Chapter 0006

•ANEIRA•

“Why didn’t you tell me that Father killed Rafael’s parents, Mom? If you don’t get me out of here, Rafael and his sister will kill me. Please, you must get me out of here,” I whispered, talking on the phone with my mother.

I kept pacing up and down in my room, ignoring the shooting pain in my ankle. I couldn’t sleep at night, thinking of everything Polly had said before she left.

I had tried to call the hospital several times, but no one wanted to help me talk with my father. I was afraid that Polly would do what she said she would do.

“If Narra were still alive, she wouldn’t be whining like a child. You shouldn’t call me at every inconvenience in your marriage. If Rafael’s sister wants to kill you, what do you want me to do?”

“Mom?” My chest tightened. “How could you say something like that as if you’ve put no value into my life?”

“You killed my daughter in cold blood and ended her life before she could achieve all her goals, and you want me to feel sorry for you?” She scoffed. “You made your bed, Aneira, so lie in it.” She hung up the call before I could respond, and I groaned, throwing my cell phone on the bed.

‘If I don’t escape this hellhole, Polly will kill me, but I won’t give her the chance,’ I thought as I looked at my closet and thought of an idea to escape.

It was my only chance of survival. I didn’t want to wait for her to kill me, not when she had already threatened to kill my father.

I got dressed, grabbed my backpack, and threw in my toothbrush and a spare outfit. I ordered food and waited until the delivery guy showed up.

It was 8 PM when I tiptoed down the stairs to the front door. Instead of taking my order, I got inside the delivery car and told the driver to drop me off in the town.

“Ma’am, we aren’t supposed—”

“Please, you must help me. My life is in danger. I would be dead in the morning if I didn’t leave this place tonight,” I begged him, and he took a moment before he started the engine and drove out.

I took steady breaths and felt relieved when the security at the gate let the guy pass without suspicion.

I turned off my cell phone so Rafael wouldn’t track my location when he found out I had escaped.

I leaned back in the chair and couldn’t believe my luck of getting away from Rafael Sterling without a scratch, but when the car suddenly stopped, my heart raced.

Two police officers checked the vehicle, and when they saw me in the back, they told the guy to step outside so they could search the trunk of the car.

When they had cleared the car and given the guy permission to go, I released a sigh of relief and thanked him for helping me out, but we didn’t get far before the car got stopped again.

This time, they didn’t ask the guy to step out of the car, but they opened the door at the back and pulled me out of the car before they pulled the guy out and started beating him up.

“Let me go!” I shrieked, trying to free myself from the guy holding me. “Let me go, you asshole!”

“What’s his name?” A familiar voice asked behind us, and I felt a shiver down my spine when I realized who it was.

“Peter Raymond. He’s an Uber Eats driver,” the guy who was beating up the driver responded as he raised him from the ground and balanced his back against the car.

“No!” I burst into tears, seeing the driver get roughed up because of me. “He did nothing wrong, Rafael, please!”

He didn’t even look at me as he took his gun from his back and pointed it at the driver and shot him in the head.

“Put him in the car and burn it. I don’t want any evidence of what happened here.”

“Yes, sir.”

I got horrified when they put him in the car, doused it with gas, and set it on fire.

I felt like something switched off inside me when Rafael shot him. His death felt like my fault because if I hadn’t left with him, he would still be alive and with his family.

When we got back to Rafael’s house, his men helped me out of the car, and one carried my bag inside the house while Rafael led the way.

When they were gone, he turned to me in the hallway and pinned me against the wall.

“If you run off again, I will put a bullet through your skull. Do you understand?” he snarled as tears slipped down my cheeks.

I knew at that moment that my mother had never loved me because if she did, she would’ve never allowed me to marry Rafael Sterling when she knew the man he was.

“You belong to me, Narra, and you won’t escape from me ever again.” His hand tightened around my neck before he finally let go.

I hoped he would squeeze tighter and hold until I had given up my spirit because it seemed better to die than be under the same roof with him and his sister.

“What are you going to do with me?” I sniffed.

“After I’m done making you watch your father die before your eyes as he did to me and my sister when he killed our parents, I’ll grant your wish to put a bullet through your head, Miss Colombo,” he answered before he turned his back and walked away.

I leaned back against the wall and cried, rolling my back against it. I sat on the floor and covered my face with my hands, and cried.

I thought of my sister and what she could’ve gone through if she were alive and gotten married to Rafael, and I was happy she didn’t live to see Rafael’s cruelty.

I was happy to have taken her place and endured the suffering she could’ve gone through.