⚠️ Warning - this chapter contains explicit scenes of violence and domestic abuse, and mentions of rape.⚠️

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Part 1

~ Carson's POV~

"Bro your mom is here."

"My mom? But I thought she was-"

"Yeah I don't know." Grey shrugged his shoulders, clearly just as confused as I was. I let out a sigh, closing my laptop as I stood up to leave my office. I followed Grey downstairs to the living room where as expected my mother was sitting along with my brother and sister.

Poppy immediately stood up, rushing over to give me a hug while Kai just took his sweet time to come and shake my hand.

The idiot didn't believe in showing any love to the guy who used to help him change the sheets whenever he wet the bed.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Europe today."

"We are but our flight isn't until much later so we thought we'd stop by one last time." My mom gave me a small smile as she came over to give me a hug of her own.

"Mom we said goodbye last night, you didn't have to come back again." I let out a laugh as I rubbed her back when she tightened her grip on me.

My mom had come over on Saturday night, the day after the 'fight' with Chloe on Friday, to say goodbye to me. She was supposed to be travelling today but now, she's here again.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us Carson? Two months without seeing my baby boy, that's just too long. Just come with us to Paris tonight and then if you need to come home you can."

"I told you mom, I can't, I have an important dinner tonight. But, if you miss me too much maybe I can fly out to whichever country you're in and spend a few days with you."

When I rejected her offer once again, she finally pulled away from me, placing her hand on my cheek as she looked at me.

"I'm holding you to that." Her eyes filled with tears, as usual she was being overly dramatic but that was my mom for you.

"Mom it's a two month trip around Europe, I'll see you again, don't worry." I let out a laugh as I pulled her in for a hug again. "You're always so dramatic."

"Maybe when you finally have kids you'll understand what I'm feeling."

When she said this I heard my little idiot brother Kai let out a laugh beside me before he mumbled something to Poppy. "Doesn't he need a girl for that?"

Choosing to ignore his comment, I held my mom in my arms for a few more moments until she finally pulled away, wiping her eyes. As she did this her eyes caught sight of the watch on her wrist and she let out a curse word.

"Kids we're going to be late, let's go."

"But I thought you had time." I gave them all a confused look as they began to rush out of the living room and to the front door.

As I followed behind them, Poppy stopped to say one last thing to me before she left the house.

"Mom just wanted to come and say goodbye to her favourite child again, we're actually kind of late."

I couldn't help but laugh at this, especially when I saw my mom glare at my little sister's retreating figure.

"Mom don't worry it's a private jet, they can't leave without you - you're the only passengers."

"But I just hate being late. Anyway, I'll see you soon Carson. I love you so much baby, please stay safe and if you can, maybe try to go on a few dates, you're not getting any younger and-"

"Mom!" My mom let out a frustrated sigh when Kai called her from outside the house before she turned to look at me again. Before she could continue telling me to find someone to date, her eyes caught onto something behind me.

"Grey." She quickly rushed past me to give him a hug, mumbling something to him before she came back to me, thankfully not carrying on her earlier point.

"Bye baby."

"Bye mom, I love you." I gave her one last hug before she finally left the house, allowing me to release the breath I was holding.

"Your mom is so cute." At the sound of the voice behind me I turned to look at Grey, nodding my head in agreement.

All of my friends were close with my mom, over the last 11 years that we'd been friends, they'd all needed her motherly love at one point or another.

It fell silent for a moment before Greg spoke up, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"We have the dinner with Carlos tonight, we need to prepare."

I let out a sigh and nodded my head, shaking the feeling of longing I suddenly felt for my mom, even at 25 years old.

Of course I wanted to go with her, they were my family. But I couldn't because I had to run the mafia if any of us wanted to survive in this life.

Even if it meant missing out on just a couple of nights in Paris with my family for this stupid dinner, I had to do it.

"Let's go." Grey patted my back one more time before we went upstairs to my office, doing what we do best - blow off everything important to work.

~ Daniela's POV ~

My body tensed up when I felt his arm go over my waist, pulling me back against his chest.

