"Come closer"I remembered that Sabrina told me to listen to his every order and answer his every question honestly. I braced myself and walked to him, halting when I was only two steps away from him.He breathed out softly, appraising me up and down once again. "What is your name?""Natalya Martinez" I answered"And Nikolai and Sofia were your...?"I swallowed. "My parents...""How old are you?""I turned nineteen last month,"Answer every single question honestly, Natalya."Hm..." a deep masculine hum that was enough to scare me even more if that was possible. "I have known Nikolai Martinez since I was born... he never mentioned you. I have been to his house a few times and I never saw you there before..."My mouth dropped open, my heartbeat got erratic; I breathed in to calm my nerves.How do I tell someone that I have spent my entire life locked up in a bedroom and I was only allowed to go outside of my bedroom when it was time for me to eat?He took a step toward me and that made
In the world that I grew up in, there weren't many things that surprised me but somehow this did.All this time, I have been thinking about Natalya was a pawn that Bercado had sent my way but she was telling the fucking truth. Every word she had said was true.We dug up Nikolai Martinez's security camera footage, there was only one in the house, it was set in his living room. After going through hours of footage, my men only found Natalya appear in it three times a day, just like she had said- breakfast, lunch, and dinner.I shut the laptop's screen and rolled my neck to loosen the kink. I lit up a cigar and lodged it in my mouth.Sabrina entered my office, it had been three days since Natalya Martinez has been staying in my house. I hadn't seen her after the first day in my office. I thought that all her crying and pleading was fucking fake but now that I know the truth, it amused me.That girl was as innocent as the day she was born and the sudden urge to ruin that innocence crept u
Marrying Hellen Russell was a smart move for our business, so, I had to fucking swallow this pill. I don't have to have a relationship with Hellen. She will be my wife in the title and she will bear my children. I don't have to play fucking house with her.Father seemed too pleased with his plans and that is when I decided to speak up. "I have one condition"Paul raised an eyebrow. "A condition?" he looked between Pops and me.My father cleared his throat. "What condition, Alessandro? You know everything is...---""We will get married after a year""A year?" Paul repeated."Why?" father asked."I need some time. Hellen and I will get engaged, but we will get married after a year. If you don't agree with this then I will---"Hellen fucking Russell cut me off. If she is going to be my wife, she better learns some fucking respect. "Alessandro s right, I need some time as well. I'll graduate from university in six months, so, I don't mind if we wait."I turned to her as she beamed up at m
"You are free to do whatever you want," Sabrina told me.My mouth fell open and I was out of words. I didn't know how to react. No one had ever said those words to me. Hearing her words, I brightened up a little despite still mourning my parents' death.I was free to do whatever I wanted...I wanted...When I was locked up in my room I used to think about all the things I'd do when I'd get out of there. Now that I had the chance, I had no idea what I wanted to do first. I looked around, taking it all in.I have been living here at my dad's friend's house for four days now and everything has been so surreal. I have never lived this life before, there is a single lock on the door that is for me not for anyone to lock me inside.I don't really have anything to do, I roam the gardens in the morning just like I always wanted to, it was nice to feel the sunlight on my skin. There is a huge library in the house, it has so many kinds of books, the kind of books I have never seen before or rea
Alessandro put his hands in his pockets and strolled toward me. He stopped when he was at the foot of the couch. I slightly pulled my legs more into myself, so they won't touch him.Both of his big, inked hands landed on the armrests on either side of me. I clutched my book a little more tightly and held my breath, slightly startled.He was so close that his smell lingered in my nose, he smelled like heady, expensive cologne, it was so clean and masculine. I just couldn't describe his smell in any other way."Look at me," he said in his authoritative tone.I'm pretty sure that any person will do whatever he wants them to do whenever he uses such a tone. Unable to not listen to him, I looked up.His jet black hair mopped over his forehead contrasting beautifully with the bluest eyes I have ever seen. It was the first time I was looking at him from this close, I took in every single feature of his. He had a really sharp bone structure, the dark stubble only added to his good looks.I ma
I paced back and forth in my supposed bedroom. I will leave soon, go back to my home. I shouldn't get too comfortable here like I did with the library.You are sitting in my chair...God damn it! I should have asked for permission first.I glanced at the wall clock and it was almost midnight. He asked me to come to his office at night but he didn't specify exactly when.I combed my hair and smoothed my dress before I stepped out of the bedroom. I descended the stairs and then stopped, is it appropriate to go to his office in the middle of the night?"Hey, sweet cheeks."I jumped up at the deep voice from behind me, I turned and saw the man who was with Alessandro earlier in the library.He was almost as handsome as Alessandro but less intimidating, he and Alessandro could almost pass off as brothers -maybe they were brothers- but this guy had a friendly aura, the kind of personality that one can easily warm up to, Alessandro, on the other hand, seemed like he was carved with ice.I tu
