When The Monster Loves

Bianca runs through the streets of a dubious part of New York City, her head turning every moment to see if her pursuers are still after her.

Bianca can't believe that once again she's been led astray by her father's schemes.

Finally her feet reach a busy avenue, full of nightlife, New York in its essence, the city that never slept.

Bianca looks back once more, startled to realize how close Thomas's henchmen are to her.

It's at that moment that her body collides with a solid wall, as her head turns forward she realizes that it's not a wall but a man, his strong, defined arms wrap around her waist to stop her fall, his ice-cold blue eyes stare at her.

Bianca senses that whatever they've injected her with is about to take effect, so staring into those cold eyes once more, Bianca says pleadingly:

"Help me," and as soon as the words leave her mouth, she faints completely.

Hours before...

Bianca is busy attending to a demanding client, who has already made her take off several models of clothes that never fit, Bianca knew this was happening because the client in question wore at least two sizes more than the one she insisted on ordering.

However, Bianca was known for being patient, in fact everyone had a habit of taking advantage of her, her friends at work always left the most difficult customers for Bianca or the cleaning jobs at the end of the working day, her manager always put her to work on Sundays so she wouldn't create a fuss with the other employees.

But Bianca had a reason for being like this: her mother, Tereza, was terribly ill and her father and older brother were two scumbags of the worst kind, sucking everything out of them, until two years ago they sold the house that had been left to Teresa as an inheritance when she was still young by her parents, leaving her ill and without a roof over her head.

At that time, Bianca was forced to drop out of fashion design college on a scholarship to work and support herself and her mother, while her father and brother disappeared into the world, leaving her with her mother who became even more cruel and bitter.

That afternoon, almost at the end of working hours, Bianca's cell phone rang insistently in her pocket. With a squeeze on her heart and the fear that it might be news about her mother, she approached the manager. His face was serious and tense as she asked him to answer the phone. He sighed, clearly annoyed, but consented, with the proviso that she would have to do the final cleaning one more time because of this.

Bianca didn't like the idea, as it was already the fourth time that week that she'd had to stay overtime to carry out the cleaning tasks, while the other saleswomen seemed to answer their phones all the time without consequence. However, she just nodded and answered the phone with a "hello".

On the other end of the line, her father's unmistakable voice spoke:

"Bianca, come to this address I'm sending you. I've found some money to pay back the money I borrowed from your mother."

Bianca couldn't help but grumble bitterly:

"Stolen, you mean."

Her father, with his explosive temper, shouted across the line:

"Do you want the money or not?"

Bianca thought for a moment, looking at the store that was still full of customers, at the clothes scattered around the fitting room and at her work friends who didn't even seem to notice her absence. She knew that accepting her father's offer was risky, but her mother was ill and needed expensive medication, much of which she couldn't afford.

With a resigned sigh, Bianca finally agreed: