𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖋𝖆𝖍

(warning sexual assault in the chapter)

I was going to prove that stuck-up, divine-ass kisser wrong.

That's what I told myself as I remained hunched over on the desk in my apartment, creating a butt groove in the plushy chair because of how long I'd been sitting there. She thought she knew everything about me because she knew how to get medical reports and watch the fucking news, but I was now more sure than ever that I had to finish this and finish it quickly.

I would die before allowing her to continue on believing she got the final word in that argument.

My research used to be everything to me, I would spend every spare minute working on it. When I was younger, it was more of a stupid idea, but the rise of the Gods and their demand to be worshipped had me determined to debunk this idea that we needed them for anything.

So they could make castles rise from the ocean? Big fucking deal.

I was never really focused on their theatrics and massive displays of power however, it was the smaller things that had my attention. The less fortunate people who came from backgrounds that had them believing prayer was the only way out, bringing offerings and gifts to beg for the Gods to take pity on them and change their lives.

Only for them not to.

There was nothing in this world that I despised more than people feeling sorry for themselves, but if there was something that was just above that on the list of things that irked my nerves, it was people who thought someone was coming to save them, people who wasted their lives waiting for someone else to change them.

The Gods were not here to save anyone.

And they never claimed to be.

"Your total's sixteen eighty-nine," the cashier read out to me, her voice tired and shoulders hunched. If she wasn't so exhausted, I would've almost assumed she was judging me considering this had been my fourth two am visit this week to buy a six-pack of energy drinks and lollipops.

I took out my wallet to begin sifting through for the cash, "Can you throw in..." I narrowed my eyes at the things behind her, looking for something to round off my purchase, "That little packet of gum over there?" She nodded and turned around. The bell for the corner store rang as I flipped through the notes in my wallet before pulling out a twenty.

"Versailles?"

A deep groan from the bottom of my soul threatened to escape my mouth, but I swallowed it and instead threw the guy a short glance. "Angelo," I greeted shortly before facing the cashier again, instead of carrying on what he was doing, he stumbled closer to me. "Thank you so much," I told her as she passed me my small plastic bag filled with my stuff, "You can keep the change, have a nice evening."

She politely said the same back to me, although I could tell she couldn't care less about the night I had. I pushed past Angelo, who'd been standing behind me, likely waiting for me to finish before making my way out of the store. My eyes closed in irritation when I heard him follow me, "So that's it? You're not even going to ask me how I'm doing?"

I stopped walking and finally turned around to face him, my eyes lingering on the smaller bandage on his face than, the one that was there the last time I saw him. There was still a slight discolouration along his nose, but it was healing nicely, the slightly crooked look it had kinda suited him. "You're supposed to be staying away from me," I reminded him of the punishment we were given the last time we saw each other.

He took a step closer to me, leaning into the purple neon light from the store sign above us, "If I remember correctly, you are supposed to be staying away from me," He mused, a cheeky smile on his face.

The closer proximity made it easier for me to see the slight redness of his eyes making me roll mine and turn to walk away again. "Goodbye Angelo-" I was cut off as I was grabbed from behind, a tight grip around my wrist that I barely had time to feel before I was yanked backwards.

My plastic bag slipped from my fingers and I turned my head to see where it landed, but Angelo was quicker to grab my chin to face him instead. "I don't blame you for what happened, you know?" I leaned away warily from him as our faces were just a bit too close, "You were just confused and upset it's not your fault."

I pushed him away from him and he barely took a step back, but at least we had a bit more space between us now. "Of course, it's not my fault," I breathed, pushing my braids that had slipped out of their messy bun out of my face, "You were just mad you got caught being a fucking pervert."

He groaned loudly, swaying on his feet as he threw his head back, "Amore, that was not-

"No!" I pointed my finger in his face, "Don't Amore 'Amore' me," I mocked him before huffing, "I did you a solid to help you out and you paid me back by trying to get away with a peak under my skirt and the worst part about it is I actually thought we were starting to become friends."

"We are friends," He argued, reaching out to touch me again, but I slapped his hand away.

"No, we aren't," He started to walk closer to me and I began walking backwards to avoid getting closer to him. "You have issues Angelo and quite frankly," I slapped another one of his hands away that tried to grab me, "You need to go home and sleep whatever it is you took off because clearly, it's so strong it has you thinking you can change my mind about you," I pushed back against two of his hands that were now reaching for me but he used that to just drag me closer to him until we were chest to chest.

