The Devil's Obsession

Staggering, I lean against the wall next to me, my heart beating violently in my chest as I struggle to catch my breath.

I can't stop here, Daniel can not catch me here.

No matter what happens I have to escape from him tonight.

I glance behind me as their voices get louder. Breathing heavily, I start running once more, running into an alley.

My feet throbbed in pain with each step I took further, threatening to give up on me any minute from now. But I don't stop, I can't afford the luxury of stopping to rest my feet right now. I had to make sure I escaped from that man that night or else he would kill me.

"There she is. Get her!" I hear one of them yell close to me, and I gasp, the panic within me intensifies.

They are close by, I need to keep moving.

Ignoring the pain I felt in my feet, I quickened my pace, turning a corner and hoping to lose it along the way.

My leg wobbles as I run further and before I know it, I'm losing balance about to make contact with the floor.

Not now. Not now.

Thrusting my hands out, I break my fall wincing in pain when I make contact with the hard floor.

I bite my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain.

"She has to be here somewhere. Find her!" I hear him scream close by and my body goes rigid in fear.

I need to escape somehow. Find a place to hide. I need to make sure he doesn't see me, or he will certainly kill me this time.

Scanning my location with my ears, I search for a place to hide.

I stayed on the ground, hoping I wasn't visible and he wouldn't come this way.

Spotting a dumpster a few meters away from where I lay, I pulled myself to it, hiding beside it, bringing my knees to my chest.

I hold my breath when I hear their footsteps running past me.

"She couldn't have gone far. Make sure you find her or else!" He barks at them.

I cover my mouth with my hands to prevent myself from making any noise when his shoes enter my field of vision. My hands trembling in fear.

"I know you are here somewhere little red. When I get you. You would regret a lot of things. Your punishment would be less if you just come out now" He tells me with a surprisingly calm voice but I don't buy it.

I bring my knees closer to my chest, trying to make myself less visible than I was already.

"Dammit! Come out now!" He yells punching the wall and I flinch closing my eyes.

Memories of when I was in the place of the wall floods my mind but I shake my head, trying to clear the thoughts.

"Little Red. When I get you. You would regret your entire existence and beg for mercy. But I wouldn't be kind enough to show any mercy then." He says before he turns away and walks off.

I listen closely to him walking off as his footsteps get further and further away.

When I was certain he was gone, I finally released the breath I was holding.

Rubbing my chest to stop my fast-beating heart, I look up at the moon. Its rays shone brightly down at me. Luckily it was covered by the clouds earlier, if not He would have caught me for sure.

Taking a deep breath, I get up and turn around about to start running but I stop in shock. My eyes shook in fear as I stared back at the man who ruined my life.

Gasping, I fall back making contact with the body of the dumpster.

"There you are." He says, his lips curling menacingly.

"Stay... stay.. stay away." I stuttered, trying to go backward but I was prevented by the dumpster.

"Red. Red." He tuts shaking his head at me.

He never called me by name, he only called me Red because of my hair color.

"How stupid of you to think you could actually escape from me. Bold move, I must say. But quite stupid." He stares down at me, giving me a look that makes me feel stupid.

I gasp when he roughly fists my hair, yanking my head backward. I held back my scream, preventing myself from showing any form of being in pain. He hates it when you show weakness.

"By the time I'm done with you, darling. You'd be back to the obedient little girl you were." He promises to instill a renewed sense of terror within me

I can't let him take me back home. I have to do something. I have to escape now.

Something glints by my side and using my peripheral vision, I see a bottle lying close to me.

Stretching my hands I reach for the bottle, grabbing the bottle by the neck, I use it to hit his head.

"Damn. You little!" He screams, holding his head and staggering backward.

I see blood flowing from his head, but I don't stay to watch him. Forcing myself up, I run back the way I came choosing another turn.

Hopefully, I don't run into one of his men.

"Find her. I don't care what you do bring her to me." I hear him scream and my heartbeat increases in fear.

I need to find someone to help me, can I find anyone here.

I hear voices a distance away and I feel a little shimmer of hope.

Following the voice, I turn a corner and I see them.

Maybe they can help me. I hoped as I got closer to them

Bang.

