GEMMA I opened the dressing room door and walked wobbling to the stage amidst loud and cheering noises. I got to the stage, climbed it and stood at the center of the stage. I closed my eyes nervously, exhaling and inhaling. I opened my eyes and stared at the large crowd cheering at me and waiting for me to start performing.I knew how weird and irritating it felt dancing in front of men old enough to be your father because I've been working in this club as a waitress for a long time and had seen everything that's going on, but here I am, on this stage, about to dance almost naked.This is my first time dancing almost half naked in front of everyone."Just do it. Just one night, if you dance well, you would get enough money to settle your debts once and for all" my best friend's words replayed in my mind.It was hard for her to bring up this suggestion but she had seen how I've been living a miserable life and living from hand to mouth while trying to pay back the debts my father o
GEMMA"Gemma, the boss wants to see you," Manager Stacy said.A puzzled expression wiped across my face. "Why?"A huge man came in behind her."I see you're changed already and about to go home but you can't do that now. The boss wants to see you" Manager Stacy said."We've been in this shit longer than you and the boss has never called any of us privately to dance for him. You just danced for the first time tonight and suddenly he wants you dancing for him privately. You've sucked your way to the top" Aria said with disdain in her voice."I didn't do anything," I retorted."You'll have to wait outside, let's get her dressed up" Manager Stacy said to the huge man.He left the room. Manager Stacy went over to where Luna was and fetched a dress. She handed me a nude exposing dress which I wore and shoved me onto a chair. She asked Luna to make me up. In fifteen minutes, Luna did her magic and I looked beautiful, sexier and older."Don't feel special, the boss just likes your pretty face
GEMMAI got back to the room. I slowly opened the door and peeped inside. When I was sure no one was inside I went in. My bag still laid the same way I left it on the couch. "Thank goodness" I muttered and heaved a sigh of relief. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I had lost this money. I picked up my bag and clutched it to my body tightly.I was about to leave the room when I stumbled upon a body lying on the floor. I could swear my heart literally flew out of my mouth in fear. I covered my mouth with my palm to stop myself from screaming out loud.What's the body doing here? Why didn't I see it when I came in? I kicked the body lying on the floor. It rolled to the other side and I saw it was a man bleeding profusely from the chest. He was shot. He was dead!I staggered back in shock, my whole body trembling at this horrible sight. My hands became sweaty and I paced around, confused on what to do.What happened here?"Leave this room. Now!" My inner voice said and I nodded subconsc
GEMMAI stood outside the club waiting for a taxi to pass by but none was approaching. I moved about restlessly trying to see any car passing by but luck wasn't on my side as no car was seen on the road. Strange wasn't it??I live in a small, poor town, a little bit far away from the club.Suddenly, I saw one of the men coming out of the club. I quickly hid myself from him and started running. He saw me running and gave chase. I ran as fast as my tiny legs could carry me. Two other guys joined in the chase.I kept on running and running. There was still no car passing by. I was breathing heavily and was getting tired, but I couldn't afford to stop running."Run Gemma, run!" My inner voice whispered to me and I forced myself to keep running. I was running on the road leading to my house. I was going to make sure they lose me on the road, then I'd get home, pack my things and leave the country first thing tomorrow morning with the money I made tonight.At some point, I looked back and
Antonio could see fear in her brown eyes, as she stood up slowly from the ground but he couldn't care less. She killed one of his men and she must pay for her crimes."Why did you kill him?" He asked her.Gemma shook her head negatively. Her body trembled in fear. She couldn't even bring herself to speak."Tell me, who are you working for? Who sent you? Dante?" Antonio asked."I don't…don't know what you're talking about," she said with a shaky voice."Don't lie to me" Antonio screamed, hitting the table hard. "I didn't kill me. Believe me, I'm innocent. I didn't kill him" she cried out, rubbing her palms together, pleading desperately."There's a gun in her bag," Luca said.Antonio raised his eyebrow at her when Luca mentioned the gun."I took it to defend myself. I don't even know how to shoot a gun" she cried."You're the last person to leave the room. How else do you want to explain it?" Antonio asked."I ran off to escape you when you left the room hurriedly and I forgot my bag
GEMMAThis ruthless man's subordinates just stood watching everything going on."Sir, can I go home and say goodbye to my best friend and pack up my stuff?" I asked, already accepting my fate."There's no need for that," he replied."But my clothes…what am I going to wear?" I asked."I'll take care of that and buy you so many slutty dresses and I expect you to wear them whenever I want you to" he replied."You're going to live here in my house for a hundred days under the pretense of being my maid, but your main job here in this house is to satisfy me sexually" he said and I nodded my head."Okay, let's do a little introduction. I'm Antonio Romano, the heir to the Veneto Mafia crime family and the leader to a dangerous drug syndicate. I prefer being addressed as BOSS" he introduced himself.I shuddered in fear. This man was deadly and dangerous. The Veneto Mafia crime family was said to have committed so many crimes, but it wasn't easy for the cops to arrest them because they kept a l