"Good morning baby."

I can't believe I used to find his morning voice sexy.

"Morning Ayden." I mumbled the words quietly like I did every morning when he suddenly acted like nothing had happened between us.

Or like he didn't disappear 36 hours ago.

The incident on Friday night happened two days ago. As soon as I'd made dinner like he asked, he told me that he was going out with his friends and that was the last I saw of him until now. I guess he came home during the night while I was asleep but I had no idea where he spent Friday night.

Probably with some other girl.

"Atticus invited us to a club tonight."

Perfect.

"Ayden I don't-"

"You don't what?"

When he cut me off I let out a frustrated sigh and turned over in the bed to face him. I did my best to get out of his grip but it didn't do any good.

"I don't know if I feel like going to a club, it's Sunday and I have work tomorrow. Is it okay if I miss out tonight?"

"No. You don't have a choice Daniela." His grip on my waist tightened causing me to flinch thanks to the bruises he left on my body on Friday night. "Why do you always do this? Atticus was nice enough to invite you too and yet you're whining about it."

The glare he was giving me was enough for me to know I wasn't going to win. Some may say I was acting like a push over but all I was thinking about were my tender bruised ribs and how much they needed to heal.

"Okay, I'm sorry. What time are we going?"

When I backed down, he finally let go of my waist allowing me to sit up on the bed. I could tell he was trying to hide his victorious smile as he reached out and grabbed his phone of the nightstand. Ayden tapped on the screen before reading through the notifications for a moment, leaving me waiting for an answer before turning to look at me.

"How about you and I go for dinner first? Then we can go to the club?"

"Sure." I forced a small smile onto my face and he nodded.

"I have a meeting here so you can come home at 6pm. Take this and go shopping." Once again be reached over to his nightstand, this time tossing a credit card in my direction. I picked the card up, my fingers brushing against the expensive silk bedsheets as I did.

"On my own?"

"Take a friend or something." This time he didn't bother to hide the malicious smirk on his face which only widened when I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is there a problem Dani? If there is, say it."

"You know I don't have anyone to go with."

Although it was utterly humiliating to say it out loud like he so clearly wanted me to, I still kept my voice strong and cold.

"That's right, you don't have any friends."

He let out a laugh as he got out of the bed and stood there for a moment to stretch. Unfortunately he was only wearing his boxers as usual so I had a full view of his toned body until he began walking around the bed and out of my line of sight.

"And who's fault is that?"

He was the reason I didn't have any friends.

As soon as he heard my words, his laughter ceased and I could instantly feel his stare on me although I wasn't looking at him.

"You getting smart with that mouth again Dani?"

Finally when I turned to look at him, he was standing by the bathroom door.

"Only for you baby."

When we made eye contact he narrowed his eyes at me before shaking his head as he went inside the bathroom.

He gave me some time to get ready before I was eventually kicked out of the apartment so that he could have his meeting in private. Once again I had no clue who was attending the meeting or what it was about, but that was none of my business.

I spent most of the day sitting in my favourite cafe trying to get some work done on my laptop or reading my book on inspiring women in the 20th century. If loving history makes me a nerd then I'm the nerdiest little nerd ever.

Although Ayden often sent me out like this so that he could have the apartment to himself, I wasn't the type to spend his money so freely. I just spent enough so that he wouldn't get mad at me for being 'unappreciative' of his kindness.

Sitting in the coffee shop alone watching families, friends and couples all have a relaxing Sunday with each other, its times like those that I allowed myself to feel sorry for myself.

I lost my parents when I was 16 years old, and apart from the one year that Ayden was nice to me, I hadn't felt any kind of real, pure, love since then.

The kind of love where you knew it was you and them - forever, and that nothing could ever change that.

I had that with my family.

I miss the times when we would go out for long walks, have movie nights at home, when we would have Sunday roasts at home and then my parents would go out for a drink while my sister and I stayed home. I missed my family.

As weird as it sounds, I also missed the idea of them, of what I could have had. I missed who I could have been.

