Chapter 2

Leila

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Damien shouldn’t be here. His father was Tony Smith, an American—not Italian. I knew that much, yet here he was standing before me in flesh, cloaked in a name that ignited fear at every nook and cranny of Las Vegas.

Leonardo Alvaro.

Of every monster in the Alvaro family, Leonardo was the worst. The most brutal. The most feared. There was a saying that you must have committed a grave sin to cross paths with Leonardo.

It never sounded like Damien.

Damien was the boy who ran late to school because he was helping an old woman cross the road. The boy who returned home covered in dirt because he spent his time searching for a lost puppy that wasn’t even his.

The boy who refused to leave my side when I was down with a fever.

My breath hitched. The air was thick. Too thick. But this wasn’t the time for this. No. I gulped down my panic. Desperately, I stepped forward.

“Damien,” I called his name.

Like the name was foreign to him,     Damien flinched—faintly but not unnoticed.

“Please let me go. I’ll pay you back. I’ll pay every single dime my father owes. Just give me time.” My voice thickened as I gripped his wrist, which felt too cold.

The bodyguard prowled forward, a warning glowing in his gaze. But then he stopped as if commanded.

My chest heaved. My breath punctuated by my sobs. “My mother is sick. She…she needs me. She doesn’t have anyone else to take care of her. Please just let me go. I’ll pay back every dime. I already work three jobs, so I can add more. I swear life, I’ll pay.”

Each word—each sentence—hung in the air like a desperate prayer. Like damned murmurs of sinners seeking mercy in a church that had long stopped listening.

Silence lingered in the air, heavier than my desperate pleas.

Then, his lips curved into a vile smile. But it didn’t get to his eyes. His gaze was empty. Dead per se.

A chill hit the static of my hard spine, and my grip on his wrist loosened before my hands fell to my side.

“Good.” His voice colder than the stare in his eyes.

My stomach dropped.

“Wh…what?” I found it hard to process his words.

His brows still straight, and his posture didn’t tighten. Damien just remained there. Unbothered.

Then Damien’s lips parted. “It brings me great joy to know  something terrible is happening to her.”

My heart slammed against my ribs and my eyes flew wide.

My stomach churned with nausea. “Why?” I stuttered out the question. “Why would you say that? She was good to you. She took care of you. She loved  you and your brother like her own.”

The air thickened.

For once Damien’s unfazed expression broke as he knitted his brows. His gaze darkened and his fist clenched briefly.

“Ask your mother.” Another twisted smile burnt on his lips. “She’s the reason I ended up here.”

An electric jolted through every nerve in my body. My mother? “What do you mean?”

Damien didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the bodyguard. “Take her away and keep her in a good room,” he commanded.

The man wasted no time in throwing me over his shoulders.

“No—wait. No.” My fist thudded against the back of the man as he carried me towards the door.

“Damien, please…for my sake,” I screamed.

But he didn’t move. Not a blink. Not a care in the world.

******

The door swung open and the man tossed me on the bed. The mattress was softer than I expected and the scent of the clean bedsheet wafted into my nose.

Yet, they still offered no solace. Not when my mother was at home—alone. She wouldn’t have eaten or taken her medication. And my father wouldn’t care. I have come home too many times, to find him slumping on a chair too high to even feed himself let alone another.

The door opened and my head snapped up.  A woman, probably in her thirties, stepped in. Her maid uniform simple and her hair tightly packed in a bun.

“Find some clean clothes for her. Soap.” The man stared at my skin covered with filth.

The woman nodded before disappearing.

Returning his sharpened gaze to me, he said, “Stay put. Be good and don’t do anything stupid.”

When he shut the door behind him, I brought my knees to my chest and my breath stuttered as my tears trickled down my face, falling to my kneecap.

When I had seen Damien, for one naive second, I felt relieved that he might let me go.

His cold gaze slipped back into my mind. How did he become this? Then his words hammered in my head.

There’s no way my mother could have been the reason he ended up here. Aside from loving my father, my mother didn’t make horrible decisions.

The door swung open once more, and the maid dropped some clothes, soap, a toothbrush, and a towel.

“I’m Annette, you should freshen up and change into something clean.”

I didn’t respond. Just remained still. My knees still pressed against my chest.

Her gaze still on me. “I would advise you to do what Mr. Leonardo tells you. Many people have lost their lives for stressing him out.” She turned around and left the room.

I rose to my feet and headed into the bathroom. After taking my shower, I slipped into the clean clothes. Externally I felt better. Internally I was still a chaotic mess.

***********

Darkness snuck into the sky, replacing the setting sunlight. The door swooshed open and Damien stepped in.

His presence filled the room, heavy like he was oppressing the air. His musky scent with dark chocolate laced the air.

Damien’s eyes glided to me who had jerked up on the bed. “Change into it,” he commanded, tossing a gown onto the bed.

The gown lay on the bed, its tiny straps spread out and its red color glistening beneath the yellow light of the room.

A hard gulp and I dragged my gaze back to his face, which remained calm. “Where are we going?”

“Action first, question later.” He dipped his hand into his pocket.

When a heavy silence stretched between us, when I didn’t move because of the knots that had formed in my stomach, Damien answered.

“I’m taking you to a place where you’ll work and pay every dime.” His voice plunged low. Cold. “You’ll work until your bones break, till your skin bleeds.”

The air chilled and seeped into my core. Whatever this place was, whatever plan he had for me—I won’t like it.