4

ISLA

I was hated, greatly. 

If I didn't know it before, I definitely know it now. The other maids didn’t waste this opportunity to show me. The maids were rough with me. Their touch was much too aggressive, and they scrubbed me like they were trying to clean the color away from my skin, whimpering with each stroke. They whispered amongst themselves like I wasn’t there. 

“I thought she was here to serve!” One of them said, 

“Of course not! She only dressed as a maid to seduce master Bruce!” Another responded.

“Even though. That means that she won’t be a slave anymore. She’ll be his mistress. Why does she always get the good things?” 

“Yes, why am I the one blessed enough to be a slut for that pig?” I broke into their conversation with a snort. “Why don’t I give one of you the opportunity instead? Since you all badly want Master Bruce.” I called his name just the way the second maid had. 

They exchanged looks between themselves, then faced me once again with cold eyes and a sneer. They said nothing afterward but still handled me roughly. I hissed through it all, but soon the worst was over and I was taken out of the bathtub.

I opted to dry myself and get dressed without their help, but they blatantly refused. They had a job to do and feared what the masters would do if they didn’t complete it. So I let them be rough with me once more. 

When I was dried, oiled, and ed up, they donned on me a white negligee. It was transparent and stopped mid-thigh with a very deep cut at the breasts. I felt ashamed as I stared at myself through the mirror. Waist-length hair the color of walnut and all my curves on display in a nightwear I would never dream of owning. I looked like a real prostitute. That was what they were going for, after all.  

But the maids saw me differently. Their eyes traveled over my body with contempt.

“What a slut!” 

“The King picked the right job for her. She was useless as a maid anyway.”

“No wonder she can boldly fall into the arms of a royal,” one said.

“So proud of what you have beneath your clothes, you must be. How pathetic.”

With an eye roll, I turned away from their hate. They were the least of my problems. Once they saw I was uninterested in their antics, they hurriedly fled the room and I pounded on the meal that had been set for me. 

If I was going to escape, I needed as much strength as I could muster. If they thought I was going to sit back and allow them to use my anyhow, then they had a surprise coming. I knew better and I wasn't going to let everything that happened pull me down. 

When I was full, I paused for a beat to let the fruits and wine settle. Then, I set my plan into motion, hoping against any hiccups. I gently opened the door and when I saw it was a female maid guarding the door, I sighed in relief. 

“Hey!” I whispered.

The maid turned to me with raised brows.

“I heard Master Bruce fancies a threesome,” That was the best I could come up with “and we’re missing one person. What do you say you join in?”

Eager to sleep with a royal and alter the course of her life for eternity, the maid quickly nodded in agreement. She looked about the hallway to make sure it was empty first before coming into the room.

I told her where she could get towels and scrubs in the bathroom. While she prepared the water in the bath, I swung the serving tray I’d carried across her head and she fell down to the ground.

After I was sure she had passed out, I stripped her of her clothes and replaced them with mine. Pulling the cap lower over my face, I walked out of the palace undetected. 

At the gate though, the guards asked me for a maid’s pass. Seeing as I had never been a maid before nor had I come close to leaving the palace since I was enslaved by the Alpha King, I froze.

I heard the guard whisper in his radio that he’d caught a “deserted” and I took that as my cue to run.

Thankfully, the bath I’d received and the little food and rest I'd gotten, helped me run as fast as I could outside.  

I could hear the following closely behind me so I ducked behind a wall. I was in the courtyard and I could see a black car parked across the lawn. All I had to do was just run across and I'd be fine. I’d hide in the trunk of the car until it was outside the palace gates and then, I'd find my way from there. 

Yes, that’s what I was going to do. I counted to three in my head and ran for it. 

“Hey! Stop there!” I didn’t listen or turn back and I just kept running. They may catch me but at least I made an effort to run.  

Without an idea of who was inside the car, I headed in that direction. The windows rolled down as I approached the car and my eyes met with the brightest blue ones it had ever seen. Kian Duke was staring right at me from the back seat of his really expensive car and my insides turned to mush.

This was the same man I had bumped into earlier. Why didn't I recognise him? Did he recognise me? 

Time seemed to stand still as everything and everyone around me slowed. I faintly registered voices yelling behind me. Still, my steps slowed as only one thought filled my head.

“Mate,” Alex whispered.