She hated herself afterwards. Why did she always succumb to his touches? It was the very reason why she knew she had to get away from him, because when she was around him, she was helpless.
She watched him sleep when she woke up. He was sleeping like a baby. He hadn’t had a good sleep for awhile and he looked so peaceful that morning.
She touched the deep long scar on his chest, she remembered how he got it. It was when he saw a bouquet of white roses at her house. It was sent by a senior partner at her office to congratulate her for her promotion.
He was jealous. He said that a man would never send her favorite flowers if he didn’t want to sleep with her. He accused her of flirting, “Is that how it’s going to be? You start working and sleep with your boss behind my back?”
“He’s not my boss, he’s just being friendly … we’re going to be colleagues … and I don’t sleep around with men every chance I get,” she defended herself.
He wouldn’t listen. He said he knew how men think, she was being too naive. His anger escalated without provocation. He was screaming and yelling at her, blinded by jealousy.
She tried to calm him down to no avail. He smashed the flower vase to the floor. The loud crash was heard by her mom and her mom came running to see what was going on.
Armand took a piece of the shattered glass, ripped his shirt off and cut his own chest all the way down to his stomach, “I would cut my heart out if you go back and work with the man who sent you this.”
She screamed, her mother screamed. There was blood dripping all over the floor, the cut was deep and he didn’t even seem to feel the pain because he was in rage.
“I will cut his neck if he ever lay his eyes on you again,” he threatened her, and she knew it wasn’t just a threat.
She pleaded with him to stop, she took the glass off his hand and begged him to calm down. Her hands trembled when she nursed his wounds, he refused to go to the hospital and she had to take a day off of work because of that.
That was the first time her mother realized how bad the relationship was. She never told her mom about it, she thought she could handle him, she thought if she loved him enough, everything will turn out fine. It only got worse the more she complied with his demands.
The wound left a deep scar on his chest, the one he always reminded her of how much he loves her. It was a sick love, but at times she relished in it. No one had ever loved her the way Armand did, but then again, she never knew another love other than him. And so she kept forgiving him, and she kept going back to him.
Diego would be very disappointed in her. After all they’ve been through, she was back where she started. The only person who had any faith in her. The only man she ever let into her life and it felt so freeing. The man who had tried to rescue her, but she had failed him, even cost him his life.
“You’re really here … I thought I was dreaming,” Armand woke up beside her.
It startled her, “We need to get ready … The press conference is at 10.”
She got out of bed, she didn’t want to linger and let him start touching her again.
Pasquale briefed them for the conference. He was going to be the one who speaks to the press. He told them to be present and not make any statement because he didn’t want people to know what really happened to her kidnapper.
“We are happy to announce that yesterday morning, we are able to be reunited with our beloved Ariana, and she has returned safely to her husband as you can see …” Pasquale spoke to the floor.
The camera moved to Armand with Ariana in his arms. He hugged her throughout the conference as instructed by Pasquale to show the public how affectionate they were as a couple.
“We can confirm that Ariana is unharmed, and was taken away from her captor without confrontation. That is all we can convey to the public at the moment, please understand that this has been very hard for the both of them, and we would like to deal with this matter privately from now on.”
The cameras flashes to take pictures of the couple. She buried her face on Armand’s chest to hide from the lights.
“Please … I think there’s no need to take too many pictures. We will not be making any more statements or answering any questions for the time being. Any further development on the case will be announced by the police department. We would appreciate it if both the press and the public respects our family’s privacy because we are still coping to get through these tough times.”
There was murmur coming from the floor. Obviously they have so many questions regarding the kidnapper and the connection between her abduction and the killing spree. The police took over the podium after Pasquale closed his statement.
They immediately went backstage and disappeared from the lenses.
The cameras were closing in on Armand at the conference. His beaming face was much different from his last public appearance at the funeral. Ariana’s face was hardly noticeable, it was hard to get a good angle when she kept hiding under Armand’s neck. His arms were around her, his hand held her hand a few times but she kept pulling away. He stroked her hair a couple of times, and she looked down.
No one would notice that the whole thing was an act. They appeared as newlyweds who had been separated by tragedy for ten days and now they’re picking up where they left off. No one would notice unless they knew exactly what really happened.
He knew what was really going on, and the smirk on Armand’s face repulsed him. When the camera kept putting his face in the frame, he shot the TV, right between Armand Lombardo’s eyes.