Chapter 8
==Matteo==
Her eyes were tightly shut. Her hair, sandy blonde, fell all over her face. It had been over thirty minutes she arrived, and I had been keeping watch. I was in the atrium with her.
The first time I laid my eyes on her, intense hatred and disgust grew in me. I remembered thinking, what the hell was I going to do with this one. She was weak. She was frail. If I didn’t know better, I would have argued she was 15.
Again, I cursed Haynes. Pete Haynes, the pathetic fool. He must have grown tired of the burden his daughter had on him, given that he decided to shift his responsibility on me.
I sized the young lady again. I couldn’t tell what she would offer. Could I trust her to handle the kitchen? Or the cellar, or housekeeping. She looked too puny to even lift a duster. Tiny thing.
She made a slight movement. She was stirring awake. Gradually, she opened her eyes, roamed them for some time and then fixed them on me.
The moment she saw me, she gasped. I fought the urge not to roll my eyes. I hoped this one wasn’t a drama queen.
“You’re finally awake,” I said.
She darted her eyes around, taking in the scene before her. “Where am I?”
“At the atrium.”
She squeezed her face. “What?”
“That’s a fancy word for a dungeon.”
I guessed that set an alarm inside her head. She tried to rise but couldn’t. Slowly, she took her eyes to her arms and widened her eyes as she realised she’d been handcuffed to the bed.
“Let me go! Let me—”
“Miss, miss. I don’t appreciate you razing my roof with your voice. I appeal to your sensible side to communicate properly. “
“What the awful fuck are you talking about? Did you know this is kidnapping? You can spend the rest of your miserable life in jail.”
I smiled. “Not true. You know so.”
She squeezed her face further in confusion. I smirked. I liked the fact that she was clueless.
“You’re right though. About kidnapping. It's a heinous crime; I don’t encourage one to get involved in it.”
I paused for an effect.
“But you know what isn’t right? Me being charged with kidnapping.”
She stared at me, blinking her eyes to try to understand me. I smirked inwardly.
“What would you like for dinner? Pasta? Fajitas?” She didn’t respond. “Nachos? Nachos should be fine.”
I rose from my seat and walked to a corner in the room. A little well above the lintel was a bell. I pressed it, summoning a maid.
“A plate of nachos, please,” I told her. “Oh and…” I turned to the girl on the bed. “What’s your drink preference?”
Still, she wouldn’t say anything. I waved the maid off. A minute later, the meal was served.
“You're the boss, aren’t you? You sent those psychos to abduct me!”
“And what if I did? Huh?” I said. “Eat.”
“Fuck you.”
Right then, something came flying at me. I sidestepped. Looking at the floor, I saw the mess. The onion dip splattered on the floor.
My calmness disappeared. All I could see was red. I stomped to her and grabbed her by her shoulders, making sure she stared at me.
“Listen up, young lady. If you think I'm okay with the fact that you’re here, then you’re wrong. Dead wrong. Clearly, you can’t be of any use to me, so consider yourself as being lucky.”
I let go of her violently, making her jerk.
“Since I'm useless, what the hell am I doing here? What do you want?”
I tried not to flinch from her broken voice. It irritated me each time someone broke down in front of me.
“I thought you would have connected the dots. Your father. He sold you to me. So, now, you’re at my mercy.”
I saw the look of horror in her eyes. It made me wonder if truly she was as clueless as she seemed. I almost told her my name but stopped as I didn’t see the need to.
“Liar!” she said. “You fucking asshole. “
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me right. My father would never do that to me. You are mistaken, I know it.”
I almost burst out laughing, but I had a grip on myself. I wasn’t one to laugh.
“Well, I’m afraid you don’t know your father. He was in a hurry to let go of you. Obviously, he couldn’t put up with your whining ass.”
She frowned. Her fists clenched the chains tightly.
“Have a nice night, Miss Haynes,” I said and exited the room.
