Chapter Three No escape, No Turning Back

Annabelle's POV 

“You better not be playing a deadly game, Edward,” Antonioni warned Father before he stepped outside, with the other guard following him closely behind.

I saw Father freeze in fear, with beads of sweat dripping down his face.

They had returned in the shortest minutes, Antonioni's face looking fulfilled as if he had settled whatever the issue was outside. 

He fixed a piercing gaze on Father and me as he kept on adjusting the wristwatch on his left wrist. 

I just knew his patience was thinning and it was about time—the time I dreaded.

I was right. 

His fierceness cut across my anxiety. “We'll be on our way now, Edward. Word will continually be sent to you as to how the marriage is going. Good bye man.”

He took his leave after saying those last words. Walking majestically through the exit.

Shockingly enough, father still couldn't utter a word. It's only that this time, he was able to lift his face from his hands, only gazing at Antonioni like a lost sheep. His eye bags were heavily sagging down on his upper cheekbones.

“Father, please say something.” I cried further, looking at him and expecting him to save me. 

Instead of getting the protection I expected, I saw him still looking transfixed at the exit where Antonioni had taken out, defeated. He stayed in the posture for a few minutes. 

The next feeling that came was a feeling I had never felt in my entire life.

I was shattered and disappointed.

Before I could say another word, the two men in suits who had been with us, stepped forward and made to put their hands on me. 

I jerked back, my heart hammering in my chest. 

I couldn't believe Father could do such a thing to me. 

“Father, please say something! Don't allow them to take me away, please,” I cried uncontrollably.

We bolted for the door.

I was being pulled like a criminal who wanted to run away. 

As I was about to be pulled through the last step, I fell face down, but thankfully, I didn't get to the ground—a firm grip closed around my waist and held me up.

Antonioni.

With him coming close to me, the two men stepped back for their boss.

I gasped. His touch was like ice and fire all at once. 

He licked his lips seductively. 

This time, he leaned in on me as he spoke, searching my eyes provocatively. “You don’t get to run because I will find you. Do you understand?”

His voice came across as both a whisper of warning and protection. His breath brushed against mine. “You are coming with me tonight. You dig? You are all mine from henceforth.”

With that warning, he let me go.

For some strange reason, I was supposed to be anxious since I was in danger, but I suddenly felt my adrenaline rushing with tingling pleasure at his touch, his deep voice, and his piercing gaze from up close.

I had heard my heart pound heavily. I could hear myself whispering to my inner mind, “Annabelle! Wake up from that crazy feeling! You're in danger after all.”

I just wished that what was happening was a nightmare and that I’d get to wake up later.

As the two men continued to drag me closer to the car, I turned to look behind, wishing my father were following. 

I saw him standing far off, closer to the house’s door, while gazing at us with bitterness on his face. 

This was the man I spent my adult life paying some of his debts and feeding from my late Mama's business, which I managed.

“Where are you taking me to?” I managed to ask amidst the ragged, hiccuping breath that followed after a long, hard crying.

“My hom—! Now you just come with me and stop asking brainless questions, little girl.”

“Then I'm not com—” 

He cut me short. “Stop resisting. I don't like repetition, and if you don't take time, you won't like what may follow if my fellas get impatient.” 

Antonioni's voice kept coming off, startling me like a deadly sound from a horror movie.

Then, without further warning, the men pushed me into the car, into the back seat. 

It was the latest model Rolls-Royce, black, clean and expensive-looking. 

Then they sat side by side with me. 

Antonioni sat in the front with the driver.

I observed they had come with two other black cars, filled with guards. 

The two cars quickly followed behind us like a convoy.

As soon as we drove off my compound, I felt my world shatter, and I realized this was real.

We drove to his apartment. The route to his place was rather far and complex.

I was looking outside the car window throughout the journey, refusing to look at any of the three men with me in the car—not Antonioni, not the two men who yanked me through like a rogue while taking me to the car.

I was devastated by what was happening to me.

At some point, I noticed Antonioni’s phone ring. He brought it out from his inner tuxedo and took the call.

He put it on loudspeaker and their discussions echoed through.

“Hello, Dee. Oh yes, the plan hasn't changed. We're already on our way to the Park. Please get the other boys ready, really ready, and we shall be heading out once I step in.” He said.

“Okay, boss, noted.” His caller answered from the other end of the line.

I blurred my ears from their discussion. I was too sad to listen to anything. My heart was aching.

I thought about my family—Father. 

I thought about how alive going to the flower shop every day made me feel.

I felt rather peaceful to be lost in thoughts, in trance, in fantasizing about my father's house, anything but Antonioni.

Soon, all those would be memories. Nothing but memories.

Henceforth,

I was going to live with a criminal as his wife.

How much worse can I expect?

There was no escape, no turning back.