~ISABELLA~
A FEW HOURS AGO... "What happened to that boyfriend of yours? I never see him come around anymore." Sarah asked during our shift at the club. Sarah had been working at the club for over a year while my father found the job for me 5 months ago so that I'd be able to help around in the house, and because of that, Tom Creed, my boyfriend, had been distant. "He's a douchebag that got cold balls when he saw me cleaning the floors the other night when he came with his friends," I rolled my eyes. "So, he stopped coming because you weren't working behind the counter anymore?" She exclaimed. "Can you believe it? I’m still surprised." "His father owns a bakery downtown. He could have at least got you a job there if he thought you were embarrassing him by working at a club.” “He’d rather watch me stay at home with nothing to do than help,” I huffed. “So selfish of him to turn around and be a control freak, yuck.” “I know…” My heart broke a little because I was in love with him. Everything was great between us until I got a job at the club. He started distancing himself from me as if I were a disease. When I tried to text or call him, he ignored me and never bothered to get back to me. So much for someone who said he was going to stick around through anything. While I was cleaning the floors, Sarah wiped the tables, and soon, we were done. It was already 8 PM, and people were starting to pour inside the club. The club only operated from 7 PM to 5 AM. So, when we were done cleaning for the opening, our manager would get us to serve people drinks or clean the boss' office until our shift was done. "Hey Isa, can you take care of the VIP tonight?" Bruise, the club manager queried. "Of course," I nodded and went to change my clothes in the changing room. When Sarah and I were given shifts to serve drinks, we had to dress up as the other waitresses and blend in. As much as I hated my job when it came to dressing up to encourage perverts of their perverted behavior, I had bills to pay, and my father didn't care what I had to do to make sure that I brought something to the table. So, I untied my hair and put on my tight and short jeans with a see-through crop top. I then looked at myself in the mirror and patted myself on the back to suck it up and get through this night like a big girl. When I was done, I put all my things in my locker, got my heels on, and then returned to the club. I went to the bar, got the most expensive bottle with four glasses, and went up to the VIP area. I already knew what they were going to order, and when I got there, I found the four friends in their usual seats with girls on their sides, except for one guy. "What do you have for us today, Bubbles?" "Romanèe Conti 1945," I put the bottle down with the glasses and avoided eye contact with him. "Do you mind pouring for us?" I lifted my head and looked at him, and when our eyes met, he smirked. There were a lot of rumors about Antonio Rodriguez, and the one that always sent shivers down my spine was that he once killed a man and held his beating heart in his hand until it stopped. "Of course." I smiled at him and took the bottle and opened it gently with the corkscrew. As I was busy opening the bottle, Antonio's eyes burned on my skin, but I didn't dare show that I was flushed. "Yay!" The girls who were there squealed when the bottle made a popping sound. I gently poured the wine into their glasses and laid the bottle down when I was done. "Thank you, Bubbles." He looked at me as he picked up his glass from the table and sipped. I took the tray and left. "That must have been nerve-wracking," Sarah whispered when we met downstairs. "What are you talking about?" "Antonio is the boss, remember?" "So?" We finally got to the counter and laid down our trays on the countertop. "Everyone working here tries to avoid him as much as possible. I can't imagine being near that man with a reputation such as his." "He likes staring at people's asses. There's nothing harmful in that." I rolled my eyes and spotted a table in the VIP that was starting to flood in with customers. "I have to go." "I'll be waiting for more scoop!" Sarah whispered behind me. To my lovely surprise, Tom was among the crew that just arrived in the VIP. He had a smirk on his face when he saw me approaching their table. And when I got to them, a girl got up from her chair and sat on his lap. I swallowed. "Welcome to Club Nightingale. What can I get you?" My throat was itching, and I felt a lump in my chest as I tried to keep the tears that were swelling up at the corners of my eyes when I realized that Tom had the guts to bring a girl with him after ghosting me for months. "Are