Lucia buried her head in between her knees. Sobbing. She started to become uncomfortable.
"Lucia, are you alright?" Ricardo asked.
She was surprised, he didn't call her to miss. instead, he called her by her name. He did the same last night when he looked for her. It seems he becomes considerate whenever he feared something that happened to her.
She looked up at him.
"we..We're going to die here right?" she trembled.
"No, we are not going to die. Why do you think so?"
"There's no fucking ventilation in here, we'll die once the Little air runs out."
"Don't worry, someone will get out soon."
"How soon? we've been here for almost an hour, besides there's no signal." She yelled out, crying loudly.
This time, he sits close to her and hugged her.
He admits caring for her at that moment and didn't want to see her crying.
He used his thumb to wipe the tears off her eyes slowly. Let's just sleep till they come.
They were still in the dark, elevator for a while.
Lucia woke up from her nap and stared at Ricardo who was still sleeping.
she wondered what was going through his mind. How did he manage to remain calm in this situation? "Are all bodyguards trained this way? Hard-hearted and fearless?" She mumbled to herself.
"If we're going to die, I would love to have my first kiss with you." She said and kissed him deeply. He didn't push her, instead, he returned the kiss and held her head for support.
They were still in the kiss and didn't notice when the elevator opened. Many people stared at them.
Ricardo quickly pushed her off, breaking the kiss, and stood up immediately. He turned to look at the people then he helped her up. The four bodyguards with them stood amongst the people who saw them kissing.
Immediately Lucia covered her mouth and ran toward the bathroom in the lobby, she looked irritated and was about to vomit.
Ricardo saw the people turn to him.
"Was my kiss that bad she wanted to vomit?" He asked himself. He was angry and at the same time embarrassed. A woman vomited after kissing him.
He then goes on to blame the manager of the hotel for the elevator incident.
In the speeding car, Lucia was quiet and embarrassed.
She had vomited immediately after they kissed and she knew he wasn't happy with it.
She stared at him through the mirror for a while. His gazes were focused on the road.
when they arrived at the villa, it was already evening. "Ricardo." She called out and was about to talk. Then he interrupted her.
"Miss, if you don't need anything else. I'll have the car parked and join you inside," he said briefly, without turning to look at her. Ricardo was purposely avoiding Lucia.
immediately after Lucia entered the mansion, two maids approached her. "Welcome young mistress." and Collected her luggage.
"The mansion changed a lot," she mumbled. It's been ten years. She left and now she was here again.
They walked through the hallway and headed for the living room.
The maids directed her to the dining room, it was evening and they were having dinner already.
She sees aunt Claudia who used to be her mum's best friend. All over her dad.
She smiled and thought to herself.
"Who knew this sly fox had eyes for my dad years ago?."
They noticed her presence and Claudia shifted from Mr. Roberto.
"Lucia, when did you arrive?" Claudia asked politely, She looked really happy but she wasn't.
rather, she wished Lucia had died on the way.
Lucia didn't smile or plan to pretend.
"Hi." She answered back.
"Lucia, how are you?" Mr. Roberto's bold voice sounded.
"I'm fine dad." Lucia didn't look happy, everything reminded her of her mother. How Claudia who is now Mrs. Roberto used to come over and was seen as her mum's best friend.
"The table turns right?" She said out and they understood what she meant.
She watched a lady who looked a bit like her age than her walk down the stairs. She wore a simple black gown but still looked very beautiful. She had her short blonde hair packed halfway and the rest brushing against her shoulders.
The lady frowned immediately after she saw Lucia. Lucia also gave an unpleasant facial expression.
"Dad." The girl goes to hug Mr. Roberto and peck Claudia. Ignoring Lucia.
Lucia gave her dad the who is she? looks.
She heard very well the girl call her father dad.
But she didn't understand, the girl was about her age, if not older. As far as she knew, Aunt Claudia was single and didn't tell her mother about her having a child.
"Lucia, she's your older sister Maria. pay your respect." Roberto said.
