Chapter Thirty-seven - Shards

Chapter Thirty-seven - Shards
MALIA

The sound of the shattering cup on the stone floor sounded as loud as bullets in my ears. I was in shock, my blood frozen in my veins. When I understood that the cup had not been in his grasp, I tried to catch it in the air, but I was too slow. 

It had fallen and shattered into a million pieces. Fear crawled its way up my spine when I understood what had just happened. Marcello had stormed out with me, just drinking from the cup. I was afraid to find out what would happen after that cup broke. 

The cup he had gotten from his mother, before she passed away. One of the few things he had left of her. I gulped hard and lifted my gaze to meet his. Marcello’s eyes were wide in shock and fixed on the floor.

Coffee had soaked into my socks and splattered onto his shoes and pants. Not that he cared about that in the moment. He was frozen in shock, just as I was. 

I had no idea what the fuck to do now.

“I… ” I stuttered, unsure what to say, because nothing I would say could fix what I had done. “I am so sorry. I thought … I thought you had it.”

No reaction, and I could not think of anything better to do than apologize over and over again. Eventually, I gave it up, staring at him while he was staring at the floor. 

“Leave,” he finally said, making my bones shake in despair. His voice was low, dark, and fucking dangerous. It came closer to the growl of a wild animal than a human voice. 

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My brain was not connected to the muscles in my bones. Inside my head, I screamed at my legs to start moving. To do as he says, because staying would not end well. But those stupid limbs didn’t move. They were just shaking; my knees were close to giving in.

That’s how much anger and power were in that one word. I wanted to obey. Just once in my life, I didn’t care to fight back. Wanted… No, needed to get out. 

My fears came true. When I didn’t leave as he ordered, his gaze snapped away from the broken cup and up to me. Any smugness and flirt were gone.

His jaw was clenched so tight a vein pulsed at his temple. But it was his eyes that truly changed; what stared back was something feral. Eyes wide and gleaming with rage, like a beast pushed too far. Not blinking. 

His chest was heaving, a growl rumbling in his chest that made me shiver. 

Suddenly, his hand shot up and over my mouth, his fingers digging into my cheeks painfully as he pulled me closer, making me stumble forward onto the shards of the broken cup. I felt one of them cut my flesh, but I did not dare make a sound. 

The usual chocolate brown eyes stared at me as a black void, more feral beast than the man I was getting to know. This look was worse than anything I had seen in the factory. It was the worst glare I had ever seen. And I was the reason for it. 

“I told you to fucking leave!” he bellowed, making me flinch hard. 

He pushed me away with force. I stumbled back, slipped, and landed on my ass. More shards cutting into my skin, where my hands had tried to soften the impact. Shivering all over, I looked up at him. He looked at me with furious disgust, stormed back into his office, and slammed the door shut so hard the floor under me shook, making me flinch again. 

I just stared at the door, not able to do anything but. Not knowing how much time had passed since Marcello had disappeared back into the office, I only managed to move when a soft voice reached me. 

“Malia?” Isabella asked carefully. My head snapped to her, and only then did I notice the tears streaming down my face. 

Unable to do anything else, I started to stutter how sorry I was again. Isabella came over, rubbing my arms gently in an attempt to soothe me, while Claire stared to collect the pieces of the cup. 

“Don’t throw them away!” I blurted, not knowing what I would do with them. 
But maybe I could find a way to fix this. Maybe I could repair the cup somehow.

Claire gave me a sympathetic smile and nodded shortly in understanding. 

Eventually, I managed to move my legs, though they remained a weak mess, like the rest of me. Isabella helped me to get up and led me away slowly, to an infirmary Marcello had skipped in his tour of the house. Perhaps to prevent me from thinking too much about why he had a fully stocked infirmary, big and fancy, that you could probably even operate in. I would not be surprised if that had happened before.

I sat down on the examination table that Isabella had pointed out and watched her collect a variety of equipment. Then, she sat down on a stool and rolled over to me. With expert movements, she took my hand in hers, examined it carefully, and started her work. 

She pulled the shards from my hand and feet and disinfected the cuts. One of the cuts in my foot pulsed warmly and added extra discomfort to the bites I already sported on that foot. They hadn’t healed, but didn’t bother me as much anymore either. 

“I think I need to stitch the cut on your foot,” Isabella explained while examining my foot. “Let me just get the local anesthetic…”

“No need,” I cut her off, “My pain management is pretty fine, so you won’t need it.”

She looked at me, surprised, but acknowledged my request with a tight nod. It would still hurt, still sting, but right now I had the feeling that I deserved it. I deserved every cut and every ache, because it was nothing compared to the grief I must have caused Marcello. 

While Isabella stitched me up, I got lost in my head and tried to think of solutions on how to mend this situation. I had continuously complained about Marcello hovering around me all the time, but that didn’t mean that I wanted him to hate me forever.

Fuck! What was I supposed to do now?