14 - YOUR END, HIS BEGINNING

Song for the Chapter: GOD'S Not Done With You by Tauren Wells (kindly try to listen if possible, please )

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¡Trigger Warning in the following chapters!

❣Dedicated to people who have seen such traumas as abuse, being suicidal and such, some of whom I know and are close to me. THE LORD be your Strength. ❣

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Quote for this Chapter: "GOD moves in a mysterious way..."

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"Are you okay?" Violet asked the obviously pained Vincenzo, concern etched all over her features as she stooped down closer to him.

He had a hand over his chest, gripping tightly. It was the first time she had seen him look so vulnerable.

"Water," he muttered weakly.

She hurried to unscrew her half-empty bottle and handed it over to him, saying a prayer in her mind as she did so.

He gratefully accepted it and emptied it quickly. With a sigh of relief, he leaned back toward the hunk of the tree, taking in deep, steady breaths.

"Thank you," his voice was tender, something she had never heard before.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Her eyebrows were still knit with perturbation. She found herself leaning closer to sit beside him.

And upon closer inspection, she noticed the scars that marred his heart. Not just the physical agony he had experienced, but deep jagged lines of pain and scars marked his soul.

She also noticed something different. Yes, the icy indifference was still present. But, something had changed, and she could not put a finger on it.

A healing? Where had that also come from... and when? She thought.

"I'm alright," he pushed himself away from the tree and stood up. "I will be leaving early. Want to join me?"

~~~

Violet stretched on the sofa in her room at Le Royale Hotel. And, as usual, during the past few days, her BIBLE was before her and she drank in every Word.

For she seldom had the luxury of time in the Ferrari's Villa though she tried to allot every single chance or opportunity for it each day.

She had gotten to the Verse in Proverbs 17:22, which read, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Her mind drifted back to the night when she had seen Vincenzo in both physical and—as it appeared—pain ravaging his spirit also.

Is that why he is so conscious of his eating?

She had always thought his high meal standards were just ways by which he wanted to break and agonise her. But, it appeared she could have been wrong on that note.

FATHER, please forgive me for ever seeing it as drudgery instead of serving YOU. Kindly heal him of whatever ails him.

Something else nibbled and gnawed at her. Isabella had stopped showing up for their usual BIBLE discussions. And she thought she could see the Light which had begun to appear to dissipate from her friend's eyes.

In fact, she had made new friends over the trip and was either out shopping or just hanging out with them.

Violet could not help the feeling of loneliness and despondency that tried to overwhelm her.

If only her brother, Tal, was around...

"But I am with you... I will never leave nor forsake you. Just continue to pray, little one. Pray."

Comforted, she did HIS bidding—not knowing if it was bearing any fruit or not. Yet, she persevered.

~~~

Violet soon got tired of being stuck indoors all day and decided to venture out into a rather open area at Le Royale Hotel. Though open, it often saw few people, if any at all, around that hour.

Standing in the elevator, her violin strapped to her back, the elevator doors opened to allow someone else in—Alessandro. He was alone, yet, there was something off about him.

He gazed at her with his usual glare, but, his eyes were red and hollow, as though he was under the influence of... something; anything.

Heading out by the way of the lounge, she spotted Isabella with two of her new friends. One was a skinny spiky-haired girl with a tint of blue around its front, and the other seemed to fit the whole image of the goth look.

"You don't say!" She heard the spike-haired girl squeal.

Isabella noticed Violet and quickly turned to whisper to her new friends and they all turned to look at her.

A wave of disappointment came over Violet and she sighed and headed toward her destination.

LORD, I can see where all those prayers have ended up.

Don't give up on them, Violet. I have not.

Glancing around and finding the place deserted as she had hoped, Violet tuned the violin and went on to play whatever song came to mind. She could feel the pain in her shoulder sting a slight bit.

But she kept on going, playing the song ringing in her heart, bringing a sheen of tears to her eyes.

The song?

GOD'S Not Done With You.

~~~

Vincenzo Klaus Ferrari could not understand what was taking place inside of him. He found himself in an enigma as he sat with Giuseppe at the Piano Bar at Le Royale Hotel. And the music did little to help.

It only made him remember someone else he had encountered playing the violin earlier that day when she had apparently thought no one was around to listen.

He found his mind racing a thousand miles as Giuseppe continued to make use of every charm in his dictionary to ingratiate himself with Vincenzo.

"I think this union will be a good chance to solidify your position amongst the King Makers," Giuseppe leaned forward. "Think of it, with all the power you have, we can finally say goodbye to all the conflicts in this world."

His mind wavered back and forth from their conversation to his recent encounters with the younger girl.

The stronger side of him still remained stony, yet, he could feel a fervent heat thawing his icy heart—especially, whenever that girl was around.

And, that was a fact he did not want to admit to anyone, not even to himself. But, when she had happened upon him in the garden during the Nuits des Lampions, he had to consider.

Why and where had the darkness and stoniness that, yes, he sometimes felt physically disappeared to?

He could not understand what was happening to him. He felt lighter whenever she was around.

And he knew it had gotten to an alarming stage when he found himself humming to the same tune the day after, Come THOU Fount.

It had been one of his favourites—many years ago.

Yet, that Light seemed to grow dim and disappear from him the farther he was from her. Like that present moment with Giuseppe.

He wanted—no needed to focus on that Light. But, he found his mind clouding up as the conversation went on.

You are getting too soft, Vincenzo, a voice whispered into his ears. You need to go back to being who your father was not. Don't allow yourself to grow weak as he did when he spoke of a Light and turned to that Light. You are stronger than he was.

The voice continued to grow and cloud his mind even after their conversation ended and they headed towards the elevators.

No, I must not grow weak, he resolved. And it felt like a flame had been snuffed out with that proclamation.

And that was when he saw his younger brother, Alessandro, enter into the elevator with them. He was in a state Vincenzo knew all too well. He was stoned, as he usually was whenever he hung around with his so-called friends.

He saw him tap the button for the sixth floor.

Vincenzo sensed it, and felt what was coming as his brother got off the floor Violet stayed at... it was not the first time his brother had committed such an act. Vincenzo knew what was coming.

And a part of him wished to stop it all from happening, but of course, the stony side of himself won.

It's time to get rid of her, Vincenzo. And you don't need to do it yourself.

Standing beside Giuseppe as they watched Alessandro trod on, he felt the haze in his brain amplifying.

~~~

Violet, dressed for bed, stretched her limbs gently. It was a ritual she often did to help expedite the healing process.

To say she was alarmed when she heard a click at her door and the door open was a trivialisation.

Her heart rate soared beyond any she had ever thought possible.

Standing in her doorway, eyes aflame, demons screeching and taking over every fibre of his being, was Alessandro.

"That's her. Don't stop! Take revenge on her!" The demons screamed into his ears.

But, there was no need for them to scream any further. They had found a willing vessel, ready to do their bidding.

"LORD JESUS!" Violet called out.

But for some reason, the rescue she sought did not arrive. Not in time to salvage what was left of her already lonely and shattered heart.

She was a prey, and her predators had found her easily. And they left her broken, destitute and abused—gone was her innocence.

~~~

This has been a really hard chapter to write. I know a similar occurrence took place in the 1st Book... but, the truth of such things is real, and so is the pain.

If you have ever been through it, or know someone who has, you are not alone.

CHRIST'S Love,

Phela. ❤️‍