Deadly Obsession - Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Present Day
Charlie.

I’m exhausted.

Terrified.

I look around me in the surrounding brush, trying to find an opening, but it all looks the same. There are just trees. Everywhere is trees. I hear the sound of a gunshot and the trunk inches from my face cracks as a bullet hits it. I gasp in fear quickly placing my hand over my mouth. If I make noise it will be easier for him to find me.

“Come on Charlie. You have to do a little better than that. You’ve got five minutes left.” Romelo’s chilling voice comes out of the dark, causing me to shiver in fear. I scramble around, sprinting as fast as I can. Romelo’s deep chuckle comes out louder this time. I feel like my heart is about to give out.

Over the years, Romelo has gotten worse. He quickly morphed into a man that I have no idea how to cope with. He’s empty and broken beyond repair. Nothing fills him. Nothing can sate him except his own sadistic desire to see those suffer as he did.

I trip on the root of a tree that’s bent out of the ground falling hard on my face. At this rate, he’s going to catch me. I shudder as I think of what happened the last time he caught me.

I only need to last for five more minutes. I quickly scramble up and take off running again.

Romelo is a stranger and mystery to me. Gone is the boy I grew up with inside that crazy house, and gone is the man I fell in love with. Now, he’s a cold and terrifying monster. Romelo has a deranged mind. Sometimes I wonder how it functions. How he can think anything that he does is acceptable. Then, I remember who he is. He’s a man that was raised in a broken home. A home that no child should have to live in, and now he works with a man that is just as evil as he is.

I’ve never seen Luca Pasquino. But I’ve heard plenty about him. Sometimes when Romelo comes home he’ll tell me of his day; his jobs. And Luca is always in those stories.

Luca is the boss. The Don. And Romelo is his right hand. They relate to each other on a level I will never understand. And the things Romelo tells me about Luca are enough to make the devil himself cringe.

Romelo got this idea in his head one day. He told me he wanted to go on dates. At the time I thought he was talking about actual dates, like the ones I’d seen on TV. But I should have known better. Romelo is everything but normal.

To him, a date must include unimaginable torture. And this date is called “Run”. I remember the first day he introduced it to me.

(Flashback)

The sun is slowly setting, and Romelo is standing in front of me, his cold blue gaze watching the sun slowly dip behind the trees. His gaze travels down to mine, and there isn’t a trace of emotion on his face. He comes near me, reaching out slowly. I stop myself from flinching, but that doesn’t prevent my shaking. Not from the cold, but from fear. He takes notice and smiles. He loves my fear. Sometimes I swear he can smell it. He does everything in his power to make me feel fear, and he takes his pleasure from it.

I keep my eyes trained down, and I feel his hand on my cheek, caressing my skin. He steps closer to me, pulling me in close to him. I feel his arms reach around my neck, and slowly pull my collar off. It’s the only thing that keeps me bound to this place. I tried to leave once, with it on, and it shocked me to the point that my body was convulsing on its own.

He presses soft kisses along my throat.

“We’re going to play a game today, Charlie,” he mumbles as he places another kiss.

“I’m going to give you a chance to escape.”

My heart jumps in my chest. Freedom? His deep chuckle pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Don’t get too excited baby.”

Out of nowhere, he roughly shoves me away from him, causing me to stumble and land on my ass. I look up at his cold stare and he pulls a gun out, and a knife.

“You get ten minutes. Ten Minutes to make it to the road.” I look around me. The house is surrounded by the forest. Although the front and backyard are large and open, the property itself is deep in the woods. Romelo pulls open the bullet slot, checking his ammunition while he continues to speak.

“I’m going to use my tools to catch you before then. Like a game of cat and mouse. It’s rather simple. All you have to do is make it to the road in ten minutes and I’ll let you leave. If you can’t make it before then… you won’t like what’s going to happen…”

I see a maniacal glint in his gaze as he focuses on me.

“But I will.”

“And I am going to use my tools to catch you before then. Like a little cat and mouse game. It’s rather simple, really. All you have to do is make it to the road in 10 minutes and I’ll let you leave. But if you can’t make it and I catch you before then, well.. you won’t like what happens...” I see a maniacal glint in his eyes.

“But I will.”

Blood rushes through my ears and I can barely catch my breath as the realization of what’s about to happen dawns on me. He’s going to hunt me down, literally. I watch in terror as the last rays of sunlight disappear, and we’re plunged into darkness. Then Romelo’s voice sounds.

“Run.”

(End flashback)

The sound of my breathing grows louder. I can’t do this. I never can. I can only pray that Romelo doesn’t hurt me before he catches me like he did that first time. I shudder as I recall barely being able to walk.

The sound of rustling leaves halts me in place. He’s near. I know he is. I whip around to take off in the opposite direction when a jolt of electricity rips through me. I no longer have control over my body as my muscles give out and I collapse in a heap.

