006

CHAPTER SIX.

CALISTA.

Morning came and met me still lying on the bed, stuck in my sadness, my eyes half open, when my mother suddenly burst in like a wild storm.

"Get up!" she yelled at me, pulling my blanket away at the same time.

"Mother, what…" I started to say in confusion, but she didn't even let me finish.

"Don't even try to act innocent with me right now, Cal," she shouted angrily. "Do you know what you almost did yesterday? Do you have any idea at all?"

I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes and trying to understand what she meant.

"You need to calm down and talk to me, mom. I didn't do anything, and I don't know what you're talking about. All I did was drop a vase by mistake, and that's not really a big deal, is it?"

Then it hit me. I suddenly remembered why I had cried myself to sleep the night before, and that was the real reason she was here. Yes, I had indeed broken a vase… but that vase had made Rheyes leave his fiancée and come running to my door to take care of me like a man hopelessly in love.

"Mother, I can…"

"Oh, shut your mouth, Calista!"

Her voice made it clear that she wasn't going to listen to anything I had to say, so I stayed quiet and let her keep shouting.

"Of course you can explain, can't you? Explain why you had to sink so low as to be playing silly little games. Breaking a vase just to get his attention, and making him kneel in front of you and fuss over you…right in front of his fiancée? Have you no shame, Calista!"

That was too much. I wasn't going to just stand there and take every insult my mother threw at me. I wanted to be a good daughter, but I also had my own pain too, and I wasn't going to let her add more to it.

"I didn't ask him to come in!" I shouted back, surprised at how loud my own voice was. "I never ask him to kneel down and check my legs for broken glass or anything like that…he did all that on his own, mother."

"Are you telling me you're dumb enough not to know that's exactly the problem!" she shot back, pointing a shaking finger at me. "Do you think anyone in this house cares about who's at fault? All they saw was the Donati heir losing his mind over his stepsister. Do you have any idea what could happen to people like us if that kind of story ever got out?"

I stared at her in anger, ignoring the slow ache building in my chest. "What do you mean by 'people like us, mother?"

"Oh…" she said with a cold laugh, moving toward me angrily. "Is that it? Have you gotten so comfortable that you've forgotten your place here? We are guests, Calista! Guests who only stay because the Donatis allow it."

I tried to speak again, but she cut me off right away, still raging.

"I'm the one married into this family, Calista, not you. The only reason you have a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep in is because of me. I'm the reason you have good food on your plate, Calista…and it's only because I made myself useful to this family!"

I don't know if she even noticed, but her words hurt… so much that it felt like my heart was being stabbed and torn apart at the same time. My tears were falling freely now, but I didn't let that stop me from speaking my mind.

"What do you people even want from me, mother? All of you. How am I supposed to push him away when he won't stop chasing me? I never asked for this life. I never asked to be trapped here too. I've been stuck here like a prisoner because none of you will let me go. Rheyes won't let me live, and he won't let me die. I never asked for any of this!"

There was no kindness on my mother's face as I broke down in front of her. It was clear that whatever I was going through meant nothing to her…it didn't matter in the comfortable life she was trying to build for herself in the Donati family.

"If you never asked for it," she hissed, "then start acting like it. Because if his father ever decides that we're more trouble than we're worth, they won't hesitate to throw both of us out on the street. And trust me, Cal… I will never forgive you."

With that last warning, she turned and walked angrily toward the door. But before leaving, she stopped and looked back one more time.

"Whatever foolishness is going on between you and Rheyes," she said, "end it. Before it ends us."

Then she was gone, and I was left staring at the door with tears on my face.

…

By afternoon, the punishment came in full force.

It wasn't shouting or slapping. It came in a quiet way that showed I was paying for something, a very  clear show of power that was meant to put me in my place.

First, a second guard was placed outside my door, standing next to the first like a wall of muscle and silence. Then my window was changed after that. The one place where I could still see the courtyard, the garden, and a little piece of sky was now covered with a thick privacy film, leaving me with nothing but blurry shapes and dim light.

As the days passed, even my meals stopped coming when I asked for them. Instead, a maid came three times a day, right on time, carrying a tray that she placed on the small table without saying a word.

"This is for your own safety, Miss Calista," one guard said coldly when I asked why the window had changed. "After what happened at the warehouse, the Don wants to make sure nothing like that happens to you again."

I almost laughed. Safety… They couldn't even think of a better excuse.

Everyone in that house knew the truth, and knew that for sure. I could see it in the way the maids avoided looking at me, and in the way the guards spoke to me with careful, distant politeness. They all knew I wasn't being protected. I was simply being punished…for being wanted by the wrong man.

Then, one night, while I lay awake thinking about my mother's harsh words, I suddenly heard a strange scraping sound near my door.

I sat up right away, my heart jumping into my throat as something small and white slid through the tiny gap under the door.

I froze, staring at it for a long while before I found the courage to move. I slipped out of bed and crept toward it, ready for the worst.

When nothing happened after a few tense minutes, I knelt down and picked up the folded piece of paper. My hands shook as I opened it.

It held a short message.

“She fainted on purpose. Watch your Maid's hands when Lui visits.”