GEMMA I kept on tossing restlessly on my bed. Though the bed was big and so comfy, I couldn't sleep as I was worried and scared. I was far away from home, in a stranger's house and was at his mercy. Antonio kept true to his words and sent in so many slutty dresses. Only a few were decent. He got me so many underwear, body lotion and other necessary things he thought I could need.I sat up and went closer to the window. I opened the curtains and stared at the beautiful moon in the sky. It looked so free and happy being up there in the sky and I suddenly wished I was the moon.Gabriella must be so worried about me. I just hope she's treated herself to the bruises Antonio's wicked men gave her. My best friend must be so worried about me but I couldn't even call her to calm her nerves down. Antonio took my phone from me and said he's going to give it back to me at the right time.I never imagined things were going to turn out this way. Hours ago, I was a free young lady working my ass
Antonio walked into Gemma's room and saw her laying on her bed. She sat up immediately she saw him and her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw the chains, rope and belt he held in his hands."What's that for?" She asked as he approached her."No room for questions" Antonio replied and eyed her from head to toe."Nice body you've got there" he said in a mocking tone.GEMMA I was surprised to see Antonio walk into my room with chains, rope and belt and I tried to picture their use in my head.Is he planning to tie me up or what?What about the belt, am I going to get whipped?He came to the bed and sat beside me. I moved back in fear."Scared?" He asked, chuckling loudly."No boss" I replied, biting my trembling lips to stop them from trembling more."Good" he replied, nodding his head, impressed by my answer."Stand up and go wear your heels" he ordered me and I did as I was told quickly."Go over there and dance. Remember what you did the first night I saw you? I want you to
Ivan was still laughing till Antonio interrupted him.“Son of Dante Karamazov? Russian Mafia Lord?” He asked.“Yes. I came to Italy just to kill you. My father sent me here and I'm here to carry out his mission” Ivan replied.“I won't go down easily,” Antonio said.“I'll see if you still have that confidence when I blow her head off” Ivan said and pointed a gun to Gemma's head.“Don't kill her. Face me and leave her out of it” Antonio said.“Drop all your guns and kick them far away from you” Ivan instructed.Antonio dropped his guns down and raised his arms in the air.“See, there's nothing on me now. Take the gun away from her” Antonio shouted.“Not so fast! Kneel down. I want to see you beg for life. Who knows, maybe I'll pity you and let you live” Ivan said.Antonio knelt down and Ivan removed the gun from Gemma and pointed it at him, approaching him menacingly.He got close to Antonio and fixed his gun directly at Antonio's face.“If only my dad could see the pitiful you
~ANTONIO~ I heard Gemma's screams for help when I was still talking with Sir Edward and informing him of my plans to leave the crime family and leave the country. Gemma was clearly calling out to me for help.I excused myself from Sir Edward and ran towards the car with Mateo and Marco. Halfway, I saw a car speeding off.It increased the adrenaline in me and I ran faster to the car. When I got to the car, I saw that it was widely open and saw Emilia asleep. Gemma was missing. She wasn't in the car.Who could have done this?“Ivan!!” My inner voice answered.He's the only person desperate enough to avenge Margaret's death.I placed my finger in Emilia's nose to confirm she's still breathing. She must have been knocked off by Ivan before taking Gemma away.“Boss, what are we going to do now?” Mateo asked me.“I fucking don't know” I replied. I was exhausted, frustrated and angry and my brain wasn't thinking right now. It's times like this I wish I
Ivan was furious when he saw Antonio and Gemma come down from the car.The nerves of them, to show their horrible faces here!He quickly jumped in and blocked their path.“What the hell are you doing here?” He barked at them.“I came to pay my last respects to the dead,” Antonio replied.“You're not wanted here. Leave before I do something stupid” Ivan threatened.“We don't want a fight. We just want to pay respects to Margaret and leave. Don't ruin Margaret's funeral with your outburst” Antonio said.Gabriella stepped behind Ivan and eyed Gemma from head to toe.“I won't let you both get close to her corpse” Ivan swore and pushed Antonio hard on his chest.Mateo and Marco stepped in to protect Antonio.“Stop it, Ivan. Allow them to pay last respect to the dead” Sir Edward said. He's present at the funeral. He flew straight to Italy because of the funeral.Ivan had no choice but to step aside for Antonio and Gemma to pass. They walked to Margaret's corpse holding flowers