At 21 years old living in New York, if my parents were still alive I probably would have flown back to Mansfield, Ohio, every couple of weeks to see them. I would go back and tell them all the things I did and saw in New York, I would tell them about the friends, maybe even a boyfriend, that I had.

I would probably try to convince them to come and see me although I secretly loved that feeling of walking through the front door to my childhood home after being away for weeks in New York where I was so independent.

But instead, they were dead, my sister was no where to be seen and I was living with an abusive man who I once thought I loved.

Clearly, I was just attracted to the illusion of security that he gave me at the beginning. It was that, and the fact he took away the horrible thoughts that clouded my mind after my parents died. I remember at the most random moments these thoughts of self loathing would come to my mind, and they'd cause me to spiral.

At the beginning of Ayden's presence in my life those thoughts stopped, but then he became who he is now and they came back in full force. For the last two years I'd been dealing with them day in and day out.

Deep down I knew in my heart that although I had no one left here to help me, I knew that my parents were up there watching me.

My mom would be cursing Ayden like hell although, she never was one to swear, while my father would be ready to pummel the living daylights out of him.

I also knew he would be telling me that it would be okay, that one day somehow I would get out of there, that I would be safe again.

But, I also knew that if he was alive he would have helped me already.

I just had to hope, that's all I had left now.

Hope.

My hand reached up and I wrapped my fingers around the silver necklace around my neck, something I did when I wanted to feel close to my mother. It worked like a charm, every time. It was the my most valued possession.

After spending around seven hours out of the apartment I finally got back with my couple of stupid shopping bags, only to find that I was locked out. As soon as I pushed the front door open, the chain on the door stopped me from being able to open it any further.

As expected within seconds Ayden was at the door. Instead of allowing me inside when he opened the door, he stood in the doorway to stop me entering.

"What the hell are you doing here?" His angry, hushed tone surprised me, causing me to instinctively step back.

"It's 6pm Ayden, I'm coming home like you told me to."

"But I didn't say it was- you know what, nevermind, just go. I'll call you when it's safe for you to come back."

He's got to be joking.

He held my stare for a moment and just as I was about to argue with him, someone coming up behind him caught my attention.

Atticus McKnight.

"No need for that little brother, I actually have to get going now. We'll talk when I see you later." Although his words sounded friendly, from the look he was giving Ayden and the way his hand clamped tightly down on his shoulder, I knew he was mad.

He was angry at Ayden because I'd interrupted their meeting.

That meant Ayden would be angry at me.

It was your classic case of man gets angry, man deflects the anger towards his girlfriend, and girlfriend ends up as a bruised shell of her old self.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon."

Once Atticus had walked past me, not even sparing me a glance, a few more men came out of the apartment behind him, none of whom I recognised.

After they'd all got into the elevator down the hall, Ayden finally stepped aside and allowed me to enter the apartment. A tense silence fell around us when he slammed the door as I walked inside and put the couple of shopping bags on the couch.

I knew he was staring at me, I could feel his hard gaze on my back until I finally turned around hoping I could do some damage control before he riled himself up.

"I got you some new shoes...I thought maybe you could wear them tonight?"

Although I hoped the gesture would soften him up a little, all it did was seem to make it worse.

I mean, you did buy him shoes with his own money? That's not really a gift honey.

Ayden stood across from me, clenching his jaw, the rage in his eyes clearly burning away. Once I'd finally put the bag down again, gulping nervously, suddenly a look of determination crossed his face.

Without a word, he stormed over to me, grabbing me by my wrist. His grip was tight and his finger nails dug into my skin while he marched towards the kitchen, dragging me along with him.

"Ayden! Ayden please let go of me."

I tried my best to tug my hand out of his grip but my attempts were completely futile.

"You need to learn to do what I tell you to do." His words came out through gritted teeth as we finally came to a stop in the kitchen and he threw me against the counter. Although the impact hurt my back, I managed to steady myself so that I didn't fall to the floor.

"Ayden-"

Before I could get anymore words out of my mouth, his fist shot out, punching me in the stomach.

