A Trade Of Hearts |✔

CHAPTER 61: Fall Of An Empire

VANESSA

31st December

I ran across the dark alleyway, my steps slipping on the stone below as tears blinded my vision. I hid in a corner, attempting to catch my breath but a pair of arms grabbed me forcefully.

"Where are going to go, little bird?", The hazel eyed man said, before taking out a gun and placing it against my forehead.

"Please don't kill me.",I begged him but to no avail.

He pulled the trigger and my body went limp, my mind blank.

My eyes flew open as I gasped for air.

Was I dead? Was I dreaming?

I squinted to get adjusted to the bright light and took in the surrounding. Slowly the incident from last night creeped its way back into my head again.

I reached out for the wine bottle kept at the edge of my bathtub but my grip was unsteady and I accidentally tipped it over into the tub.

The red tinge of the wine slowly pervaded the water, giving an eerie reminder that had the police been a second late, had Blake pulled the trigger, the red pool of liquid around me wouldn't have been wine.

I wrung the soaked hair clinging to the nape of my neck and got up. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my head and then stood before the mirror, examining my bruises.

My wrists had turned slightly blue and one of my cheeks was pinker than the other. My knees were bruised too but thankfully I was wearing jeans so they didn't get scraped. Atleast my neck looked better now but still, I pretty much looked like shit.

However, this was not the part that hurt the most, the fear, pain and vulnerability that came with the bruises did and the worst part was that I couldn't express them. I bottled up my emotions, thinking that if I didn't show them, I wouldn't feel them but I was wrong. I felt it, I felt it all.

Last night, Blake pulled me out of the car and pushed me onto the road, placing the metal gun against my head. I remembered the feeling of suffocation as well as that of helplessness and how I closed my eyes shut, waiting for it all to get over, wishing it was all just a dream but that didn't happen. I heard him pull the hammer of the gun and I clenched my fists, my nails digging painfully into my palms but the gun was never fired.

I opened my eyes to look at blue and red lights coming from what I assumed to be police vans, I saw Blake throwing the gun away and raising his hands up in the air with three officers yelling and tackling him to handcuff him.

It was over. I was safe now but why didn't I feel that? Why did I have that unsettling feeling in my stomach that Blake was going to haunt me in my nightmares, over and over again.

I placed my shaking hands firmly on the washbasin as I repeatedly drew in deep breaths. It was sick but the pain from the bruises made me feel better for it distracted me from the mental anguish.

I went out of the bathroom wearing the bathrobe and unlocked my room's door. I remembered Adrian knocking repeatedly, apologizing and requesting me to see the doctor but I didn't listen. After everything, how could I?

I didn't want to see him. No, it wasn't because I hated him, it was because I hated myself. I hated myself for getting used over and over again, by Jennifer, Jacob, Blake and now Adrian.

Perhaps I know why dad always wanted Nate to be the next CEO. Nate was shrewd and a person like him was fit for the corporate world. I on the other hand, couldn't even expose my brother's fraud and use it to my benefit. Why? Because no matter whatever my family had done to me, I couldn't help but care.