5

CHAPTER 5

My head snaps back automatically, causing an unexpected shriek to escape my lips as Dermos stands at the door, gun pointing at me.

“Don, it's nothing. I heard screaming, so I came to check on her.” Buzz cut lies through his damned teeth as he turns to glare at me, daring me to say otherwise.

Slowly but surely, he lowers his gun before nodding at Carlos, then they walk out together, leaving me stunned, confused, and alone.

What the hell has Ariella gotten me into? Was she being threatened, too? Was that why she ran? Did she find out how crazy these people were?

Suddenly, I don't really blame her anymore. My legs give out as I slump to the floor, pressing my lids as my lips tremble.

I refuse to cry. I can't cry.

No matter how many times I repeat the mantra, soft tears run down my cheeks as I cry for the life I am now in.

Forced into a world I know nothing of, a world filled with danger.

What the hell am I going to do?

The tears don't stop as I cry my heart out, somehow drifting off at the same time.

~~

My eyes flutter open, and the blinding light penetrating the curtains causes me to shut them back.

A sharp groan leaves my throat as I push the heel of my palm on the hard tiles, using it to get myself off the floor.

I can't believe I slept on that hard ground; the ache I feel in my shoulders and back says I really did sleep there.

Stretching, I reach for my phone, turning it on to see it's after ten in the morning. No maid came to wake me up today.

What happened to eating before the day even broke? But who's complaining?

I am so glad for this. Without thinking, I slump on the bed, rolling to get comfortable before drifting off again.

I finally get out of the room after one pm, rushing to the kitchen to get some food.

After eating to my satisfaction, I decided to take a tour.

The whole mansion is so huge, it should have more than twenty rooms here, if not more.

As I wander around the mansion, staring at everything painted in gold and white, I can't help but wonder about the use of a house this big.

There is literally a cinema, gym, swimming pool, different offices, a dance studio, and literally everything in here.

Who even uses the dance studio? Not my business, though.

The guards and maids keep bowing their heads, calling me Mrs Salvatore as I pass by. It's really weird because I know I am not the real Mrs Salvatore.

“Oh my goodness!!” A screech finds its way out of my lips as a body slams into me.

“Mrs Salvatore! I am so sorry. Please forgive me, it wasn't intentional, I wasn't looking. Please don't punish me, please.” The maid who bumped into me did not even stop to breathe.

I turn my head to really look at her, she looks so pale with eye bags that look too evident on her skin. Dressed in a short skirt and a tight top that looks like a small move would cause it to rip apart.

But what really gets to me is the way her eyes are full of so much fear.

“It's okay. What is your name?” I ask, unable to help myself.

“Bella, my name is Isabella, but everyone calls me Bella.” She stutters, shuffling on her foot.

“Isabella. You can go.” I say, turning to leave.

Her eyes widened as a gasp tears through her lips like that's the last thing she expected me to say. Bella's reaction causes a crease to form between my eyebrows.

What exactly has she been going through here? What exactly do people go through here?

I shake my head, not wanting to think about it, hoping that Ariella had nothing to do with it.

Without a last glance, I turn and head to the backyard I saw before I got bumped into.

I fail at the task. All the while, as I wandered, I couldn't stop thinking about her. There is just something I couldn't pinpoint, and it left me feeling disturbed.

After a while, I decided to ask Dermos to make her my personal maid.

That is, if he would agree to such.

“And what might the almighty Mrs Salvatore be doing here?” That sharp, vile voice causes me to halt my steps.

I raise my head only to meet the cold brown eyes of Luciana, her arms folded under her boobs as she glares hard at me, not caring to hide how much she hates me.

“Oh, my bad. I was just taking a tour.” I murmur, moving to the side to bypass her, but what I see has me nearly tumbling to the floor.

Girls. Lots of them, dressed in little to nothing. Just wearing panties with no bras to cover up, they line up in front of a different house, different from the mansion.

This one stood two storeys tall as the girls moved about, strutting about in revealing outfits.

“What in God's name is happening here?” I blurt out, letting my palm slap over my mouth to force the bile rising up my throat back down.

“Oh, you can't take a little beauty, can you?” Luciana taunts, smacking her bloody red lips at me.

The sound resonates in my ears, irritating me to no end. I can't help the bitterness I feel towards her deepen.

“What do you mean by that?” I snap, turning to glare at her.

I can't look at those girls anymore. That's a serious invasion of privacy.

“Oh, don't act like you don't know Dermos has a whore house that I run. Me, not you, it's a job meant for Donna, but he knows you aren't fit for such.” She snarls, the venom in her voice spiking.

I shake my head, refusing to believe her. Ariella knew about all this? Is that why she left?

The more I find out, the harder it is to believe. It can't be.

“ You will never be good enough for anythi–” She is still speaking when I zone out her words, turning to leave.

I can't hear any more of this. I feel disgusted. My husband owns a whore house.

Did he traffic them? Are they here on their own will– no, it can't be. No woman will freely want this type of life.

I am so in my head when a sharp pain shoots through my skull, causing a scream to tear out of my lips as I plunge forward headfirst into the grass.

I raise my hand to feel the back of my head, only to feel hot, thick liquid spurting out.

My voice cracks as I try to scream, instead another sharp pain pierces through my back.

“Hel–” my voice cracks, a darkness overcomes me.