7.

Iris spent the whole day alone and when she was called to have dinner, she sat on the long table filled with different kinds of food both familiar and unfamiliar. Without her husband or anyone seated at the table, she had the loneliest dinner of her entire life.

“Even back at home, I had Alanna to talk to.” She whispered as she gulped the food down, not caring about how ridiculous she might look.

Loren stood quietly, merging herself to the wall. Iris had offered her to sit and have dinner and the girl’s face drained of colour as though Iris was asking her to cut off her finger.

Footsteps approaching drew her attention from the plate in front of her to see James walking towards her with a parcel in his hand. He dropped the package on the table and Iris saw it was a brand new phone and judging from the packaging, it was a very expensive one.

“Mr Luca wants you to have this since he noticed you didn’t have one. His contacts along with his mother and every other contact you would need have been stored here” James said curtly.

“I guess I’ll need one of these. Thank you" She said with a grim smile. One of the things she had to suffer was she wasn’t allowed access to a phone at home since she wasn’t allowed out and her father was scared of her having contact with the outside world.

“I’ll leave you to your meal. If you need anything before bed, don’t hesitate to ask me or Loren.” The man said before turning to leave.

“James, please wait.” Iris called “What of Luca? Is he home?” She hadn’t seen him after he made sure she was aware of her place in the house and it made her anxious. She should be angry and not want to see him but she didn’t feel that way. He was, after all the only familiar face she knew in this place.

“Mr Luca is not yet back home. You shouldn’t wait up as he will be late” James replied and left when he saw Iris didn’t have anything else to say to him.

Iris clenched her fists in frustration. She could read the hidden meaning behind James words. Even the butler was aware that Luca would not have anything to do with her and he was warning her not to get her hopes up, not to expect anything.

“Luca, you cruel bastard” She whispered. She pushed the plate away and stood up. Loren rushed after her and she marched back to her room.

“Young mistress? Are you okay? You barely ate anything? Was the food not to your liking?”

“It was fine, Loren. I don’t have much appetite to eat anything tonight. I’ll just go up and rest” Iris said without turning back to look at Loren.

“Should I run your bath for you then?” Loren inquired and Iris halted her steps and turned to look at her.

“Run my bath? We are not in the medieval times, Loren. I don’t need you to run my bath. I am not a child. Please go back to your quarters, I’ll call you If I need you” Iris said, exasperated.

“Are you displeased with me, Miss Iris? Have I done something to offend you?” Her eyes watered and Iris took a step back, a little alarmed.

“I promise you I’m not. I’m just tired and would like to sleep. This is all new and uncomfortable to me so I would appreciate if you don’t try to do the most little things like running my baths for me” Iris responded as calmly as she could.

“I understand. I’ll let you rest” Loren turned and left making Iris sigh in relief. She had been shadowed all day by either Loren, Berta or some other maid and it made her feel as if the walls were closing in on her.

She pushed the double doors opened and did a double take on the night dress laying on the bed. It was not hers and it wasn’t there when she left the room earlier. Either Loren or Berta was responsible for this.

She let out a shaky breath before locking the doors behind her and walking over to the bed to run her hands across the silk material. She had never worn something so expensive except her wedding gown and she didn’t know how to feel about it. She was certain that this would not be the last time she would be given such expensive items to wear.

She snatched the night wear and dashed into the bathroom to take a shower. Iris didn’t know how long she sat in the tub as she let her mind wander. She thought about her old life and tried to make comparison to which was better and she came up empty.

A cold gust of air hit her, making her shiver and it was then she realized that the water had gone cold so she grabbed the pink robe by the bath tub and wrapped it around herself. She walked over to the vanity and skimmed through the essentials she had never seen before but applied a night cream before exiting the bathroom and going back to her room.

“Fuck” She swore, startled out of her mind when she saw Luca sitting on her bed. His eyes roamed her features and she had to fight the urge to wrap her hands around herself so she could hide from his prying eyes. The night gown was light so she was sure he could see the outline of her naked body underneath and it didn’t help that her nipples were straining against the nightwear.

Iris sucked in a breath when Luca approached, stopping in front of her. He was standing so close that if she dared to move, her nipples would brush against his clothed chest and she didn’t want that so she tried to step back away from him but his hands wound around her waist, trapping her.

“What were you thinking about? You spent half an hour in there?” He murmured. She gasped when his fingers began to trail down the side of her hands.

“Nothing” She stuttered, almost cussing when her voice came out shaky and a cruel smirk adorned his face.

