Everlasting Bonds - COMPLETE

Chapter 67

POV: Lark

I woke up to darkness and concrete.

Wherever I was, no sunlight was able to show through and the grime-covered floors, cracked and broken, were illuminated by harsh fluorescent lights.

I took in my surroundings and dread settled over me. My hands were tied behind my back and the metal of the chair I was sitting on felt so cold that I could have mistaken it for heat. Another chair sat opposite me, and a small wooden table was pushed against the wall to my right. 

Images were spread about the table, but I couldn't make out what anything was. The only sounds I could hear were creaking metal and the sound of my own heart beating loudly in my chest. I was alone. Or at least... I thought I was.

"Welcome back Emilia. I was worried we had killed you before we got to have our little reunion".

My head whipped to the side to find Gio strolling into view. His voice still grated me after all these months, like nails on a chalkboard.

"Come now... you didn't think I'd just forget about you", he said tauntingly as he stepped closer to me. With one hand in his pocket and the other behind his back, he looked so irritatingly calm

.

I wanted to claw his eyes out.

"What? Cat got your tongue you little bitch?". It was then that he brought his other hand from behind his back, and the gun he had been hiding came into view. I did my best to school my face into a mask of indifference. It wouldn't be the first time he had threatened me at gunpoint.

"Perhaps this can serve as a conversation starter then". I didn't break eye contact with him as he swung and clipped my jaw with the barrel.

I let out a low grunt but did my best not to scream. That fucking hurt. But I'd be damned if I was going to let Gio know how much. I knew how to take a hit.

When I raised my eyes to meet his I clenched my jaw and did my best not to look away. There was something different about him. The collected man I remembered only seemed to be a surface-level mask for the one I saw now. The cruelty that he rarely showed to others, but used as a weapon against me, now covered his face. For the first time since I put him away, I wondered what happened to him in prison.

This new Gio... seemed unpredictable. It set me on edge.

My refusal to speak only pushed him further down whatever rabbit hole he was spiraling down and this time, his fist covered in rings swung into my left eye with a force that almost sent my chair backward. And then he swung again. And again. And again.

Motherfucker.

My vision blurred over and tunneled at my periphery. No. Fuck, no I was not passing out right now. I couldn't risk taking another hit and losing consciousness. I did my best to sound bored as tears ran down my face. "How can I help you, Gio?".