⋆⁺₊⋆☽ | Verity’s POV | ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
Pain.
So much pain I’d never felt before. Pain I knew I didn’t deserve.
“Valen… tino…” I moaned weakly. Pathetic.
Even though I did not care for this monster, I still felt unbearable shame as his eyes took my sorry state in. My eyes were swollen shut, but I felt it. The heat of his gaze.
“What are you doing here, Aella?” Valentino spoke finally, voice cold and empty. “You know I strictly warned you about this island after you asked, so why would you disobey my orders like this?”
Aella stuttered, clearly at a loss for words. She’d obviously never been told off by her beloved husband before, but I guessed there was a first time for everything. A sick satisfaction rolled deep in my disfigured gut as I waited for this to play out how I’d warned Aella, how I’d warned all of them.
No one messed with Valentino’s prized possessions. No one did and lived.
“Honey,” Aella’s voice turned sweet once again, “I met this suspicious woman who snuck into the villa and was creeping around. She made so many ridiculous claims to try and get away with it but I followed her and taught her a lesson.”
“Is that so?”
Aella laughed happily at the deceptively approving tone Valentino had taken. “Yes!”
“It’s true.” One of her lackeys piped up in support. “Aella knows how much this place means to you. We won’t go messing around in it however we like.”
Such useless words. I could practically feel Valentino’s anger radiating off him in waves. Any time now, he was going to tear into these girls.
“Did any of you go into the main residence?” A chorus of ‘No’s filled the space and Valentino continued, voice deep and dangerous, “Good. Thank you, my dearest Aella. You shouldn’t come here again in the future, but I can rest easy knowing you’re so dedicated to my safety.”
Wait.
What?
Where was the anger? The punishment?
“Goddamn,” Valentino swore. “You f*cked her up so bad she’s barely recognizable. I’m proud of you.”
The sound of kissing reached my ears along with an obnoxious female moan, and disbelief filled me achingly. Was I really so swollen and disfigured that Valentino could not recognize me? That he did not question for a moment the coincidence of Aella and her men violating some random woman when I was the only one here?
I wanted to sob. I wanted to scream and curse Valentino out for believing a fake ‘me’ over the real Verity he claimed he knew inside and out. The Verity he claimed he loved.
I wanted to laugh at the idea that I could have fallen for him eventually, and all his lies. But I could not manage a sound anymore, not to talk less of his name to utter a curse. Just a single tear rolling down the side of my face.
Even as I lay there, awaiting what came next for my abused body, I had to listen to more of Valentino’s pretenses of love for Aella.
“Do you know what I like about you the most?” He asked in a sweet voice. An unfamiliar twinge of jealousy went through me at the thought of him using a tone he reserved only for me on that fake version.
“What, dear?”
“I love it when you get all ferocious when it comes to me. It’s so hot.” The monster murmured softly. “But next time, don’t take these matters personally into your own hands. Just as you want to protect me, I want to protect you too. And this place is private. If not for you, no one here would leave alive.”
“Oh, baby… I love you.” More kissing sounds of kissing. I wanted to retch.
“Enzo, take care of her.” Finally. I needed relief from the pain. I just wanted them to get this display over with so Valentino could go in the house and discover I wasn’t there. When he realized truly what his precious ‘wife’ had done, I would watch him make Aella pay. But as was my luck in this world, that wasn’t what Valentino meant.
His next words, spoken with pure disgust, sent a chill down my spine. “Find somewhere on the island and bury her alive so she can suffocate to death. This'll be another lesson for future trespassers.”
Huh…?