Coming to a halt when a gunshot rings out and someone falls to the floor.

His shooter stares at him void of any emotion as he struggles for breath before finally breathing his last.

I was frozen in fear as I watched him stare at the already dead man, his hand lying by his side with his gun.

If he sees me he might kill me, but if Daniel sees me he would definitely kill me.

What should I do? I look around trying to find an alternative route to escape, but there is none.

"She must be somewhere, find here!" I hear one of Daniel's men coming from behind and I make a decision.

Putting one leg forward, his eyes immediately snap to me the moment I do and I'm struck by how cold and dark his eyes are, but I don't stop.

I can't really stop right now.

Using the little bit of strength I had, l pushed myself towards him.

One of the men next to him raises his gun to shoot me, but he stops him.

When I get to them my leg gives way beneath me and I fall before him, holding his legs to prevent myself from hitting the floors.

"Please save me" I begged, looking up at him with desperation in my eyes.

He stares down at me with cold eyes, his expression giving nothing away.

My grip on his trousers tightens, his expression stoic as he stares down at me and I have no idea what he must be thinking.

"I beg you, save me from that man." I cry placing my head on his legs.

"Little Red. Come out, come out wherever you are. Come out dang it!" He roars from somewhere behind us and I gasp, crawling forward trying to put as much distance between us.

He turns around and stares at me as I move backward in fear, my back making contact with a wall and preventing me from going further.

"If he finds me, he will surely kill me this time. I can't let him find me. Please help me!" I let the tears flow freely from my face. Why wouldn't he help me? Why was he just staring at me?

He cocks his head, staring at me before he walks off with his men behind me.

When he gets out of sight, my sobs get louder and I cry my heart out.

He'd kill me when he finds me, I should just come to terms with it. I couldn't escape him, I couldn't escape from him.

Pulling my knees to my chest, I place my head in between my knees with my arms wrapped around them.

I would just wait for him to get me, I wouldn't fight him hopefully he wouldn't punish me much.

My head starts spinning as my eyes blur.

I feel sleepy, maybe I should sleep a bit when I wake up I might be back in my cage.

Loud footsteps draw closer to me, but I don't bother raising my head, I know he found me.

"Come here, little one." He carries me bridal style and I hold his neck for support.

He is probably planning the different ways he can use to torture me.

"I'm sorry I tried to run away. Please don't hurt me." I mumbled, my eyes feeling heavy so I couldn't open it.

He doesn't say anything but he keeps walking.

"I'm... sorry.." I say once more, fighting the sleep that threatened to render me unconscious.

"Please don't hurt me..."

"You're tired, sleep." His voice cuts me short.

That does not sound like HIM, and he feels so warm. Why do I feel safe close to him now?

I didn't think much as I stopped fighting the will to sleep, welcoming the darkness.

*Santino Saint D'Angelo's POV*

"How did they know we would be here?" I asked my men, watching their faces one by one to see their reaction.

The business deal I was meant to sign today failed because of a snitch, and one of them here was the snitch.

I watched Lawless as his eyes darted around, finding focus on anything but my face. Lawless has been with me since we were kids. His real name was obviously not Lawless, it was a nickname that was given to him and it stuck.

"Law?" I call his name and his eyes dart to me before he looks elsewhere.

I pray he wasn't the one that snitched, I pray to God that Lawless wasn't the traitor amongst us.

"How did they know we would be here?" I repeat my question staring at him intently.

"H-how would I know?" He stuttered.

Damn it. His stuttering gave him away.

"You have no idea how Christian found out about a deal that only the people standing here knew about?" I ask waiting to see his reaction.

Christian was my sworn enemy and the leader of a rival mafia.

He came to disrupt our trading at the exact moment we were about to finalize it.

And I was pissed.

"Law, do you remember what Uncle Murphy said to you once?" I ask him, twirling my gun in my palm.

He shook his head, and I smiled at him.

"He said you should never lie 'cause you give yourself out the moment you do." I hold the gun, pointing it at him.

"Now I'm asking, why did you tell Christian about our plans?" I ask him and he starts laughing not even bothering to plead for forgiveness.

I clutched the gun tighter as I stared at him in anger.

He was one of my trusted men, and he went ahead and betrayed me.

