Chapter 8

Raoul enters the place and unties her. She grips his arm tightly and says something. It is incredible that she can still say anything. He closes his eyes, sighs, and only opens them when Paolo shouts. Then she is taken to the room. With control over my body, I climb down and enter the building through the side door. Everything is completely dark, and suffocating fear takes hold of me, but I continue despite it and find the door closed. Sounds. Those damned sounds. She screams, Paolo laughs, and I hear Raoul’s grunt. I hide and wait. I wait for everything, until I have time to save the girl with fire-colored hair. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. It is already two in the morning, and they still have not left that room. Bruno will arrive at any moment, and I sneer at the irony, because this is how the devil works: in the dark. If he arrives, I will not be able to do anything for her. Absolutely nothing. Finally, my brothers leave the place, but I cannot look at either of them. Not even Raoul. My sweet Raoul. He seems like that boy again, the one who copied Paolo in everything. But what happened inside that room is terribly worse than a simple wound on the hand or sibling cruelty. My heart is racing, and my breathing is uneven. My ears, still alert, notice when the door is closed, and I remain inside, very close to it. Sweat begins to slide down my skin, but I do not care. The bedroom door is only pushed shut, and I manage to approach. Only the light from outside faintly illuminates the room. I come closer, and she sighs. I do not know whether it is fear that everything will begin again or relief when she notices it is only another girl. She seems a little older than I am, but far too young for all of this. “Hi… I…” Her condition is terrifying. Bruises cover her arms, and her breasts are exposed. Injured. I take off my coat and place it over her. I still cannot utter a single coherent word. I sigh, focus, and clear my throat, trying to steady myself. “Do you speak my language?” The guests come from so many places that I need to know. “I need… get me out of here. It hurts…” “Shh… I know. I’m going to untie you, and you’ll lean on me, all right? We have to be quick.” I manage to free her, and she leans heavily on my arm. It is difficult to walk like this, but we have to make it. I go down to the ground floor, and we walk to the pantry. She only drags herself. She can barely open her eyes. I hear sounds outside, so I hide us right there until everything goes silent. “Alexandra. My name… I… who are they?” “Forget them. Let’s focus on getting you out of here. Beautiful name. Strong. You have to be strong, do you hear me, Alexandra?” She begins to close her eyes. She is exhausted, but I need to keep her awake. “Are you from here in Palermo, Alexandra? Where did you come from?” “Sardinia. I want to leave.” She blinks heavily, and unconsciousness slowly begins to embrace her. “You’re beautiful,” I say, anything that comes to mind to keep her conscious, but she laughs bitterly as a tear slides down her face. “And that’s what put me here.” “No. It was cruelty.” “Being damn beautiful and free put me here.” “Being a woman. Deep down, it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of beauty or very little.” “Why are you here?” She seems to notice how easily I move through the space and freezes, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. “I live here.” At that moment, her eyes spark against mine, filled with anger, pain, and sarcasm. “You’re one of them. You… How can you sleep knowing this is here? Do you know what those men did… they…” She tries to move away, as if I am going to kill her. “They are my brothers,” I admit, ashamed, not knowing what I am doing. “Why are you helping?” I do not have time to answer. Silence settles outside as the soldiers move away, and this is our chance to escape. “Come. Can you walk? You’ll have to walk on your own. I need to make sure the path is clear.” I do not wait for an answer. I just move forward. The dark night embraces us, and Alexandra looks up, absorbing her freedom. I signal for her to move ahead, and we manage to blend into the immense garden, despite her very slow pace. She limps, whimpers, and curses all at once. “Alexandra… I don’t have a plan, all right? We’ll walk until we’re at a safe distance. I need you to hide once I can’t go with you anymore.” “I can’t… It hurts. Do you know how much it hurts?” I stare into her beautiful light eyes. “That bastard…” She almost lets out a howl of pain, but I urgently cover her mouth, our wide eyes meeting in desperation. One mistake, and we both die here. Closer to her, I notice the marks—not very deep, but still painful—across her body, forming an ugly pattern on her skin. In that moment, I realize my father merely tickled me and did not use all his fury last year before sending me to boarding school. We walk for a long time through the woods behind the property. Maybe more than an hour, and if I am exhausted and freezing to death, I cannot even think about her condition. “I need to stop! I need to!” She leans against a tree, and I regret choosing such a long route. But through the main entrance, we would not have lasted five minutes. “Shh! They’ll hear us!” “f**k them! Let them hear! Let them kill me! They already did a fine job today! Look at this!” I focus on the space between her legs, near her thigh, where nail marks are sealed into her extremely pale skin. Nausea grips me hard, and I empty the contents of my stomach, because unlike the other times, today I saw.