The fact he'd only just done this two days ago, and pretty badly too, meant the pain was more excruciating than ever.

The first blow winded me causing me to fall forward and he took the opportunity to land a few more to my midsection.

"Do you know the hell you've just caused for me? Huh?" His words were followed with another few punches to my already bruised ribs causing me to let out a shrill scream at the contact.

He always made sure to leave the bruises there for us to see but no one else.

Completely ignoring my screams, his hand then tangled into my hair as he lifted my head so that I would look him in the eye.

"This time I'm going to teach you a permanent lesson so that you finally learn how to listen to me."

I kept my focus on him through blurry vision as he went over to the other side of the kitchen to get something. As soon as I saw it, the already existent panic inside me rose tenfold.

"A-Ayden please, I'm sorry. You don't have to hurt me, I won't come home again until you say I can. I'm s-sorry..."

I'm sure I sounded pathetic to him as I begged him with tears falling down my cheeks, watching him walk towards me gripping the knife in his hand.

"When I'm done with you sweetheart, you'll know what sorry feels like."

Knowing he wasn't going to back down, I tried my best to get as far away from him as I could hobbling backwards through the kitchen with my hand over my throbbing midsection. My eyes never left his as I walked backwards, watching the smirk slowly spread across his face.

"Oh you want to play, do you?" He let out a dark laugh, coming towards me until I finally crashed into the wall behind me.

"Ayden, please, I'm sorry." He nodded his head, finally coming to a stop across from me. "I know...I know you will be sorry Daniela; that's what I'm counting on."

I let out a whimper when he came towards me, using the knife to slice downwards straight through my T-shirt. His eyes focused on my torso which was now exposed to him as I pressed myself tightly against the wall.

"Don't hurt me...please don't hurt me." The tears continued to pour down my cheeks as I watched him bring the knife closer to my bruised stomach.

"If you finally learned your lesson, I wouldn't have to keep hurting you." His voice came out soft, as if he was talking to a child when he finally brought the tip of the knife to my skin.

My eyes followed the knife as he moved it around along my skin without hurting me until he finally landed on a spot on the right side of my bruised stomach near my belly button.

Without a warning he suddenly slashed the knife through my skin, leaving a line which suddenly began pouring with blood. It was like my screams were music to his ears when he stepped back with a smile on his face watching me cry.

He stood there for a few moments as I held my stomach, feeling the sticky blood starting to coat my hand instantly.

"You have an hour before we have to go. Clean yourself up, you're wearing white today and I don't want any complaints."

Once he cleaned the knife he was finally gone from the kitchen, leaving me a crying mess on the floor. It took me a few moments before I could finally move through the pain from the punches and the cut to get the first aid kit, taking out all the items that I needed.

I let out a small whimper as I dabbed the antiseptic on the open cut along my stomach. The cut was pretty deep at the start by my belly button and then began to slowly fade until it became just a red scratch at the side of my waist.

I knew the deepest part of the cut needed stitches but if I went to the hospital they would ask me questions that I could never give them the answers to. So the best I could do was clean it and bandage it up at home while taking a couple of painkillers. I also didn't have the time to go because as soon as I was done putting the long rectangular bandage on, I had half an hour to hobble upstairs, stop my tears, clean my face and the blood off my skin before somehow changing into the white dress he'd picked out for me before we finally left.

~ Carson's POV ~

"These dinners always end like this."

As soon as Fox tossed his napkin on the table like a petulant child I suddenly lost all my composure that I'd been trying to keep throughout the night.

"That's because of you! What the hell is wrong with the three of you today? Have you suddenly forgotten how to do your jobs?"

We'd completely just fucked up the most important deal of the month with Carlos because Fox forgot the paperwork, Aviana was too focused on the handsome cartel leader we were meeting and Grey had gotten mixed up with some important figures at the wrong moment.

The only one who was focussed in that meeting was me and apparently Carlos felt that too because he decided to leave the dinner halfway.

He almost took Aviana with him clearly reciprocating her feelings of lust until I stopped her.

To say I was furious would be an understatement.

