See what he did there? You were getting used to Cosimo’s absence, but he revived that yearning, feeding the flame, erasing the horrible memory of what he did to you with the same cock you were drooling over now. He got you hooked on him like a drug. You’d do anything to get that kick back. Even if it wasn’t the same.
Fuck.
“Bianca?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Giving me his back, he slid beneath the sheets. “Turn off the lights and sleep then.”
The next day was no different. And the next. A psychological war. I was dying slowly with the wait, with the fear of the unknown, with the thirst he wouldn’t quench.
What was your game, Mister Cutter? Get me to relax, give me an illusion of safety so when you’d strike, it hit hard? Or starve me so I’d take whatever you dished out?
Or…did you lose interest in me completely? What if he was just fucking some bitches and forgot all about me?
The last one set a pang in my chest. Of all three, it felt like the worst case scenario. Damn.
To take my mind off things, I busied myself with politics. I took Mario and Lucy and visited Marta in her room. She was getting sicker by the day. Even I urged her to let a doctor see her.
When she refused again, drinking her precious tea, I turned to Vincenzo. He was always there when I visited. “Call the doctor.”
He didn’t hesitate. It looked like he cared about my mother-in-law. A lot.
“You want some tea?” she offered.
Not that vomitatious thing again. “How about you try mine this time?”
Both she and Vincenzo looked suspiciously at me. Seriously? Hadn’t I sipped her tea like a good girl? I thought we were past that. “I’ll make it in front of you. Uncle Vincenzo can help.”
Marta chuckled and nodded her approval.
Lucy brought me one of the teabags stacked with Mario’s things in his stroller, while Marta played with the baby. Vincenzo helped me with the cups and pot from Marta’s tray.
“Do you want some?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Grazie. I drink coffee.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
I set everything, took Marta’s old cup from her hand and gave her what I made. “Cheers.” I took a sip from mine.
She drank, too, and coughed.
Reluctantly, I patted her shoulder. I really hated that woman. “Relax. The doctor is on his way.”
“I really don’t…need…” She choked on a rough cough, tea spilling all over the sheets.
“Marta?”
White foam appeared from her mouth as her whole body spasmed.
“Oh my God. Vincenzo!”
He pushed me out of the way. “What the fuck did you do?”
“What?!” I stared at Marta as she gurgled in pain, and then at my cup of tea. It fell off my hands and smashed at my feet. The scorching liquid burned my flesh as my throat swelled and closed on me.
Knives sliced into my abdomen and chest, my whole body on fire. Then I hit the floor, blackness swallowing me.
