MY RIVAL LOVED ME FIRST

TASHA’S POV

“Please Roman, please…. please don't do this….”

Sweat and tears mixed together rolling down my cheeks as I begged for my life from my supposed husband.

Striped naked under the sheet, my heart racing as Roman holds the knife and swings it around playfully.

“Ohhh, my dear Tasha. Don’t say that okay? don't beg, just four men…four rounds and that's all for tonight.”

“Why…Why are you doing this to me? I trusted you with my life.” 

The sheet was the only thing I had left to protect me and it felt thin, useless, trembling between my fingers as I clung to it against my chest.

My whole body shook, the cold in the room slicing through my bones, but it wasn’t the air, it was fear, the kind that crawled under your skin and whispered that this was it, this was the end. 

I wrapped the sheet around me anyway, stood up this time and pushed the window open….we were on the fourth storage floor…I'd rather die than get fucked by men on my wedding night.

As soon as I got to the window and tried to climb out I felt his hand grip my waist so hard that I felt my bones rattle.

It didn't take so much as to let me fall in perfectly, he pushed to the ground and all I felt was my butt bones against the ground.

“Who do you think you are?” he sneered, his voice dripping venom as his palm crashed across my face. My head snapped to the side, stars bursting in my vision. 

His words hit harder than the slap. 

My eyes, stinging from tears, trailed to where she stood…Elsa. 

My sister. My adoptive sister. 

Sitting on the couch with a peaceful look on her face, her both hands were occupied with cigarettes and a glass of whiskey.

The girl I’d once saved from freezing to death under a bridge. The girl I had loved, protected, given everything to. 

The day she took everything I had left and laughed about it, leaving me with a scar I never asked for. I wasn’t the pretty one anymore. I wasn’t anything.

Roman scoffed, turning his face toward me with that same smirk that used to melt me.

“It’d be too cruel to let you die a virgin,” he said, almost cheerfully, and my heart sank into my stomach.

“You are a monster! I regret…”

Before the last word could leave my lips I felt his legs pressing hard on my knuckles against the ground.

“I got four men for you darling, I could make them five if you want…more balls, and my dick to suck…what do you think?”

I said nothing, tears streamed down my face as I tried to remove my hands from under his feet.

He turned to Elsa, pulling her close, kissing her right there in front of me as if I was nothing. Their lips met and my soul broke. 

“Enjoy your wedding gift, darling,” he whispered before they both walked out together.

“Roman…Elsa please don't leave me. I'm sorry I was wrong, please!” I screamed, trembling. I screamed so loud my throat tore apart. I begged. I begged them not to leave me, to save me, to not let this happen. But they didn't spare me a glance before the door slammed shut.

My arms wrap around my knees as I drew them to my chest once more and just then the lock clicked.

I immediately turned to the window for an escape when I realised it had been sealed remotely…

Footsteps resounded the next moment and my mind went blank.

I stood from the floor and realised I couldn't even move my own body anymore…the lunch effect didn't just leave me useless but breathless.

I couldn't hold the door. I couldn't stop anyone from coming in as crawling didn't even help.

“Hey beautiful…”

" Fuck, she's sweet." 

“They said she's a virgin.”

"So are we going to be gentle or…." 

“Please let me go …. Please let me go. I promise I won't do anything…please…I'm…”

Before I could complete my words the men tied my hand against the headboard with their belt and brought out Thor dicks to my face…slamming it hard on my cheeks.

They did all they did….all four.

I clawed, kicked, screamed until my voice was gone. They didn’t stop. I fought until my body gave out, and the world went black.

★★★

The instant rush of pain through my body was the first thing I felt as soon as my eyes fluttered open..

"Why… why didn't I just die." 

I screamed in the empty room as tears rolled down my face, this wasn't just humiliation but the worst betrayal I had felt…

My husband, My sister.

It wasn't a dream, I was really raped right in my own house. Raped by men arranged by my own husband.

“She's probably awake now, I heard they broke her hymen and kicked the blood…”

" Eww but she probably enjoyed it…hahaha…" 

I could hear Roman and Elsa sarcastic laughter as they mocked me. I was ruined, every ounce of my dignity was gone.

The door flung open and there they were, both smiling. Smiling like my pain was their entertainment and sadly it was.