"You lost us a freaking deal worth 160 million dollars! This meeting wasn't a freaking joke. Grey, we went over the numbers so many times and you just-"

"Carson, I know I made a mistake-"

Cutting Grey off almost instantly, I sent him a cold glare.

"And I chose you as my underboss because you don't make mistakes, especially mistakes that we can't afford! Grey, you messed that up so bad even after all the planning we did for weeks!"

He let out a sigh, running a hand over his face before he spoke in a dejected tone.

"I know Carson but...I've just got a lot going on."

I knew he was instantly referring to the problems his was having with his ex-girlfriend over their two year old daughter.

He wanted to see her but Maria wouldn't let him, for absolutely no reason. Grey was never anything but good to her, but she's insisting that he can't be in their daughter's life.

"That's not an excuse. Grey, you know I care about you and about your daughter but you don't bring your personal issues to our meetings, right Aviana?" When I suddenly steered the conversation towards her, she looked at me with a guilty expression.

"I'm so sorry Carson. I know that I got distracted by him, but I promise it won't happen again."

I let out a dark chuckle as I nodded my head, standing up from my seat causing the chair to scrape across the floor.

Thankfully we hired a private room in the restaurant otherwise we would have been a spectacle in the crowded restaurant.

"You're right Aviana, it's not going to happen again because you're done."

"Done?" Although she was trying not to let it, I saw a small spark of her anger slip through her apologetic facade.

"You're never coming to one of these meetings again. At least these two idiots made mistakes relevant to the meeting, you couldn't even take your eyes off him for a second to focus!"

"Carson that's not fair. Look, I said I'm sorry but you're kind of overreacting, you don't need to shout at us. We just had a bad day, that's all."

As soon as she said that word I shook my head, walking towards the exit. I just needed to get the hell out before I said anything else to any of them.

"I'm not overreacting. If I knew this dinner would have ended so badly I would have gone with my family to Paris for a couple of days. I sacrificed that time with them for this dinner and you three completely messed it up."

When I placed my hand on the door handle, Fox spoke, stopping me in my tracks for the moment.

"Carson don't leave, let's just finish our dinner and talk this over. I'll buy you another drink and we can talk."

"No Fox, I just need to go before I say something I'll regret. You guys just need to sort yourselves out before we have any other meetings, you cost us a lot of money tonight."

The fact I continued to use the word 'us' instead of 'me' during the conversation should have told them that the Mafia was theirs as much as mine. That's why they should have worked as hard as I did for that meeting, but they didn't.

I glanced back at them one last time, shaking my head before I left the room. Making my way through he restaurant, I just couldn't get the thoughts of that dinner out of my head.

I knew I was harsh on them, especially since they're my friends but I had to be fair with them. If any of my other men messed up that bad I would have probably killed them if they cost us such an important deal.

Unfortunately I couldn't kill those three although the thought did cross my mind.

Finally when I reached my car, I got in, deciding to drive to my penthouse and then spend the evening alone having a much needed drink.

My fingers clenched around the steering wheel as I drove through the dark streets of New York, taking a few short cuts to get from one side of Manhattan to the other as fast as I could.

I was still pretty far away from my home and still close to the restaurant when there was a sudden impact to the back of my car causing me to fly forward instantly. My foot slammed down on the brakes instinctively when I let out a groan after I hit the steering wheel.

Within what seemed like seconds, headlights were shining into the front of my car blinding me completely. As soon as I put my foot down on the gas in an attempt to drive away I just crashed into the car in front, telling me I had no way I could get out.

They trapped me.

Although I knew I had security details who followed me from a distance and would come and help me, I still reached for my phone to call someone just in case. But, all I could manage was to get onto my contacts before my window was smashed and the phone was grabbed out of my hand.

I turned to look at the person who took my phone, only to be met with a masked man. He let out a laugh as he dropped the phone on the ground and stamped on it a few times, before reaching inside my car to open the door.

Knowing the only way I was going to get out of this safely was by fighting my way out, I reached behind and grabbed my gun from where it was tucked in the back of my pants.

