Chapter 1 Dominic Montego

_Five years ago.

Peace at last. Isabella wiggled her toes and played with the bubbles from the overflowing jacuzzi. The Montego family was away on vacation.

The staff was not allowed to use the jacuzzi, and that included her. But who's going to tell? If ever she were to get caught she knew Frank Montego would laugh it off, but his wife, Rosetta would march to the heavens for her to get fired.

Then there were the two sons, Eric and Dominic. Eric stayed abroad and they didn't see much of him. Then there was the eldest son, Dominic. She rolled her eyes. The frightening Dominic.

She doubted Dominic even knew she existed. The only time he looked at anyone was to give them his icy glare. Apart from that, he kept to himself. Some said he ran the family business alongside his father.

A business that none of them knew what it entailed. But one thing was certain, The Montego family was rolling in dough. The family home had been a castle that got converted into a home. With twenty bedrooms, and four sitting areas. Three libraries, two massive kitchens, a home theater that no one used, and a few other rooms that were locked.

There was a sports arena, which Isablella suspected the boys must have used when they were younger. Although it was hard to picture a young Dominic. Maybe he was born old after all.

Some of the girls who had worked there long enough said if anyone pissed him off, the person disappeared from the face of the earth.

As juicy as the gossip mill was, no one dared speak out loud what they thought happened to the people who disappeared.

'Good thing is, he will have to notice me first before he can make me disappear.' Isabella thought.

And then there was Isabella's favorite room, the one with the indoor jacuzzi. She spent a lot of time in there cleaning even when there was no need.

Tonight an opportunity had presented itself. Mrs Brown, who was in charge of the girls was away, and most of the girls had taken the time to knock off early. Hence Isabella found herself enjoying the jacuzzi.

She closed her eyes and let out a moan. Now this was heaven. She could have stayed like that forever but she needed to feel the water against her stomach.

She turned while holding onto the headrest to face the pressure of the water.

But Hell and damnation, instead, she came face to face with a pair of a man's black lace-up shoes.

She wiped her face clear of any steam and let her eyes travel upwards. She prayed that she was drunk on joy and was hallucinating.

She blinked a couple of times and finally summed up the courage to look at the face that was bending down at her.

"Are you lost, Isabella?" Dominic asked, he sounded bored but his voice also dripped with something else, deep masculinity yes but, wait, he knew her name.

"I…I was.." She tried to say something when she saw him squirt down and for the first, she noticed he was holding a bottle in his hand that he put it down before he handed her a towel.

"Cover yourself." She flushed bright red. In her fear, she had forgotten that she was naked. She'd been stuttering with her chest out in the open for him to see. Now not only was she fired. She was going to hell to burn.

"Thank you." she wrapped the towel around herself as best as she could and walked out of the jacuzzi with as much dignity as she could master.

"I'm sorry," she said, at a total loss for words. At that moment, she didn't know whether to bow or courtesy as she made a hasty exit.

The minute she stepped out of the room, she bolted into a run, not caring who saw her running from the main house to the maid's quarters wrapped in a towel.

Once she reached her room, she closed the door stood behind it, and took a long calming breath. Why was Dominic, of all people at home when everyone was supposed to be on a holiday? She could just die with shame. And how did he even know who she was?

He was pissed out of his mind. If any of the rumors about him were true, she needed to pack and be out of this place. Bon voyage suckers, she wasn't disappearing because of a jacuzzi.

And as sure as the ground she stood on, she wasn't sticking around to find out what he would do.

She threw the towel on the makeshift table and ran to the small closet that housed her humble garments. Which consisted of her maid uniform, plenty of those. Her most prized charity shop second-hand buys, she was taking all of those.

She threw everything in a backpack together with her saved-up coins and notes. She was ready for the world.

'Hello world, here I come.' She said to herself.

She opened the door and the world stood outside her door in a crisp white shirt, the sleeves rolled up, revealing veiny arms adored with colorful ink. The bottle seemed to be a companion of sorts since it also made it to her door.

"Going somewhere?" was where she had been heading before he showed up. But she swallowed her tongue and looked at the steel eyes before she averted her eyes to look at her shoes and gasped in shock.

The mother fuckers had holes in them, when did they get holes? She could see her sock-covered toes poking out. Geez and she'd only worn the shoes a million times already.

She felt a hand pull her chin up to face that scary face she'd been avoiding.

"I asked if you were going somewhere, Isabella!" Dominic repeated.

"No, I was just coming out for fresh air." She lied.

"With that backpack?" his eyes looked at the bulging bag on her back.

"Oh this…" she said trying to come up with an excuse for carrying a backpack so late.

He walked towards her and automatically, she backed away, letting him inside her small room.

When she heard the sound of the room closing, the hairs on her back stood at attention.

"I've caught you twice tonight." He said and looked around the small room.

She stood at the far corner of the room, with her backpack still on her shoulders.

"What do you think I should do to you?"

He asked.

"Forgive me," she said the first thing on her mind. He smiled and It was the most beautiful sight.

Tonight was a lot of firsts for her. She never thought she could hear Dominic speak, let alone smile at something stupid she'd said.

"I think if I do that, you going to continue with your mischievous ways." He raised an eyebrow.

"No, sir, I've learned my lesson. I'll never use the jacuzzi ever again."

"That is why I'm here to make sure, you never do."

"You going to chop my head off then?" His

brows furrowed in confusion and she swallowed.

"Who have you been listening to?" something flashed across his face.

"No one, Sir." she should put a lid on that mouth while she still had it.

He moved to her bed and sat down on it. The mattress complained when his weight sank in.

"I have two options for you. Option A, I can tell Rosetta what you were doing and she can deal with you. Option B, I can punish you myself."

"What's Option C?" She didn't move from her corner.

"There is no option C. You only have those two options and choose wisely."

"What does your punishment entail?"

"It all depends on my mood."

"How's your mood now?"

"I'm getting pissed off."

She shuffled in the corner like a trapped mouse. Rosetta would fire her, but Dominic was likely to kill her, but if he was negotiating…

Maybe she could negotiate from disappearing. Besides he was drunk. She could easily overpower him.

She was about to speak when he got to his feet and took two paces to the door.

"I'll leave you to Rosetta then," he said with an air of finality.

She jumped and in an instant, she was standing in front of him with her hands on his chest to stop him from walking out.

"There will be no need for that." She said and he looked at his chest and her eyes followed, only then did she realize what she had done. She removed them like they were burning.

"I'm sorry about that." She mumbled.

"Let's get this over and done with then." He said and walked back to the bed and sat before taking a swing at his bottle.

"You can get rid of that backpack first. Then your shoes and pants."

Her brain froze at his words. He was not saying what she thought he was saying.

One look at his face had her throwing her backpack on the ground and kicking off her holey shoes. But she paused at the waistband of her pants.

He couldn't possibly have meant everything he said.

"Need help with that?" he asked her.

"No Sir," she dropped them to the ground.