It's only been a few days but I have come to realize that people knew so much, there was so much in this world that I know nothing of. People who worked here looked at me like I was some kind of stupid animal, it made me feel embarrassed and less about myself. I didn't like this feeling at all.I wiped the single tear that slid down my cheek and continued on my way to Alessandro’s home office. Once outside, I knocked on the large wooden door and waited."Come in..." came his low manly voice.Heaving a sigh, I entered the office and looked up to see him sitting behind his desk. He was busy working on something as he typed on his laptop. My dad had one exactly like it.He seemed angry, irritated over something. He wasn't wearing his coat, his tie was hanging loosely around his neck and he had folded his sleeves, revealing more of his tattoos.How many tattoos does this man have?I cleared my throat. "Is it a bad time?""Yes..."Blunt.I nodded. "I could come by later...""No, spit it ou
I have no qualms about my character; I have always been an outlaw.But there are some days when I have some clarity and I realize that whatever I am about to do is wrong on so many fucking levels, but I still end up fucking doing it and have no fucking regrets.Today was one of those days as I saw Natalya Martinez running freely in my vast garden, enjoying the sunshine on her skin, laughing uncontrollably as my vicious hounds ran with her.My hounds were trained to kill, they could rip off a man's jaw with a single strike of their paw but somehow this girl has turned them into little puppies.Her dark long hair was flowing behind her and she wore a pink dress that hugged her every curve. It was a really tight fucking dress, Sabrina is a fucking bitch for that.There was something so fucking forbidden about her. As if I touched her, it would be fucking over for me.She was eighteen, too damn innocent and pure for me. She has never been with a man, never been touched, never had a cock i
I showered up, getting rid of the soreness of my muscles. I had never worked out in my life before and exerting my body so much in a single day has taken its toll. I had cramps everywhere.I heard some voices coming from downstairs. I couldn't recognize them. I mulled over the fact that I should go and check it out because it could be Nikolai's business partner. His business partners were not the kind of people you want to make a conversation with.But then I heard a shrill female voice.I went out of the door and stood at the top of the stairwell. Still, all I heard were the voices. I went downstairs and saw a tall, lean middle-aged man with a young blonde woman standing beside him. I could only see their side profiles. The woman turned and I sucked in a sharp breath.It was Grace Russell, Nikolai's wife-to-be. I know because I had attended their engagement. Her face was engraved at the back of my mind, the sight when Nikolai had slipped the ring on her finger replayed in my head on
"Have you ever worked out before?" he asked.I looked around with wide eyes. "Does running around in the gardens count?""No,""Then no, I have not""Come on, let's do a little warm-up first then I'll teach you how to box."My mouth hung open. "Box? As in boxing?"He heaved a sigh. "I want you to learn how to defend yourself, Natalya."I thought for a while before I nodded. Turns out, I don't even know what warm-up is, he had to tell me everything. The thing that annoyed me the most was his tone, he was speaking to me like I was a child and repeating his words so, that I'd understand clearly.Another thing that annoyed me was his toned muscles, and his stupid sculpted chest.When it was time to step into the boxing ring, Alessandro handed me a pair of boxing gloves. I was about to put them on but he came to me and put them on me himself as if I don't know how to put the stupid gloves on.I rolled my eyes and out of nowhere Alessandro gently smacked the back of my head. "Roll your eyes
Someone pounded on my bedroom door waking me up from my deep slumber. I groaned and stuffed my face back into the pillow to block out the sound coming from the door. The knocking intensified, whoever it was, didn't really have much patience.I sat up and glanced at the wall clock. It was only six o'clock in the morning. I rubbed my eyes to rid of the grogginess, tossed the duvet aside, got to my feet, and headed for the door. I opened it and was met with an unknown face. She was wearing the uniform the household help used to wear."What?" I asked."Don Alessandro had requested you to freshen up and wear this before you come downstairs."Frowning, I took the clothes from her and noticed that they were gym clothes. I heaved a sigh, I liked it better when I could say no to him but I dug my own grave when I promised him that I'd listen to him and follow his rules but that's all there was to it.I'm not the same girl who had a massive crush on him.I closed the bedroom door and glanced at
