AlessioChiara’s hand gently traces the edge of my mask, and my whole body goes tense. Everything in my head tells me that I should push her hand away, but there’s this mall voice inside my head that’s urging her to happen, wanting it to be over. . . .But then the door opens and I jump away from Chiara.I face the door, ready to be either angry or relieved, then I see Gio walking in casually. When he sees Chiara and me, he stops and awkwardly winces. “I’m sorry, Master. I should head back out--”“No, stay,” I say, and relief takes over. I face Chiara, who is staring at the floor. Now I feel horribly awkward just standing here. “You may leave now, Chiara. We’ll talk again soon.”Without another word, she promptly gets out of my office and closes the door behind her. Gio stares at the closed door before turning to me. “What happened, Master?”“We just negotiated,” I say airily, but my face feels hot. Fuck. I shouldn’t have trusted myself to be alone with her. She does things to me. Rea
Chiara“Be my girlfriend.”The initial shock of Alessio just entering my room like some kind of rogue animal already had my heart pumping like crazy, but the words he said hit me in a different way entirely.I stare at him with my mouth wide open. He’s still holding my shoulders, which is keeping me upright pretty successfully, but I still feel like I need to lie down or else I will faint right by his feet and never wake up.Is this a fever dream? Am I imagining things? I didn’t have breakfast, so maybe I’m having a hunger-induced hallucination?“Chiara?” Alessio prompts, shaking me. “Did you hear me?”“Huh?” I say absently. “What were you saying?”He exhales and lets me go. “I said, be my girlfriend. Do you have trouble hearing or did I stutter?”“You did not stutter.” I swallow hard. “It’s very clear now. It’s just that . . . what the fuck?”“What the fuck, what?” he demands. “Do you think that is a request? Because no. I came here to tell you that you are now my girlfriend. Now com
Chiara The sudden impact of my head hitting the wall brings a wave of nausea down my body. For a moment all I can do is blink and try to get rid of the specks that dance in my eyes. Noemi and Vittoria loom over me, closing the door behind them. “You fucking bitch,” Vittoria mutters. “I don’t know what gave you this arrogance but I’m going to beat it out of you!” With that, she reaches over and pulls my hair, but I catch her wrist just in time. Noemi sneaks out of nowhere and grabs the back of my shirt, tugging it hard and causing the neckline to push against my throat. I start to choke, and Vittoria takes that as her chance to pull me to my feet by my hair. She slaps me once, and in a daze, I try to retaliate by doing the same. But this just causes her to pull my sleeve and rip the seams of my shirt. They both laugh, and Noemi starts to tug down my pants, stripping me against my will. I know what they’re about to do. This is something they always took part in at Monamour when the
ChiaraWhen I go back to the room with the dress in a bag, Alessio is no longer there. The one waiting for me now is Gio.“Where is he?” I ask, trying not to show that I’m disappointed.“I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” Gio just says in a clipped tone. “Let’s go.”With that, he takes me back to the mansion. Marie and Kana meet me by the door, and when I arrive at my room, I see that they already prepared makeup and styling tools. Wordlessly, as though they’re told to be quiet, they both begin to work on me, assisting me in the bath first.When I’m done, Kana curls my hair and twists it up into an elegant knot with tendrils framing my face. My makeup is done by Marie, and it’s subtle, just highlighted by the red lipstick that’s the same color as my dress.Before leaving, Kana hands me a box. “From Master.”“Thank you,” I mutter, caught off guard. I look up at her to ask when she talked to him and if she knows where he is, but she leaves promptly.Really keeping a tight gag on things, h
Chiara Am I dreaming?This is the question that keeps popping up in my head as I blink rapidly. I haven't seen Dad in what feels like years, and now it seems like his features are all wrong. The only thing I remember now is his beaten-up face from the last night we saw each other. The night he betrayed me and gave me away as payment.All the resentment and the questions rise up my throat like bile, but the only thing that comes out of my mouth is, "What the hell are you doing here?"He eagerly sets down the tray on the nearest table, gaping at me like a fish out of water. "Chiara. Oh, god I've been looking for you everywhere!"He tries to reach out to me but I slap his hand away. "Do not come any closer, or else I'll call the guards and tell them you're being a creep."Visible hurt flashes across Dad's eyes but I find that I don't care. Why would I? He literally tried to pay his debt by giving me away. He only ever cared about saving his own skin."I'm sorry for everything," he start
AlessioThe whole night is now ruined.I know that I basically just hired Chiara to be my pretend girlfriend for the night, but I feel oddly bereft when I watch her walk away. Everything inside me screams I should come and follow her, but Evelyn puts her hand on my arm and stops me.“She’ll be fine,” she murmurs soothingly, motioning her guards to stand back and leave us alone. “Stop worrying so much about her--”“She’s not exactly familiar with this kind of scene, Evelyn,” I cut her off, trying not to sound too cold. “I am her protector.”She grits her teeth but she disguises that as a smile. “Well, I do hope she’s alright with you having . . . private arrangements with me, like we agreed on.”I tilt my head. “I’m not sure I agreed to that, Evelyn. We did talk about me coming here, and I did. I think we both know what you’re asking for, but I am a committed man. You are a beautiful, wonderful woman, but my heart belongs to her.”I expect her to throw a tantrum because of that, but sh
ChiaraWhen I heard someone going into the bathroom, I immediately crouched under the sink, holding the fire extinguisher in my hand tightly like it was my last line. Because it just might be.I can’t see who entered the room, but I can just about make out a figure kneeling on the floor and dipping his fingers in the pool of blood. He gets up and opens the cubicle doors one by one as though to inspect, so I decide that it’s my time to stand and force this fucker to leave.“Don’t move,” I threaten, reaching up to position the fire extinguisher over his head.He turns around, which surprises me, so I whack him on the forehead with the metal case.“Fuck!” the man yells, and he sounds familiar.I drop the fire extinguisher in shock. “Alessio?”“Chiara.” He sighs and I can feel his hand on my arm. “Why the hell did you do that?”“I. . . .” I falter, shaking my head. “I didn’t know who entered and I got scared and I--”“It’s fine, let’s just get out of here.”With that, he pulls me out of t
Chiara Alessio takes a deep breath, holding it in like he’s bracing himself for something that will hurt. A wave of apprehension comes over me, and for a moment I hesitate. But he turns to face me and I can still see a clear signal. He wants me to do this. He’s begging me to do this. My hands are shaking. My breathing is also erratic. But I still gather every ounce of courage I have to hook my fingers behind the mask and slowly ease it away from his face, letting it fall to the floor with a soft thud. Then I look down to see his face for the first time. And Alessio de Marco is the most beautiful man I have ever seen. There is no other way to describe him. He’s just . . . beautiful. Like something so good that it’s almost unreal. High cheekbones, sculpted jaw, straight nose, pink lips slightly parted. The thing that remains to be the most mesmerizing thing about him is his eyes, which are deep-set and more striking than I thought, emphasized by eyelashes as dark as his eyebrows.