CHAPTER 4

He sets his fork down before speaking again. "The changes are noted and will be made."

He joins his hands together. "Once we finish breakfast, I would love to introduce you to the two most important people in this house."

Something new to talk about. Finally.

"Okay, that's fine. Do I get to work as a part of the household?" I can't help but broach the subject of not wanting to be a housewife.

He is rich, yes. But I have no interest in whiling away my days here doing nothing. I hate it.

"No, you aren't. As a Donna, it's not allowed for you to work, I do the working-"

"So, what am I going to spend my life doing?" I snap, dropping my cutlery as I feel my appetite take a fast dive to Neverland.

He doesn't say anything at first, just sits there, hands placed on the table as he slowly chews on his food like he moves at his own pace, and every other person should go shit themselves.

It's so annoying.

"Listen, Ariella, we have gone over the rules, but you seem to have forgotten, so I will refresh your memory." He starts, his words calm but deadly, every word piercing through me.

Shit! I am going out of character.

"Rule number one, you are not allowed to question your Don, be it in public or private.

Two, no Donna of mine is allowed to work.

Three, do not speak when not spoken to.

Lastly, all you have to do is look pretty and bear me children when the time comes.

Obey all these rules and have a peaceful life here with me." He speaks, every word like a hot knife to my guts.

I know I should shut up; he is the Don, and he will kill me. Besides, Ariella would never complain, so I should just shut up. But I can't help the burst of words that follows.

"Look here, Dermos, this is not 2014, where women's only use is in the kitchen and to bear kids. If that's what you wanted, you should have just bought a stupid robot. I refuse to follow those ridiculous rules." I huff, placing both my arms under my boobs.

"Okay." He smiles slightly, raising his hand to make a gesture.

Okay? Just okay?

"Is that all?" I can't help but ask. I was expecting a full-blown speech.

"I can't force you to obey, so you are free to do whatever, but every disobedience comes with punishment. Ones I won't fail to deliver," he says, shrugging like he didn't just threaten his wife.

A shudder runs down my spine as I shrink back in my seat.

He didn't shout or get angry; he just calmly threatened me like he was talking about the weather, and that freaked the hell out of me more than anything.

"Carlos." He calls.

"Yes, boss?" Carlos suddenly appears from nowhere.

This guy is creepy.

"Introduce Luciana to her." He instructs, gracefully rising to his feet before strolling out like he didn't just cause chaos in me.

"Come," Carlos calls, and a set of heels starts clicking on the tiles.

They sound uncomfortable and annoying. I mean, raise your damn legs, woman, you don't have to screech your feet like an attention banshee just to be noticed.

A deep sigh escapes my lips as I realise it's going to be harder than I thought to be Ariella.

I raise my eyes to look at her when she finally gets closer, and gosh, she is gorgeous.

Killer shape dressed in a tight red gown that shows every dip and curve, her hair is red compared to my black one, his lips coated in blood-red lipstick, topped with a nose so painted it's surreal.

How is she this gorgeous?

"This is Luciana. The Don's bedmate." Carlos calls out, and my eyes widen as I take her in again.

She is his what?

Why the heck would he introduce her to me? Luciana glares at me in a way that is too familiar, yet I can't place my finger on it.

"You aren't much to look at." She says, venom and disgust visibly dripping down her voice.

I shouldn't feel anything; I don't matter to Dermos, but at the same time, it stings. I don't say anything as I rise to my feet, literally racing to my room.

It was at that moment that it dawned on me that Dermos didn't care about my family and me. This marriage was just a contract to him.

I realise that this is exactly what Ariella would have faced also.

I hid out in my room all day, eating lunch and dinner there. I am swamped in the book I am reading on my phone when my eyes suddenly snap to the left, catching a strange thing.

Red blinking light.

It's small, just behind my curtain; I wouldn't notice it normally, but the whole room is dark, so I can.

What the hell?

My heart thuds as I move closer, snapping the curtains open, and there a small camera lies. Without thinking, I sent my foot at it, causing it to shatter.