I struggled in his arms, but he overpowered me easily, keeping me close enough to him that he was able to lean down and take a long drag of my scent. "You know," He grumbled, "I really understand why she's so fucking obsessed with you."

An unsettling feeling began to settle in my chest as I realized he was not letting me go and how much stronger than me he was. "Let me go, Angelo, you don't have to touch me for us to talk," I tried to sound as confident as I had a few seconds ago, but my voice came out as more of a desperate plea.

"But I like you close," His face leaned down to press his nose against the spot in my skin where my neck met my shoulder. "I missed your smell so much," He rubbed his face against me as I remained frozen in his tight embrace, "You know I've never smelt anyone better."

He finally pulled away from me, still holding onto my shoulders as he met my eyes and smiled lazily. "I would do anything to have you for just one night, y'know that?" He admitted, his gaze lingering on a part of my face that made me feel sick.

"That's really unfortunate for you," my voice came out low and unforgiving, "I don't fuck losers."

"Versailles Versailles," He dragged on my name, chuckling slightly, "There it is again, that little attitude," He shook me by my shoulders, "So so beautiful, but when those pretty lips open?" My eyes widened as he brought his hand up to cover my mouth, "Bullshit."

I started struggling in his hold again, my shouts swallowed by his palm as he moved both of us backwards until I was being pressed into a hard brick wall. "You talk too much, you know that hey?" his other hand began to travel down my body. I yelled behind his palm and tried to stop him with my free hands, only for him to gather them both in his fist and pin them above me.

"Just a peek alright? Then we can go back to talking," He nodded at me mockingly as if speaking to a disobedient child. He stepped closer to me, pushing his knee between my legs to press me further into the wall before finally taking his hand off my mouth.

I spat in his face, "You're sick Bianchi, a sick bastard and you won't get away with this, your family will never know peace in this life again I swear on it-

The wind was knocked out of my mouth and it took a few seconds of tingling on my cheek to realize what had just happened. He hit me. "See it's when you say things like that, that makes me mad now," He tilted his head so that he could meet my eyes as my head had fallen in the direction he'd hit me and there was a slight ringing in my ear. "You gonna behave now?"

My mouth hurt to move, but I still managed to mutter, "You can't do this to me, Angelo."

"Do what?" He asked, feigning confusion. A shrill bell was heard, and we both turned our heads to see the cashier lady locking up the store. She sent us a quick glance before doing a sharp double-take. Her eyes trailed over us before looking slightly to the right to see my discarded items, and then she looked back at us.

I saw her eyes widen, a split second passed, and I looked away from her. She was not going to help me. And the worst part was Angelo realized that too. My body went slightly numb as the Italian put his hands underneath my shirt, his fingers cold and the alcohol on his breath being the only thing I could smell. The sound of the cashier's keys jangling as she walked away from us was the only thing in my ears.

Once again, I was going to have to save myself.

Determination shot up my spine and I clenched my teeth before reeling my elbow back a bit and slamming it into his face, or more accurately, his nose. He cursed, letting go of me before grabbing a handful of my braids and throwing me further into the alleyway. 

I shivered as I landed in a dirty puddle of God's blood, but immediately began crawling away from him and into the darkness. "I'm going to ruin you, Angelo," I promised, thrashing again when I felt him grab my leg to pull me back to him.

"So you were gonna break my nose again just because I want to talk?" He yelled, catching my flailing legs. My fingertips sunk into the hard ground, getting bloody with effort. He got on top of me and I tried hard to buck him off, only for him to flip me on my back and pin my two hands against the ground, scraping the skin off my knuckles.

"You're a bitch, Mostafah," He growled, before tearing off my tank top.

I blinked back tears, trying to bite back a sob, "Fuck you Angelo."

He tried to pull off my bra, and I broke one of my hands out of his grip to slap the side of his face, getting dark sticky God's blood in his eyes. He cussed and instead of hitting me again, his hands went to my throat and I was suddenly no longer breathing.

My fingers clawed at his hands, my face tilted up at the dark starless sky as he throttled me. I reached out to touch the wall next to us, scratching at the poster of the large slushy mascot that was being advertised. I choked and spluttered as I continued to paw at it, my eyes burning in my face as the last bit of oxygen left my lungs.