Masked Feelings

by Lechna Baram

  “Damian, stop,” I begged. Damian turned to look at me.

  “See? She doesn't even give a damn about you,” Damian said. “She's scared that you'd hurt me. She's scared that you'd hurt Rose. She's scared because you're about to kill our baby,” Damian said. It was quick. The punch that Damian got on the face was quick. I winced and sobbed. My heart clenched when I saw blood oozing from his forehead. Still, he chuckled again. “Truth hurts,” he added. Jace was breathing heavily. He was pissed. He turned to look at me.

  “Athena, he's lying, isn't he?” Jace asked as he walked to me. I look at Damian. If I happened to die, I would want Damian to know how much I love him.

  “He's not. If you kill my baby, I'd hate you forever. If you kill Damian, I'd never forgive you. If you want to stay alive after hurting any of them, I'd advise you to kill me as well,” I told Jace, sounding emotionless. I shouldn't be weak. No more tears. Jace's eyes widened. He walked to me and took my hand in his. I was still lying on the cold metal table. I stared at him, hatred in my eyes. He was making me go through living hell and I would never forgive him for that.

  “Don't say that.” Jace pleaded.

  “Damian is the only man I love,” I said, my eyes drifting to my man tied up to a chair. “And even if I had the chance, I wouldn't want anyone else in my life. I'd still choose him over anyone. He's the love of my life,” I said more to Damian than to Jace. “I love you,” I said.

  “Shut up!” Jace suddenly screamed. “Shut the hell up! Why on earth would you love him instead of me?” he shouted in disbelief. “I can give you everything you want!” he said.

  “Would you die for me?” I asked calmly. He went silent.

  “What is that stupid question?” he asked.

  “Would you?” asked

  “Of course I would!” he exclaimed again.

  “Then let Damian go,” I told him. “Untie his hands and face him,” I said, watching as he scoffed. I knew that. “See? You're a coward. You're willing to kill others but you're not willing to risk your life for the one you claim to love. ““Well, you see the man over there, risked his life for me and for our baby and I have all the reason to love him.” Jace clenched his jaw but I didn't give a damn anymore. “He never failed me.” I added. Damian was looking at me. I could see love in his eyes. He never told me that he loved me, but he didn't need to. I knew he did. I knew he loved our unborn baby too. I was surprised when I saw a tear roll down his cheek. For the first time in my life, I saw him cry. There was that part of him he didn't let anyone see except me. He cared so much for everyone.

  “There's only one way we can sort this out then,” Jace said as he walked to the side table. He turned to glare at me. I saw him pick up the blade. Then after a few seconds, he put it back on the table. He smirked then picked up the knife.

  “Let us go,” I said, sounding tired. I was sincerely tired. Jace turned to look at me, then at Damian. He stared at the knife, then again at Damian.

  “The only way we can sort it out is for you to die,” Jace told Damian.

  I froze. I shook my head. What the funk was wrong with him? He started walking towards Damian. Within a few seconds, I heard Damian’s groan.

  “No!” I yelled when I realized he stabbed Damian.

  Somehow relief washed over me when I realized it was on the leg.

  “Stop.” I begged. Jace turned to look at me with a sick grin on his face. Oh no. He got another idea.

  “It would be too easy for you to just die,” Jace told Damian, taking a step backwards. “The only way for you to get hurt is through her.” He continued as he walked to me. “Yeah, you're going to watch me take your mistake out of her,” he said. Jace walked to me, then caressed my face with his hand. “It's going to hurt, love,” he whispered to me. I spit on his face, making him close his eyes and take a deep breath.

  “Don't freaking touch me,” I spat. He growled then ripped my shirt open, exposing my bra. I moved my head to the side to look at Damian who was struggling with the ropes. He looked to be in so much pain. I started struggling. I didn't want him touching me. He was now staring at me in awe. He didn’t seem pissed any longer. He ran his fingers on my belly.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he whispered then suddenly pinched it, making me yelp. It was not soft. No. It was a pinch to hurt me. “I don't want to ruin it.” His eyes drifted to the blade. I was silently panicking when he reached for it. “But I have to,” he said with determination.