“I bet you were thinking about how big of a lottery you hit with me. You must be thinking of all the wealth that is now under your name as my wife and ways to spend it.” He taunted.

“That’s not true”

“Oh is it? Then you must have been thinking of ways to seduce me and trap me under your sick spell so I can shower you with endless gifts. I know you are just as greedy as your sister, itching for a wealthy man to sink your claws in”

Iris felt her throat swell and close up. She tried to gulp but the lump in there wouldn’t budge “I’m not like her. I wasn’t thinking of that” Her eyes watered and she was so embarrassed.

“Why else would you choose to wear something so transparent if you didn’t plan to seduce me? You hoped I would come in here tonight and you wanted to use that opportunity to make me fall for you”

Iris wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She felt small and pathetic as he mocked her. She tried to pull away but his hand tightened around her waist in a painful hold and she choked out a tear.

“You are hurting me” Iris choked out but instead of letting her go, Luca’s free hand reached up to grip her jaw in an equally painful manner which made her eyes water more.

“I’m hurting you, princess? You shouldn’t have agreed to get married to me. You should have pulled your fucking shoes and taken off like your pretty ass was on fire at the mention of my name but no, you didn’t do that because you wanted to be married to me and become the Lady of this house” He spat, every word dripping with venom.

“I didn’t even know such a title existed and if I had an option, I wouldn’t be getting married to you” She cried out in frustration.

Luca’s eyes narrowed and he pushed her away from him. Iris distanced herself from him, making sure there was no way for him to reach her in case he decided he wanted to hurt her again.

“If I believed every single thing people told me, I wouldn’t be here today. I hope you don’t try to play stupid games like your dumb sister did because you would not like the consequences of your actions”

“I don’t plan to” She bit out before wrapping her arms around herself as if it would help to protect her from the cold glare he kept sending her way.

“I don’t want you close to me so don’t try or get any idea up that we would ever be anything more than strangers”

“I haven’t forgotten your warning from earlier so you don’t need to worry. I have no plan to forget my place” She spat, sending him a glare of her own so he would know how much she despised him at the moment. He made her feel small and she hated it.

“Then why did you ask James about my whereabouts this evening if you weren’t getting your hopes in the wrong place?” His grin was wicked and his eyes filled with mirth as she took a step back.

Iris glared harder at the cocky piece of shit in front of her. She felt like pulling her hair from its root to show how frustrated she was and she just wanted to scream at his face that he didn’t need to humiliate her any further because she understood her place.

“It slipped. I didn’t want to ask but I hadn’t seen you at all today since we arrived. I was just curious but now I know not to care if you fall into a ditch somewhere and die” Iris gritted out, grinding her teeth as she forced each word out of her mouth.

“You better watch your tone when speaking to me, princess. I am still your husband and the head of this house and you will show me due respect” He barked and Iris scoffed.

“You should really learn to stick to your word, Luca. What is it going to be? Are you my husband or not? If I shouldn’t expect anything from you, why should I give you the respect of a husband? I thought I was supposed to know my place and not regard you as my husband?” Iris mocked.

Deep down in her head, Iris was screaming at herself for running her mouth. She had never been one to talk carelessly but Luca was making it so hard for her to play the docile wife she wanted to be. There was something about him and the condescending way he spoke to her that made her feel like ripping her hair out.

She had been treated worse by Helen and Vera and not once did she ever get so worked up to the point of talking back like she was doing now. She hated him for making her show a part of herself she didn’t want to.

Luca watched Iris with anger that almost consumed him. His mother had told him she was extremely quiet and shy. She had begged him to be careful with her because she was gentle but the woman that stood on the other end of the room, looking at him like she could stab him to death was nothing like his mother described.

Iris felt like dropping to her knees and begging for forgiveness as Luca glared at her. His gaze was tearing into her skin and she had to clamp her lips shut to stop the whimpers on the edge of her mouth. She tried to hold his gaze and lifted her chin up defiantly. She couldn’t stop herself from acting this way and it scared her as much as it annoyed her.

After what felt like hours, Luca stormed out of the room. He slammed the door so hard, the sound echoed loudly in the room and Iris was sure it would ring through the entire house.

She looked down at her hands and saw them trembling at her side. She clutched them to her chest and walked on shaky feet to the bed. She removed the sheets and dragged herself into the soft bed but she didn’t have the strength to appreciate that it was the softest bed she had ever laid on.

“This hell is worse, Alanna” She whispered to herself before finally letting the lump in her chest to dissolve and come out as waves of fat tears.