blowing it out slowly. After a few more minutes of repeating those steps, I'd barely been able to calm myself enough that I was only snubbing when my tears were quickly halted by the sound of footsteps growing louder. Someone was coming my direction. I quickly wiped away my tears and held my breath.
"Oh, don't stop your crying on my account. I don't mind them. On the contrary, I plan to revel in them before we're done." Andrea's voice was cold and cruel.
I climbed to my feet and cleared my throat, trying to put some strength behind my words as I rose from the floor and straightened my back. "You're wasting your time. I will never marry you."
Andrea looked at me the way one might look at an errant child who had just said something ridiculous.
“Look at you. So strong willed, so brave." His voice was mocking. "You will marry me, eventually. But we're not there yet. We have quite a way to go to break you down before you'll be ready to be my wife."
I took a step back in the cell needing to add a small bit of distance between Andrea and myself no matter how futile that was when I was locked in that stupid cage. He motioned to someone outside of my view and a moment later another man stepped over to the iron bars and started to unlock the door.
He didn't say a word, but his presence made me nervous, and I took another step back.
"What's going on?"
The man stepped into the cell, looked at me with cold expressionless eyes, and back at Andrea who nodded.
"My mother always said that a man should never lay a hand on his wife in anger. So Ciro is going to handle that for me."
"W-what?" I stepped back as the man came closer.
"You look far too comfortable in this cell like this so we're going to have to do something about that." He looked from me to Ciro.
"Remove her clothes. She doesn't get anything until she earns it."
"What? No." I yelled and swung at the man's hands as he reached for me.
"Do not resist or you will be punished," Andrea warned but I ignored him. Focused more on my present assailant.
"Strike her." I barely had time to register Andrea's bark when Ciro's hand struck hard enough across my face that I fell to the floor.
I sobbed, cupping my face, and struggling against double vision for a moment.
"I warned you," Andrea said calmly. "Maybe being strung up for a while will help take some of the fight out of her."
The man still never said a word as he grabbed me roughly. I fought in vain as he forced my hands up over my head, tugging down a pair of shackles I hadn't noticed hanging high above my head.
I squirmed and tried to fight him off, but it was no use. With my hands bound above my head, I had to stand on my tiptoes to keep the pressure of my weight off of my wrists.
As if that weren't bad enough. Once I was helplessly hanging there, Ciro was free to unceremoniously rip my clothes off of me, tossing the torn rags into the corner until I was hanging there, completely naked with no way to cover myself. I felt unbearably vulnerable. I wanted to hide away, to wrap my arms around myself, to shield my bare flesh from their prying eyes but there was no way.
Andrea tapped his ring against the bar of the cell once, almost sounding like a gong and without warning, Ciro struck me hard in my belly.
I cried out, instinctively pulling on the chains to try to double over but all I could do was swing there until my scrambling feet managed to gain purchase on the floor once again.
I coughed and gasped for air that had been forced from my lungs. Several moments later, there was another tapping sound and Ciro struck me again. That time, making me throw up what little I had left in my stomach.
