FLASHBACK
The water kept running. I felt this way before, so insecure. I don't want this, any of this. I hate it! I want to get out, to get away from here. I want to live. This is painful, so painful. I want to run. I want to keep running and never come back. This is worst than hell. I am falling apart every day. I don't know how long I can take this. Nobody deserves this. It hurts, it hurts so bad. I miss my family and I miss him. 

He'd always make me feel protected, safe and secure. He was my knight in shining armor. He was like the moon on a dark night, a ray of sunshine on a stormy day, the rainbow after heavy rain, like a drop of water on drought land, like pure love in this cruel world. He was 'my everything.' I could've been with him right now, with my family if I didn't do, that one stupid thing. Only if I wasn't so selfish, I wouldn't have to be here among these monsters. I would've been with Adri and maybe we would be in Paris, on a date, near the Eiffel Tower just like we always thought. But here I am hugging my knees and crying my heart out with the shower running and drenching me. I am not with my family, eating my favorite pasta. Instead, I am in this awful place with these terrible people.

"How long are you going to take? Get out, NOW!" he roared while banging the door.

"Oh my god!" I whispered to myself. A staggered sob escaped my mouth and I tried to get up with the support of the wall. Well, I have to accept the fact that I cannot be in Paris with my love. I need to stop dreaming about it because this is where I am, in this hellhole and there is no way to escape.

I could hear my aunt shouting downstairs after my little comment about her stupendous brain. This is a huge mansion, but her piercing voice knew no barrier and could break any wall. I was already tired of all the drama but this was just the beginning.

I wanted to go to sleep but I was all sweaty so I decided to take a bath. I locked the door of my room and checked twice if it was locked or not, my usual habit. Don't ask me how I got that. I went inside the bathroom to take a long, relaxing, warm shower. Once I was done I wrapped the towel around myself and cursed when I forgot to bring another one for my hair. Now I have to go out with dripping hair as I left the towel on my bed. Yeah, curse me! I am so stupid and I hate dripping wet hair. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I froze looking at the view in front of me. Adriano sat on my bed with the towel on his lap. He was wearing a black, long sleeve shirt, the first three buttons open, showing the beautiful work of art over there. Clearly, the tattoo was huge. It might be covering a large part of his chest, hence I couldn't quite understand what it was. He paired his shirt with black pants. His sleeves were rolled up showing the snake tattoo on his right hand. He had another tattoo on his left hand which I didn't notice before. It was some sort of text but before I could try to read it, he got up with the towel in his hand and took a step toward me.

"What are you doing here?" I cursed internally when my voice came out breathless.

"This is my house, isn't it?" He raised an eyebrow and kept walking toward me.

"But for the time I am here, this is my room. Mrs. Angelo assured me about that. You can't just come into someone's room like that and I-I had locked the door" I said taking a step back and clutching the towel tightly to my chest.

"I have keys" He took the bundle of keys from his pocket and jiggled them in his hands while smirking at me.

"What the - ..." I couldn't complete my sentence as my back hit the closed bathroom door and I gasped. He took one last step toward me and closed the gap between us. If he arched his head even a little bit our noses would touch. His hot breath fanned my face and it took everything in me not to close my eyes and lean on him. He placed his hand on the wall near my head after putting the keys back in his pocket.

"Wh-what are you do-oing?" I couldn't even curse at myself for stuttering as my brain was too occupied by his strong, musky cologne and our closeness to think about anything.

"Nothing" he replied with his thick Italian accent.

We both stared at each other for a while before he broke the eye contact and wandered his gaze towards my exposed scars. I was waiting to see disgust or pity in his eyes but it never came. Instead, I saw anger and hurt in his eyes but he masked it immediately. I could've easily missed it if I wasn't already looking at his eyes.

"How did you get those Alie" his voice was soft and came out as a whisper.

"None of your business" I whispered still staring at his mesmerizing grey eyes.

We just stared for a few seconds, diving deep into each other's eyes. He lifted the towel in his hands and started wiping the water droplets on my neck. I took a sharp intake of breath.

"I don't know how to feel about you. I should hate you for everything you did" He was so close. His hot breath on my face sent shivers down my spine. His lips barely touching mine, making them quiver "but for me 'you' and 'hate' do not exist together."

"You should hate me Adriano" My voice came out as a weak whisper.

"Yes, I should" He replied as he used the towel to slowly wipe all the water off of my face, neck, and shoulder. "But I can't" he whispered against my lips and dipped his head to give an open mouth kiss on my jaw making my legs wobble. He lifted his face up to look me in the eye and wrapped the towel around my wet, dripping hair.

He then took a step back and looked at me, up and down. His eyes were dark. His gaze again fixed on my scars. He sighed lightly and looked at my face.

"I don't know how you got those scars but I am going to find the truth and once I found who did that to you, I will make their lives hell" with that said he turned around and left.

I couldn't process what just happened. I kept standing in the same position. The only thing which came out of my mouth was a breathy "Oh my god!"