Romelo’s footsteps sound above me and I can feel his fingers playing in my hair before he speaks.

“Time’s up”
~

When there’s an animalistic threat, they always tell you to do the same thing.

Don’t show fear, don’t back away, don’t run or scream. Romelo is nothing like an animal. Even when I don’t show fear, he always finds a way to drag it out of me.

“Charlie.”

Romelo’s cold voice brings me out of the solitude of my thoughts. He has me strapped to a table and not just any table, his torture table. Romelo has developed a love for marking up my body over the years. He never touches my face unless he’s really angry. But the terrifying thing about Romelo is he’s hardly ever angry. He doesn’t do these things out of punishment, he does them to bring himself pleasure because he loves doing it.

I can’t begin to count the women that have been dragged out of here because Romelo went too far with them. Romelo hates women, something that he’s made known. And I am no exception to that emotion. In his eyes, I’m a woman that lied and betrayed him all those years ago. He believes we are all untrustworthy and pathetic. Just like his mother.

Romelo silently ponders which tool he’ll use this time around to bring out my fears. He lightly runs his fingers over each of them, and with each tool, my heart rate increases. I feel a twisting in my gut as I take in his focused expression. He’s really contemplating.

He scoffs at me, walking towards the burning hearth, and reaches for the metal rod that’s sticking out.

My eyes widen and tears begin to fall as my facade crumbles.

“Romelo… please don’t… not again,” I’m barely able to get my words out but I know he heads me. He smiles, making his way to where I am with the branding iron in his hand. The closer he gets, the harder I begin to shake.

He’s branded me in the past on my ribcage. The process was painful and just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. I would rather be shot a thousand times than endure my flesh being branded again. The healing process was miserable and as much as I hate to say it; after the scabbing and scarring went away, my skin was left flat and the design was beautiful.

But that doesn’t mean I ever want him to do it again. I fear it more than anything. And he knows it.

“You’re getting worse and worse at that game. I could’ve caught you within the first two minutes. I let you go because I wanted to see how far you could get. You didn’t get far at all.”

I try and swallow but my mouth has run dry. I can’t bring myself to focus on what it is he’s even saying to me. All I know is that he’s coming near me with burning metal. His icy eyes fall on me, and I can see the satisfaction as he watches me squirm in terror.

“I’ve been thinking. When’s the last time you were in public?”

I open my mouth but only a squeak comes out earning me a chuckle.

“Since you were a little girl, right? When my mother took you.”

Memories of that house of horrors flash through my mind at the mention.

“So if you actually did manage to escape, where would you go? What would you do, huh? Do you really think you can function in society?” he asks.

I already know the answer to that question. I can’t. I’m just as messed up as he is. There’s no saving me.

“I know I’m nothing without you,” I say softly. His footsteps don’t falter. He’s getting even closer and he looks determined to brand me today. I look away, squeezing my eyes shut, not wanting to see the moment scorching metal touches my flesh.

The sound of his footsteps stops and I feel his fingers under my chin. I slowly open my eyes as he guides me to meet his gaze. Romelo’s gaze is the most terrifying thing to me. It’s so empty. So filled with malice and destruction.

He studies me, finally smiling as he leans in to kiss me. I immediately kiss him back out of reaction hoping to do anything I can to deter his mind from burning me. I feel a sharp pain on my bottom lip jerking back in shock. He bit me.

My eyes focus just in time to see the branding iron coming for my face. I squeeze my eyes shut letting my scream fill the air but the pain never comes. I hear the sound of the heat burning something and when I open my eyes, he’s pushed it into the table.

He’s watching me in complete amusement, laughing as he drops the iron before moving to undo my bonds.

Once I’m free he presses me against the wall.

“I have big plans for you tonight. Go get cleaned up, and we’ll begin,” he whispers.

I nod my head vigorously not waiting for him to respond as I scurry up the stairs, all the while feeling the heat of his gaze burning my back.

~

I quickly take a shower, stepping out onto the soft rug before looking at myself in the mirror. I’ve matured over the years. My once childlike features have grown into that of a woman’s. My hair now falls past my waist in large, wild curls that Romelo loves. My skin no longer clings to my starved body as I have filled out now. Romelo never starves me, ever. He only ever did once when I made the mistake of hitting him. It was the biggest mistake of my life and I learned to never try anything like that again.

My eyes shift to my throat, something that I rarely ever see as he always keeps that thick collar on it. A small tattoo reflects back at me on the left side of my neck.

Romelo

This marking came from him proving the point that I belong to him. He had a tattoo artist come and put his name on my throat so that I will never forget. Usually, I can’t see it because of my collar. But since I am showering alone and naked now, I can only stare at it.

I don’t know how I feel about my situation. I know how I’m supposed to feel, but Romelo is all I’ve ever known. I’ve known him longer than my own parents. He’s everything to me. He’s my provider and my savior. Anything he asks for I do. I went through a rebellious phase in the beginning, but that’s all it was. A phase. Romelo has zero-tolerance for rebellion.

