Bella registered the cold first before all else, and her eyes opened to darkness she didn't understand. When she moved her hands to rub away at her eyes, she heard chains and that was when she felt them, cold shackles around her wrists, and her heart seized. She remembered nothing but the accident and nothing of the murder and what had followed.
Her body felt heavy as she moved on the cold concrete floor, and she felt intense pain in her stomach.
"Hunger pains" she muttered under her breath.
[Finally awake I see.] said Sin in her mind
`What happened, where am I?`
[Long story short, we were kidnapped, I ended up killing the culprits then, made out with Xavier and then got arrested but then it seemed he was working for someone else, hence we were drugged and shipped off to hell I presume.]
In that moment she remembered having come to and hearing the familiar sounds of NYC. Her heart skipped a beat and she shook her head in panic.
`No, no, we can't be back here, what did you do Sin! This is all your fault, all your fault.` She said, her mind in panic. She wondered which between what two men, had her confined. She wondered if whether Deacon could be so cruel and she felt she couldn't put it past Luka to be the one behind it.
Many thoughts assaulted her mind then. Her breath hitched when she heard the door groan open, and her eyes locked onto the shadow that stood by the door.
"Oh good, you're awake" and her heart broke then.
"Deacon" she said refusing to believe it.
"Don't sound so shocked Bella, or should I say Killer Sunshine" she gasped then and Sin let out a humourless chuckle
[Oh he's good, he's real good]
"Yes, I found out, it was probably stupid to leave that letter behind, but I'm also glad you did, else I would have killed you otherwise"
"Why?" she could only breath out in question and as if her word was a trigger he let out a cold chuckle
"Why" walking towards her until he stood before her seated position, crouching down, he grabbed her jaw and made her look at him, with the little light from the open door, she could see his eyes that raged as he spat
"You ask Why! How about the fucking humiliation you put me through huh, how it made me look when the woman I had chosen decided to disappear on me, like I had no control over my shit!. Let's not forget the rejection, only for you to go whoring around in Hawaii" coldly chuckling again he added, licking his lips
"but don't worry, once I have your attitude fixed and you agree to be mine, all else will fall back into place." she couldn't help but laugh then, a laugh cold enough to have him frowning at her
"Are you kidding me!? You have to be kidding. I mean, all this trouble because I hurt your fragile ego!?" she felt mad, not exhaustion but fuelling anger that made her smirk and say
"So what? did my easy slip from your slimy hands show them just how pathetic you are? did they think you not man enough that you couldn't get a handle on your woman, who by the way isn't and never will be your woman!? " her right eye twitched and Sin spat out
"Now I see why she never fell for you to go begin with. Nothing but a little boy in a suit tryna play man, despite the glaring reminder between your legs saying that you aren't" she felt his back hand then and she hissed. Bella let out a light laughter, her throat feeling sore, ignoring the sting of the corner of her lip, certain he had torn it open, she ruefully smiled and said
"News flash to you buddy, you're nothing but pathetic and weak, just like everyone thinks you to be" she rasped out, she was a merge between herself as she spat those words and Deacon did nothing but seethe and said
"You're gonna eat those words Bella Sinclair. And by the time I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but my bitch to do as I please. Mark my words" she laughed then, genuinely laughed at how he seemed to be nothing but a big boy throwing a tantrum, words said to save face when nothing went his way.
She laughed until she cried, wept at her fate, cursed her luck or the lack of, that she was now nothing but chained to a wall in pain and hunger. She felt starved, parched and she felt it in her chapped lips and dry throat that ached as if she had just rubbed sandpaper against it.
As she sat in the dark, she finally gave in to the hand life dealt her, this was her fate no matter how much she tried to run from it, the life she was bound to live, within all the danger and pain and blood, hatred and anger, all the evil that shouldn't exist, she was meant to be right in the middle of it, as it had become apparent that a normal life of freedom wasn't meant to be hers.
She let go, of hopes of ever being happy, of ever fulfilling her promise to her parents, of being good where bad was a necessary requirement to survive.
She couldn't say how many hours had passed, before the door finally opened again and Deacon walked back in. He switched the light back on and she could see that he was much calmer than he had been earlier. He held a tray in his hands as he walked towards her.
"Nc nc nc, won't you look at you. Here, wouldn't want you dying of starvation just yet" he said placing the food before her. she resisted the urge to laugh, then again even if she wanted do, she doubted she could with how much her throat hurt, for on the tray sat a bowl of her favourite.
Oatmeal with strawberries, and a glass of orange juice. She merely eyed the food as if suspicious, that perhaps he had poisoned it, and as if reading her mind, he chuckled
"Don't worry, it's not poisoned" he said, standing before her, his hands in his pockets, he eyed her. She looked frail before his eyes and he couldn't comprehend just how he felt about it.
Still in the shirt he had found her in, he wondered whether to kill the owner of it or not. Bella slowly moved her hands, on her knees she reached for the bowl, ignoring the dragging sounds of metal against the floor.
