Chapter 22

LEILA

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“Don’t touch me, I have no business here”

The voice becomes louder as someone is thrown into my room, I jumped off my bed trying to hide my phone

Might be a threat

This whole situation felt like one giant messed up game.

This time it was a different woman, she reminded me of Tracy making me feel like a trapped bird.

I pretended I hadn’t seen her shoved in, focusing on my phone, but I could feel her presence behind me.

I glanced at my phone screen again, catching her reflection “this place looks disgusting, was this even cleaned?” Her voice dripping with disdain.

I turn to face her.

Blonde.

I told my eye, for some reason the bitchy attitude seemed to gravitate towards the blondes and redheads.

No idea why that was a thing in my head.

She proposed a smile which didn’t reach her eyes, I could tell it was a fake polite gesture that screamed

I’d rather be anywhere else than in your company.

I perched on the edge of the bed, pulling out my phone again, because I had hidden it when I noticed she was looking, my finger scrolled through the screen and I shifted to the far corner of the bed, curling my leg against my chest, trying to lose myself in the book I’d been reading.

She didn’t exactly sit, it was more like she jumped onto the bed, the spring screaming under her weight, then she crawled towards me, that fake smile still plastered on her face.

This time though, there was something different in her eyes, more like curiosity.

She leaned forward, deliberately blocking my phone screen with her face making me stare at her.

“Hi hi” she chirped, finally her face moves away but I followed her gaze as she settled into a position almost mirror into mine, legs curled but without a phone.

I waved a hand, pretending to be all nonchalant and offered her a small smile back.

“You got a phone, I see” she gestured to the phone in my hand and I nodded, turning my attention back to my screen, though a little seed of curiosity had been planted. She seemed surprisingly cool considering she’d just been thrown into a stranger’s room.

But the ewish word used in context for my room, yeah there was definitely a part of her I already disliked.

Still might as well see what her deal was.

Before I could even register what was happening she snatched my phone right out of my hand.

I stared at her, a mix of confusion and annoyance bubbling up, she ran, she was actually running with my phone.

“Give me that!” I stood up, lunging for it, because I knew exactly what I was reading and it’s something I won’t want someone else to see, something seriously steamy, the kind of erotic stuff that made you blush even when you’re alone.

Dirty, naughty, stripping erotic.

She glanced down at the scene, then back at me, a mischievous glint in her eyes, she does the same act again, back at the screen and back at me.

“Someone had some cocky things to explain” she said with a playful smile as she walked back towards my bed, finally handing my phone back.

I didn’t need to give any explanation but I couldn’t help it too as a laughter burst out of me who even says “cocky things?”

“Which of the brothers got you?” She asks settling back onto the bed.

“Damien Alvaro.”

“Leonardo?”

“Yup.” I swung my leg back and forth, then turned to her abruptly.

“Italian?” She nodded.

“Then how did you get here?” She was asking a lot of questions at once already, my quiet place feeling like a noisy market, but quite interesting, not so boring at least.

“Well, it had to be Stefano.” I knew she was talking about Gerald, even though she hadn’t used his name directly. I only knew him as Gerald, the quieter, more reserved brother, because he was my brother.

 “A family got this deal signed with my uncle. They wanted me to do some… trafficking. And seeing as I got caught at the border, he came to my rescue. To cancel the deal, well, he took me in. I’ve been in a room, not this one, and I’m actually shocked I haven’t seen you around.” My eyes widened. That meant there were girls in practically every room in this massive building.

“How many girls are here?”

“Not just girls. There are rooms with guys too. Just like Matteo, your bodyguard, I guess.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because every time I’m being moved around to do one thing or another, I see him but not you, guess you’re always locked up and well, I was once a stripper for Madam Cha. Then she automatically removed me because I knowingly didn’t do anything I was asked to.”

I smirked, definitely a feisty bitch “and you didn’t get shot?”

“Well I’m a strong commodity, if I’m shot it gets to bring war, and I press to do other things.”

My head swiveled and my gaze drifting towards the door.

Damien?

Maybe she’d chosen to warm Damien’s bed or maybe Gerald but if felt more like Damien seeing the set of tools he has.

Disgusting.

I try shifting my mind away from that, Damien definitely had more say around here and Gerald didn’t seem to like any of this life he had been brought into.

Just guessing.

“Don’t let your thoughts take your head off Stacy”

I laughed a genuine one this time, because she had just given me a name when I hadn’t told her anyone.

“It’s Leila”

“Right, Leila” she grinned

“The Alvaro’s aren’t much bad like I thought, but when they want to be, they can, but not so bad and I get to stay here and work on everything, I haven't quite been assigned to anything specific yet but I know that soon he will. Gerald is a gentle guy, although ruthless when he needs to be, but honestly I’m scared of everyone.  The Alvaro’s are not people you should joke with, I think I’ve said that before” she giggled, while I stay quiet, a knot of fear tightening in my stomach.

“So tell me,” she finally said changing the subject “how the hell did you manage to get a phone snuck in for you?”

“Damien gave it to me.”  I stared at her in my girly most vulnerable way “Yeah, Damien.”

“That means he has an attraction to you. Because I’ve watched him blow the head off everyone who goes beyond boundaries.”

I turned to face her fully, trying to process everything she was saying. The green in her eyes was bright and shiny, almost unnerving. She really was pretty, in a sharp, edgy kind of way. It wouldn’t surprise me if they let her call some of the shots, or at least act as if she did.

“What’s for breakfast?” She asked, and then I suddenly realized I was starving.

“Nothing yet. Quite surprising to me too.”

“What’s for fun here? On my side of the building, well, I write.” My eyes widened. She didn’t exactly look like a writer.

“I write. I have some major books on platforms.”

“So why couldn’t you, like, use the money to get yourself out of this shit?” I asked, genuinely curious.

She smirked. “If you’re owned by the Alvaros, there’s no way out. And this time, it’s just a hotter pen and paper. I asked for that, and it was given. Check out my books.” She took my phone and typed some names on the platform I’d been reading from, then handed it back.

“No way.” I stared at the screen, my jaw practically on the floor.

“Every way.” She laughed out loud. “Can you even see your face right now?”

I pretended to regain my composure, smoothing my expression, then we both burst out laughing again.

“How the hell did you write this?” I asked, scrolling through the pages of “Tempting Obsessions.” “Like, I mean, I get that you’re a writer, but this book… this has to be in my top ten reads.”

She placed a hand dramatically over her chest, her green eyes sparkling. “That sounds sweet.”

Just then, the door flew open, banging against the wall.

Gerald stood in the doorway, his face a mask of fury, he looked like he could kill anyone in sight at that exact minute. The laughter in my throat died down.

This couldn’t be good.