you a stripper now?" He looked at my clothes, and his friends giggled. "Are you going to order anything?" I rolled my eyes. "You were a cleaner a while ago, and now this. Aren't you tired of embarrassing yourself, Isabella?" He pushed the girl off his lap, got up, and came towards me. "The name is Bubbles in here, asshole." I hissed. He scoffed. "Oh, so you’re a stripper now? I knew that you're nothing but a gold digger who seeks validation from men by dressing herself up like a hoe." He looked down at me. "I am working, Tom, so please, don't make my job difficult for me." "Did you look at yourself, Isabella? You're a hoe. A shameless fucking hoe. What do you think people think when they see you like this and remember that you're my girl?" I scoffed. "Your girl?" "Don't fucking patronize me, you and I are leaving this club this minute." He tried to grab my arm, but I yanked his hand off me. "Don't you dare touch me, Tom! You've been silent on me for months now and you think you can just say 'jump' and I'll ask how high? Leave me alone!” I snarled. "Don't try me, Isa -" "You heard the girl. Leave her alone." It seemed like time stood still when I heard that voice. "Or what are you going to do, huh, muscle man?" Tom approached him and pushed him. When Antonio's friends got to his side trying to defend him, he held up his hand and restrained them. "You think I'm scared of you? She is my girl, and I will talk with her however I want. Let's go, Bella." Tom tried to grab my arm again. But before he could take another step, Antonio punched him in the face, and he stumbled back and fell on top of the table. His friends got scared and ran away while the girl with him tried to help him up. "I'll take you home," Antonio took my hand. When we got inside his car outside the alley, I looked at him through the rear-view mirror as I sat in the back and couldn't believe what just happened. I didn't know if I had to be grateful that he rescued me or beg for the job that I clearly needed.~ANTONIO~ A FEW HOURS AGO... When I saw that lowlife humiliating my angel, I had to intervene. I couldn't stand there and watch as he talked down to her as if she was his object. I decided to take her home since I knew where she stayed. Her father and I were acquaintances. "Who is he to you?" "My ex-boyfriend." She answered. I looked at her through the rearview mirror and our eyes met. I felt a slight twitch and my dick threatened to erect. Her eyes were the most beautiful I had ever seen. She had blue eyes and black hair that made them stand out. "You will work in my office tomorrow." "Oh, doing what, Sir?" She asked, puzzled. "Tidying it up. I saw that it is a bit disorganized." I hoped that didn’t make it too obvious that I was trying to get her away from the crowd in case one of her ex-boyfriends showed up at the club again. "Alright, no problem." She responded. I looked at her one more time through the rearview mirror and thought of how much I wanted her.
~ANTONIO~ My mind was racing that night as I headed home. I could not believe that Isabella walked out on me and pretended as if she was the only girl who looked beautiful enough to get attention from me. She had the audacity to talk to me as if I had no power to pin her against the wall and make her beg for me. I wanted to teach her a lesson so that she would never think of herself as special enough to refuse when I decided to spare a minute of my life looking in her direction. My phone rang inside my pocket, and I quickly slipped it out and answered the call without looking at the caller ID. "Yes?" "Mr. Rodriguez, this is Andrea Albero. I don't know what my daughter did, but I'd like to apologize on her behalf, and I assure you that tomorrow she will be back at work." "Uh yes, Andrea Albero..." I pulled up on the side of the road with a mischievous grin. At that very moment, I knew just what to do and how to get Isabella to be mine. Oh, how I'd love to see the look
~ISABELLA~ I hated Antonio. His face repulsed me, and I wished to evaporate from the face of the earth so that I wouldn’t have to breathe the same air as him. He was a murderer, and I could never look at him differently. He always had an evil smirk on his face and looked like one of those guys who could strangle you in your sleep. There was no way that I was going to stay in the same house with him. I had to do something before I ended up as one of his many victims. When we got to his house, the pervert asshole led me inside and took me to a room that he said was mine until I got comfortable enough to share his bedroom with him, how dreamy of him. I just couldn’t help but wonder why he even wanted me. I was not even as hot as the girls that I saw him with at the club sometimes. He went out with model-sized women who wore nothing but tight skirts and dresses with 10-inch heels. They all looked like they were starving themselves with their snatched waists. So, who
