Erica
EricaMario returned a few hours later carrying a bowl of cut fruits in a tray. He sat the bowl on the scarred wooden corner near my bed and proceeded to leave. I stopped him and asked, “Am I allowed to leave the room?”“Of course. There are no such orders against that.” He answered.He was infuriating in his calmness, just like his fûcking master. But I managed to pull my voice down to a normal level, enough to ask, “How long have you worked for him?”“Long enough.”I heard his silent words that said he wouldn’t be betraying his master for me. But still, I asked, &l
EricaAfter a few minutes of tense silence a door opened somewhere, I curled my fingers into fists as I sat there and closed my eyes when footsteps neared. They paused. Silverware clinked and several thumps sounded as things were put down on the table. “Leave.” I heard the arsehole say. Footsteps faded away and then his voice dropped, no longer frosty as he said, “Open your eyes, Erica.”I did. The room was empty except him and me. Ephraim was no longer sitting in front of me and there was no plate setting for him either. But I refused to look at my kidnapper as I stared ahead at Ephraim’s empty seat.I heard Antonio as he ordered, “Look at me.”
AntonioAlexithymia, a disorder that indicated the lack of ability to feel and express emotions and empathize with others. Many doctors in my childhood came up with that term when my father realized that his tyranny wasn’t affecting me and he sought out professional help that why his son wasn’t afraid of him like everyone around him.He was told that I was an unfeeling child. A mental disorder that allowed me to be cut out from the emotions everyone else around me felt. But there was one person I could never not feel emotions for. My twin sister. Whereas I was an unfeeling, cold bastard, my beautiful twin sister was overly emotional even when it came to our parents— our selfish mother and our abusive father. She was everything I wasn’t. Beautiful. Warm. With a heart of gold a
EricaI ran out of the dining hall, uncaring of the fact that I was nakèd and anyone could see me. All I wanted was to get away from him and the dark shadowed demons of my childhood.I burst into the room I had spent my day in and made my way straight to the bathroom. I wasn’t in any condition to think that how this old, dark castle had a shower installed in it as I turned it on and sat down on the cold unforgiving floor.My nails dug into my wrist as I counted in my mind, desperate to detach myself from the painful horrible memories. I didn’t know for how long I sat there under the cold water but it was enough that I started to feel numb. My mind was trying to pull out the memories that would make me feel a sliver of warmth in the cold dark desolate place I had
EricaI woke up with a buzzing head, a dry mouth and a throbbing palm.I squinted my eyes and brought my palm up to my face. There was a long gash in my palm but it wasn’t deep so I won't be needing stitches. And I had wrapped in a strip of white fabric that I had torn from the corner of the sheet I had been using as a dress since yesterday but sometime in the night it must've gotten loose as my hand was bare and the cut looked double its size. Even my fingers hurt when I curled them.Fûck.I hadn't meant to do that. I had drank the whole bottle and then the next think I knew I was standing in the bathroom and wondering how to break it so I could take a shard long enough to murder the arsehole. But the moment I broke it, I couldn'
EricaI wore thesluttydress.And even went as far as to wear that stupid, blinking diamond bracelet. It was beautiful on my wrist but I would never admit it. For some reason that beautiful thing didn’t feel like an expensive jewellery it was, but a shackle from Antonio Rossi. Either way, I wore it and the thing I loved the most of my whole attire wasn’t designer dress with fabric less than a handkerchief or the delicate cream colored thong underneath it or the diamond bracelet, it was the pair of shoes that I was wearing on my feet under the dress that looked fit to walk on the red carpet. II descended the stairs making my way to the dining room where I hadn’t had the dinner yesterday because a cert
AntonioI watched her walk away, her perfectly shaped hips swaying as she made her way inside and disappeared. I turned to Ephraim and found him glaring down at his plate. He was nine years younger than me and yet he still looked a fresh faced fourteen years old that I had taken under my wing. He still did everything to impress me even when I had told him again and again he didn’t have to but surprisingly he went against me for the little devil who was nothing but a captive.I could see that he liked her but not enough to displease me and that was the reason he was angry right now. At himself. That his little attraction had cost him my disappointment. I stood up and wasn’t surprised when he apologized, “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to go against your wishes. It was just, she looked so sad aft