I no longer think it’s worth it. Once, I talked back to him accompanying my point with an expensive vase to his head. He had to get stitches because of it, and I had to get a cast. He broke my arm, clean.

The thing that haunts me about that day is that I was in front of him, apologizing and trying to staunch the bleeding yet he never spoke a word. He silently grabbed my arm and snapped it leaving without another word. He didn’t take me to get my arm foxed for two days. He wanted me to suffer and understand the consequences. And I do.

I’ll never forget the day I decided it wasn’t worth it. I talked back to him, and I hit him, and I threw something at him. An expensive glass vase to be exact. And it hit him, causing him to get stitches. And causing me a broken arm. He broke it clean.

The door to the bathroom opens and Romelo strolls in with a towel and a dress. His gaze falls on me standing by the mirror and he motions for me to follow him. We make our way into his bedroom and he sits on the edge of the bed waiting for me. I know the routine. He doesn’t have to voice anything to me.

I stand in front of him and he takes the towel, drying my body with care. His eyes are focused on his task. Then, he dresses me and begins brushing my hair until it’s dry.

Moments like these make me understand just how unpredictable Romelo is. Sometimes, he’ll treat me as if I am the most fragile being on Earth. He loves to dress me and play in my hair… and he loves bathing together. Sometimes, he treats me as if I am the center of his world.

But I’m not dumb. I may not know what exactly is going through his mind, but one thing I know is that Romelo is incapable of love.

Once I’m presentable, he leads me into the dining room where the table is set and he helps me in my seat before taking his at the head of the table.

“Luca went to get Elise.”

I look up from my plate and for the first time, I feel joy. Romelo always told me stories of Luca and Elise. It always amazes me how strong she is and how she’s persevered through everything her husband put her through. Romelo only recently shared with me the terrifying news of what happened to Luca and his brush with death. I was upset to hear that Elise may be somewhere in the world raising a child alone with no indication of what happened to her husband.

“So he’s fully recovered?” I ask. Romelo smiles at me nodding his head and I feel a flood of relief for Elise. She may get her happily ever after, after all.

“That’s good to hear,” I say softly. Silence stretches over us and I can feel Romelo’s eyes on me.

“How would you feel about finally meeting them?” he asks.

I look up in shock.

“The Pasquinos?” I ask in disbelief.

He nods his head slowly but is watching my reaction. Romelo has kept me a secret from everyone all these years. I don’t know the reasoning behind his decision, but I’m sure he has his reasons. Even when his friend Nicolai came over, he had no idea who I was. And Romelo wasn’t inclined to tell him.

“Why?” I ask. Romelo raises a brow at me before shrugging.

“I think it’s time I reveal you to my Capo. And he’ll want to meet you soon after.”

I fight the smile threatening my lips. Romelo is actually going to let me interact with people. Someone other than him. I then realize how that sounds and decide to voice my concerns.“

I try and hide my smile. He was going to let me interact with people. Someone other than him.

“But... do you think I can be normal..?” I ask him. He narrows his eyes at me.

“I think they will understand the circumstances if you come off a little strange,” he says with an amused grin. I nod my head, looking back down at my plate.

I hear Romelo standing from his seat before I feel his presence behind me. I look up just in time to see him place the diamond collar back around my throat. I try and calm my mind when I hear the electronic latch lock into place. He slowly runs his finger over the collar and up my jaw.

“Does that make you happy, Charlie?”

His voice comes off sinister and I slowly nod my head. I can feel the dread building inside of me as he smiles. Tonight isn’t going to be good. Tonight, he’s going to hurt me. 

* * * * *

I hate the nights Romelo uses me for sex. Sometimes, he’s just so rough that I end up crying. But he loves it when I cry. So it fuels his desire even more. He shifts slightly behind me, pulling my naked body in closer to his. His breathing is even so I know he’s asleep.

I may hate it when he’s rough, but I don’t hate sex altogether. Sometimes, when Romelo is gentle, I feel immense pleasure. But I’d rather it be me that he’s rough with than the women he brings home. When he’s rough with them, there’s a chance they won’t live to see the light of day. And if they do, they’re traumatized for the rest of their days. And there’s nothing they or any judge can do about it.

Romelo is a powerful man. He has just as much power as his boss which means that the police and even the heads of government are under his control. Only recently Romelo, Nicolai, and Luca took down a government agency. What could one female that decided to go home with him do? Especially when Romelo despises women with every breath in his body.

I can only ever wonder what it is that Romelo sees in me. I don’t know why he’s kept me alive all these years. I don’t understand why sometimes he treats me as if I’m his world and other times I’m begging him for my life. But that’s something I will never find out. Romelo never shares his emotions. I don’t even think he has any.

All I can do is live day to day at his will. Because to him, I am no different than his mother. I lied to him and I betrayed him. And I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for that.