==Olivia==My head was light, almost as if it didn’t exist. I wanted to speak, but couldn’t bring that to happen. Tried to turn my neck, that also was a failed mission. I was completely useless.Then, miraculously, my eyes began to obey me. It opened, slowly first before becoming fully active. I was in some form of room. The lighting was pretty dim, but I could still see. I tried to speak, to say hello, but cut myself shut. What happened? Where am I?Then, I saw a figure…no, someone. It was actually a person sitting few feet across from where I was. To say I was startled was an understatement. I literally had the scare of my life. Sitting before me was a guy. Now, although I couldn’t see much, I could tell that he was huge. He wore a black long
==Olivia==I didn’t sleep at all. Not with grieve nibbling at me and my stomach making the growl of the century. Right now, I’m crawled in a fetal position, my eyes dreary from long hours of crying. I was done wondering why fate was so cruel with me. I was done wondering why my life felt useless. Why I had to endure all these. I was done.I didn’t know what the time was, but I believed it should be sometime close to noon. This place was as dark as hell. Anyone who endured more than a day here could as well become a bat.I turned the other way, making sure that I didn’t disturb my left arm much. It was almost numb now from hours of staying fixed to the bed post.Sitting up, my legs made contact with the tray of nachos. At that instant,
==Olivia==I was rational; I knew that. As a child, I didn’t buy the idea that Santa Claus existed. It was just pure nonsense, I’d thought. There was no way in the world that an old heavily bearded man would ride through the skies with his reindeer and go on to distribute presents to kids. It was just too good to be true.As a tween, I didn’t see the truth in a fairy-tale romance, such that there were little to no problems at all. It sounded ridiculous. However, here was I, having the firm belief that my tear ducts had been emptied. I’d so much that it couldn’t be possible I’d be able to produce tears ever again.I was still on the bed. Hadn’t brushed, hadn’t showered, hadn’t eaten. I wanted to end it all. To sleep and never wake up again. And if starving w
Leah listened with a bored expression as the professor concluded his lecture. Her eyes glazed over, appearing to look at the projector, when in fact she was anywhere but here“That’s all for today. Make sure you come to get your individual topic for the seminar.” That being said, the entire class was free to leave. Leah stood up and silently packed her bag. A satchel that really needed to be changed. Olivia would have countered, which made Leah frown.Olivia. She hadn’t called since five days ago when she'd slept over at her place. Leah was sure she still hadn’t gotten over the news, well, who could? The poor girl had had the shock of her life. But then, Olivia had assured her she was okay.“I’m fine, “ she said while offering that smile she offered whenever she
==Matteo==Friday night meant a lot of things for different people. It was a time workers breathed a sigh, eager to head home and laze around. Teenagers saw that as an opportunity to throw parties, have sleepovers and do other silly things they did whenever they had the chance.For me, it was… It meant different things depending on my mood. It could be a cue for me to get to the woods and do what I did best, or it could mean I needed a me time—just me in my chambers. But not today. No, no. I knew right from when I woke up this morning that I wanted to fuck. I had to fuck.Well, I deserved to. I bore no hard feelings for my hormones. They were aware of how stressed I’d been lately. That girl. Olivia or whatever was a pain. Literally a mule. Frankly, I was going to have her thrown in the
==Olivia==I'd been in the bathroom for close to an hour now, doing nothing but stand while the shower rained on me. My eyes remained open, even with the sting I felt.Purge. That was what was on my mind. To strip my body of the past and the memories that came with it. Minutes later, when I was sure the warm shower had done its job, I stepped from the stall. Cold frigid air hit me There was a towel hanging on the rack close by. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around me.My hair was dripping wet, plastered firm on my scalp. I walked into the room, immediately catching sight of the dress on the bed. It was a long robe. Yes, robe. Not dress. Burgundy with some embroidery around the V-neckline.I blinked. O
==Matteo==I was there. Again. Surrounded by nothing but darkness. Just like the previous time, I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried. No matter how much effort I put in doing so. My lips were sealed, only opening up moments later and just in time for me to say, “Anyone here?”I got no response. Again. I cursed. What a fool I was. Of course, I'd been stuck in this limbo to know what the drill was. So, I waited.It wasn’t long before she appeared.Angela De La Crux, as she had told me. Donning a dazzling white gown, she drew close to me till it was just a foot that separated us.“Could this stop?” I said before she speak. I knew just what she wanted to say. &ldq
==Matteo==I was almost done eating when my butler returned. He didn’t come with Olivia, but rather had a look of concern on his face.“There’s a problem, sir.”“What is it? I asked.“She’s unconscious.” I didn’t know why I had thought he was going to say that she escaped. But this news about her unconsciousness rattled me. I left the dining and stormed into the atrium. There she was, face up. I walked up to her and felt her pulse, my chest pounding, fearing the worst. I could feel a pulse at her neck. That was a relief.Her entire brow was covered in sweat. I carried her out of the atrium and got into a room. I laid her on the bed, instruct