The bowl felt warm in her palms, although the skin of her wrists was irritated and itching, she placed all her attention on the only warmth she felt emanating from it. She was surprised that she hadn't died of a fever and cold just yet, considering how weak her immune system could be with regards to that sickness, yet she was yet to cough. Still, something told her that unless things changed, it would come.
She knew to eat steady, with the amount of days she had spent without food in her belly, she feared that she might vomit it back up, hence she ate half a spoon every minute, just to let
the food settle. Deacon watched her eat slow as a snail wondering if it was possible to feel sorry and satisfied at the same time.
When she was done, she let out a sigh against the wall behind her, eyes closed, head leaning back, she willed her stomach to remain silent rather than churn at the food she had just eaten. Although she felt nausea creep up her heart, she clenched her teeth, her eyes watered. Sniffing, she reached for the orange juice and couldn't help but gulp it down like she had been parched for decades.
A mistake that was her undoing as she shot to the side and heaved all she had eaten, to the point she heaved nothing but air. Deacon simply scrunched his nose up in disgust wondering how thee Killer Sunshine could be so pitiful and weak, he thought then that perhaps her other tales of her reputation were nothing but made up legends, for surely she wouldn't have allowed herself to be in that state.
Alas, she wondered the same thing, perhaps trying to be like everyone else had been her downfall, it had weakened her in a way she was beginning to regret. She may have made a promise to her parents, however, in that moment she wondered, if whether they would be okay with her if she chose to abandon it, for surely they wouldn't want her to be in the state she was in.
She sat back and rested against the wall, not caring to wipe away at the little bit of vomit at the corner of her mouth. The young man that used to be a friend turned to walk out, only to instruct someone to fetch a cleaner, for he didn't fancy his basement being like the container she had been found in. She passed out for much longer than she thought she had after that, and when she came to again, Deacon was seated on a chair a distance from her.
"You can put an end to all this you know" her eyes landed on him then and she silently took him in. He wore black slacks and a white shirt folded at the arms, he had let his beard grow and she found she didn't really like the look of it on him.
"Be mine Bella, you'll be free again. Well get married and then in a year or two, have our first child. We'll be a happy family you and I. I'll make you happy" he said and she couldn't help but shake her head then. He had ruined all the chances of ever being anything but an enemy to her, therefore
"You can never make me happy Deacon. And I know I'll be nothing but chained still, shackled by your name and the status you'd wrap around my neck. Don't forget who I am" she said, her voice but a whisper and she gritted out
"I'm a woman that cannot be tamed, try as you may"
"I see. I'm curious though, who's in charge now, Bella or the infamous Sin?" he questioned then. She knew that the only person that knew of her state was one man, one man that was dead, but how did Deacon know then? she looked at him then, her heartbeat picking up as she saw a smirk crawl onto his lips. He nodded slowly
"Only he knew, and you've thought him dead for years now haven't you?" he laughed, loving the fear that was slowly coating her face and he continued.
"Except, he isn't dead, well, he didn't die, just ended up a man with this off putting face" he said as if disgusted by the image of the man himself. She couldn't comprehend what he was saying and she shook her head in absolute denial
"He's dead" she rasped out and he smiled
"Nope, want me to prove it to you?" the rhetorical question caused her heart to skyrocket, and further more when she saw him stand up and head for the door, for she understood even in her state of denial, what he meant to do.
And so her heart fell to the pits of her being, and she forgot how to breath when the man slowly walked in. He looked the same yet he didn't, a quarter of his facial flesh was burnt, a trail that fell down to the side of his neck as well, his eyes the same cold dull browns. She shut her eyes and furiously shook her head
"No, you aren't here" she said under her breath
"You look like you've seen a ghost" he spoke up only to add "Little mouse" a sadistic smirk on his lips when he saw her eyes snap open and at him. He sounded the same, and she loathed the pet name. Deacon all but clapped his hands and said
"Well then, I'll leave you two to get acquainted" he said, only to give the man a serious look "remember the rules" before he walked out.
"You might want to breath, you're turning a tad bit red" he said. She took in air then and her eyes clouded over.
"I'm offended, you don't seem too happy to see me." his face turned from amusement to cold hatred and he said "You killed my boy you know. I meant I would have understood if you had killed me, but not him. My precious boy"
"He was as vile as you" she whispered, tears drenching her cheeks.
"Oh, was he? It still didn't give you the right!" he spat. He took slow strides her way then, and she tried to shrink into the wall with every step he took in her direction and when he stood right in front of her, he squatted down,
"You gonna pay for wat you did little mouse, you remember what mama used to say don't you, that bad girls need to be punished, and your punishment is coming" he said, his sadistic smile retuning. He stood back up and walked toward the door, and before he made his exit, he looked back at her weeping frightened state and smirked
"Sleep tight, little mouse"