Leora wakes up in the middle of the night. She can feel her body is weak and her tummy start grumbling asks for food. She just realized that there's an IV attached to her body. She feels dizzy when she realized the IV. Her body feels weird and weak, but one thing is for sure she needs food.
So she walks away from the room with an IV hooked in her arm. It's dark in the mansion. Most of the lamps are already turned off, there is just a view of small lamps that light the mansion. She doesn't look at the time but she can guess it's already dawn, maybe 2 or 3 am. Most people are already asleep, so the mansion is so quiet. It feels like she is in the middle of a horror movie. Scared by her own thoughts she walk more fastly while repeating the scripture
"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. I'm the light and no darkness can harm me." She speaks clearly to herself.
After a while, she runs out of energy and slows her step. Her body is tired and her mind can't think anything besides food for now. But when she walks in the outdoor corridor near the park she hears some sound approaching her. With a positive mindset, she runs to the source of the sound. She thinks maybe it's some maid or maybe it's Matteo.
She freezes in one step. She rub her eyes doesn't believe what she saw. There's a pair of yellow eyes looking fiercely at her. The shadow walks steadily at her making her reflects stagger backward. The shadow walks slowly to the light. Leora now can see clearly the shadow. Its skin is as dark as the night. It's camouflage with the dark, but now she can see the whole body. The black panther showed his teeth at her. There is a lot of blood spots on its teeth.
She tripped her own legs and fall down to the ground. Her body seems to be freeze for a couple of times. The roaring of the panter wakes her body, makes her run out of there with all her might. She tripped a couple of times but still try her best to run. This is the matter of life and death, all her adrenaline seems to rush all of her body like a flood. She can hear the footstep of the panter seems to be close by. So with all of her courage, she looks back. She screams really loud when she sees the panther chase her like prey.
Tears run freely from her face. She keeps looking back and front scared that the beast will be close to her. She keeps running without direction and stopped when she hit something hard. She turns her head in speed to see what obstructs her. She breaks down when she sees Matteo. She fell down to the ground as adrenaline seems to run out from her body. She hugs his legs tightly as she hides her face in his legs and cries freely.
Matteo crouching down and bring her to his arms. He can feel her trembling body. Her body shakes very badly. Her tears seem to run nonstop but no sound comes from her. She clutched his shirt so tightly until her knuckles are all red. He doesn't make any sound and just hugs her tightly while patting her back trying to calm her.
When he sees what is behind her, he finally understands what scares her this badly. The beast is sitting closely and tilting its head when it sees Matteo looking at it. He seems to be confused about what happened to his master. He just plays around with the prey and the master seems to steal his prey.
Matteo drives the beast away with his hand. The beast seems to understand what Matteo is told to say. Playtime's over, it's time to go back to its cage. When the beast is out of their sight, Matteo carries her in his arms and walk away. Her hands it's bleeding because of the IV that ripped out her skin when she runs with so much power. It's a cold night, it's the spring season. She wears so little, some pajamas and a thin sweater. Even the sweater doesn't wear properly because her left arm is hooked by the IV.
Matteo can't take off his coat because she clings to him tightly like a baby Koala. So he can't give his coat to cover her trembling body. What he can do is cover her entire body inside his coat and cover her with his coat. With this, she can feel warm with his body heat and the coat. If others see them like this they won't believe the scary mafia boss can be this considerate and sweet like this. All her body is covered with the coat and only her head can be seen.
She still tries to calm her mind and dries her tears. Matteo walks slowly scared to shake her more. She wiped her tears in his shirt, making the shirt wet with her tears. This is the second time she wet his shirt. Shyly she looked up at him and muter a small apology. She want to walk on her own but she knows better that there is no more strength in her body. She surrenders herself in his arms.
He sited her at the table in the kitchen. While Leora was busy calming herself, Matteo searched for some food for her. Because there is no food to eat, Matteo makes some sandwich for her. When he gives her the sandwich, Leora is already calm enough to eat the food. She munches the sandwich slowly while still hiccuping. Matteo drags a chair and watched her eat.
"There'll be a Galla in the night, so I'll be away for a whole day. There'll be a make-up artist and dresses for you to be prepared for this Galla." Matteo says breaking the silence.
"Can I not go? I'm not good with crowds." She whispered quietly.
"No, you must come. It's okay you don't good with crowds, just stick with me." He says nonchalantly.
"Fine." She says and finished her food. Matteo stands to warm freezing milk in the refrigerator.
"Why there's a panther in your mansion?" She asks
"He's my pet. It's okay he won't kill you." He gives her the warm milk.
"How come? It's a beast, you can't control him." She says while playing with the glass.
"I save him from the black market when I was a child. He is tamed by me. So he won't attack someone if I don't command him." He explained and take the empty glass from her.
"But he seems to want to pounce at me." Her body trembles when she recalled the scene.
"Well, I won't let it harm you." He cleaned her milk mustache with his hand.
"Sleep. You need your strength later." He says.
"Did I fainted?" She asks and looks at her wound.
"No, you eat some hash brownies. So I need to pump your stomach to get the drugs out of your system. The doctor gives you some sleeping pills to calm you down." He explained while tending to her wound.
"I'll walk you to your room." He says while cleaning up the first aid kit.
He helped her down from the table and help her when she walks. Mostly half her weight is supported by him. She leans half her body on his chest. After all, that just happened she doesn't have any strength to walk.
"The sky is clear. We can look at the stars." She murmured and rested her head on his shoulder.
He looked down at her. He can see her tired eyes wanted to be closed. She need to rest, without thinking to much he carries her. She didn't even protest at the sudden move, she just snuggled closely to him. Halfway to the room she's already asleep in his arms.
YOU ARE READING
Tormented
RomanceHis hands itch to grab her hand forcefully and make her unconscious in his arms. And he didn't hold the urge to grab her. He grabbed her forcefully, shut her mouth with his arm to keep her silent. She wriggles in his arm trying to break free. He can...