I knew I could hold them off until my men got here, they couldn't be that far away.

My sudden movement to grab my gun caught him off guard and I managed to shoot him although I'm sure the bullet only hit his shoulder. He lunged forward to knock the gun out of my hand before he grabbed onto one of my legs.

As soon as he began trying to get me out of the car, many more masked men turned up, helping him.

Of course, their plan of outnumbering me was flawless and they managed to get me out of the car along with landing quite a few hits on me.

I may train everyday but its kind of hard to take on at least 10 guys in a surprise attack.

Just as they were trying to get me under control, the sound of a soft gasp behind us caused their efforts to stop. At that point I'd given up on my men who clearly weren't coming and that was confirmed when it was a soft feminine voice who broke through the fight instead of the voice of one of my men.

"What are you doing? Let go of him!"

~ Daniela's POV ~

The drive to the restaurant was dead silent, like most of our drives actually. Sometimes if Ayden is in a good mood we may be able to find something to talk about.

At one point, I guess we did get along. Then he changed.

We didn't say a word to one another until we'd finally ordered our food and then Ayden spoke.

"I'm sorry."

My eyes shifted away from the white table cloth in front of me and to Ayden opposite me.

"Sorry?"

"For hurting you with the knife. I can tell you're upset so, I'm sorry." I could tell he was uncomfortable with this topic and honestly, to anyone who didn't know what he was apologising for or how many times he'd apologised to me, you'd probably think he meant it.

Of course, we both knew he didn't. Not really.

"Save it Ayden. The only reason I'm here right now is because of you and how much power you have over me."

"I don't have power over you. You're my girl, this is how it should be."

As soon as the scoff left my mouth I instantly regretted it when pain shot through my stomach from my injuries.

"This is how it should be? You're sick, that's what you are. A relationship is about loving and caring for one another."

"Dani, it's not my fault you can't follow clear rules and instructions. If you want me to care for you and provide for you then you should follow the things I ask you to do. If you can't then there are consequences."

All I could do was nod my head, trying my best to stay calm if not for the fact we were in a public setting, then for my injuries and the mere thought of being alone with him later again tonight.

If I wanted to keep myself safe I had to give him what he wanted. After tonight I knew it was no longer about me and my self-respect, it was purely about surviving long enough to get out of this relationship, one day.

So I forced the words out of my mouth even though they tasted like acid.

"I forgive you." I gave him a small smile and he nodded happily before lifting his glass of scotch in my direction.

"Let's have a good night then." I nodded my head as I picked up my non-alcoholic mojito to knock it against his glass.

Although Ayden didn't understand it, I never drank alcohol. Apart from my 21st birthday when I apparently drank, I've never touched a drop of alcohol after a drunk driver was the reason my parents lost their lives.

The rest of the dinner went by with Ayden mostly leading the conversation while I just gave my input here and there. He liked to be the one to dominate in our conversations aswell, it was rare that I ever spoke for too long.

As soon as we got to the club, Ayden led me to the VIP section, keeping his hand firmly on the small of my back as we walked through the crowd and up the stairs which of course was agonising for me.

"What do you want to drink?" He turned to look at me as we sat down on the leather couches.

"Just a soda please."

"Soda? At a club?" At the sound of the new voice both Ayden and I turned to see Atticus McKnight come and sit down across from us. He had a girl with him who instantly sat down on his lap, wrapping her arms around him.

Would she even care that he once raped me? I mean, if he could rape his brother's girlfriend then I probably wasn't the only girl he'd done it to.

"I don't drink."

"Are you sure you don't drink alcohol?" Ayden's brother flashed me a sly grin as he rubbed the girls back, keeping his eyes focused on me. "I don't know if Rohypnol works with soda."

"What?"

His grin didn't drop, even when I felt Ayden tense up beside me.

"You know what Rohypnol is don't you Daniela?" He spoke in such a condescending tone, still rubbing that girls back who clearly wasn't fazed at what was happening around her.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Oh come on, you're a smart girl. You graduated from Columbia, right?"