  “No!” I yelled and kept moving with the hope that the rope would loosen and I'll get to hit this motherfucker with his blade.

  “Stop moving!” Jace shouted, making me freeze. He sounded so violent. He sounded so sick.

  “Please stop,” I cried as he stared at my skin. He started moving the blade to my belly, making me cry even more. “No. Please Jace. Please stop. I'll do whatever you want,” I said in a rush, trying to control my tears.

  “I'm sorry,” he simply said and the next thing I knew, I had the sharp blade pressed against my skin. I stopped moving. I rolled my lips in my mouth as I felt it cut open my skin. I cried out in pain. He slowly slid the blade, opening my skin even more. I yelled out in pain. The pain was atrocious. Before I could feel more pain, I felt the blade being taken away from my belly. I heard a noise. I raised my head to see Jace on the floor and Rose standing next to the table. She had hit Jace with a chair and the latter was now lying on the floor. Seems like the chains Rose were tied up with were really long. Rose quickly untied my hands and gave me a towel to place over my wound. I winced as I sat on the table.

  “Untie Damian,” Rose told me as we heard Jace groaning.

  I walked to Damian, with the blade in my hands and cut the ropes open. Damian quickly took me in his arms then pulled away to look at my wound.

  “You're so dead,” Jace growled.

  Damian and I turned to look at him. He was standing in front of Rose.

  “Go,” Rose told us. We both shook our heads at the same time. Damian seemed weak. He wouldn't be able to fight against Jace, who now had a knife in his hand.

  “We're not leaving you,” I told Rose.

  “No one's leaving,” Jace said with a grin.

  What was he up to? Just as we were about to walk towards Rose, Jace bent down and took hold of the chains tied up to Rose. With a smirk, he pulled on it, causing Rose to be pulled in his direction. The only thing separating Rose and Jace was the table. Damian and I quickly ran to Rose and took her hands in mine.

  “We need to find the keys,” Damian said as he glared at Jace. The latter chuckled, placing his hand in his back pocket to reveal a set of keys.

  “Come and get it,” he said, his smirk taunting. Rose seemed to be worried now. I didn't want any of them getting hurt because of me. I closed my eyes for a few seconds to make up my mind. I had to save them.

  “Let them go. I'll stay,” I said suddenly. Damian's head turned in my direction so quickly that it made me not want to look at his reaction.

  “No freaking way,” Damian growled.

  “You're in no position to argue,” I said. “You're hurt and I don't want Rose getting hurt.”

  “Athena,” Rose started but I quickly shook my head. No. I wasn't going to change my mind.

  “That's a good arrangement,” Jace said.

  “Don't do this,” Damian said and started walking to me but I quickly moved.

  “Walk towards me, then I’ll throw the keys over there.” Jace ordered.

  Without waiting another second, I started walking to him. Tear rolled down my cheeks but there was no emotion on my face. I saw him throwing the keys to Damian. I was standing next to my kidnapper. He took the knife and put it next to my throat.

  “Now get the hell out of my house.”

  “Go.” I practically begged when I noticed Damian standing there, frozen in place. Rose picked up the keys and started taking the chains off her body.

  “Don't freaking try to call the cops. I'll kill her,” Jace said as he pressed
the knife against my neck, making blood ooze slightly. “Now go.”

  I stared at Rose, silently begging her to take Damian out of there. She nodded in my direction and grabbed Damian's arm, trying to pull him.

  “Damian, go.” I repeated. “Just go.”

  “Go or I'll cut her throat in front of you. You wouldn't want that, right?” Jace asked in anger.

  Damian clenched his jaw as Rose pulled him away. My heart ached as I watched them walk away.

  At least they were safe

  Chapter 66

  Destructive Obsession

  The knife was soon away from my neck. I breathed out in relief, knowing that Damian was not in danger. Jace turned me around so I was now facing him. He closed his eyes, then took a deep breath.

  “Athena,” he started as he lifted his eyes to look at me. “I love you.”

