Chapter 5 The Majestic Palace

The caress on her cheek finally brought her back to the present. She opened her eyes and found him looking at her intently.

When she moved her eyes away from his face her eyes widened in surprise on seeing a huge palace in front of her and number of men dressed in dark colors holding the guns surrounding it. It was a huge four story building made up of bricks, decorated with glass and marble. The grass and palm trees were surrounding it. She had never seen estates in her life.

What the hell is he? A freaking king? She thought to herself.

"A king of Mitchell family baby. The most powerful mafia family in Ireland and New York." He smirked proudly.

Damn it! She cursed under her breath. Her thoughts were loud enough for him to hear. She flushed due to embarrassment. She only nodded in response. She could not bring herself to talk to him like nothing wrong happened just a few minutes ago. 

Thankfully he did not say much and got out of the cruise. She too did the same. The men dressed in black bowed down in front of him but no one dared to look at her.

Oh my God! Why would they bow down? Its twenty first century for heaven"s sake! She decided not to voice out her thoughts.

They sat in the car and in about ten minutes they were inside the gates of grand palace.

She noticed that there were number of men dressed in black who were standing at the gate and near all the boundary walls. On seeing him getting out of the car, all the men gathered out and bowed down to him as a sign of respect.

Few had guns too in their hands. But none of them dare to look up at their boss and his woman. Their heads bowed. He signaled something and they started getting up from their positions and few released the inaudible sighs relieved that they got few more days or maybe months or years to live on this planet earth. Everyone knew that stepping on ant and shooting a man between his eyes both were the same (equal) things for their don. He was heartless and never felt any remorse.

A young man who might be in his late twenties came out from the front door and slightly bowed in front of Archer. When his eyes met hers he again bowed.

"Hello Miss it’s an honor to meet you. I'm Zale." Though his face was void of any emotion but his eyes held warmth in them.

What? An honor to meet me? She thought. What am I? A freaking queen?

She didn't know what to say to him so she only smiled politely. She had so much on her mind. And the most important thing which had her worried was how to get the hell away from this monster of a lover. But one thing which she got to know was that this Irish beast was richer than she ever gave him credit for.

He placed a possessive arm around her waist and guided her inside the palace. When she entered the grand foyer she saw four spiral staircases leading to the upper-floor. The marble floors were so clean that one could see his own reflection on those marble floors. The huge chandeliers decorated with crystal made the foyer look more beautiful.

He gave her a tour of palace. He didn't show her all the parts of it as it was next to impossible to have a tour of that whole place in just a few hours. He told her about the paintings and other arts pieces which charged millions of dollars. And the origins of the pots made up of gold and decorated with diamonds placed on few tables. He told her that few of these pots and decoration pieces were gifted to him by Arabian and Indian crime families who were also the dons like him in their countries.

When they reached the balcony of second floor she saw a garden full of tulips present a bit far away from the palace but one could easily saw it from the balconies. She was completely mesmerized by the beauty of it. Archer who was watching her every move like a hawk was pleased with her reaction.

"I personally asked them to make it for ya. Do ya like it Tulip?" He asked even though he knew the answer.

After whatever he had done to her in the office and car she could not even think in her dreams that he would do something like that for her. He did love her bur his love was dark and twisted.

"You did this for me?" She asked ever so slowly as if not believing what she was seeing. Her almond shaped eyes were wide with surprise.

"Aye!" He replied in affirmative, watching her face closely.

He never needed to work hard to know how she was feeling because she was like an open book to him. He could always read her easily. And after years of training and because of his position as a don, it was just even easier to read someone's expression or know if someone was lying or not just by hearing their voice or looking at their face.

She kept staring at his face to find out if he was lying or if there was any hidden motive behind his this action but she found only sincerity in his eyes. She turned her attention back to the beautiful tulips of different colors. The garden was so beautiful with water bodies, trees, grass and tulips of all colors.

He was waiting for her to express some gratitude to him but after not getting any reply from her his once soft eyes turned hard.

Ungrateful vixen!

"Tulip what were you taught to do when someone gives you something?" He asked his tone dominant and harsh.

She didn't turn towards him. She was confused at first but when his words registered properly in her mind her eyes blazed with fire.

She slowly turned towards him. "You want me to thank you for all this?" She asked, cocking a brow at him. If he thought that she would show him some gratitude after nearly killing her in the car then he had another thing coming.

"Aye! I want to and you will." He said with a sly smirk on his face, his eyes challenging her to dare to say otherwise after car's incident.

"If you think I will be showing you my gratitude after all the things you have done to me few hours ago then you are freaking delusional!" She hissed, looking him in the eyes who looked straight back into hers. Green to Blue.

Soon this fire will be gone. He thought to himself, his cold eyes staring fixedly at her.

"Don't make me repeat myself." He spoke through gritted teeth. He could hear the blood rushing through his head, his angry gaze slicing her face.

That was the main problem. He just met her few hours ago and he already was having the difficulty of controlling his emotions around her and he hated that. He always had a control on himself.

