Chapter 20

LEILA

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Ugh. Dragging myself towards the bathroom felt like trying to move through thick syrup, my body feels so so weak at this moment, even if I did nothing except laying on the bed.

Three days.

Three damn days since I last saw  or heard from Damien not like I wanted to but it feels so strange and dirty, every time I even thought about what happened between us, that whole messed up night, my brain just replayed it on loop.

But what really got under my skin that the sex… yeah the sex was actually something I couldn’t stop thinking about.

Seriously?

“Arghhhhhh” I groaned, squeezing the toothpaste onto my brush, while I scrubbed the sleep grime off my teeth which actually was the same routine every morning.

Except, you know the food magically appears outside my door part, which was new, it’s always the knock and take we had worked with now it feels so different like the person was tired or sees me as a maniac, maybe Matteo does too, but he’s certainly not the food giver.  

After rinsing my mouth, I checked my reflection then shuffled over to the bed with my new book laying in my phone pretty well and it was time to dive back into that world.

Well it was intense, even for an erotica, way beyond fifty shades, maybe even a little twisted because the girl in the story, she was lost, didn’t know what she wanted and somehow sleeping with her stepbrother was her way of figuring things out.

Then bam!

Turns out he wasn’t really her stepbrother, cue the fireworks, part of me kinda got it, the whole t tiny to make meaning of thing and getting entangled with her step brother.

But her life was million miles different from mine right now.

It might look like we’re following a similar part but hate not the case here.

A jolt of hunger rushing to the rushed through me as I moved to the door, it’s almost noon and that clicks that it’s good delivery time.

I peeked through the peephole, I half hoped for a call, anything to break the silence and then I saw it again.

The black Rose and another of those creepy threat letters.

My breath hitched.

Carefully I closed the door behind me, the fear of the threat owner coming to light from behind, my hand was seriously trembling as I scanned both ends of the hallway, heart pounding as I unfolded the letter.

“You should count yourself lucky today, I had a surprise planned, something you and your souls would have loved to meet. But this time, you get a pass. The moment Damien gets wind of this, though, consider yourself dead.

Don’t even think of looking for me, every attempt will be seen as you begging for more of this and trust me, it will get much more worse.The more you look the more I’m drawn to blowing your brains out, be careful with every damn step you take outside that door”

My eyes widened.

Who the fucking hell was doing this?

Still staring at the letter, I noticed a pair of shoes right in front of me, different from the usual guards’ boots. The trousers looked expensive, a dark, tailored fabric I hadn’t seen around here before. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat, my hands started to shake so badly I almost dropped the letter.

He was finally here.

Whoever “he” was and the only thing I could think to do was face it. Even if it meant this was the end. It definitely wasn’t Damien or Gerald or any of the other guys who worked here.

 “What are you doing?” I jumped, clutching the rose to my chest like a shield. My head snapped up, and I stared straight into his eyes.

“Fuck” he breathed out, with my exclamation, his gaze locking into mine.

“What the hell are you doing here? Your food is right there.” I gestured vaguely towards the tray on the floor, but honestly food was the last thing on my mind.

I was in some serious danger here and I couldn’t even tell Damien without making things ten times worse.

“I… can I speak to you more privately?” He looked at me like I was speaking another language. Maybe I was, what explanation could I even give?

I shoved the letter in his hands “This, I keep getting death threats” his angry face softened, a different feeling from what it was.

“What’s this?” He took the crumpled paper, his brow squeezing as he read it.

“Since when has this been happening?”

“Found one here a few days ago, they’ve been piling up since and I think you should come in” his cold look returning before vanishing just as quickly.

“I can’t do that”  he stepped back slightly handing the letter back to me  “I’ll get killed without a second thought if I’m found here for so long” I knew what he meant and he was right.

Damien didn’t exactly hand out participation trophies.

“Is there something else that serves as punishment here aside from killing?” My voice was so tiny and same as his, even if it’s the deep version, trying not to alert anyone.

I saw a guard approaching from the end of the hall, panic engulfed me as I grabbed Matteo’s arm, pulling him inside and slamming the door shut.

It wouldn’t look good if anyone saw us talking.

I picked up the food tray, forcing a smile at the guard who passed by seemingly oblivious.

I open the door and moved back inside, I nudged the door closed with my leg dropping the tray on the table, Matteo just stood there, his eyes dropping to my panties.

My eyes widened, I quickly picked it off  the bed, trying to hold it tight in my hand to erase the memory of it off his brain.  

“That isn’t a nice thing to do in a lady’s room” I moved backward as he places his hand behind his back, still waiting for what made me push him inside here.

I cleared my throat, feeling like I was about to moderate some kind of bizarre meeting “I need to understand what’s going on and for me to do that I might be needing your help” I offered him a small smile, a hopeful and reassuring one.

“And how do I even come into play here?” I shoved what was in my hand inside the closet and then walked back to the desk, his eyes following my every move.

“I think you should just report this to Damien. Its really more serious than I thought”

I turned to the drawer where I’d been hiding the other letters from the last two days, pulling them out and shoving them along with the black roses into his hands.

“It’s been up for days?”

“Three days and counting, I can’t tell Damien, Matteo, he can’t know about this because…because it concerns my life and I have to live no matter what” I sank onto the edge of the bed biting my nails.

Anxiety always made me ridiculously sleepy.

“I have to leave, I’ll look out for this” he carries the letter above his heading referring to it “you should be careful and safe”

I nodded walking to the door to peek out before he left. “Thank you so much, I’ll talk to you when I can” he nodded, not looking back as he slipped out of the door.

At least I had him on my side now, the fear hadn’t vanished but it had shifted like a weight being moved to a less crushing spot. I walked over to the food picking at it absently, my mind still calculating and racing.