The secret room

As soon as Ariel heard those words, her heart leaped into her stomach. Her jaw dropped and her mouth moved in an attempt to say something but no words came out. 

The men lounged towards her, grabbing her like the criminal that she was while a few others picked Xander up from the floor, rushing him to the clinic immediately. Ariel watched the trail of blood following the man and wondered what she had gotten herself into. 

“Take her to master!” One of the men yelled out, causing the others to erupt in wild screams and chants, anger written all over their faces. Ariel shook her head slowly, resisting the strong men who were pulling her along.

“Please, please don't take me to him! I'm sorry! I didn't know he was the second master!” She yelled out, hot tears running down her cheeks. Her pleas and struggling did not make a dent, neither did it waver the anger that those men felt. They dragged her along, all the way to Miguel's chamber and threw her down at his feet mercilessly.

Sitting there with her neck bent, her blood running cold with fear, Ariel listened to the men telling Miguel about what she did. After they were done presenting their case, Miguel walked up to her and stood over her, his figure casting a shadow over her. Her arms trembled, and her heart raced. She could feel his anger, and it terrified her.

“You stabbed my right hand man.” He pointed out, everywhere going silent as soon as he began to speak. 

Ariel said nothing, her muffled sobs were the only sounds that came out of her. 

“You're brave.” He chuckled and this surprised Ariel. She slowly lifted her face to meet his gaze but she met his dangerous glare which forced her to look away again, biting her lip hard.

“I will show you what I do with little girls who don't know how to behave.” He said, his voice flat but dangerously toned. A gasp almost escaped Ariel's lips.

“Take her to the cold room. She will remain there until daybreak.” Miguel immediately ordered and two strong arms grabbed Ariel again, roughly yanking her up. 

“No! Please!” She screamed, but they dragged her out against her will, the last thing she saw being Miguel's smirking face. She had no idea what the cold room was, but she knew that it wasn't a good thing. The men kept dragging her along despite her resistance. They passed two long hallways, before entering a door that led to a basement.

The deeper they went, the colder it got, and Ariel's clothes were so flimsy that they barely covered her up. They stopped in front of a huge, metal door with some intricate locks. They opened it and then threw Ariel in. It was a large freezer.

“No! Let me out!” Ariel banged her fists on the door after they locked her in, her lips already quivering from the intense cold. She cried and screamed for help, but her strength vanished quickly and she hopelessly fell to the icy floor.

She put her arms around herself and lowered her head, her fingertips and toes already turning red as a result of the cold. She was shivering, but there was no way that she could escape, and there was no way that she was going to make it out alive by morning. 

Meanwhile, Xander was sitting on the bed in the clinic, getting his stab wound cleaned and dressed. The pain was excruciating, but luckily, it wasn't deep. The flimsy fruit knife wasn't able to do a lot of damage.

“Xander.” Miguel walked into the ward, his forehead folded in worry. The nurse bowed her head in respect before leaving the men alone.

“Are you alright?” 

“I'm okay, it's just a little wound.” Xander answered, rolling his eyes. He had sustained worse injuries than that, including several bullet wounds.

“Good, you had me worried.” Miguel stated, heaving a sigh of relief. Although he admitted to being worried, his face depicted the complete opposite. His stern look and ruthless demeanor remained unchanged.

“What about the girl?” Xander queried, adjusting his position on the bed. He managed to get a glimpse of the girl that stabbed him and he was immediately mesmerized by her unique beauty. He wasn't the type to love, just like his friend, but he was smitten by the red haired girl.

“She's getting what she deserves. She's in the cold room.” Miguel answered, uninterested.

“Come on Miguel, are you going to punish her for nothing? I'm fine as you can see, let her go. She has enough to deal with as your mistress.” Xander demanded and Miguel glared at him.

“I'm glad you admit that she's my mistress, which means that I'll do whatever I want with her.” Miguel maintained but Xander sighed.

“Let her go, please, she was just scared.” 

“I'll think about it.” 

Miguel ended up letting Ariel out of the cold room later that night and she was led to her room by Farouk while Sally showed up to warm her up and take care of her. 

“Why did you try to escape?” Sally questioned, covering Ariel with a blanket. 

“What would you have me do? Remain here and be brutally fucked by that beast whenever he wants?” She returned with a loud scoff, sucking her lower lip which had become chapped as a result of the cold.

“Well,” Sally sighed, “it's never a good idea to get on master's nerves. You should just cooperate because his temper is nothing to be messed with.” 

“He can just kill me.” Ariel sobbed, shutting her eyes to get some rest.

Just then, Farouk entered and informed her that Miguel wanted her in his room immediately. Sally left while Ariel was led out of the room by Farouk. She seethed within her, amazed at how heartless Miguel was. She didn't understand what her parents did that he was treating her this way. 

They soon got to his chamber but he wasn't there. According to Farouk, he had something urgent to attend to.

“Sit here until he gets back, don't try anything funny again or you might end up dead this time.” Farouk warned before leaving her alone in Miguel's chamber.

Silence fell and Ariel sat on the floor, next to the bed, her knees pressing against her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought about what she was going to face as soon as Miguel came. 

Her eyes wandered, scanning the huge chamber. It had a whole living room, and several other doors that she didn't know what was behind them. One particular door caught her attention, the very one that had a bold “keep out” sign written on it. She slowly got to her feet and walked over to it.

It wasn't locked, so she carefully pushed it open, swallowing in fear as she didn't know what to expect. Her curiosity was sparked and she couldn't help it. The musty smell of the room made her regret her decision to open it.

Ariel was left confused when she saw a bunch of chains, forceps, scissors and other sharp objects lying around in the small room. Some of the equipment had dried up blood on them it made her blood run cold. She tried to touch one of them but a hand grabbed her hair and pulled her back roughly, a yelp escaping her lips.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing!?” Miguel's deep voice echoed and she swallowed hard, her lips quivering.

“You always try to overstep your boundaries, now I will punish you.” Miguel smirked, still holding onto her hair. He swung her around and effortlessly threw her into the bed, leaving her in tears. 

“Please don't do this, don't hit me.” She cried out.

“I'm going to make sure that you hate yourself for giving in to me, the monster that you despise.” He responded and she gulped, goosebumps covering her skin.

“Let's see how long you can last.” He grinned, undoing his belt.