She was feeling afraid but she knew it was not the time to show him her true emotions. She masterfully masked her fear with anger and glared at him without blinking. Green to Blue.

She knew that anger is the fight part of the age-old fight or flight-response to the threat.

Seeing this darkness crossed his eyes and he backhanded her across her face and she ended up falling on the marble floor. Her hands and legs hit the floor hard. Her eyes watered with pain and shame; the shame of being treated worse than an animal by someone whom she loved so much till now.

He crouched down to her level and grabbing a fistful of her hair turned her head towards him. Her eyes were teary but she managed to shot him a venomous look. Seeing this he banged her head on the floor hard which made her see the dark dots dance around in her eyes.

When she recovered a bit from it and touched her forehead she found the lump on it which started hurting even more on touching it.

"Come on baby you know it was your own mistake. See what you made me do." He stated coldly.

What a bastard! Her conscience shouted.

But the fear of being abused again had her keeping her mouth shut. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Th-tanks." She choked out, swallowing her pride.

"See was that so difficult?" He gave her an amused smile trying his best to hide his anger.

"No." She replied in a shaky voice. He smiled, left her hair and got up.

"Now go and get fresh. And come to the dining hall." He ordered, giving her hard nudge from the toe of his shoe on her side.

She got up on her wobbly legs and made her way to the bedroom (about which he told her would be hers just a few minutes ago) without (so much as) a backward glance.

On reaching the bedroom she quickly made her way to the bathroom and locked the door from inside and broke down into the heart wrenching sobs.

She felt violated and degraded.

When she looked into the mirror and saw the lump and finger prints on her cheek a slow and steady rush of anger coiled in the pit of her stomach and spiraled up her chest until all she

"No Livie calm down! It’s not you. If you will do something like that he will only hurt you more!" Her conscience shouted at her. 

But she was too blinded by her pain and rage to listen to it.

She saw few decoration pieces placed near the sink and on the wall shelves near the window. She started throwing the decoration pieces made up of crystal, wood and glass on the mirror which broke down into pieces. After seeing her handiwork she felt satisfied.

He deserves it.

She was panting heavily.

Unknown to her he was waiting for her in the bedroom. When he heard the noises coming from the bathroom he got worried and opened the lock with a spare key, only to find his impressive crystals, vases and mirrors broken into little pieces. The concern in his eyes went away in a flash.

Through blurred eyes she saw him approach her, his strides relaxed, his face blank; his eyes were void of any emotion, having a hooded look to them. His frame was giving off a menacing aura.

"You did all this." He said more like a statement then a question. His voice and demeanor were calm.

This made the fear seep through her veins and she started backing away from him, soon her back hit the wall.

He slowly approached her and his hand, wristed with the large dial of an expensive Roger Dubis

Before she could do anything his hand reached towards her hair and his fingers dug painfully in her scalp. She tried to pry his fingers off her hair but before she could get successful in it, he slapped her hard on her right cheek; her hands which were trying to claw at his hand fell to her sides.

She had barely recovered from the assault of hard slap when his palm collided with her cheek again, making her scream. He hit her repeatedly, her cheek numbing from the pain in the process.

When she was out of breath only then he left her hair, only to pick her up in a bridal style, making her whimper. She screamed as he threw her on the bed.

She saw him going back to the bathroom through her blurred vision. Her petite frame was quivering with fear.

She laid there, panting as tears fell down her flushed cheeks.

Oh my God! What have I done? Please help me!

Olivia saw that he came back with a large broken piece of mirror in his hand, her eyes widened and she tried to scramble off the bed but he was quick to stop her by holding her ankle in his free hand. Panicked Olivia shrieked and thrashed but it was all useless

Climbing on top of her, he grabbed her wrists, pushing them above her head, his stomach weighing down on hers and pushing her further into the mattress as his legs came in between her legs.

"No! No! No! Please. Don't do this." She begged, her tears rolling down her cheeks. Her heart was shuddering in terror.

Her rage and furry was replaced by panic and fear.

"You should have thought that when you decided to fuck with me!" He snarled at her.

He placed the piece of mirror on bed and tore down her shirt. And before she knew she felt an agonizing pain on her waist. He dragged the mirror down on her waist.

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed and writhed in agony. Her painful cries fell on the deaf ears as he kept cutting her skin with the mirror. Finally after few minutes which felt like hours to her, he stopped, her figure racking with sobs.

"Who do ya belong ta Olivia?" He grated out.

When she didn't reply he grabbed her jaw harshly and made her look at him. The agonizing pain on her waist was already too much for her. She didn't have any energy or tolerance left in her body to bear any more assaults.

"Y-you." She choked on her own sobs. He gave her a sinister smile. His expressions were calm and composed

The excruciating pain and blood loss had the glucose level in her body decreasing and her blacking out, giving her a temporary relief from emotional and physical pain.

Only if she knew what she was about to face today, she would not have left her home.

The normal day in the life of a medical student turned into a nightmare.