CHAPTER 3

As soon as I walked down the stairs, I made my way to the kitchen. I saw my mother preparing chicken pesto for dinner.

"Hi, Mom." I walked over to my mother and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Hello, Bora, how was your day?"

"Fine, mom." I'm sitting on the counter when I say, "Just dad always wants to bud into my personal life like he gives a fuck," which means that he doesn't respect my privacy.

In a calm tone, she said, "Get off my counter, you little girl. Your father just wants to be involved in your life. You are her daughter."

I love the sound of my mother's voice, especially when she gets angry, and her French and Italian accents come out. However, even when mom is yelling at me, her voice has a calming effect on me. Her voice and eyes, God, her light brown eyes are stunning, as is her hair, but what really stands out about her is her personality. I inherited traits from my mother and father, but my paternal ancestry is more prominent.

"He had the opportunity to be part of my life for the entire 18 years that I have been alive, Mom. But he threw it away for what? He does that to demonstrate to his buddies how tough he is and how he is not moved by his daughter's love. Falsehoods to the nth degree! He is always curious why I am always like this, hardheaded and rude. I told him that it was because of him, but he didn't see it that way. He doesn't hear what I want to say!"

"Be careful of how you speak to me, and understand that I do take what you say into consideration. But Bora, your father is your father. It's a difficult conversation for him, but you don't understand why he treats you like he does. Maybe looking at the bright side, make an effort to get along. If not for him, then at least do it for my sake. I cannot stand to constantly see the two of you argue. Could you please resolve your misunderstandings?" my mom said. Here we are again.

I wonder if she is correct when I think about what she said. It won't be that bad if I can get along with my father just this once. But if he continues to mock and neglect me, I will cut off all communication with him.

"Alright, no problem, mom. I won't promise anything, but I'll give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, I'm sorry. However, I still don't want to talk to him at all," I said. I immediately started stuffing a spoonful of the chicken pesto into my mouth.

Holy shit, this is some mouthwatering food.

My mother gave a slight nod as a response to what I said.

After dinner, I retired to my room.

I chose to relax myself with a shower and some reading. I sat down on the edge of my bed and got my sketchbook and pencils under the blanket. I began drawing sketches. I was drawing a sea scene with the moon and stars in the background.

"Bora, you need to come down here to the office. Now!" My mother shouted as I was about to start drawing.

I make my way down to his office and knock before entering. I was surprised to see Igor standing before Father when I opened the door.

"What's up?"                        

"Bora, sit down. I need to have a conversation with you and your brother about something."

"Tell me what all of this is about."

"Bora, after watching you pull that stunt earlier and how you've done it multiple times, I made a deal with Conrad Zulueta," he said. "You might be familiar with him." This was something that my dad had to say while he was sitting back in his chair.

The direction in which this is heading bothers me. It looks important, and I am feeling wrong about this.

"What do you mean?" Igor asked and arched his eyebrows.

"What I mean is, Bora, whether you like it or not, you will be working with Connor Zulueta and living on his estate. Until you learn to behave appropriately and follow orders, you're going to have to stay there until then."

"You can not do this to me! You can't fucking do that!" I said. "You come up with this nonsense at the time. I want to genuinely be kind to you and establish a bond with you like a normal father-daughter, and out of all the people you choose to partner me up, you chose Connor!" I exclaimed, which resulted in a growing look of annoyance on his face.

"Be careful with your words, Bora. You are still my daughter. I am free to act whatever I want in terms of disciplining that rude mouth of yours."

"That's not going to work. Are you out of your mind?" Igor jumped right into the middle of the conversation.

"Watch what I do." My father said in a commanding tone, "Bora is leaving tomorrow morning, and if you don't, you'll be forced." This caused me to mutter under my breath, "You are fucking crazy."

To me, all hope is lost.

I sprang up and stormed out of the room while slamming the door behind me. I hurriedly walked up the stairs, turned the corner into my room, and leaped on my bed. I cried my heart out, and all the happenings pained me.

He is under the impression that he can treat me in any way he sees fit. I'm not a slave nor his underling. I'm his daughter, you fuckhead.

Fuck, stop the thoughts.

As soon as I heard a gentle knock on my door, I got to my feet and stopped crying. I invited the person who knocked to come in. It was my brother Igor.

"Hey, sis, Are you okay?" He asked in a hushed tone as he sat on my bed.

"No problem here. It's not like this is something he's never tried before. Let's just end this!" I adjust my body so that I can look at him. I am sure he despises what my father just did, but he cannot say much about it.

"I'm aware of that, but it won't do. It ticks me off that he treats you like a child. He is acting like a complete jackass, and killing the previous captives won't be enough reason for him to do this to you. He is acting as if it is something new," Igor yells at the top of his lungs in rage.

"Don't you think that I would not be aware of how fucked up he is? But what do you think? He doesn't give a crap about what you have to say since he believes the world revolves around him." I rolled around on my back while lying down and wrung my hands.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend. You are the only one I  can talk to here," he said.

"Neither do I. This is not something I want, but I have to do this. The fact that I still have to go despite the fact that Connor is living proof that I will never learn my lesson. Are you kidding me? Out of all the fucking people I have to stay with, it will be him." I jerk both of my arms to the side of my body.

Connor Zulueta was the heir to the mafia empire his father had built. I can't recall a time when I didn't despise the person he was. When we've gone on missions together in the past, he's always managed to screw them up. He believes that he is better than everyone else and that simply because he is the heir, we will all do what he says. However, this case will be different. We fought even with little things. We stopped going to missions when he became the heir since it was no longer necessary.

"I know it's messed up. But when you go tomorrow, just make sure to call and text me every day and send pictures." He gave me a wink before cracking a grin on his face.

"Okay, but go so I can pack everything. Who knows what if he treats me like crap and doesn't take me shopping? On second thought, he might treat me like garbage, so I won't take any chances of that." I get out of bed and walk into my closet, where I prepare a duffel bag for my trip.

"Don't be so down. Just come to my room if you need anything." He gets up from my bed and walks out the door. When he walks out of the room, I immediately head to my closet to get some clothes.

I decided to carry every clothing I own, including my bras, panties, t-shirts, and pants.

After I had finished packing everything, I took a shower and then changed into some sweatpants and a crop top. After that, I went ahead and got into bed.