STELLINA

2.

A/N

TW: VIOLENCE

The violence scene will not be detailed but if you feel uncomfortable with any kind of violence please skip the last part of the chapter.

Enjoy it ! 

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Chiara Rossi.

The door opened brutally , which startled me. I opened my eyes with difficulty to see a silhouette that I did not recognize. Rising little by little, I rubbed my eyes, to adapt them to this darkness. I wondered who could need me so much when I wasn't supposed to be there.

"Who...Who are you?" I stuttered and I hated it. Looking vulnerable was something I always avoided. Papà had always taught me not to be vulnerable.  You are not and you cannot be vulnerable Chiara, you are a Rossi.  Mio papà often liked to say that to me and I grew up with this desire to never disappoint him. Disappointing him was my biggest fear, he did everything for me, I was his little princess and still today he considers me like that. It was very heavy at times but I appreciated his love more than anything. Papà always looked at me with stars in his eyes, I was the only one he looked at like that and that's why disappointing him frightened me.

The man did not disdain to answer and he grabbed my wrist violently. Did I win a prize? Because it's the second person in less than 10 hours who grabs me violently like that. I'm trying to fight back but his grip on my wrist was very firm. Not as firm as the one close to my patient, his grip was fiercer, more powerful. Whereas the man holding me simply had a firm grip. But why was I thinking about him? I preferred to justify it by tiredness.

Stubborn as I am, I decided to simply stay where I was, praying for someone to pass by. I felt trapped and after a few seconds of reflection, I decided to try to fight back. I couldn't let this stranger come and scare me like that, I had to fight back because if I wanted to get out safely I had to do it. At that moment I knew that no one was going to appear and that I was alone facing my fate. I was probably dramatizing what was happening, but I had a bad feeling growing inside me. And I was rarely wrong.

This man didn't seem to be an honest man. I knew this kind of person a little too well. He could totally work for my father, who was not just an honest businessman. Was he there to get back at Papà? Maybe he was working for him? I had many other questions in mind and to my surprise, the stranger cut me off.

"You're just going to be a nurse-" I cut him off without hesitation.

"Neurosurgeon" Me a nurse? A dry laugh escaped from my lips. I had nothing against this profession, on the contrary, but it wasn't my job.

"It doesn't matter what you consider yourself. You'll show me Mr Castellano's room and we'll leave you alone. Well, that depends on your cooperation." He was visibly annoyed by my intervention. He looked at me, with a look so dark that I felt as if I saw death in person.

"Who are you? I can't let you into this room without the family's permission." I was trying to save time and especially trying to understand who he was and what he wanted. I was in charge of my patient's safety and I wasn't going to let him near him.

A laugh. A laughter that made whole nations tremble with fear filled the rest room. He laughed? I didn't understand what made him laugh. Did I say something funny?

"C'mon surgeon, take me to Leone Castellano's room and I'll let you live...it's up to you." I nodded negatively, determined not to give in.

"I will not repeat myself. His family will be happy to know I came." His voice must have become more and more threatening and he continued to laugh. A crazy, machiavellian laugh. I remained mute but I was a little afraid in the deep end. The man in front of me was completely crazy.

"No." That's the only word that came out of my mouth. No, I wasn't going to carry out his orders, no, I wasn't going to risk the life of this man for any reason. And that's when his hold became less of a hold. I sighed with relief and I was ready to run away, but as if he had read my mind, he pulled out his gun and pointed it between my two green eyes.

"It would be a shame to kill such a beauty, so you will follow me and do as I ask." I hardly swallowed my saliva and nodded my head mechanically. I was terrified. I had never had a gun pointed at me before. Never before. Papà had always managed to save me from this brutality, from this world of brutes to which he also belonged. At that moment, I would give everything to have him there, to have my brothers Matteo or Luca come and protect me as they always did. But this time they were not there. 

He stood behind me and kept his gun pointed at me. I could feel the cold metal of the gun stuck to my back. "Move faster, I don't have time for any more capriciousness." He whispered in my ear and it disgusted me.

In spite of myself, I advanced towards the elevator, a knife at my throat.  And I felt bad, bad for not stopping him and letting him go to my patient's room and do what he had in mind. I held back from crying because I didn't want to be weak. But my tears were threatening to run down.

Once in the hallway, every step I took brought me a little closer to death. I felt like I was on death row, like a death row inmate. I still tried to slow him down by walking very slowly but he just pressed his gun a little more behind my back.

We entered the room and he shut up before pushing me to the floor. And without even a glance, he approached my patient. He looked at him with disgust and began to touch him, touching his fresh scar.

"No! Don't touch him ," I cried out to him. I repeated this sentence several times to get the staff's attention. But the only attention I gained was that of my angry attacker, who walked towards me. And he did something I didn't expect: he slapped me. He slapped me so hard that my head went spinning around. Bringing my hand to my cheek, I let tears run down my burning cheek for the first time.

"You're going to shut up. I'm going to finish him and take care of you, мой милый (my sweetie )." He walked around the victim and analyzed every detail. What did he have in mind? I needed to know and I needed to act.

Taking advantage of his lack of attention, I decided to crawl on the floor in order to reach the small control where there were some anesthetic syringes. Without making noises, I grabbed a few, and with what little courage and strength I had left I got up and stood in front of him.

"I said you won't touch him, so get out of my hospital." I spat those words in his face, determined not to let him. Then he did it again and slapped me. But this time I hit him back. My punches didn't seem to hurt him, but he was wasting time and he was hitting me back much harder than I had. I scratched him and hit him as hard as I could before he pulled me by my hair and threw me across the room. I was out of breath and my heartbeat accelerated when he loaded his gun to shoot the young man.

Without hesitation, I hurriedly opened one of the anesthetic syringes but I was shaking so much that it took me longer than usual to open one. I got up and ran at him, stuck the syringe in his arm without batting an eyelid. He turned around and pointed his gun at me before firing awkwardly, the anesthesia was taking effect. I took advantage of this moment to get up and take the chair behind me which I threw weakly at him, but enough hard to make him fall at my feet.

I shivered and took refuge at the opposite side of the room, my knees bent against my chest, my hair in battle, and tears streaming down my face. What had I done? I was paralyzed, I was afraid, I wanted this nightmare to end as soon as possible.

I could no longer think, breathe or speak and for the second time, the door opened brutally...