~ANTONIO~ Nothing could describe the rage I felt when I saw Bella walk past me and Paul with a towel around her. Paul was my colleague and had no right to see my woman in a towel. The thought that he could have possibly had filthy thoughts when he saw her made me feel like taking out my gun and bursting out his brain. And when her towel fell while we were talking, it felt like a bomb thrown on my face. I had to kick Paul out of the house even though we were not done talking. And when I saw Bella’s magnificent body, I folded. I melted again like I did last night when that damn towel fell. If I had no self-control, I would have buried my face on her breasts and sucked them. She made me think of the many ways I could satisfy her. I wondered how she even tastes and how she moans. I couldn’t stop thinking of her legs curling up around me while I thrust deeper and slower inside her. “Go get dressed, I am taking you shopping,” I slipped out my phone from my pocket and calle
~ISABELLA~ The next day, while Antonio was out to work, I sneaked out of my room and asked Melo to drive me to the mall for shopping. He hesitated and wanted to call ‘his boss’ to explain to him that I wanted to go out and if he was allowed to drive me. “I am his wife, Melo, and I want to go out.” “Yes, ma’am.” He swallowed as he slipped his phone into his pocket and led me to one of Antonio’s cars, and we got in. He looked at me sternly before starting the engine and driving off. The truth was, I wanted to go home and see my father. For two nights now, since I was sold to Antonio, I couldn’t sleep without having nightmares of that night. I had so many questions for the man who I thought loved me unconditionally. When we got to my home street before the road to the mall, I stopped Melo from driving. “I need to go and see someone before you take me to town.” “But ma’am, this is the street to your house,” he looked puzzled as if I was never allowed to see my father
~ANTONIO~ “I’m sorry, man, I didn’t know that it was your territory! I will never do it again!” Giovanni begged for his life as he was chained to a pole inside my warehouse outside town. This was where I handled all my businesses and brought anyone who disrespected me to teach them a lesson. I have killed people and buried them all around the yard after they thought that they could stab me in the back and get away with it. This was all also where I killed the people who took my parents from me when I was just a boy. “How dare you sell restricted drugs in my area? Do you want the police behind my back, huh, Gio?!” I punched him so hard in the face that he spat out blood. He tried to regain his strength before answering me. “Dante sent me!” I chuckled and leaned back from him. “Dante Conti?” He looked at me with fear in his eyes. “Y-yes. He said that if I didn’t do it, he was going to kill my family. You know Antonio, it is just me, Luca, and my nana. I can’t lose that old
~ISABELLA~ No one said a word in the car to his house. I looked out of the window, feeling sorry for myself and just wishing that I had run away from home before all this happened. It was one thing to be forcefully married to someone and to be auctioned off to a notorious mafia lord like Antonio. He was my nightmare. Though I did not dare to show it. There was a reason why people feared him and never wanted to be close to him. There was a reason why he treated his girls like trash but was still able to get anyone he wanted. I did not want to find out all those reasons myself. I wanted out before I found myself entangled with him. "You won't go anywhere without my saying so, angel. Do you understand?" He hissed as he pinned me against the door after we got inside the house. I wanted to spit on his face and see what he was going to do about it because he did not own me like he thought he did. But no, I decided not to. It was too early for me to dig my own grave when I
~ISABELLA~ After pacing up and down, trying to calm myself down after I just signed my life away to Antonio, I took out my cell phone to call Sarah. I needed to vent, and she was the only person that I could talk to. Antonio had already left for the club or wherever, so he was not going to be around to stop me from doing what I just thought of. Sarah picked up the phone after the fourth ring. “Isabella? Can you hear me?!” She screamed from the noise that was in her background. She was already at the club and it was 8 PM. “Can you go outside? Please, Sarah.” There was a long pause before she came back on the line, and she sounded to be far from the noise. “Hey, where are you?” I went to the door, opened it, and peeked around to see if Melo wasn’t outside my door and it was clear. “I’m at Antonio’s place. Long story, but I’ll explain when I get to you.” “Oh fuck, what’s going on?” I quickly went to my closet and changed into jeans, a sweater, and sneakers. I was not