Who the hell installed a camera here? I am still racking my brain when a message enters my phone.

I shouldn't have looked at it; my whole brain froze as I turned to stare at the message.

The same unknown number.

"You can smash the camera, but I am still watching, and I know."

Who is this person? Does he or she live here?

This is beginning to freak me out. It is enough confirmation that nothing about this is a prank.

I am still contemplating when the door pries open, a lanky figure graces the entrance.

My heart thuds thinking it's Dermos, but once I switch on the lights, I am met with Carlos's buzz cut and cold gaze.

"What the hell!" A loud scream tears out of my lips. I literally fling my phone as my palms snap to my mouth.

"Shhhh!! Just came to tell you to leave while you still can. Leave before it's too late." He says each word cold like a bucket of ice thrown over me.

In the name of what is going on?

Before I can respond, the door snaps open as an angry voice booms.

"What the hell is going on here?"

CHAPTER 5

My head snaps back automatically, causing an unexpected shriek to escape my lips as Dermos stands at the door, gun pointing at me.

"Don, it's nothing. I heard screaming, so I came to check on her." Buzz cut lies through his damned teeth as he turns to glare at me, daring me to say otherwise.

Slowly but surely, he lowers his gun before nodding at Carlos, then they walk out together, leaving me stunned, confused, and alone.

What the hell has Ariella gotten me into? Was she being threatened, too? Was that why she ran? Did she find out how crazy these people were?

Suddenly, I don't really blame her anymore. My legs give out as I slump to the floor, pressing my lids as my lips tremble.

I refuse to cry. I can't cry.

No matter how many times I repeat the mantra, soft tears run down my cheeks as I cry for the life I am now in.

Forced into a world I know nothing of, a world filled with danger.

What the hell am I going to do?

The tears don't stop as I cry my heart out, somehow drifting off at the same time.

~~

My eyes flutter open, and the blinding light penetrating the curtains causes me to shut them back.

A sharp groan leaves my throat as I push the heel of my palm on the hard tiles, using it to get myself off the floor.

I can't believe I slept on that hard ground; the ache I feel in my shoulders and back says I really did sleep there.

Stretching, I reach for my phone, turning it on to see it's after ten in the morning. No maid came to wake me up today.

What happened to eating before the day even broke? But who's complaining?

I am so glad for this. Without thinking, I slump on the bed, rolling to get comfortable before drifting off again.

I finally get out of the room after one pm, rushing to the kitchen to get some food.

After eating to my satisfaction, I decided to take a tour.

The whole mansion is so huge, it should have more than twenty rooms here, if not more.

As I wander around the mansion, staring at everything painted in gold and white, I can't help but wonder about the use of a house this big.

There is literally a cinema, gym, swimming pool, different offices, a dance studio, and literally everything in here.

Who even uses the dance studio? Not my business, though.

The guards and maids keep bowing their heads, calling me Mrs Salvatore as I pass by. It's really weird because I know I am not the real Mrs Salvatore.

"Oh my goodness!!" A screech finds its way out of my lips as a body slams into me.

"Mrs Salvatore! I am so sorry. Please forgive me, it wasn't intentional, I wasn't looking. Please don't punish me, please." The maid who bumped into me did not even stop to breathe.

I turn my head to really look at her, she looks so pale with eye bags that look too evident on her skin. Dressed in a short skirt and a tight top that looks like a small move would cause it to rip apart.

But what really gets to me is the way her eyes are full of so much fear.

"It's okay. What is your name?" I ask, unable to help myself.

"Bella, my name is Isabella, but everyone calls me Bella." She stutters, shuffling on her foot.

"Isabella. You can go." I say, turning to leave.

Her eyes widened as a gasp tears through her lips like that's the last thing she expected me to say. Bella's reaction causes a crease to form between my eyebrows.

What exactly has she been going through here? What exactly do people go through here?

I shake my head, not wanting to think about it, hoping that Ariella had nothing to do with it.

Without a last glance, I turn and head to the backyard I saw before I got bumped into.

