ADELINE'S POV
Life as we know it is fragile. It is a fleeting thing and oblivion is inevitable. Even for the strongest of us. Some of us survive and some of us are taken away by death in unforeseen circumstances. Life is a big merry go round. Your up sometimes and other times your down. When you're up, oh you can be so up there in the clouds and everything can be perfect. but when life brings you down, it shows you just how hot hell can be.
I haven't been at the highest point of my life per say. The times in my life where I have been the happiest are times spent with Dante and Liam. I don't know if that makes me pathetic, but for a time, I was sure my happiness depended so much on them. Never on myself.
I open my eyes and I am in an unfamiliar room. It feels like I am dreaming. The sheets are soft and they smell Loke chocolate mixed with vanilla. I don't remember the last time I was on sheets this comfortable. I can't remember the last time I felt so rested because of how comfortable a bed was. As I open my eyes more, all the memories start coming to me. The memory of me being violated by Adrian and the memory of Colton taking me to erotics. I remember killing Colton's partner. I remember killing that doctor Colton brought me to. I remember living the worst life in erotica where I was degraded constantly by Veronica and her guards and all the men wjo treated me like I was nothing but an object.
I remember auction day and how Veronica drugged the girls and I. I remember the explosions and gunshots I heard. I remember seeing Dante and I remember…. Oh God, I remember killing Arthur. The memory sends bile up my throat and tears fill my eyes. I raise myself from the bed and look around the empty room ad realize that I am alone, but I don't feel alone. I can hear voices in my head calling me a worthless doll, calling me a murderer.
I know I was saved from erotica. I remember breaking down in Dante's arms. I might have been saved from erotica but I will never be saved from the person it made me. I will never be saved from all the voices in my head that make me remember all the things I went through in there. The memories are still vivid. How could I just continue living my life like I didn't just go through the most traumatic experience in my life.
How can I just forget all what happened? I can't. It haunts me and as I look down at my hands, I can still see Arthur's blood. He deserved everything that happened to him but I still cannot believe that I did that. That I killed him in such an inhumane way. I'm a murderer. I'm nothing but a worthless murderer.
As I sink into my thoughts, the door suddenly swings open and I gasp as Liam walks in. I don't even care about the pounding in my head right now. I don't care for how weak I still feel, I immediately get off the bed and rush towards him. The man I grew up with, the man I consider my brother. My best friend.
"Oh Liam…" I say as I rush towards him and throw my hands around him, letting the tears fall from my eyes in waterfalls. He cries too as he wraps his arms around me.
"Liam, I feel like I'm dreaming. I can't believe you're here. I can't believe I'm hugging you right now. Do you have any idea how much I missed you? How much I thought I would never see you again. I miss you so much Liam." I cry as I hug him tighter to me, scared that I if I let him go, he might disappear forever. Scared that if I let him go, I'll wake up from this dream and be plunged back into my nightmare.
I don't want to let him go and I never want him to let me go. I want to stay in his arms forever.
"You're okay now Addie. You're okay, that's all that matters. I missed you too and God you're here now. I'm so sorry Adeline. I'm sorry we didn't come for you sooner. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that wickedness and evil. If I could take it all away from you, I would. I'm so sorry."
I pull away from him and grab his face with my hands. "It wasn't your fault Liam. Thank you so much for coming for me. I had lost all hope already. I was already on the point of giving up and I think I did already. I gave up Liam. I was ready to let them take me away. I was ready to never see you again if that meant you would be safe. Thank you so much for not giving up on me." I hug him again and he sinks his head into the crook of my neck and we just stand here, in the middle of the room crying as we hold on to each other.
After a couple of minutes, I pull back and wipe the tears from my eyes.
"Oh my God. How is Naomi?" I ask and Liam smiles as he shakes his head, asking me not to worry.
"She's fine Adeline. Everyone is fine. She had to go meet her parents but she's on her way here right now. She's been taking care f you for the past three days. She refuses to leave your sight."
"I've been passed out for three days?" I scoff as I ask him in disbelief.
"The drug you were given was pretty high. We were scared you would be asleep for longer but it's good that you're up now. You need to eat something Addie."
"And my parents?" I ask, ignoring his request about food because the thought of anything touching my tongue right now makes me want to puke. I'm not hungry and I cannot believe that after everything, I am still thinking about my parents.
"Dante and I told them what happened." Liam states and I snap my head towards him in surprise.
"What?" I ask.
"They wanted to see you but we didn't let them. We wanted to know if you wanted to see them in the first place given the circumstances that got you kidnapped in the first place. They said they want to apologize to you and be better parents."
I scoff in a menacing way as I pace the room and take a seat on the bed. "They're crazy. I want nothing to do with them. As far as I know, I have no parents. They can rot in hell. Them and their stupid company."
Liam gives me an apologetic look and walks towards me. My emotions are all over the place right now and I keep tuning in and out of reality. I am not okay. I am anything but okay right now.
"Aren't you going to ask me about Dante?" Liam asks carefully with a soft smile on his face. I know he can tell this is a sensitive topic.
"I don't want to talk about Dante, Liam." I say and get up from the bed, walking towards the window with a frown on my face. I furrow my brows in contemplation as I look out of the window and realize that I really do not know where I am. Before Laim can say another word, I turn towards him.
"Whose house is this?" I ask him. "Where am I?"
"Well…" Liam says as he walks towards me and looks out the window with me.
"Dante built this for you." He answers and the confusion on my face tells him everything. I raise my brows and he sighs before elaborating.
"While you were away, he did this in private. Even I didn't know about it until after we got you back. The deed is in your name and everything. It's very safe and secluded. He thinks you might still be in danger so he wanted you to stay somewhere safe, where no one would be able to find you."
As Liam explains, the confusing in my mind does nothing to ease up the confusion in my mind.
"I don't know how to face him right now without blaming him Liam. I don't know how to look him in the eyes without blaming him for the fact that I was kidnapped. I know it's not his fault. I know he was only trying to protect me from the knowledge of all this, but knowing certain things would have made everything turn out differently." I don't know if I am trying to convince Liam or if I am trying to convince myself, but I feel what I feel and what I feel right now is that I do not want to see Dante.
"Adeline? Jesus…" Naomi suddenly walks into the room and drops the bags she has in her hands. She rushes towards me and wraps her arms around me as tears effortlessly leave her eyes.
"Naomi. Are you okay?" I ask her as I remember the memory of seeing her locked up in that cage wit no way of helping her. She's fine and she's alive.
"I was so scared Naomi. I didn't know what they were going to do to you." I cry as I hold her closer to me. Naomi didn't deserve to see all the evil in erotica. She has nothing to do with it. I would have never forgiven myself if something happened to her. How could I have lived with myself if they killed Naomi because of me.
"Don't worry about me, okay? I'm all healed up. I'm fine. But you, you need to eat something. You've been asleep for so long and you need the energy. I won't take no for an answer." Naomi explains to me everything that happened since they brought me here. She tells me how Dante would always check up on me. She tells me that he's in the house right now. But I really don't want to see him.
She tells me about how he had doctors flown in from different countries to check up on me, all of them being women. She explains to me how ante took care of the other girls and gave them enough money to send them home to their families. She tells me about how Silver and Della have been asking to see me.
Liam walk out of the room to giv Naomi and I some privacy because although he might feel sorry for me, only another woman will be able to understand what I went through in the hands of Veronica and erotica.