~ISABELLA~A week after Antonio had brought me back home, I spent it in the garden, my mind wandering and not a clue of my next plan. I was expecting myself to be excited to be home. To be with Antonio after almost a month, I had been taken by Tom. But after finding out that I was pregnant, things changed for me, and I didn't know what to do if the father happened to be Tom since I slept with him also. I was so afraid of staying with Antonio and raising Tom's baby with him. Even though I was kidnapped and sexually assaulted, I felt like I had cheated on Antonio and didn't know how to tell him that I was pregnant and wasn't sure if we should continue living together.My father gave me the money that Antonio's contract stated that I would need to pay him to free myself from him, but I didn't know if I needed to use it or not. A week ago, before Antonio found me and rescued me, I was so sure that I wanted to be with him.I was so sure that I wanted to start my life afresh with him a
~ANTONIO~"I think we've found them. I know someone who provided me with inside information and confirmed that they left for Canada late last night," August informed me on the phone after booking in at a guesthouse in Mendoza for the evening. "They're in Canada? Where? I need specifics, August. It will take me the whole year if I look for her in every Canadian province," I sighed as I opened my hotel room and headed inside. The guys with me also booked double rooms for themselves so that they would share. There were 8 men in total.We were exhausted and had been looking everywhere for Bella and Tom without any luck.Now that August had a lead on them, there was a little hope that I was going to find her. But I also didn't want to get my hopes too high. It had been a long week looking for her, and I was close to giving up the search altogether."I'll call the guy and confirm with you. He helped them get passports and fake identity cards. If there's anything else he knows, I'm sure h
~ISABELLA~Just as I suspected he would, I woke up and couldn't remember the last thing that I did, which meant that the motherfucker drugged me. I didn't know how long I had passed out when I woke up in another different room, except this time, he was right next to me sleeping. I looked around and knew that he had moved us and we were somewhere else again. Probably in another country or continent. My stomach sank when I thought about Antonio. I thought of how he might have been looking for me but couldn't find me after Tom moved us again.I got up from the bed and went to have a look outside the window. There was all snow, causing my heart to skip a beat, and I felt like I was suddenly hyperventilating. "You're up," his voice echoed behind me. I turned around and looked at him, my face covered with tears and my heart hurting that he moved us way too far. "Where are we, Tom? Was this your plan all along? To separate me from all the people that I know and keep me hostage somewher
~ANTONIO~"Where are they, Andrea? Are you sure that I would be able to find her and bring her home?" He nodded. "Yes, but only if you go there on time. Tom has his people lay an eye on me. I think they've told him of my coming here since I was supposed to be moved to a new place after getting my things at my house. You need to hurry." "Are you sure that they've been following you?" "Tom is a very smart man. I don't think that he would release me back here and not keep an eye on me. I made a deal with him that I would keep quiet about their whereabouts if I wanted to see my daughter again. But I've risked everything by coming here because she's better off with you than with him.""Thank you, Andrea. I was starting to lose hope of ever finding her again. I'll arrange my trip to Brazil as soon as possible," I said as I turned to go to my office to make a few phone calls when Andrea stopped me in my tracks. "When she comes back, I'd like to offer you the 37.5 million dollars that you