  I was shaking in terror. He grabbed my arm roughly then pulled me even closer to him. “Don't you love me?” he asked when he realized that I was not going to say anything. Again, I kept quiet. “Athena.” He urged. I simply stared at him again.

  “Give me time, Jace,” I whimpered as his grip turned even harder.

  “How much time do you need, Athena?”

  “You've hurt, Damian. You've kidnapped us. You were going to hurt my baby,” I whispered. “How much time do you think I need?” I asked, hatred slipping a bit through my words.

  “I'm sorry,” Jace said as he took my hands in his. “But it was hell seeing you with him. It is hell to know that his baby is growing inside of you. How do you expect me to react when the woman I love is with someone else?” he asked as if his reaction was totally normal.

  Not like a freaking psycho! I didn't expect you to be a goddamn psycho. My mind screeched. There was turmoil inside of me.

  “I expected you to understand. What I didn't expect was all of this,” I snapped as I motioned to our surroundings. “Do you think the things you did is normal, Jace?” I asked in disbelief.

  “For me, it is.”

  “Then something is very wrong with you.”

  His head snapped up. He was looking at me as if I was insane. A frown formed on his face.

  “I did all that for you!” he suddenly exclaimed, making me flinch. I clenched my jaw to stop myself from shouting back. He was dangerous. “All that was because of you!” he shouted.

  “You freaking tried to kill me! You're sick and you need help!” I shouted.

  In a matter of seconds, I was on the floor with my hand on my face. Jace had slapped me. Hard. I turned to glare at him.

  “Shut the hell up!” Jace ordered.

  “You know I'm right.”

  He grabbed my arm, forcing me up.

  “You're not going to freaking disrespect me, you slut,” he spat as he started pulling me to the stairs. Slut? Talk about the love he had for me. Yeah right.

  “Stop!” I yelled and this time, he pulled me to him, making me crash against his chest.

  “Listen well and clear, you don't freaking disrespect me. I won't hesitate to hurt you, Athena,” he said as he dug his nails in my skin, making me whimper. I kept quiet. I didn't struggle and let him pull me with him. He walked up the stairs, his hands enough to stop me from running away.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked. He turned to look at me. He simply looked away. He would see vulnerability in my eyes and I didn't want him to see that. Yes, I was vulnerable and weak. I felt weak without Damian.

  “To my room,” Jace said. I pulled on my hand slightly. My heart raced. “Don't worry, I'm not going to freaking rape you,” he said, rolling his eyes. He continued pulling me towards a room, then opened the door. He pushed me in and closed it immediately without walking in. I turned to look at the door. My eyes widened when I saw a huge picture of me. What the hell? I heard fiddling behind the door, then I realized he was locking me inside.

  “Jace!” I shouted, rapping on the door.

  “I'm going to get you food. Calm the hell down and stop screaming,” he said, then I heard his footsteps. Maybe I was safer in this room than in his company. I turned around, and gasped.

  What the actual hell?

  My pictures were stuck on the wall everywhere.

  “Oh my god,” I gasped as I looked at the walls.

  There were pictures of me I never even knew were taken in my entire life. Goosebumps rose on my skin when I saw a picture of me sleeping on the couch at my apartment. I never recalled Jace coming over at the apartment when I was there. I walked to the wall closer to his bed. He had posted a sort of planning—where I went or was supposed to go. I raised my head to look at the ceiling, silently praying to God to get me out of this situation. I frowned when I saw another huge picture stuck to the ceiling. I slowly turned my head to have a better look at it. It was a picture of Jace, Rose, and me. We were in the wedding hall. I was between them. We took that picture when we were at my parent’s and Jace thought it would be great to take a picture.

  The problem with this picture was that Rose's face was burnt out of it. It was only Jace and me in it. What did I get myself into? I looked around. I wanted to sit down but I didn’t find bed attractive. I settled myself in the corner of the room. All those pictures of me was making my head spin. Jace had a destructive obsession for me. How the hell was I supposed to survive this? Being an asshole to him made him hurt me. What if I continued with the original plan? Gaining his trust would be great. I prayed that Rose and Damian would come back with help soon. I wanted to get out of here. I have to stay strong.