"I guess I don't have to continue with this charade." He says, smirking at me.

"Why?" I ask wanting to know why he betrayed me, why was he working with Christian.

"Why? You ask. Well obviously because he pays better...." He starts but I cut him short.

"This was all because of money? If you had asked for a higher pay I wouldn't have hesitated to give it to you then why..." He cuts me short with a glare.

"Don't cut me short and listen. Christian doesn't boss me around like he does. He doesn't treat me like I'm some sort of minion like you do."

I stared at him in disbelief as he gave his reason for betraying me.

I treated him like a brother, I treated him better than my own brother and he comes to say I treated him like a minion?

"Kill me if you dare." He takes a step forward, placing his forehead on the gun and holding it in place.

"Shoot me. You can't right? You wouldn't dare shoot me. You can't cause you are a pus.."

Bang.

I pull the trigger without hesitation and watch as he falls down dead.

'Don't get attached to someone, so when the time to kill them comes you can do it without hesitation'

That was the only thing taught by my father that I still put to use.

My attention snaps to the figure running towards us and Micheal instantly raises his gun to shoot but I stop him.

Her red hair was the first thing I noticed, then her mismatched eyes and the freckles scattered all over her face. Her little lips parted as she ran towards us. I couldn't help but think of how fragile and pure she looked, begging me to taint her and break her.

She loses balance the moment she gets to us, holding my leg for support.

"Help me please" She pleads, and her hold on my leg tightens.

I stare down at her, devoid of any emotions.

I could feel my men's eyes on me, they were watching to see what I would do.

"I beg you. Save me from that man." She pleads placing her head on my legs.

That man? What man? Another wife getting abused by her husband? But she looks too young to be married.

It's not like it was any of my business though.

I should just leave her here and go.

"Little red! Come out dang it!" I hear a man roar and she flinches, shaking in fear.

She pushes past me, pushing herself backward trying to escape.

Just what did he do to her to make her this scared?

"If he catches me, he would..." I didn't bother listening to the rest of what she said. Signalling my men, they followed me walking towards the men who were screaming for her to come out.

"Don't you think you are being too loud?" I ask cleaning my ears with my fingers.

"If she wanted to come out, she would have been out by now. Don't you think?" I ask them, raising my eyes to glare at them.

"Alright. Look here, pretty boy...." I didn't let him complete his sentence, silencing him with a bullet in his head. The rest of his people follow after, their bodies dropping down dead.

"Boss one of them escaped," Michael says about to go after him, but I stop him.

I have a feeling we will be meeting again soon.

The sound of birds chirping combined with the rays of the sun, which came in through the window, falling on my face woke me up.

Groaning, I flip my body to the other side of the bed to avoid the sun's rays touching me.

Hold on. Sunrays? Birds chirping? My room doesn't have any windows to let the sun's rays in.

I felt confused as I thought about this, trying to remember all that happened last night.

I ran away from Daniel's house, and then I ran into an alley where Daniel caught me once again.

Memories of last night flood my head and I am filled with a new sense of terror.

Gasping, I shoot up from the bed, looking around to figure out where I am.

Daniel caught me! He'd surely punish me now. He would...

"Glad to see you're awake." A deep voice that clearly did not belong to Daniel said and my eyes shot to the corner of the room where a man sat, his face not visible.

"W..wh.. who are you?" I stammered out of fear, pushing back to the head of the bed. Where was I? This is clearly not my room. Did Daniel put me in a different room in his house? Did he send one of his men here to rape me as punishment for trying to escape?

My chest tightens making it difficult for me to breathe.

"I am pained to see that you have no recollection of who I am after begging me to save you last night." He says, standing from the dark corner where he sat and stepping into the light.

I gasp when his face comes into view. He was attractive, really attractive. I didn't see his face clearly last night.

"Wh..wh.. where's Daniel?" I stutter, pulling my knees to my chest, trying to be as far away from him as possible.

"Daniel? Is that the man you were trying to escape from? I have no idea." He shrugs still walking to the bed.

He does not know?

Daniel would surely come to find me, I know he would. I need to leave this place.

"W.. what are you d..doing?" I stuttered staring at him cautiously. He was standing close to me now. Standing too close for comfort, I could feel the heat being emitted by his body and his cologne filled my nose.

