“Let go!
Let me go!” I screamed—or at least tried to.
With the hoodie collar digging so tightly into my throat, all that escaped my lips was a strangled rasp.
I desperately thrashed, terrified, trying to break free.
I reached for the doorknob, for anything I could grab onto, but the man abruptly yanked me toward him.
The pressure around my neck tightened even further, cutting off what little air I could get.
My back was crushed against his solid, steel-hard torso.
“Hold still.” His voice came from right beside my ear, and it made my heart clench so violently that it felt as though it had stopped beating altogether.
I struggled frantically, desperately.
Logically, I knew I should obey him.
There was no way I could physically defend myself against someone like him anyway.
But panic had completely taken over my mind.
It was only when the fingers of his other hand slid into my hair and clenched around it with an almost crushing grip that I finally froze.
For some reason, I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.
At least, that was the terrifying feeling hanging in the air.
Of course, I understood that it was probably just my panic-ridden mind exaggerating everything, but…
“Don’t push me any further than I already am,” he said.
Then, suddenly, he released me.
The moment I was free, I stumbled backward, nearly losing my balance, and hurried several steps away from him.
My heart started pounding again.
Now it was racing madly, as if it wanted to shatter my ribs, and I threw a frightened glance toward the stairs.
My thoughts melted into poison, yet they frantically tried to piece themselves together into a ragged understanding: would I make it to them in time?
“Go ahead, try it,” the guy said, noticing my look.
I flinched even harder and froze in place.
“What… what do you want from me?” I asked, taking a step toward the sofas.
Just a little farther away from him.
I’d already been through several critical situations with my brother’s friends.
Once, during one of the parties he’d thrown, they’d broken down my door.
Burst into my bedroom.
To this day I still don’t understand how I managed to escape, or what exactly those drunken bastards had planned to do—but I knew perfectly well what real panic tasted like.
Only with this guy it was worse.
Bigger.
More terrifying.
“A relationship,” he said, staring grimly into my eyes, and I felt my heart clench again.
“Please, stop,” I begged.
What the hell had I ever done to them to make them torment me like this?
Besides simply existing?
“Sit down.” It wasn’t an order.
Something far worse.
I glanced at the stairs again, catching out of the corner of my eye that the guy had slipped his hands into the pockets of his pants.
He’d clearly noticed my look once more, but for now he said and did nothing.
And it felt like a refined, especially cruel game—giving me the chance to run.
I exhaled noisily, but walked over to the armchair and practically collapsed into it.
The hall where we were standing was dark.
Only a distant light from the kitchen reached us, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Good girl,” he said, as if praising a pet.
I tensed and shrank into myself.
Silently watched him, trying not to react at all.
Those bastards had liked my fear.
If… if I didn’t show it, maybe he’d leave me alone.
“Do you know who I am?” He didn’t sit on the sofa.
He stayed standing right where he was, and only now could I fully grasp how massive he was.
Nearly two meters tall.
I’m not short myself—one of the tallest girls in my group, actually—but next to this guy I felt tiny.
“A friend of my brother’s,” I said on an exhale.
“No.” I kept my hands on my knees, and in that moment my fingers jerked hard.
What did he mean, “no”?
“Do you know my name?” he asked a different question.
I grew even more wary.
In the half-darkness, I fixed him with a nervous stare, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t place him.
“No,” I said quietly.
“I’ve never seen you before.” “Perfect.” He lowered his eyelids a little.
“My name is Matteo.
You, Diana, are already of age.
A grown girl, ready for a relationship.” “I’m not ready for anything,” the words slipped out before I could stop them.
I didn’t even understand what I’d just said.
And I understood even less what he was talking about.
A chill ran down my spine.
How did he know that starting today I was of legal age?
I jerked my head up and looked toward the second floor.
I refused to believe he wasn’t one of my brother’s friends.
Only they were capable of poisoning my life like this, and as I stared upstairs, I thought maybe they were all hiding up there.
Maybe they were filming me, while I sat here trembling, waiting for whatever terrible thing was about to happen next.
“I don’t give a damn.
You’re not my choice either,” he said, resting a hand on the back of the sofa.
His palm was huge, and his skin really was dark.
“But if you stop whining and resisting, I might start treating you properly.
Like my girlfriend.
I won’t hurt you, and I’ll give you what matches your status.” I parted my lips, but almost immediately closed them again, pressing them into a thin line.
There were so many things I wanted to say, but I decided it was better to keep quiet.
If my brother and those other bastards were watching me right now and laughing at my reaction, the best thing I could do was give them nothing.
Silence settled over the foyer.
We stared at each other without saying a word, and I could feel the tension and darkness in the air.
My heart was still struggling to beat normally, but I forced myself to take a breath before asking: “Can I go now?” “Only if you tell me that you understand everything and that you won’t cause any trouble in our relationship.” His words cut deeply.
But…
if saying that would finally let me leave…
“I understand, and I promise I won’t cause any trouble,” I said in a single breath.
Then, barely moving, I asked again, “Can I go now?” For a while, he said nothing.
He simply stared into my eyes, his expression dark and unreadable.
Only after several unbearably long seconds did he give the slightest nod.
I immediately got up from the sofa and hurried toward the staircase.
As I passed the little box containing the pastry I’d dropped earlier, I didn’t even stop to look at it.
It was probably ruined by now anyway.
I didn’t turn around.
I just kept moving, quickly climbing to the second floor.
It wasn’t until I reached the top few steps that I suddenly stopped.
I’d completely forgotten that my brother and the other bastards were probably up there.
But after nervously looking around and listening intently to the silence, I saw and heard no one.
Only then did I cautiously continue upstairs.
They were probably somewhere else, maybe in the hallway on the first floor.
But I wasn’t about to stop and turn around to check.
I hurried down the corridor, rushed into my bedroom, and locked the door behind me.
Then, unsteady on my feet, I backed against the wall.
What the hell had just happened?
For nearly an hour, I paced anxiously around my room, waiting for something else terrible to happen.
Maybe my brother and his bastard friends would start pounding on my door again.
It wouldn’t have been the first time.
Or even the second.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around what had happened downstairs.
That kind of prank wasn’t like them at all.
What were they even trying to accomplish?
It was…
So strange.
Eventually, when I was too exhausted to keep pacing, I sank down onto the floor beside my bed.
I’d already been completely worn out from my part-time job that day.
My legs were aching, my arms were sore, and then there was this on top of everything else.
I’d been hoping to spend my birthday quietly that evening—with a cup of tea, a pastry, and some TV show.
Instead, I’d barely even turned on the lights before finding myself sitting in the dark, anxiously listening to every sound in the house.
The longer I listened, the less sense anything made.
It genuinely seemed as though there was no one else in the house.
Then, sometime close to midnight, I noticed a light.
A car had pulled up outside, and the glow of its headlights spilled through my window, briefly illuminating the walls of my room.
I looked out into the yard and saw my brother’s SUV.
Then I saw his large, intimidating figure approaching the house.
What…
did that mean?
Had he really not been home earlier?
Or had he gone somewhere after I’d gone upstairs, only to return now?
Still sitting on the floor, I held my breath as I heard his heavy footsteps moving through the hallway.
A moment later, I heard him open the door to his bedroom and go inside.
Our bedrooms were directly opposite each other.