  “Athena,” Jace said my name before opening the door.

  I watched as he looked for me in the room. When his eyes finally settled on me in the corner, he sighed. He walked in, then put the tray of food on his bed. “What are you doing?” he asked. He seemed so normal. It was frustrating me. How can he be so normal?

  “I'm sitting on the floor,” I told him.

  He frowned then walked to me. He offered me his hand to help me stand up on my feet. I stared at him. Then my eyes moved to his hand.

  Gain his trust.

  I held his hand. He helped me on my feet, then smiled when he realized that I was actually being civilized.

  “I'm hungry,” I mumbled.

  His smile turned brighter. He motioned to the tray on the bed. I walked to it. A glass of mango juice and a plate with toast were on it.

  “How long am I going to be locked up here?” I asked. I was reluctant to eat the food as I didn't trust Jace. What if he had put some pills in it to make me unconscious? He seemed to notice my reluctance and he rolled his eyes. He picked up toast from the plate and took a huge bite from it.

  “Athena.” He sighed after he gulped. “All I ever wanted was you. I want you to trust me.”

  I wanted to scoff but I didn't. I took a piece of toast from the plate and took a bite. It hurts to admit it but the food was good.

  “Do you trust me?” I asked as I sat down on the bed and stared at him. He didn't answer. I chuckled humorlessly and stared at him. “How can you expect me to trust you?” I asked. Specially after you tried killing me, my baby, and Damian.

  “I think we need time to trust each other,” Jace said.

  I frowned. This was the Jace I knew. But then, if I piss him off, he’s gonna turn into a freaking psycho.

  “Locking me up here won't help me to trust you,” I told him.

  “What if you try to escape?” Jace asked.

  “Then you kill me.”

  “You know I would never do that.”

  “That's why you got someone else to do it,” I mumbled back.

  “I'm sorry,” he said softly. He slowly caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. Instinctively, I moved my face away, making him sigh. “I regret all this,” he said suddenly.

  “Let me go then,” I said, hoping he'd actually let me go. He chuckled humorlessly.

  “I don't regret being with you right now. I regret going out with Rose. I regret hurting you,” he told me. There goes my hope of
being freed. I clenched my jaw, then looked at Jace. I was still in my bra and his stare made me realize that. When he noticed I was glaring, he walked to a wardrobe and pulled out what seemed to be a shirt. He gave it to me and smiled softly.

  “Can you leave me a little bit alone? I want to sleep,” I told him. Again, he sighed and walked out of the room, not forgetting to lock it. I let my body fall on the bed. My head was spinning due to the tremendous amount of pictures hung on the wall. With clenched jaw, I stood up. I was pissed. I walked to the door and ripped the huge picture of me. It felt good. I moved the wall and started ripping all the pictures. The clearer the wall was becoming, the better I felt.

  Once there were no pictures of me, I sighed in contentment. I looked at the piles of paper on the floor. I pushed them under the bed. Relief flooded over me. I sat on the bed, my eyes moving to the glass of juice. I picked it up and drank it. I was so thirsty. I was so tired. I just wanted to curl up next to Damian and sleep in his arms. My eyes were now teary. I didn't want to cry. I was tired of crying. I crept on the bed and lay on it.

  I hope tomorrow was a better day.

  I could hear the television playing. How can he live his life normally after doing so many wrong things? I put a pillow on my head. I was trying to block the sound. I needed to be alone. I needed to be with Damian. I was not supposed to be locked up here. I was not supposed to be in a such messed up situation. A tear unconsciously rolled down my face.

  Chapter 67

  Rescue

  Damian

  “Jace?!” Dean asked in disbelief.

  I was shaking. Athena was still there. I stood up, pushing the doctor away.

  “We need to freaking get her back!” I growled.

  “Calm down.” Rose prompted. I glared at her.

  “That fucker was going to hurt Athena and my baby!” I was furious. “I can't freaking stay here and do nothing.” I snapped. I started making my way to the door.

  “Once you're there, what are you going to do?” Dean asked. I stopped. I didn't know what to do. I punched the door in front of me. I closed my eyes shut in hopes of getting an idea.