Chapter 48 Chapter 0048

Chapter 48 Chapter 0048
•ISABELLA•

Just as I knew he would, I woke up with my head heavy and my memory blank.

I couldn’t remember the last thing I had done before falling asleep, which told me that he had drugged me again.

For a few seconds I lay still, trying to steady my breathing and understand where I was, and when I turned my head, I saw him beside me, sleeping peacefully as if he had done nothing wrong.

The room was unfamiliar. The walls were different, and the furniture was different. I knew immediately that he had moved us again.

We were somewhere else, somewhere far from where we had been before. Maybe another country. Maybe another continent.

My stomach tightened when I thought about Antonio. I imagined him arriving at the last location only to find it empty.

Slowly, I got out of bed and walked toward the window. When I pulled the curtain aside, my breath caught in my throat.

Everything outside was covered in snow. The trees, the ground, and the rooftops in the distance were all white.

My heart began to race. Snow meant we were far from where we had been before.

“You’re up,” Tom’s voice came from behind me.

I turned to face him, and I didn't bother wiping the tears that were already falling down my face.

“Where are we, Tom?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Was this your plan from the beginning? To take me away from everyone I know and lock me somewhere I don't even recognize?”

He stretched slightly and looked at me with mild irritation, as if I had woken him for no reason. “Bella, you are overreacting. Come back to bed.”

“Overreacting?” I repeated, stepping closer to him. “You drugged me. You kidnapped me and moved me across the world without telling me. How is that overreacting?”

He opened his eyes fully and sat up, studying me with a calm expression that only made me angrier.

“I knew your father would betray me,” he replied. “He went to Antonio and gave him our location. Do you think I would wait around for him to come and take you? I am not stupid.” He let out a short laugh. “You are mine, Bella. No one is going to take you from me again.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “You are sick. There is something seriously wrong with you.”

His expression hardened. He stood up and walked toward me, stopping only when he was directly in front of me. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him.

“The heart is strange,” he muttered. "Mine has convinced me that we will be fine, and in time, you will realize I am the man for you."

I searched his eyes, and for the first time, I felt nothing but emptiness when I looked into them. I remembered a time when I thought I saw my future there. Now there was nothing.

“I would rather die than spend another day living under the same roof as you,” I said through clenched teeth.

His hand tightened painfully around my chin. His calm mask slipped, and anger replaced it.

“You want to die?” he asked in a low voice. “Fine. I can arrange that.”

He released my face, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me toward the door. I stumbled behind him, my heart pounding as fear settled deep in my chest.

“Where are you taking me?” I cried as he pulled me down the hallway.

When we stepped outside, the cold air hit my skin sharply.

For a moment I thought he was going to leave me in the snow, but instead, he dragged me to his car and pushed me inside before getting in himself.

He drove without speaking, his jaw tight and his hands firm on the steering wheel.

After a few kilometers, we entered a small town and pulled into the parking lot of a shopping center.

“Why are we here?” I asked cautiously.

He didn’t answer. He stepped out of the car, opened my door, and gestured for me to get out. His silence was more frightening than his shouting.

Inside the shopping center, he kept a firm hold on my hand as we walked into a hardware store. My stomach dropped when I realized where we were.

"Tom, what are you planning?"

He leaned closer to my ear. “If you say one word to anyone in this store, I will kill you.”

His voice was calm, and that was how I knew he meant it. I kept my mouth shut as he walked through the aisles and selected two uncut ropes, several rolls of tape, and a shovel.

At the counter, I looked at the cashier, hoping she would see something in my eyes and understand that I needed help.

But she barely looked at me. She rang up the items, accepted the payment, and handed him the receipt without question.

Back in the car, my hands were shaking. “You are scaring me,” I muttered.

“You said you would rather die than stay with me,” he replied. “So I am giving you options. Death or a lifetime with me. You decide.”

I reached for the door handle, ready to run, but he moved quickly and got inside before I could react. He locked the doors and drove off without another word.

The drive back felt endless. My mind raced through every possibility, none of them good.

“You have a choice to make,” he continued. “You can forget your old life and accept this one, or you can spend the rest of your days tied up in the basement.”

“It all sounds the same to me,” I muttered as I stared out the window.

He glanced at me sharply. “What did you say?”

I forced a smile. “If you are so determined, why not give me a gun and let me do it myself? That would save you the trouble.”

He scoffed and looked back at the road.

Even though I had told my father I would pretend to play along, I couldn’t bring myself to act like I wanted Tom.

When we arrived back at the house, he grabbed the supplies from the trunk and opened my door.

“You have one hour to decide,” he said as we walked inside.

“I choose the basement,” I replied. “At least there I won't have to pretend to love you.”

He grabbed my wrist again and forced me to face him. “Do you think it will be that simple?” he asked angrily. “You are mine.”

“She is my wife.”

The voice came from the doorway, loud and filled with fury.

My heart stopped, then surged with relief as I turned my head and saw Antonio standing there with a gun in his hand.

For a second, I thought I was imagining him, that my mind had created him to survive the fear. But he was real and he was there.

He had found me.

“Antonio,” I whispered, and in that moment, everything inside me felt lighter because I knew I wasn't alone anymore.