"older sister? I don't remember my mother telling me that, where did she come from?" She asked. provoked.
"Lucia," Claudia called out.
"What the fuck? Dad, I deserve an explanation." She almost flared up.
"We had her before I married your mother," Roberto explained briefly.
"Lucia, we didn't mean to hide it from you. we had her even before he met your mother. Situations didn't allow us to get married and we got separated and met again after he had already married your mother." Claudia explained, looking sorry and apologetic.
Lucia didn't buy her pretense, Claudia had always wanted her mother's husband to herself. Maybe she came up with the child story to have him marry her.
"Dad, do you believe she is your child?" She asked.
"Lucia, don't insult me by calling me an illegitimate child." Maria finally spoke and Lucia gave her a Stern look.
Claudia pinched Maria's thighs slowly. Gesturing to her not to talk and she understood immediately.
Lucia who noticed smiled and said.
"like mother like daughter, An apple doesn't fall far from its tree."
"Mind your language young woman." Immediately after he said that Ricardo walked into them arguing.
"I don't care where you came from or who you are, my dad has only one child, which is me." She turned and she left them.
I Roberto gave Ricardo a go-ahead to follow her upstairs and he did.
Lucia realized she didn't know the room arranged for her. She leans against the wall in the hallway and starts sobbing."That woman took my mother's place, her daughter too mine." she cried out more loudly."Here miss," Ricardo said, extending to her a clean white handkerchief.She raised her head to look at him."Are you also here to mock me?" She asked and continued crying.She felt his cold hands on her shoulder, patting it slowly. She seized the opportunity and threw herself on him. Hugging him tightly.She waited for him to hug her back and he didn't, instead, he carried her up, heading to her room.He kicked the door open and brings her inside.Dropping her onto the bed slowly but she didn't let go of him. she pulled him to the bed and he was on top of her.They were in that position and stared at each other for a while. Then Ricardo tries to get up. Lucia wrapped her hands tightly around his waist."Miss Roberto, you're crossing the line," he said.She kissed his neck and whisp
Lucia's voice could be heard in the hallway of the dark room. A sacred place in the mansion.She shouted, cursed, and cried. kicking the door, attempting to break it. Instead, she got injured by the strong iron door.The room was dark and only the lights reflecting from the hallway made it a little bright. though, Lucia wasn't scared of the dark.She was a bit tired from the yelling and cursing. She became calm and laid down on the cold floor. Her hair scattered and body aching, she looked like a mad woman.The room was very quiet so she could hear the footsteps approaching."Ricardo?" She called out and walked to the door. Only to find Claudia outside. She had an evil smile on her face as she approached her."It's you." She said and frowned. "Lucia Roberts, The strong lady who fights for her dead naive mother." She said sarcastically and smiled.Lucia clenched her fist tightly, she was very furious. But she couldn't do anything."Well, I'm just here to give you a piece of advice,"
A few days later, in the mansion. Lucia didn't come out of her room since she was released from the dark room three days ago and didn't eat anything or agreed to see anyone. not even Ricardo who guarded and knocked on her door every day, bringing her food.Mr. Roberto also wasn't around, he was out on a business trip to another country. But every detail of what happened in the house was reported to him. by Marco.Marco is his most trusted bodyguard for years before he recently employed Ricardo.He sees Ricardo as a competent bodyguard but different incriminating evidence from Marco, made him lower his trust for Ricardo. regardless, Ricardo still did many outside jobs for him asides from protecting his daughter, Lucia."Lucia, open this damn door, or ill bring it down," Ricardo yelled, banging the door hard.He was curious to know how she's been doing in there, how she survived several days without food or water. Was she crying? Is she dead? the room was dead silent. What if she had ha