“Oops, that's early…. Are you awake?”

“I hate you!” I spat, my voice raw, trembling. “I hate you both!” 

I snapped, the moment I tried to get off the bed I fell to the ground and face slapped against the ground.

My body aches so bad that I felt my bones going to break in two.

Roman came closer and didn't just hit me with a loud slap but also pulled my chin, dripping it hard and stared bloodshot at me.

Roman's eyes went cold. 

“You…you are such a dick….a stupid one ...I swear to heaven you would rot in hell..” I tried to say.

“Shut the fuck up.”

I felt his legs strike my stomach so hard that coughing came out and came in blood.

Roman suddenly stepped back and Elsa stepped closer, her heels clicking sassily.

She grabbed my hair and yanked my head back so hard tears flew from my eyes. “You look pathetic,” she sneered, slapping me again, her voice sharp as glass.

“I have always wondered what would happen if I took everything from you.” She growled, slamming my head hard against the table. I dropped again, feeling my head about to explode. 

All I wanted was death, maybe I'd finally escape all this.

Elsa suddenly yanked me upward and began wrapping something cold and heavy around me…a bomb. My heart stopped. My body froze. I looked down at the wires, the blinking light, and for a moment… I felt nothing. Just emptiness. Death didn’t scare me anymore. Maybe it was the best gift I could get from them.

“Why?” I whispered. My voice barely came out. “Why are you doing this to me? I saved you, Elsa. I begged Father to adopt you when you were dying in the cold. And Roman…” My eyes found him. “I have cared for you since we were kids. I gave you everything.”

Roman chuckled, wiping the spit off his face. “You never understood, Tasha. All you know is money. Money, property, wealth. You think love is something you can buy?” His smirk widened, his voice turning crueler. “Do you really think I chose you?”

Elsa smiled proudly beside him. My heart cracked open like dry wood.

“So that’s it?” I whispered, tears slipping down my cheek. “After everything I did for you both… you do this to me? Do you have any conscience left? You claimed you love me Roman!”

Roman’s laugh echoed. “I never loved you, Tasha. I never even liked you. My heart was always with her.” Those words kept resounding in my head and I didn't even notice when they made their way out, until they walked out, hand in hand, leaving me alone with the ticking bomb.

I stared at the timer, less than a minute left. My body went numb. I let go of the fight. Maybe this was mercy.

Suddenly, a loud glass shattering sound filled the air.

I gasped, turning my head as shards fell like rain. A figure jumped through the window, landing hard. “Tasha!” a voice shouted. My eyes widened.

Jeremy.

Of all people, him. The one who had spent years trying to outdo me, the boy who spent years arguing with me. The boy who always came second. The boy I never stopped competing with.

He rushed to my side, helping me sit up, his hands trembling. “Stay still,” he ordered, already digging through my drawers like a madman.

“Jeremy…there’s a bomb!” I screamed. “Get out! Please!”

He didn’t even look at me. “Shut up,” he muttered, yanking open another drawer. A moment later, he pulled out a nail clipper, his hands shaking as he knelt beside me.

“What are you doing?!” I cried. “You don’t even know how to….Jeremy, go!”

He ignored me, eyes wild but determined. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Are you insane?!” I shouted, tugging at the wires. “You’ll die!”

“Then I’ll die with you!” he yelled back, voice cracking. “I’m not letting you go like this, Tasha. Not like this.”

I froze, staring at him, the words sinking in.

“Why?” I whispered.

He looked at me then, really looked, tears glinting in his eyes. 

“Because I love you,” he said. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I love you, Tasha. I’ve loved you for fifteen years. And all I ever got was your hate. If I’d known Roman would treat you like this, I would’ve fought for you, stolen you, anything, just to keep you safe.”

He kept working, sweat dripping down his face. I wanted to scream at him to stop, but I couldn’t. The words stuck in my throat.

“Why didn’t you ever love me?” he suddenly shouted, cutting another wire. “Why couldn’t you see me?!”

Five seconds.

Tears blurred my sight. I looked at him, this man who’d been there all along, who I never saw.

If life could give me another chance… maybe I’d do it differently. Maybe I’d love him back.

Three seconds.

“Jeremy…” I whispered.

One second.

In another life….. I swear to love him.