I fail at the task. All the while, as I wandered, I couldn't stop thinking about her. There is just something I couldn't pinpoint, and it left me feeling disturbed.

After a while, I decided to ask Dermos to make her my personal maid.

That is, if he would agree to such.

"And what might the almighty Mrs Salvatore be doing here?" That sharp, vile voice causes me to halt my steps.

I raise my head only to meet the cold brown eyes of Luciana, her arms folded under her boobs as she glares hard at me, not caring to hide how much she hates me.

"Oh, my bad. I was just taking a tour." I murmur, moving to the side to bypass her, but what I see has me nearly tumbling to the floor.

Girls. Lots of them, dressed in little to nothing. Just wearing panties with no bras to cover up, they line up in front of a different house, different from the mansion.

This one stood two storeys tall as the girls moved about, strutting about in revealing outfits.

"What in God's name is happening here?" I blurt out, letting my palm slap over my mouth to force the bile rising up my throat back down.

"Oh, you can't take a little beauty, can you?" Luciana taunts, smacking her bloody red lips at me.

The sound resonates in my ears, irritating me to no end. I can't help the bitterness I feel towards her deepen.

"What do you mean by that?" I snap, turning to glare at her.

I can't look at those girls anymore. That's a serious invasion of privacy.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know Dermos has a whore house that I run. Me, not you, it's a job meant for Donna, but he knows you aren't fit for such." She snarls, the venom in her voice spiking.

I shake my head, refusing to believe her. Ariella knew about all this? Is that why she left?

The more I find out, the harder it is to believe. It can't be.

" You will never be good enough for anythi–" She is still speaking when I zone out her words, turning to leave.

I can't hear any more of this. I feel disgusted. My husband owns a whore house.

Did he traffic them? Are they here on their own will– no, it can't be. No woman will freely want this type of life.

I am so in my head when a sharp pain shoots through my skull, causing a scream to tear out of my lips as I plunge forward headfirst into the grass.

I raise my hand to feel the back of my head, only to feel hot, thick liquid spurting out.

My voice cracks as I try to scream, instead another sharp pain pierces through my back.

"Hel–" my voice cracks, a darkness overcomes me.

Chapter 6

My eyes flutter open, but the lights cause me to shut them back. Without thinking, I raise my head only to be met with a banging headache.

What the hell happened?

I try to focus my vision causing me to slowly pry my lids open. I look around, only for my eyes to meet those cold gazes.

Dermos is lounging on the soft couch in front of my bed, eyes calculating as he rests his jaw on his palm with his elbows pressing on his thighs.

God, he looks so handsome. A strand of his hair falls forward. I don't know if it's a mistake or on purpose, but it still looks so damned good.

He is dressed in a pair of joggers and a simple top that contracts his muscles in this position.

Holy hell, he looks exactly like sin.

"When you are done gawking, let me know so you can explain why my men found you outside bleeding." His sharp voice snaps me out of my daydreaming.

Damnit! I can't look at him like that. He belongs to Ariella.

"Umm." Words fail me as I try to rack my brain for what to say.

I can't say Luciana hit me because I don't even have proof. I didn't see her hit me, but she had to be the one, right?

There was no one else there with us except the girls, and the girls weren't even that close.

"Cat got your tongue?" He barks, flexing his hands as he presses his back into the couch, his eyes not leaving my pale form for once.

I raise my hand, pressing it to the back of my head to check the injury. It feels rough, but the patch is also small, which means it isn't a major injury.

"I don't have the patience, nor do I have all day to sit here and watch you jog your memories. So I will ask one last time, what the hell happened?" he snaps, his voice filled with venom as his eyes darken.

I move uncomfortably, trying to get the words out yet all I could come up with was, "I fell. Sorry, I got you worried."

"You fell? How the hell did you fall that hard and have an injury at the back of your head when you fell on your face?" He questions, his eyelids slowly closing to squint at me.

Damn, he is a work of art. Focus Ariel.