Ivan watched Antonio leave. He couldn't do anything now as he's still heartbroken. Everything still looks like a dream to him.But the dead body of Margaret he held in his arms made him realize that it wasn't a dream. Margaret is really dead! A reality that he has to accept whether he wants to or not.“I swear, I'll kill you Antonio” he swore. “Even if I have to die in the process, I'll kill you” “Explain what you said earlier” Gabriella said, when she finally forced her tongue to speak.She was so shocked when she heard her best friend, Gemma, is the cause of her sister's death.How did Gemma know Margaret?How did she cause her death?Her sister had clearly told her that she doesn't know Gemma or have any connection with her, so how did Gemma cause her death?“Explain yourself,” she repeated.Ivan went on to explain everything he knew about Gemma's and Margaret's beef, everything!!Gabriella was shocked beyond words when he finished.“You mean to tell me that my sist
~ANTONIO~ Margaret's dead. She's lying lifelessly in my arms.“Noooooo” I screamed loudly.“Don't die on me, don't do this to me” I cried out.“I'm sorry…. I'm so sorry, Garet. I'm sorry”I held her in my arms for a long time, sobbing fervently with memories of us flooding in my head. Memories of the happy, fun times we had. Our laughters echoing in my head. The way we ran around my house playing like babies. The way we danced together, argued, fought, ate together, had sex and lots more.“I'm sorry Garet. I killed you, I'm so sorry” I apologized.I lifted her up from the floor and took her to her car and laid her on the back seat.Then I walked back to my own car.“I'll take her body home. Let's go back. You'll drive this car while I drive her car” I told Gemma.She nodded and wiped off her tears. I walked back to Margaret's car, entered the car, started it and drove off while Gemma followed behind me. ~GEMMA~ I sat back i
~GEMMA~ I was in the car with Antonio, Isabella and Nanny Emilia. We're leaving the country two days after Antonio Luca and I are trying to escape.He released Luca and sent him home almost half dead when I agreed to go with him.I could feel the pain, hurt and that Luca's heart was broken when I chose to go with Antonio. My words seemed to cause more damage to him and hurt him than all the beatings and torture Antonio melted out to him.But I had no choice, he would die if I didn't do what I did. And I don't want him to die because of me. I don't mind living in misery with Antonio all my life just to save him. He's worth it and more.“When will you start putting yourself first, Gemma?” My inner voice asked.I rolled my eyes and heaved a deep sigh.There's one thing I need to learn! To put myself first! First it was my best friend, Gabriella and now it's Luca.I can't blame myself though, it's because I love them both so much.I was sitting at the
~ANTONIO~ I was waiting patiently in the private room with Marco and Gemma. Gemma was still sitting helplessly on the floor at one corner and crying her eyes out.Her cries increased when I brought in my torture equipments and she knew Luca was done for.For some reason, I knew Mateo and Tristan were going to come back with Luca. But if I were to be Luca, I wouldn't come back here for any reason.I was right when the door opened and Luca came in with Mateo and Tristan. I had instructed them to bring Luca to the private room when they finally found him.“You came. Such a loyal lover” I mocked and laughed.“Where is Gemma? Where is she?” He asked.“Over there” I pointed to Gemma's direction.He ran to her and crouched down beside her, touching her all lovingly and checking her out.“Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he hit you?” He asked at once.“You shouldn't have come here. Look around you, he's going to kill you with that stuff” she said.Luca
~ANTONIO~ It was the chill that had woken me. The sudden coolness of my body where there had once been the warm softness of Gemma's smooth curves curled against me, underneath me. Now there was a waft of colder air that followed the cautious movement she had made from the bed.Oh, she had tried to be careful as possible. She had made every effort not to disturb me and had eased herself, inch by painful inch, away from me and out into the room.She would only be taking such care if she was trying to hide actions from me. The way she had crept from my bed, her obvious need to be gone and not to be seen leaving, caught on my nerves, tugging me wide awake in a second.Not that I showed it. I wanted to be able to watch and observe, to see just what she was planning, before I reacted at all. I had heard her making plans to escape with someone on the phone, it is obviously Luca but I didn't know when, but I think she's about to escape now and I wanted to confirm
~GEMMA~ Antonio and I walked back to the room and then he suddenly slammed the door shut and locked it. I wasn't expecting his next action and so it took me by surprise. He pushed me forcefully to the wall and kissed me forcefully. He sucked my lips in his aggressively while I struggled to free myself.A hot slap landed on my cheek, as my eyes became clouded with unshed tears. “Antonio, please. I beg you, don't do this" I whimpered like a hurt puppy.“I've seen why you've been avoiding my touches since. It's because you've been receiving touches from Luca and having sex with him” he shouted.“What has suddenly come over you this evening? You were sweet this evening” I said.“I want you. You're mine Gemma, the earlier you accept it, the better for you. You can't run away from me. I'll make sure you submit yourself to me and it's now" he whispered with a deadass tone and I shook in fear.My heart began palpitating, wanting to break free from its rib ca