"I'll make sure to do everything he did to you... but his torture will be a hundred times worse," he whispered softly.His one hand was in my hair while the other was on my cheek caressing it with his knuckles. I leaned into his touch, feeling the security and comfort I used to feel when I first met him."They all took turns in beating me up, they laughed whenever I screamed in pain," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped down to the ground.His hand left my hair as he cupped my face with both of his hands. He tugged me closer. "I will make their death an object of ridicule."I looked into his eyes. "Promise?"He let out a deep breath with a hint of a smile."Promise," he declared. "Do you want to see it happen?"I considered it and then shook my head. I don't think I have the stomach for that much violence. "No...""Do you want to go home now?"I looked up at him. It's hard to forget what Alessandro did to me too and the fact that he was engaged was the hardest pill I eve
I had my headphones on as I continuously flipped the pages of the book that was before me. I hadn't read a word, the music blasted in my ears blocking out all the other sounds.I slammed the book shut and got off my bed. Alessandro had called Sabrina earlier, I knew that he did because Sabrina and I hadn't talked after his whole engagement fiasco.I pretended to be asleep while Sabrina waited for me.I didn't wake up until she finally gave up and left the house.I got to my feet, straightened out my dress, and headed downstairs. His house was crawling with his soldiers, they all tried to avoid making eye contact with me.They were moving some stuff into the house, some furniture, suitcases, and whatnot. Was Alessandro redecorating?I hopped onto the couch and put on the TV at full volume. Someone grabbed the remote out of my hand and turned the volume down.I huffed and looked up to see Alessandro looking down at me. He placed both of his hands on the headrest of the couch and dipped
She turned her back towards us and went into the kitchen. Probably to cook breakfast for herself, she didn't know how to cook shit."I'll be right back," I said to Scott, who nodded still clenching his hands like he wanted to punch something or someone. It won't be Natalya, I will fucking break his hand off before he does that.I followed her into the kitchen and saw her using her cell phone while she placed some of the ingredients on the counter. It looked like she wanted to make pancakes. She played a video and placed it before her while she followed whatever the lady in the video was narrating."Do you remember the rules?"She stopped whatever she was doing and glanced at me, her facial expression was bored, uninterested."I remember" she answered and before I could say anything she added. "But I could care less for them"Rage coursed through my veins. She was testing me, trying hard for me to slip up so she could hold it against me."Natalya, don't disrespect my men. I won't toler
I'm weak.Too fucking weak.I let her get too close to me.Until recently, I only ever really loved one woman in my life. My mother, I respected her, loved her.Anastasia Costello.I thought she was the only one who really knew me, the only one that can tear down my walls. I thought my ability to love ended with her, and I was fine with that.I've watched her writhing in pain, struggling to breathe, tears leaking out of her eyes but she couldn't move. My mother fought long and hard with the disease before she lost that battle. I thought that was it. My only weakness, the only woman I ever loved is dead and now I'm fucking invincible.But then she happened.The morning Nikolai Martinez died, I didn't fucking know what I was getting myself into when I brought his daughter into my home. I hadn't given it a second thought, I didn't even know what I was going to do with her.The men in my circle had many ideas about what I should do with her, but I didn't fucking agree with them. I thought
"I'm sorry, Angel, I'm sorry I let them take you, I'm sorry I wasn't there," his voice was so low that I barely heard it even though his mouth was right next to my ear."No! You are not sorry!" I choked out through my sobs. "I know I don't matter to you, I know I don't mean anything to anyone, least of all you!""Shh... I'll make it alright, I promise,"I tried to shake my head. "You can't! You can't""I will, I need you to trust me, okay?" he placed soft kisses on my temple."I hate you!""I know, I'll fix it""Nothing can fix this, nothing can fix me!""I will, Angel, I promise you.""I hate you so much.""I know.""I mean nothing to you.""That's a lie.""I don't want this, Alessandro.""I know.""You scare me too.""I know, Angel, I will make it alright""I don't want this, Alessandro. I don't want to be here.""I'm not letting you leave ever again."I cried harder. "Why?""I just don't want to," he answered softly."I don't want to get abducted again.""I won't let that happen."
Another day...Another morning...Still, it did nothing to calm the turmoil I felt inside of me. Everything around me was just the same but I didn't feel the way I used to. I feel hateful all the time, anger is the only emotion coursing through my veins right now.Ten days, I spent ten days in that cell but it felt like a year. It felt as if that cell didn't belong in this world, time passed by slowly there.I looked out of the window and felt nothing... this view always brought me comfort but now it did nothing to me. Nothing to calm the storm brewing inside of me.I remember looking out of this window and dreaming of a life outside these four walls. I thought it'd be a fairy tale. I thought my parents were wrong and the world out there was anything but evil."The world is a dangerous place and you are easy prey, Natalya. You are innocent and naive and you lack physical strength. This world will chew you alive."My dad wasn't wrong. He wasn't wrong at all but he betrayed me too. He l