EricaI spent the rest of the day in the castle, going from one corner to another. It’s huge, the corridors had my feet aching but I was intrigued and the quiet, the smell of dust in most of the empty rooms and sculptures in one room that had looked like it was part of a museum and not to miss the intricate designs on the walls had me going on till the sun set and my stomach grumbled for the fifteenth time to feed it.There were four locked doors that I had encountered. One being the same one that had led to the narrow stairs that I had ascended with Ephraim in the morning, for some reason it was locked now and I really wanted to go upstairs in that corridor with all those windows. I knew for sure that floor belonged to Antonio and he had it locked. Then there were two other rooms on the third floor that were locked. And one that intrigued me most was t
Ephraim“Your job is to do whatever I tell you to do. Protect her.”I gritted my teeth at his absurd command, all these years I had been his shadow, spent all my time protecting him whenever he stepped out of that castle where he lived like a recluse. And now here he was telling me to protect her but not him. I’d have protected her but not at the cost of him, not if it meant letting him be in danger.I pressed on the accelerator as the car that was following us came to the side and slammed at the back of ours, for a moment I lost control of the steering wheel and the car tilted to the one side. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to catch Antonio cupping Erica’s head to prevent her head from slamming into the wind
AntonioMy office door opened with a bang for the second time that day and Ephraim stood there with Thor barking behind him. Before I could really give him a lashing to remind him of his place and for letting that dog into my office, I noticed the set of his jaw and the paleness of his face and without a second thought, my mind went straight to Erica. “What is it?”Instead of answering me, he asked, “Have you talked to Erica?”Even though I had wanted to call her, I hadn’t. And it was his fault. Because Ephraim’s words had unsettled me and I didn’t want to prove him right so no matter how much I was tempted to call her, I had refrained but now as I saw the expression on Ephraim’s face I regretted not doing so. And more than that as I slipped out my phone and dialled her number I regretted not putting a tracker on her phone after she broke the bracelet when the call ended without ringing on the other side.I had wanted to give her some privacy to talk to her family and it was the reaso
EricaI excused myself from the table to go to the bathroom, I wanted to ask Riley if she wanted to join me but she was busy talking to the guy sitting opposite her. But just as I took a step away from the table, Leo also stood up. I asked, “Where are you going?”“I’ll walk with you.”“Oh, you don’t have to.” I said, feeling embarrassed that he could easily read how I was hesitant and felt a little out of place here which was why I needed company to not look like a lost child.He ignored me and grabbed my hand as he made his way to the left side of the sitting area of the cafe where there was a door that led to a mildly lit corridor and pointed out the washroom for me. He said, “I know that your bodyguards aren't here today, so it’s understandable if you don't feel okay to roam around the unfamiliar place all alone.”I never thought about it in such a way but I guess I was almost carefree at the base level knowing nothing would hurt me, for instance no masked man would materialize out
Antonio“Sit down and explain yourself before I lose it.” I said to Ephraim as I entered the study after making sure that Elijah knew not to lose sight of her in any way and also to make sure she doesn't see him, if the former happened I’ll make sure he loses his fûcking life.Erica had asked me to stop sending men with her before too, saying that she felt like the odd one out with all the other students gawking at her because of all the men standing guard. But I had ignored her then because I knew most of them probably already knew who she was with, I was one of the men that people recognised on sight and associating with me puts her at risk so it wasn’t just to prevent her from running but also to make sure no one hurts her. And now I wanted to test her out. To know what she’ll do with her new found freedom that I was giving her. Even though it will be an illusion, for her it will be real enough.As I sat behind my desk, I folded my hands and looked at Ephraim. In the past, there ha