"A-are you trying to say that you're going to drug me?" As soon as I asked that question, he let out a laugh and even the girl on his lap turned to look at me with a sickening smirk.

"No, I'm saying I've already drugged you. It was surprisingly easy actually."

"Atticus, don't." Completely ignoring his younger brother's warning, Atticus just smirked at me, clearly enjoying this whole thing.

"All Ayden had to do was distract you. One tiny pill and you were out. We took you back to Ayden's apartment, had some fun with you and then when you woke up and we did it all over again. You only turn 21 once, am I right?"

His smirk widened as I just sat there in shock, processing what he just told me.

They drugged me? I never drank...they drugged me. They raped me while I was asleep.
None of it was even my fault, I didn't even earn any of the punishment I got the next morning.

I didn't drink anything.

Suddenly feeling sick to my stomach at what he'd just told me, I turned my head to look at Ayden who was looking at the floor ahead of him, refusing to meet my gaze.

"You did that to me?" I didn't even try to hide the obvious hurt and pain in my voice.

I already knew I looked pathetic.

I don't know why I was so hurt, maybe I just thought that there was line that he wouldn't cross. Maybe I thought that our problems in our relationship were just that - in our relationship, but he just involved everyone else.

"Ayden." When my voice came out louder and more forceful he finally turned to look at me, but still didn't speak.

"You beat me up. You told me I let some guy touch me in the club...y-you just made that up? For what? So that you could hit me?"

"Dani-"

Before he could try to defend himself, I cut him off.

"So that you could let your brother and his friend rape me?"

"Just listen-"

"You don't get to speak to him like that Daniela." When I heard his voice, I turned my head to look at Atticus who was now glaring at me. Honestly, the intensity of his glare was frightening.

It's like he had experience in intimidating people, I could tell because he was excellent at it.

Instead of replying to him, I just wiped away the tears that had fallen from my eyes, focussing on Ayden instead.

"I want to go home."

"So?"

"So give me your damn car keys or have your driver come and get me." When I gave him my best glare, he glanced over at Atticus who I knew was probably giving him a glare of his own.

I know who would win the prize for scariest glare out of us two and it definitely wasn't the short brunette who couldn't even intimidate a bunny rabbit.

"If you want to leave, you can walk home."

He gave me a smirk when he said this probably expecting me to stay there at the club with him.

In that moment I didn't care what would happen to me that night when he got home and it was just us two alone. I wasn't going to let him win and I wasn't going to let someone like Atticus get the last laugh.

So, in my high heels and my short, sleeveless white dress, I stood to my feet, flipping my long brown hair over my shoulder in defiance.

"Fine."

I felt his eyes on me and also his brother's eyes as I walked through the VIP section and back towards the stairs.

"You know what's coming Dani." Although I didn't look back, I knew it wasn't Ayden who said those words and I knew exactly what Atticus meant.

But, I just continued walking, proud of my little display of defiance even if it wasn't going to do my bruises and cuts any good later.

Once I left the club, I started the long walk back to the apartment, completely dreading the moment I would have to walk through Central Park at this time of the night. Although whatever could happen to me in the park is probably nothing compared to what I've been through before with Ayden or what I just found out.

They raped me while I was unconscious. They touched my body and I didn't even know it ever happened. Then instead of having the decency to drug me again, they beat me up until I was near enough unconscious to rape me again.

I continued to walk through the dark, dimly lit street of New York City my mind replying those thoughts and images in my head. Soon I began to feel bile rise up in my throat before I suddenly doubled over in the deserted street, throwing up all my dinner from a couple of hours ago.

Ayden was a sick human being. He'd gotten away with so much over the last few years that I'd known him and maybe I couldn't do much about what he did, but I could always stop being scared around him.

I may be scared on the inside, but this was the last time Ayden McKnight would ever see me cower away from him. In front of him I was no longer that naive little 18 year old girl he met on Columbia campus, he made sure of that after all that he'd put me through.

