CHAPTER 95: LIFE STORY

Chapter 95

KATYA POV

The walls of my room felt too close. Too small. Too loud. I barely made it back before the tears started.

I came here to rest. Miss Stella’s words still echoing but rest was impossible when every breath burned and every thought twisted into something uglier.

The maids’ whispers wouldn’t stop replaying. I pressed my palms to my ears as if I could push the noise out.

But it was inside me now — deep, heavy, unshakable.

I didn’t hear the first knock — or maybe I ignored it. But when it came again, sharper, I froze.

"Katya?" The voice was soft. Careful. Too careful.

Nonna.

My heart lurched. I wasn’t ready to see her. Not with those words still eating me alive.

Quickly, I wiped at my face but it was useless. My eyes were puffy, my cheeks damp. If I didn’t answer, she’d come in anyway.

The knock came again, gentler. "Cara mia, may I come in?" I stared at the door like it was a wall between two worlds. If I opened it, I’d have to face her and the way she looked at me like I was worth saving.

But I wasn’t.

"Katya," Nonna called again, worry softening her voice. My throat burned.

She shouldn’t be this kind. It made it hard to hate her — made me start seeing her like the grandmother I never knew. But she still had his blood.

"Come in," I whispered, barely loud enough to hear myself.

The door opened slowly, and there she was, small, steady, eyes full of unbearable kindness I didn’t deserve.

She wheeled herself in, the door closing behind her, moving like I was something fragile.

"Oh, my sweet girl," she murmured, stopping beside the bed. "Look at you..."

I couldn’t. My gaze stayed fixed on the floor, on the hem of the sundress she’d given me twisting in my hands.

"Do you need anything, Nonna?" I tried to change the topic. She sighed, wheeling closer.

"I’d like to know how you got here," she said. "They’ve told me bits and pieces, but I want to hear it from you." My heart flipped.

What? She’d never asked anything personal —not once in the month I’d known her.

Why now — when I was falling apart, when I’d just tried to kill her grandson? Was she suspicious? Were there cameras? Of course there were. But I hadn’t done it. I hadn’t even raised a hand before the devil snapped his eyes open.

"Katya." My eyes snapped back to hers. How was I supposed to tell her I’d been kidnapped by her own grandson? But... she said she already knew, right?

Nonna’s gaze didn’t waver. Her patience made the air heavier, pressing on my chest.

"I..." The word scraped my throat raw. "I don’t even know where to start."

"Start wherever you can," she said gently. "I’ll listen."

I swallowed hard. "I didn’t come here by choice, if you haven’t guessed. Your grandson—" My voice faltered.

Even saying his name felt like dragging glass across my tongue. "—he raided my home. My father’s home. He put a gun to my head and dragged me here."

Nonna didn’t interrupt. I couldn’t tell if that made it easier or harder to speak.

"My father wasn’t a good man," I blurted, quick, because I could already feel the disbelief forming in the air.

Why would she believe me? Why was I even telling her this? But the words just kept slipping out.

"He wasn’t. He did terrible things. I know that. But he was still my father... and I kept hoping that one day he’d see me as his daughter. Not a punching bag." My hands slipped from Nonna’s, wrapping around myself like I could hold myself together.

"Until one day... your grandson and his men just—" My breath caught. "—stormed in. Blood. Screaming. And then they took me." The room tilted, just like it had in the kitchen.

"He said I was leverage. A slave. Until I told him where someone named Ivan was. I don’t even know who the hell that is." My hands curled into fists, my eyes stinging.

"He made sure I never forgot what I was. Who I was. Who my father was. And when I tried to escape... I did."

"I was so—so happy to be out of that godforsaken house. I met two amazing people who helped me..." My voice cracked just saying their names in my head — Aria and Frank.

"They were so kind. They let me stay even when I had nothing. But then life happened again — your grandson wouldn’t just let me be."

The anger burst out before I could stop it. My head snapped up, eyes locking with hers. "He found me. He threatened me while I begged him to stop — and then he shot Frank. He... he shot my friend in the head like he was nothing. Like his life meant nothing."

My voice splintered. "And now I don’t even know if Aria... if Aria is alive. I don’t know if she’s dead, or if she hates me too." Tears came hot and fast, burning down my cheeks.

My voice broke with every sentence. "Do you have any idea what it’s like to wake up every day in the same house as the man who destroyed your life? To eat in a kitchen where people whisper about how I caused everything? They hate me, Nonna. All of them. They think I’m spoiled. They think I’m pretending to be better than them — just because I wear a sundress instead of a uniform."

My chest heaved, words spilling faster than I could stop them. "I hate it here. I hate the way they look at me. I hate the way I feel like I don’t belong — not with them, not with you, not even with myself. I can’t breathe in this house. I can’t even look at him without seeing what he did."

The last word cracked, shattering whatever fragile control I had left.

"I don’t even know who I am anymore," I whispered, collapsing into sobs. "I don’t know why I’m still here. I don’t even know if I deserve to be. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m cursed — from my mother’s death, to my father’s, to Frank..."

Silence fell, broken only by the sound of my ragged breathing.

Nonna didn’t speak. She didn’t scold. She didn’t pity. She just reached forward and gathered my shaking hands into hers — warm, steady, grounding — and for the first time since I’d been brought here, I didn’t pull away.

I didn’t have the strength to. How can someone this sweet have a demon as her grandchild?

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This Chapter was a little hard for me because I didn’t know how to write the emotional conversations and I want it to be that I haven’t forgotten anything out so I had to reread some Chapters again ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

Sigh, thoughts?