"I was taking a tour and didn't see the stone there, which caused me to trip, and when I fell, I hit my head on a stone too. I turned in order to feel where the pain was coming from, and then I passed out." I grit my teeth, letting the lies tumble out smoothly

I pray he believes me, heavens please let him believe me.

I press my back to the bed, wanting nothing more than to sink inside, but then he will know something is up, so I have to be brave.

Even though I just want to piss myself, I keep my eyes on him until he nods before gracefully rising to his feet.

"Well, I am glad that you are fine. I have to go now. Rest, and don't wander about again." He warns, causing me to nod like a five-year-old.

Satisfied with my response, he turns and walks out. Immediately, I let out the breath I was holding.

Oh Lord, I pray I don't have a heart attack by next month. All this acting is getting to me.

~~~

"I told you to stay inside, didn't I?" I nod my head, refusing to look up from biting my nails, not wanting to be scolded like a five-year-old.

Yes, he told me to stay inside. Did I? Of course not, I got bored and decided to finish my tour, causing me to get lost in the maze of flowers covering half the front yard.

Why he has a maze is still a mystery to me.

"So why did you leave the room and wander?" He questions, his voice calm and steady.

Yet the way his jaw clenches and his fist tightens tells me he is anything but calm.

"I got bored again, and I couldn't stop thinking about the whore house I found. Wondering why you have that? Do you traffic girls?" I can't help but ask.

Dammit, I said I wouldn't speak about it.

Dermos snaps his head to look at me, his muscles contracting inside his suit.

Guess he just came back from work before I called, crying. I was lost.

"It's part of my business, and I won't have you questioning me." He growls, taking a step back before turning.

I followed after him, not quite satisfied with his words.

"But you sell them to men, that's ridiculous and cruel. They have a life, they are humans, so why would you do that--"

"Ariella, you are aware of this. Last time we had this conversation, you seemed really fine with it, so why the change of heart?" He halts his steps, turning to look at me.

Again!

My whole face pales as I realize I am once again out of character.

I straighten up, clearing my throat before speaking, " I am fine with it, it's just--"

"Good for you." He cuts me off again, and it makes me want to yank his hair out.

My voice and opinions are important too. Why won't he let me speak?

" Go to bed, Ariella, and mind your business. I don't want to have to punish you." He warns us before taking a different turn once we are in front of the house's back door.

Urghhh!! I stomp my foot in annoyance. He is so damn rude.

Without thinking, I push open the door and walk in, only to stop once I hear some voices.

I inch closer to the side of the door, making sure I am also out of sight.

They seem to be inside a room. Is that Carlos I hear?

"Luciana, it isn't like that. You are wrong." Yes, that voice is definitely Carlos.

But why is he in a room with Luciana?

If there is one trait I am known for, it is being a curious cat. As they say, curiosity kills the cat, yet I am not dead.

Hahh.

"You are getting too close to Donna. I don't like it. You know godfa--"

"I don't care. Mind your own damn business, and go sort your girls." His voice is clipped and sharp, like he is repulsed by her.

Okay, definitely not my business. I cross the room, heading to the kitchen, when I suddenly remember Isabella.

The fear in her eyes, the way her hands trembled. What exactly has she been through within these walls?

I need to find her. Taking a step, my whole body halts when I hear small sobs coming from the room beside the kitchen.

Who is that?

Slowly but surely, I push open the door only to find Isabella crying on a bed.

"Isabella? Are you okay?" I murmur, padding my feet forward towards her bed.

"No, Donna, no one must see you with me. They will kill me, you have to go." She jolts out of her bed, tears running down her cheeks.

"I don't understand," I murmur, taking a step back.

"This is a house full of torment. Run while you can. Run, Donna." She says her voice frantically as she presses her fingernails into my palm.

"Wha--" the words are barely out of my lips when a pounding on the door has me stumbling.

"You wrench, what are you doing?" An unfamiliar voice calls.

Isabella's eyes widen, urging me to hide, but as I turn to make a move, the door slams open.

"What the hell are you doing?" She booms.

Oh crap.