But it’s no use.They drag her from the room and slam the door shut.Matteo is restraining me, his strong arms that I once longed to feel around me holding me tight.I hate his touch.It’s where all the burning darkness of my despair comes from.
He’s telling me to calm down, that I can’t stop this, that I’ll only get hurt, that my sister is getting married to the man she screamed at last night—the man responsible for the destruction of our world, I’m sure.
The mere idea makes me want to vomit.But I’m sure she’ll face her fate with her head held high and I should face all this the same way.
But what I’m faced with is Matteo.
He’s dressed in a silver-grey suit that makes the light I’ve always seen in him shimmer.The sun in his eyes is dulled, but still warms my face when I turn to face him.
But I could always also see darkness in him.And it’s that darkness that has won now.He might look like a good guy, but he’s the worst I’ve ever known.A devil in a pretty package.Death and destruction wrapped up as a present.
“She’ll be fine,” he assures me, his voice as warm as always, his tongue forming words I want to hear.
Lies.All lies.Evil, vile lies.
Then he tells me that they haven’t been able to catch my parents and my other sister.
More lies, I’m sure.
He knows now how much I hate him and wants me to stop.
“And I suppose you want me to do as you say, so you’ll take mercy on them when you do find them?”I ask, but the voice I’m hearing is foreign, cold, does not belong to the woman I was.
He doesn’t reply.
“You have me now,” I add.“But I’ll never be yours.”
“We’ll see about that,” he says and chuckles.
I used to love hearing him laugh.Loved seeing him smile.I tried hard to get him to do it.
I want to claw his eyes out, I want to scratch his face, I want to mark him as the monster he is so no one can ever be fooled by his lying charm and beauty again like I was fooled.
The darkness around him isn’t as black as it was.As though destroying my life gave him new life, finally let the entirety of his light shine through.And that’s sick.
He kicks the duffel bag lying on the floor closer to me.
“There’s some clothes in there.Clean yourself up and get ready.We have a wedding to attend.”Actual bile rises in my throat at the thought of watching my sister marry the vile man who shot my father and destroyed our world.
“Wear something gold, if it’s in there,” Matteo says and winks at me.
Goldie.That’s his nickname for me.I used to love it.So much so I only wore gold for him.
Can a person change in the space of just a few hours?
I have.I went from a dumb, naive girl to a bitter old woman from midnight to sun up.Nothing in between.
“From now on, I only wear black,” I say and pick up the bag.Trying to use my words as weapons again.But they’re useless like that.Absolutely useless.
“Careful, Goldie, you’re not in charge anymore,” he says and this time he doesn’t smile.The darkness around him is gathering again.
“My name is Gianna,” I say, locking eyes with him.“And we are not friends.”
The darkness around him deepens.
“You really should be careful how you are with me,” he says.“I am the only one standing between you and a fate you don’t even want to contemplate.”
I shake my head.“I trusted you once, but never again.There’s no fate worse than being betrayed by the one you love.None at all.I will never trust you again.”