I don't even know him. What if he's a psychopath? Would he rape me? Will he hit me as Daniel did?

"But I'm curious about something.." He says, reaching for my face but subconsciously I flinch turning my face away.

His hand pauses midway, and I turn my head to look at him.

He looked very angry as he stared down at me.

Oh no!

I made him angry, he would definitely hit me now.

He stared at me for a few moments and I noticed how he kept clenching and unclenching his fists like he was stopping himself from hitting me, finally, he turned away.

"Keep an eye on her." He ordered the man who was standing by the door, storming off and banging the door behind him.

I look at the man who was ordered to watch me only to find him watching me intently. Feeling cautious and scared, I pull the duvet up to cover my body properly still staring at him.

Who was that man? Did he really save me from Daniel? Or did Daniel tell him to lie to me just to bring up my hopes that I actually escaped before he crushed that hope? My gaze falls on the door and I was half expecting Daniel to walk in and mock me about my failed attempt in escaping from him.

Either way, I have to find a way to escape, I can't stay here for long.

I was thinking of the way to escape when the door was thrown open and a girl with straight long black hair walked in, and I sank further into the duvet. Her dark eyes dart around the room before they eventually fall on me

.

"There you are." She said giving me a type of smile that showed her fangs which frightened me.

"You. Get out." She orders the man at the door and he immediately complies.

Closing the door after he leaves, she locks it before turning to look at me.

"What do we have here?" She asks and I gulp.

I watch her cautiously as she walks to the bed, stopping at the edge with her hands on her waist.

"You know, if you wanted to blend with the bed. The first thing you should do is cover your hair. It kinda gives you away." She tells me, making me stare at her confused.

What's she talking about?

When she sees the confusion on my face, she sighs, shaking her head.

"That's whatever. Let's get you cleaned up."

Without warning the duvet is pulled off me and once again, I subconsciously fold myself to protect myself, warning bells ringing in my head.

Memories of Daniel in her place, about to rape me flood my head and I gasp for breath unable to breathe, my chest feeling constricted.

"H-hey.!" She cries out, surprised. She rushes to me, wrapping her arms around me and rubbing my back.

"You are safe. You're not in that place anymore. You're not going back to that place anymore." She tells me repeatedly, holding me and rubbing my back. A few minutes later I was still in her arms, none of us saying anything to each other but just staying in silence.

"Are you alright now?" She asks me softly and I push myself off her, cleaning the tears from my eyes.

"I'm fine." I nod my head, putting as much distance as I can between the both of us.

If she noticed, she didn't say anything about it.

"I probably came off the wrong way." She says apologetically, rubbing her neck. I stare at her in silence, not knowing what to say.

I know she helped me now, but I was still cautious about her.

I don't trust anyone in this house, I still need to escape from here.

"Hi. I'm Natalie. Nice to meet you." She extends her hand to me with a smile.

My gaze moves from her hand to her face as I stare at her. Slowly and cautiously, I bring my hand out and she holds mine tightly.

"This is the part you say your name." She jokes, laughing lightly.

"Micini," I whisper, pulling my hand out of her grasp.

"Micini." She says, testing the name on her tongue.

I look at her, hearing someone call me my actual name after so many years feels foreign.

For eleven years, Daniel only called me Little Red, like he was trying to create a new identity for me. One that wasn't me.

"Hello. Earth to Minny." Natalie says snapping her fingers to snap me out of my daze.

Blinking my eyes, I look at her and she smiles.

"I was saying. We need to get you cleaned up. You have dirt and blood on you." She repeated what she said earlier while I was not paying attention and I nodded in understanding.

Yeah, I need to wash my body. Would they make me pay for the water? Or would they give me rations and tell me to manage it for days.

Daniel always did that when he wanted to punish me.

"I'm going to get the tub filled with hot water. While I do that. I want you to strip" She says before she scurries off to where I think was the bathroom.

Without wasting time, I pull the sweatpants I had on down stepping out of it. My shirt follows and I pile them up on the floor.

I was about to pull down my panties when I heard a gasp behind me making me pause.

I turn to see Natalie staring at me in horror.

What?