Chapter 7

Eliana:

“And how am I to earn your trust?” I asked Lorenzo as I sat in his office. The two of us came here almost immediately after eating, and Lorenzo seemed to find my impatience amusing. However, he didn’t understand that it was mostly annoyance “I believe that you stripped me out of anything for a while now to know that I have nothing to hold on to”

“Exactly” he said crossing his arms over his chest “for now, you have nothing to hold on to. But I don’t trust what you’d do if you ever get to have everything”

I simply nodded as a response, waiting for him to proceed with what he was going to say. Seeming impressed, Lorenzo opened a drawer, handing me a file. I stared at the file, but didn’t bother opening it until he nodded at me to do so. Inside the first nylon sheet was a picture of a woman. The woman looked no older than thirty, the smile on her face reached her eyes. But going through the pictures, I frowned when I saw that she was stealing money, putting it inside a bag she had.

“Her name is Stella, and she stole money from me. I want her dead”

“I beg your pardon?” I asked closing the file.

“I believe that you heard me” he said leaning forward on his desk, looking at me “the woman is to pay for what she did, and you will bring me her body”

“Why not just get you the money? It would be a whole lot easier…”

“Oh, I took the money. I just want her dead for believing that she could trick or play me” he said coldly. His eyes studying my expression as he spoke. I knew that he was testing ME, wanting to see my reaction, and I would be lying if I said that I wanted nothing more than to be out of this place. But I knew why I was here, and I wasn’t going to leave until I was done with this man’s bullshit.

“Where can I find her? Surely you can’t expect me to search for a woman I don’t know with no coordinates” I said glaring back at him. Forcing myself to remain as calm as I was, I kept my eyes on his, the one thing showing my displeasure with the topic was me glaring at him, and thankfully, he didn’t take that as offensive.

“You needn’t worry about that, I’ll leave you to rest and heal for now. You’ll have everything you need from weaponry and access to data”

“You claim not to trust me and yet you’re giving me a weapon?” I asked raising an amused eyebrow. I had to at least try and pretend that the topic was amusing to me. I learned from Vladimir that nothing stirred a man like Lorenzo than a woman who wouldn’t fear beating his bloody ass “talk about contradiction”

“Your hand is a weapon, the staple on this table too, you can also use the pen in front of you. If I’m trusting you enough to have you in my office, then it is because I want you to be here. However, if you think that sassing your way out of anything would do you any good; you’re very wrong, little one. I’m giving you a chance, but don’t over use it” Lorenzo said getting up from his chair. I followed in suit, waiting for whatever he was going to say and watched as he walked toward the door, opening it. I didn’t open my mouth to say a word, I couldn’t test his waters anymore than I have already. Two maids walked inside the room, different ones from the girls who helped me earlier, keeping their heads down as they waited for his orders “take Mrs. Eliana to her room, she needs to be cared for. Clean her wounds and make sure that they leave no scars, I want reports about how they’ve healed and who are the doctors treating them”

“If there’s anything that you might need; the girls will be providing it. I want nothing missing for my daughter” he said proudly. I had to fight back raising an eyebrow at his statement. His eyes met mine and I nodded in thanks. Lorenzo returned the favor and nodded to the maids to leave. They walked out leaving us alone.

“You don’t need to pretend that you’re suddenly treating me as a daughter. You were taking pleasure in beating me a few hours ago” I said crossing my arms over my chest “if there’s nothing that you might need; I’ll show myself out”

I walked out before he could respond. It was one of the techniques that I learned to use. Pretend like you couldn’t care less about what he was willing to ‘offer’. The more he believed that I wasn’t phased by them, the more he would offer, and the more he offered, the better the outcome.

I looked at the maids who were waiting for me, catching sight of one of their phones inside the pockets of their aprons. The girls were either too naïve to believe that I couldn’t see them, or they were using the phones on duty and hid them quickly before getting caught; either way, I was to use that to my advantage.

Walking past the blonde maid, I quickly slid my hand inside her pocket and took the phone, holding it in my hand as I crossed it over my chest. One of the maids walked behind me while the other walked in front of me, guiding me to the room. I was yet to be familiar with the place, but if these were normal circumstances; I would have had both walking behind me as to ensure that they knew who to respect. However, it would take time for me to get that sort of advantage.

We entered the room which Lorenzo had assigned as my own. The room had its own living room and kitchenette. I knew that it was designed that way to ensure that whoever was here mostly didn’t leave the room, and it was something that I didn’t mind; I didn’t want to be seen by his side anyway. The walk-in closet had a few clothes in, I would need to get new ones if I was to at least look somewhat decent, and the bathroom had both a tub and a stand up shower.

"Is there anything that you may need, Miss?” The brunette maid asked.

“No, I will be going to the toilet, then the three of us are going to be discussing ground rules” I said making both girls frown “you can’t expect to forget that I am the daughter of D’Angelo, can you? We are going to discuss how you would be acting upon that”

I walked into the bathroom before they could process what I said, heaving a breath that seemed to be caught in my throat as I fought to process everything that was going on. The girls who were inside that room were being treated as slaves for my sake, and it was something that I was bloody damn against. But knowing that I had to play my part, I knew to force myself to remain calm.

Opening the phone, it didn’t take me much to manage to find the code; I blame Luka for the lessons. I walked toward the toilet seat, putting it down quietly and sitting on top of it. I flushed the toilet as to cause a distraction as I dialed my husband’s number, sending him an quick text then quickly deleting it. My heart racing as I got up, walking toward the sink as I stared at my reflection.

I have to see you, there’s something that we need to talk about.