로그인ARIELLA I wasn't looking at the same Cara anymore. I was looking at the woman from that night.... The woman covered in blood, the one laughing hysterically and the one killing people like it was sports.Cara was crazy. The whole family was crazy. Absolutely insane And somehow that scared the hell out of me. Because she was beautiful, creepy, and terrifying. So I quietly walked back to the chair and sat down. No arguments and no attitude. Nothing. Silence fell immediately after that. Heavy silence. Then suddenly Cara stood up and smiled toward Vasilisa."Why don't I give you a tour of your future home?"Vasilisa immediately lit up."Thank you, Cara. I can't believe that soon the two of us are going to be sisters."They did one of those ridiculous air hugs, giggling together as they walked out. Axel stood after them without sparing either of us a glance. He straightened his suit jacket and walked away without saying a single word. Cassio and Remo exchanged one final hateful stare befo
HAZEL A plate was quietly placed in front of Lisa and everyone just naturally continued on again with their dinner, with Cara talking and Vasilisa proudly talking about the wedding.I was fuming.I've never been this angry before, or so heartbroken. I couldn't believe that this whole time Axel had apparently been signing marriage contracts while sleeping with me..... While I had been letting him inside me.What the hell did I expect? Vasilisa had reminded me time and time again that she was his promised wife and I was too stupid.I was so angry that I couldn't even contain it. With nothing to do or say, I took out my frustration on the poor food in front of me."Are you okay there, Sleeping Beauty?" Cassio suddenly asked.I froze in place, feeling all eyes were on me, and wondering if they could tell the thoughts in my head. I looked up from my plate begrudgingly."I'm just..." I swallowed thickly. "....I'm good."Cassio narrowed his eyes suspiciously."You do know Vasilisa, right?
HAZEL Cassio walked over toward Vasilisa, and they did this hug-air-kiss thing. I never understood why people would kiss but not actually kiss, but whatever.Cara immediately pulled Cassio toward her, and the two of them, of course, kissed hungrily and passionately right there in front of everyone which gave Vasilisa the chance to look around slowly."I must say, this place is beautiful." She exclaimed with exaggeration.Cassio, of course, was already back to being his charming self."Welcome to the Moretti Empire." He exclaimed with his arms wide.Vasilisa laughed softly towards the head of the table And I couldn't help myself. I glanced toward Axel too. Of course, he had no emotion on his face. Nothing. But I knew he wasn't expecting this new arrival.Still, he looked completely unbothered. His usual cold, not-giving-a-fuck expression sat perfectly on his face. Vasilisa started walking around the dining room and then, of course, started moving straight toward Axel.She came around
HAZELShe wasn't holding too hard on me and it didn't hurt. But as she stared at me and held my gaze, I knew this was her showing me that she could do much worse if she wanted to. It was a warning. A scream was caught in my throat as my arm went towards hers to defend myself. Finally, Axel leaned back in his chair and spoke.“Lisa.”Just one word. Lisa looked at him immediately and her face fell from whatever was in Axel's expression. She let me go and narrowed her eyes at him angrily but Axel looked completely unbothered.For a second nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Then Lisa smiled, and somehow that smile scared me way more than if she had shouted or snapped.She nodded slowly.“Okay.”She pulled out a chair directly across from me and sat down. She crossed her legs, rested her chin on her hand And smiled right at me.“Let's eat.”The food was brought over, and for a few minutes, everything was... normal. Normal in their strange kind of way. Cassio was busy stealing food from Cara'
HAZEL I stared at her for a long second.“Okay.”Amanda quickly walked toward the door and left in a hurry. And then it was just me... Alone Again.I wanted to believe Amanda. God, I wanted to believe that I could finally get out of here, that I could finally be free. For so long, all I had wanted was a way out. And suddenly Amanda was giving me one.It's all I have ever wanted.... But something didn't feel right. Something felt... off. This was Amanda we were talking about, How was she going to pull this off?Amanda was a young scared girl, Terrified. Someone has been abusing her for a long time and she has never fought back or told on them. So how exactly was she suddenly brave enough to help me escape from Axel Moretti?No. Something was definitely not right. I was missing something.A few knocks sounded on the door. I opened it with all those thoughts still spinning in my head and found Nico standing there.“You're needed downstairs,” he said.I sighed heavily.“Okay. Fine. Let's
HAZEL Amanda swallowed hard. “And before anything else, I want you to be honest with me.”“Okay.” I agreed a little hesitantly.Then I saw the fear in her gaze, and I smiled a little to encourage her on and set her at ease.“Of course, I am always honest with you. You're like the only friend I have here, so don't worry about your secret. Whatever you tell me stays between us.”I squeezed her hands. “I'm going to find a way to protect you.”She swallowed. “You're really nice,” she whispered.I shrugged. “I don't know about that. I just know that this shouldn't be happening to you.”“I want to help you.” She finally said.That made me freeze. Again. She said it again." Help me?"And there was this determination in her eyes.“Help me with what?” I asked slowly, hesitantly, but also curiously.“There are rumours about you,” she said. “But I wanted to ask you if it was true.”“Okay...” I said carefully. “What rumours?”She swallowed again and looked hesitant, as if the words were fighti
HAZELAngela quickly ran after Natasha.“No, wait, Natasha....you can’t quit. You don’t want to act so mad.”Her voice carried down the corridor as Natasha stormed out, Angela hurrying after her.The kitchen fell deathly silent. The maids wouldn’t look at me at first. Their eyes stayed fixed on the
AXELFuck.Fucking fuck.There I go, messing up my good, carefully curated plan.I had already made a decision. I was going to stay away from Hazel as far as I could. That was the plan. I was going to keep her at a distance. And after a while, everything was going to go back to normal. The weirdnes
HAZELNatasha was also a dead end. She didn’t like me, and she wasn’t subtle about it. That meant my only option was one of the maids, but not just any maid. One who had access. One who moved quietly between rooms, between people. Someone who heard things. Someone who saw things.I needed an ally.
HAZELThe words barely leave Axel's mouth before his face crashes down onto mine.It’s not a question.He’s not asking.He’s not waiting for permission. He kisses me like he’s starving.Hard. Rough. Desperate.His mouth consumes mine, all heat and fury and hunger, as if the last three days never ha







