LatinosUSA

Content Warning: Violence

I’m a prisoner

I wake up in a room I don’t recognize. I stand up in the bed, and then a door opens. Gavin stands there, smiling.

“Get away from me!” I shout.

“Shhhh! Stop screaming and just come downstairs. The police are here to question you,” he says in a calm voice. My God! Who is he? Who have I been with all this time?

“I’ll tell them everything,” I say getting up.

“You’ll say exactly what I want,” he adds, pulling my arm and pressing enough pressure that I felt pure pain.

“Let go of me!”

“Your parents fought pretty badly, and accidentally a fire broke out. You wanted to stop the fight but couldn’t, so you came to me, your loving boyfriend and future husband,” he says, pulling out an engagement ring and forcing it onto my ring finger. “If you don’t say it exactly like this, you won’t see another day on this earth. Am I clear?” he asks, looking at me with evil eyes.

I’m so afraid of him that I comply. I eventually find out from the cops that my parents argued the previous night, killed each other, and accidentally burned the house down. There wasn’t anything left. I start to cry so hard during the questioning that they can’t stop me.

I am crying for my family, for being so stupid and with such an evil man. What have I done? Gavin is near me, patting my back, but I know better—he is in full disguise. I still hope that maybe the police will see, during the autopsy, how my parents were actually killed. Technology is very advanced now and can reveal details, so there is still hope I can get rid of Gavin; I just need to be patient.

Days pass. I bury my parents, deal with the insurance, and manage to salvage some of my clothes from the fire, but the police haven’t called me yet, and Gavin acts like nothing was wrong. He tries to sleep with me to celebrate our engagement, but I refuse and become really vocal about it. He gets angry and hits my face. I collapse on the floor and start crying. This is my life now.

“You piece of shit! You’ll never get rid of me! So you better keep that in mind. I own you, and you’ll never escape me, little cunt,” he says through gritted teeth, leaving the room and locking me in.

The worst part is that I can’t talk to anyone. He isolates me from everyone and takes my phone. I am trapped physically and mentally. I don’t know what to do, so for days I just lay in bed, not eating or speaking. Gavin gets mad a few times and hits me just because I’m a wreck—but I am like this because of him. He destroyed my world, and now I’m done. I just want the world to be over.

Several months pass. Gavin takes me away from his old place, and now we live in a new apartment outside the city. He locks me inside every day he goes to work, so I don’t run. I don’t even have the energy to try.

My parents’ case is closed. It is classified as domestic violence and accidental arson. Gavin tells the police that I am so heartbroken I can’t get out of bed, so he handles everything. What’s even more unsettling is that he’s not in jail already for that girl he murdered. If my parents had found out, I’m sure the other detectives would know as well. I have to find out.

“What happened to that girl?” I ask him one evening when he comes home from work.

“That’s none of your fucking business! What? Now you wanna talk? Getting bored?” he says, that cocky attitude I want to slap off his face.

“I was just wondering… how come you’re here and not in jail? If my parents found out about you, other people should have known as well.”

“There’s a thing you forget, darling: I’m smarter than you think, and nobody will find out about that girl. It was a mistake, and it won’t happen again,” he says, offering no clear explanation.

I want to push further, but I realize it’s not smart. He might burst and kill me too. So I go back into my room and sleep.

The next few weeks are the same. I don’t do anything. I don’t clean or cook. He tells my boss I’m a wreck and need medical leave for what happened with my parents. So, officially, I’m a vegetable waiting to rot.

Nothing is right anymore in my life, and he becomes more violent day by day. One day, he takes me to his parents’ house to tell them about our engagement. I’ve met his parents several times over the years, and they seem like nice people. I can’t believe they raised a monster—or did he become one all on his own? I don’t know. I’m so sick of being on this earth. I just want to die.

“Be a good girl and smile, or you’ll be punished when we get home,” he says, pinching my arm hard enough that I wince.

I obey because I have no choice. His mother is ecstatic and can’t wait to help me plan the wedding. I dread the very idea. I can’t marry this psychopath. I’d be even more disgusted being his wife.

As I’m thinking about how to stop this wedding, Gavin says something with such cold serenity something that my veins freeze. 

“Mama, I think you shouldn’t get so excited. We plan to move to New York. We’re going to plan the wedding there.”

My face goes stone cold. What the hell is he doing? He wants to move so that neither his family nor my friends can see me? This is bad. I don’t know anyone in New York. What am I going to do?

“But, honey that’s so far away,” his mother complains.

“I know, but I got a job opportunity there, and it’s for the best. Eve will come with me, and she’ll be a stay-at-home mom,” he says, a stupid grin on his face. I want to fucking kill him. He will never, ever touch me again. He’s out of his mind if he thinks I’ll go along with that.

We leave his parents’ place and head back to his apartment, where he locks me and goes out again. But before he leaves, he says:

“Don’t get any ideas about breaking out. I’ve got cameras everywhere, and I know what you do. So, don’t fucking move. I’ll be late, so don’t wait up.”

Then he shuts the door and locks it twice. I’m finally alone. I like it. I really don’t care what he does. I don’t even want to know. He’s a disturbed man, and the way he killed my parents… it’s just wrong. I dream about it every night. I can’t rest.  I can’t get over it. I keep wondering what he did if the police didn’t arrest him. Probably falsified the proof or stole it.

After some time, I fall asleep. A loud noise wakes me. I don’t know what time it is, but I’m sure it’s late. Gavin has returned.

I go to the door and open it slightly. I’m in my room—he usually uses his. I made it clear a few times that he’s not allowed to touch me. Once, I hit him in the balls so hard he couldn’t get up. Since that fight, he’s stopped approaching me for sexual favors.

Now I’m curious what he’s doing. There’s an open space between the kitchen and living room, and my bedroom is close to the kitchen. I can see clearly through it. He’s in front of the sink, washing something—maybe his hands. After a couple of minutes, he turns, and I see the front of his shirt and sleeves are covered in blood.

Oh, my God! He killed another girl. I’m sure of it. I can’t believe it. I close the door as silently as I can. My pulse is erratic, and I realize I’m barely breathing. I’m terrified he’s going to kill me next. Maybe I shouldn’t be scared anymore. It’s just a matter of time; my life has become useless, without purpose. Why should I be afraid? But I am. Damn it.

I don’t fall asleep until morning. I simply can’t. He did something terrible—again—and maybe I can find out what happened so I can get proof and go to the police. It’s going to be very hard, but I still hope I can do it.

Previous Chapter:

Chapter 1, February 9: 
https://latinosenglishedition.blog/2026/02/09/chapter-1-of-bruised-but-unbroken-by-alissa-brown/