~ISABELLA~"Don't worry, my love. You and I are going to be happy together. No one is ever going to come between us again," Tom whispered behind me in the shower. I closed my eyes and braced myself for what was going to happen.I hoped that my father was going to do what was right and lead Antonio to where we were before Tom moved us again. I was tired and didn't want to have him inside me, but I had no choice if I wanted to convince him that I was into him as well. "What's going to be my new name?" I asked, trying to distract myself from what he was doing or trying to do to me."Whatever name you choose will be yours, love," he said as he nibbled on my neck. He knew that it was my weak spot, and even though I was trying so hard not to be turned on by it, he grabbed my boobs and squeezed them while he kissed my neck. "What if I want to keep my name?"Tom suddenly stopped what he was doing, grabbed my neck, and tilted my head so that I would look at him. "What do you think Antoni
~ANTONIO~"I have a new lead on the Conti brothers," August reported as he sat down on the chair in front of me in the office. I groaned as I looked at him. "I want you to find Tom. I don't care about the Conti assholes!" I snapped as I banged my hands on the table. I was angry, and it didn't help that August wasn't fully focused on finding Tom and Isabella. I was going out of my mind thinking of the number of weeks that had gone by without me seeing her. The three weeks felt like years, and I couldn't bear it anymore. I had to find her."Yes, I get that. But we are working on it. You know that they both disappeared into thin air. His father is also missing, including Isabella's father." "You need to get more people and get them to leave no stone unturned until they find my wife," I seethed. August sighed as he stood up from the chair and looked down at me. "You know that I am doing everything I can to find her. But you also seem to forget that she and Tom were once involved, a
~ISABELLA~I was sleeping when I was woken up by a door slamming closed outside. I gasped as I woke up, my pillow drenched with tears and sweat as I sat up on the bed. I felt a horrible headache as the events of earlier flooded my memory. I hated Tom, for sure, and was never going to forgive him after what he did and put me through. My heart was broken, and nothing was ever going to mend what he had done to me. I felt violated and dirty after what he did to me.I wanted to escape and make sure that he never had a chance to abduct me again.I dressed up, and just as I was about to sit down on the bed to have a moment to think, I heard screams from the hallway, and the voice sounded very familiar.I remembered that Tom told me that he would bring my father over because I was being difficult to him, and my heart started racing as I rushed to the door. I tried to open it but realized that it was locked. "Tom, open this door!" I screamed as I banged on the door, crying.I kept bangin
~TOM~I stood near the bed and watched Bella struggle to regain her consciousness as I buttoned my shirt. I knew the consequences of what happened might backfire since she didn't consent to sleeping with me. What made it worse was that I spiked her drink. I wanted her so bad that I couldn't handle the thought of her rejection and decided to spike her drink so that I would be able to slide inside her.But now that things had gotten thus far, I decided to let it off my mind and try to patch things up with her when she woke up.When I was done dressing up, I went to my room and made a call to my father to find out how long it was going to take for Bella's father to be brought to our location.Andrea Albero was the only person who was going to give me leverage over Bella. She loved her father, and if she had to keep him alive by agreeing to be with me, then that she was going to do."Father.""Son, how are things over there? Are you both safe?""Everything's going well so far, Father.
~ISABELLA~When Tom was done making the call to have my father brought to our location, I was taken to a room and locked up inside because I wouldn't stop shouting and fighting him for what he was doing.It felt like hours when I was locked up inside, and I didn't even know how to feel or what to do. My mind was all over the place. At the back of my mind, I realized how horribly things have gone my way, and I wished that they could have gone differently.I kept thinking about Antonio, wondering to myself if he had any plan to get me back before Tom ended my life. "Are you ready to behave?" Tom asked outside the room. "I brought you food," he said as he walked inside with a tray in his hand and a bottle of water.That's when I realized how hungry and thirsty I was."You have to let me go," I sighed as he closed the door behind him and walked toward me, placing the tray and bottle of water on the table next to the bed."Why do you want to act like you, and I never wanted this? You don