Hey, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. In this and the previous chapter, I really wanted there to be a noticeable shift in Adriano’s personality, now that Madeleine knows the truth, the monster he’s kept hidden is finally unleashed. I wanted you to feel that shift, not just see it. So tell me… was it convincing? Did the change hit you the way I hoped it would? Let me know what you thought of today’s update in the comments, I read every single one! XOXO 💋
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 “You’re not just mine anymore,” he murmured, lowering his forehead until it almost touched mine, his breath hitting my lips like it was a kiss. “You’re ours.” Something shattered in me. The weight of every lie he ever told came down all at once. Every touch that felt safe. Every time I’d believed the softness in his voice. How many times had he told me I could trust him? That I was safe here? That I was protected? And now I saw it, really saw it. The sickness behind his eyes. The hunger that had nothing to do with love and everything to do with control. He didn’t care that I was scared. He didn’t care that I was crying. He cared that he won. He’d chained me to him, cell by cell and now this life growing inside me was the final lock on the cage. I pulled my head back, just enough to look him in the eye, even though it made bile rise in my throat. He was smiling. That slow, twisted thing he did when, his fingers were still curled over mine, pressing
Adriano ⫘☠︎︎⫘ I swear to God, ribs sound like bubble wrap when you get the right angle. That sweet, delicate pop-pop-pop under the bat. The bat was slick in my grip, the blood making it slide just a little. I adjusted, aimed lower. He was choking now. Gurgling through what used to be a jaw. My shoes squelched every time I stepped closer to him, and still I didn’t feel done. I lifted the bat, aimed square at his knee, and brought it down with a sickening crack that echoed through the room. And that’s when I heard it. That soft, strangled sound. I froze mid-swing, not because I was tired. Fuck no, I was thriving but because that sound didn’t belong in this room and I knew exactly whose voice it was. My Madeleine. It took a second for my brain to catch up to the fact that she was actually there. She was standing there like a porcelain doll in a bomb site, eyes wide, tears pooling, hands trembling. She looked at me the way people look at monsters in horror films. No... the way
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 I took a step back, nearly tripping over my own feet. There was a table in the corner. I hadn’t noticed it before, my eyes too locked on the girl, her trembling body, the swollen skin around her wrists where the ropes cut deep but now I saw it. And I wished I hadn’t. It looked like something out of a nightmare. There were blades, dozens of them. Knives of all sizes laid out like a butcher’s favorite collection. A coil of thick wire. A roll of duct tape, the same one that was over her mouth. A black pistol beside a silencer, lined up next to a pair of pliers that still had a reddish-brown stain on the edge. My stomach turned. I could taste bile at the back of my throat. No. No, no, no. This wasn’t someone else’s house. This wasn’t some rogue thug’s stash. This was his space. Adriano’s place. His order. His weapons. His rope. His... girl? Captive? The tools weren’t for show. They weren’t for protection. They were for pain. A cry tore up my throat, but I
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 The Mancinis left after dinner. Alessia almost didn't let Allegra leave, her arms wrapped tightly around her daughter like she could will her to stay just a little longer. I saw her begging Allegra to spend the night, maybe a few days, just the two of them. But he was already standing behind her. Her husband. One hand in his pocket, the other flexing at his side, jaw clenched so tight you could see the muscle twitch. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t have to. The tension rolling off him said everything. That forced smile, the polite nod. The way his eyes followed Allegra's every move, like he was counting her seconds away from him. As if someone might take her and he was seconds away from dragging her back himself. And the longer Alessia held on to her daughter, the more I saw it build in him. And it hit me then, that feeling. That dark, suffocating tension I knew too well. That possessiveness. The kind that doesn’t look like love when you step back f
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 I’ve been testing him. Not because I want to, not really. I just… I need to know. There’s something about Adriano that I need to know. He is a liar, he is not a businessman, he is something else. It’s deeper. Because words… words with him are useless. He’s too careful with them. He’s always performing, rehearsing a script he’s memorized down to the breath. If I ask him what he’s hiding, he’ll just feed me another perfect lie with that soft voice and those eyes that never blink. And what am I supposed to do then? Call him out? Walk away? When I don’t even have proof? So I decided, if I can’t make him talk, maybe I can make him snap. I need him to lose it. I need him to crack. Because the last time I saw something real, it was in the restaurant, when he yelled at me in front of Allegra’s husband and his brother. Whoever that man was. Adriano's voice wasn’t sweet then. His hands weren’t gentle. He stood up, loud and furious, and for a second, I saw it. The
Adriano ⫘☠︎︎⫘ I couldn't sleep, not with her lying in that bed and not looking at me, with her back turned. I sat there. On the edge of the armchair. My elbows on my knees, head in my hands, watching her breathe like that was the only fucking thing keeping me tethered to this life. Every few minutes, her body would shift, just slightly. A twitch of her fingers. A sound caught in her throat. She clutched her stomach in her sleep. Did it hurt? I swallowed the rising panic that kept clawing up my throat. You fucked this up. She doesn’t trust you. She’s afraid of your touch. That last one made my vision go black for a second. I just sat there, all night. Watching the only person I would die for, breathe and shift and clutch her stomach. I’d seen the marks on her skin, and I wanted to tear my own hands off for leaving them there. She said she was fine, she wasn’t. I knew that. Morning was bleeding through the curtains when I finally leaned forward, elbows dig