Antonio“Antonio...”“Mmm?”“There is this new place that has opened up in downtown that everyone is going to after the classes. Can I go?”“Of course. I told you, you can go anywhere you want to go. I’ll tell Ephraim to take you.” I replied, feeling a smile turn up my lips at the way she asked for my permission.She sat up, slipping out of my hold. And even though it annoyed me, I opened my eyes to look at her. Her flawless back was to me and I couldn't help but trail down my fingers on the curve of her spine and smiled when she shuddered. Without looking at me, she said, “I, actually, don't want him to come with me.”I narrowed my eyes on her back. Grabbing the back of her nape, I pulled her back until she was lying and then I sat up on my elbow to look down at her as I asked, “Are you planning to run away?”She rolled her eyes. She actually rolled her eyes and gave me a smile that made my cock hard, again. She said, “If I wanted to leave, I would've left that night.”It was three n
AntonioI stood near the windows and looked down at her. Ephraim had given her his jacket that she had wrapped around her to protect herself from the cold. She was looking back at the castle from time to time, and sometimes her gaze would go up to the terrace but she didn't turn to look in the direction of the bedroom which was on her left. And even if she had looked I doubted she would be able to make me out in the darkness of the bedroom.I have no fûcking idea why I said what I said. I didn't know what got into me to let her leave. I just fûcking forced her to go. But when I saw her bandaged hand... I wasn’t lying. Seeing her hurt messes with me in a way I couldn’t explain. It was like going back in the past and seeing all the blood and feeling the pain. Being helpless, that's what it felt like.I wasn't prepared to say any of the things I told her but unlike her I was mature enough to recognise the truth when it smacked me in the face every time I looked at her, kissed her, touche
Erica“What does that mean?” He questioned, his golden brown eyes frowning down at me. “What are you talking about?”I stared at him for a few seconds, if I didn’t know better I would really believe that he has no idea what I was talking about. The way he looked so confused, like he had done nothing wrong, like he didn’t know what I was talking about, like he hadn’t left me in the bed only to be with her. I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I sat up and slipped out of the bed. Sitting there with him so close wouldn’t give me enough strength to keep my anger. But even while I stood and he sat there on the bed, he was almost my height and just as big.“I saw you with her.” It took more effort than it should have to say her name. “Nicole. The way she was touching you. Kissing you. She kissed you...” I couldn't hide the pain as I said those words. And once again the image of her materialized in my mind, the same image that had been haunting me, that had forced me to slam my fist
EphraimErica pushed past me and walked away to the exit I was pointing out instead of going through the one where Antonio was standing close to. Nicole’s eyes met mine, smug and taunting. She said, “You should go after her before you lose his toy. I heard it’s very expensive.”I took a step closer to her and she sucked in a nervous breath. I had never interacted with her, apart from the times when Antonio needed another set of hands in an act that he put up in the club with her as the submissive for the night. “Stay away from her. If Antonio knew what you just did—”“Save your threats, he already made his.” Her nostrils flared as she looked over my shoulder. “I don’t understand what you see in her. She is not even Italian, also he bought her from an auction, how could you take her side over mine when she’s nothing but his sex slave.” “She is anything but that. Did you see her in chains or kneeling at his feet like you did so often?”Anger flashed in her eyes as she glared at me. H
EricaI woke up sprawled in the middle of the bed with blankets wrapped around me and sun shining through the parted curtains. Gathering my hair to the one side, I sat up and looked around the bedroom. The basket from which I had eaten number of sweet things was still on the bedside table and it reminded me of how Antonio had fed me the baked soft cookies with his own hands while I was curled up in his lap. I took my gaze off the basket to our clothes that were all over the place last night but now we’re folded and placed on the bench near the bathroom door, but there was no sign of Antonio.Deciding to get up and start the day, I slipped out of the bed and made my way to the bathroom. For the first time, I didn't sleep nakéd after sex and still Antonio had taken me in his arms, surrounding me with his big body as we slept. When I came out of the bathroom, I opened the closet door to find a selection of his shirts but there were a few dresses and jeans and tops too. I picked out a bla