There were three other big buildings asides from the main mansion in "The Roberto's" villa. Some were used for private dealings of Mr. Roberto and some were just built for fancy. Marco and other bodyguards dragged the blindfolded Ricardo into one of the mansions in the villa.Reaching an empty room, they threw him on the floor and locked the door immediately.Shortly after, Mr. Roberto entered the room followed by Marco and other bodyguards.They untied the blindfold and Marco raised Ricardo's head by dragging his hair.Mr. Roberto walked slowly toward him and smack him hard with his walking stick. "How dare you disrespect my wife?" He yelled, still beating Ricardo with the red walking stick with a golden handle.Marco let go of the already weak Ricardo and he dropped to the floor."I didn't disrespect your wife." Ricardo managed to speak slowly."You still want to deny it when I have the evidence? show him the video." He ordered and a bodyguard took out a tablet, tapped the screen,
Lucia jerked up and cough out water and tried to breathe"Lucia""Lucia""Lucia" Everyone called out at once."How are you feeling?" Ricardo asked, but she didn't respond. Ricardo immediately carried her inside the mansion, straight to her room.Mr. Roberto gave Maria a Stern look and said."Come with me." Claudia stood in front of her daughter."What do you mean?" She asked."How did Lucia fall into the pool?" He asked and Maria faked crying."Dad, I don't know. I met her already drowning.""Why didn't you save her? Lucia would never jump into the pool because she's aquaphobic. you're a good swimmer, right? you took swimming classes in school and I paid for it." He yelled at her angrily."Mother, I didn't do it." Maria cried more and Claudia hugged her."Don't ever let this repeat itself, I won't tolerate any harm caused to my daughter." He finished and left them both still standing by the pool.Claudia looked at her daughter, she knew Maria did it, but she couldn't allow her to be
They both stared at each other, silently. Until a knock on the door distracted them."I'll go check who's on the door," Ricardo said and stood up. Heading towards the door."I don't want to see anybody," Lucia replied and turned, facing the other side of the bed, and covered her body properly."I understand," Ricardo said and opened the door to see the tall, handsome man with dark hair dressed in a black and white lab coat. He must probably be the doctor. "Good morning. I'm ..." He was about to introduce himself and was interrupted by Lucia's voice from the room."Who is it?" she said out loud."You must be the doctor, come inside," Ricardo said and the doctor proceeds into the room"A doctor? I don't need one." Lucia said immediately he entered the room. "Good morning Miss Roberto, I'm Mr. Renee. your doctor and I are here to examine your health." The handsome young doctor said politely. instead, he got a snub and distasteful look from Lucia."Miss, I'll let the doctor attend to yo
Lina's eyes were focused on the man who entered the restaurant with a seductively dressed beautiful woman. Her eyes widened. It was Lucas, What is he doing here with another woman?. She thought.Maria is going to make a big scene out of this. "Lina?" Elisa called, waving her hand across her face. "What are you staring at?" She asked and was about to turn when Lina said."Nothing, it's nothing." then she focused on the triangle piece of strawberry cake on the white plate. and she used the fork to cut a piece from it. She tried concentrating, but at the same time. felt bad she didn't tell Maria.All she wished is for Lucas to leave quickly with the girl.Angel noticed her staring and she said."If you have eyes for him you can go get him, ignoring his girlfriend. You know no man can resist your beauty." She said and they all smiled."And who does she have eyes for? Maria said and sipped a bit from her coffee."Over there, She's been staring at the couple since they came in," Angel said
"Marco, are you doing? get that video out of the internet." Claudia flared up angrily. "Contact the blogs, everyone who published it. if they don't bring it down in the next minutes, kill them all." She yelled. Almost looking like a mad woman. She had just seen the video. It had so many views and more were coming. The comments weren't friendly."Yes ma'am, I'm on it." He replied and left hurriedly.Maria cried out loudly, she looked pale, her makeup smeared all over her face. Her mascara gave her natural dark circles. Her hair was messed up."Maria, it's okay. I'll have that bastard dealt with." Claudia said sitting close to her on the couch."Mum, don't do anything to him. I still love him." she cried more loudly."Okay, I've heard you. stop crying and think of a way to get your man back."Lucia who hid outside the door smiled.Just as she thought, they'll try to bring down the video using their influence. But she certainly won't let that happenJust then she had called a friend in L