By the time I was done throwing up, I was suddenly aware of a commotion happening just down the road from where I threw up. Taking a piece of gum out of my purse, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

Once I'd gotten myself together, I slowly made my way towards it, struggling to see exactly what was going on thanks to the bright lights coming from the headlights of three cars, I think. I kept walking, until I suddenly realised there were about 12 figures, all trying to wrestle with one man.

Although I couldn't see him clearly, from his height and muscular build I could tell it was a man.

I could see the figures throwing punch after punch in his direction and although he dodged quite a few of them, he wasn't so lucky with others. All I could think about was the fact that he seemed so helpless in that moment. I had an accountancy degree, I knew my numbers and I knew he was outnumbered. No matter how much he fought, he wouldn't win in the end.

He was alone, overpowered and helpless.

Just how I felt, every single day.

So I did the one thing I wished someone would do for me.

I tried to help.

"What are you doing? Let go of him!"

As soon as they heard my voice, they all stopped struggling and the injured man took that moment to try and get free again.

As I walked closer to them, a couple of them tried to get him under control although they now struggled since he was fighting just as well as them, even through the injuries he no doubt got from the first beating he took.

While most were busy with him, suddenly a couple of others began to come towards me. I watched them get closer to me and it was only then that I realised they were all wearing ski masks to hide their identities.

"What did you say little girl?"

One of the men stopped right in front of me, towering over me as his bruised hands clenched into tights fists.

"That's no way to speak to someone. Actually, you know what? I've had enough of people like you speaking to me like- hey!"

He suddenly grabbed me, sliding a hand around my waist so that he could lift me off my feet. I struggled in his arms as he walked back to the centre of all the commotion where the poor man was now lying face down on the floor, being held down by three of the men.

The fact that in his injured state it still took three men to hold him down showed just how strong he must have been.

"You're mistaken if you think you'll get away with this. I'll kill every single one of you with my bare hands."

Although the man was clearly irate as he had every right to be, the men around us just laughed his threat off. Honestly I don't know why they were laughing, he seemed pretty serious in his threat.

Something about the way he said it told me it wasn't an empty threat.

"But we already have gotten away with it." The man who was holding me said those words before the threw me down onto the floor next to the man who was their intended target.

I let out a yelp as I fell to floor, instantly feeling the burning in my knees and the palms of my hands that took the impact. Before I could try to give him a piece of my mind for adding even more injuries to my body, he reached down and grabbed my purse from me.

"Hey! Give it back!"

Of course, I didn't get it back.

I never understood why people shout things like that in situations like this one, but I did it too. It's like when you see people chasing each other in movies shouting 'come back here' as if the guy is going to turn around and go-

"Daniela O'Brien." My thoughts were cut off when I heard the man say my name after reading it off my drivers license. At least I had a nice picture on there.

"Tell me Miss O'Brien, has anyone ever told you to mind your own business?" The man who seemed like he was the leader of this whole mob of masked men, knelt down next to me as he held my license in his hand.

"Once or twice." Through his ski mask, his lips cracked into a smile before he let out a laugh. His laughter was cut short when he dropped my license and pulled my face closer to his by my chin.

"So why would you try to mess with my operation?"

"I saw you hurting him and-"

"And you stupidly got involved?" I nodded my head almost instantly regretting it when he laughed again at my pathetic response.

"You seem like a nice girl princess but unfortunately for you, I can't let you go. You've seen too much."

With that he stood up and gestured for some of his men to come over to me. Within an instant I was being pulled up to my feet along with the other guy who still hadn't said a word.

I mean, I did try to save him, he could have at least said thank you.

"Put them to sleep, we've got a long drive ahead of us." As he spoke, he began walking to one of the big black cars parked on the street.

"Sleep? But - ow!" The sudden pain I felt in my neck caused me to look down at the needle that was injecting something into me.

I tried to fight against the grip of the men holding me but within seconds my movements began to slow and my body began to feel heavy. Oddly, the last thing I remembered was my gum falling out of my mouth before it all went black.

The plot has been revealed 👀

What do you guys think? I can't wait for you to read the rest of these chapters!

Thank you so much for reading ❤️