Chapter 1

ALESSIA 

“ Time's up, princess. It's time to go home.”

  That voice. A hard knot constricted my throat, making it difficult to breathe. I had my back turned on him, but I certainly could make out who it was even while in a slumber. The small hairs across my body stood on end as if they too had sensed who it was.

    My heart hammered and a sickening wave of terror welled up my stomach. My jaw dropped, eyes widening in disbelief as I turned on my heels.

  I froze, muscles locked in a momentary paralysis. My hands trembled uncontrollably and my chalk white fingers shook so terribly that the platter I held fell to the ground and the shattering sound of glass alerted Gracie, the mean senior worker who held a grudge against me.

      “ You lousy nitwit. Is there anything you can do right?” She half yelled and stomped her foot, moving angrily in my direction, certainly to berate me.

    She hadn't taken notice of the men in black, neither did she notice how lifeless I looked as I stared blankly at the very familiar figure. It was no surprise he found me. Knowing my father, he would have found me a day after I suddenly went missing at my engagement ceremony. But it's been three months. Three fucking months!

    My hand flew to my mouth, muffling an involuntary gasp. Disbelief and fear stole the breath from my lungs, leaving me breathless. It really was him.

       “ What... Fa.. Father? What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

That was a pretty dumb question to ask considering who he was.

      “ What are you still doing standing there like a statue? Clean up this mess and attend to the ladies at table 4.”

   My cheek was intensely hot from the friction of her rough hand against my skin. Gracie had laid her filthy fingers on me, again.

      I stumbled back, loosing balance before I got a hold on myself. I saw one of the men holding her high in the air,  her legs dangling and her throat clogged as life slowly seeped through her. The people in the bar scurried out when they got a hint of what was going to happen next.

I had gotten used to her hitting me, but this time, she went overboard. I clutched my chest tightly, feeling my heart race, each beat a loud echo of the fear that filled me. One of the men had hurried over to me when I tripped and he held onto me as I was yet to recover from the shock.

      “ Gracie,” Father stared at her name tag and then at her horrified face. “ Do you have a death wish? I'd love to sit for a drink and have a talk with you. I need to know who it is you worship, cause it obviously can't be the devil. Even the devil trembles at the mention of my name.”

  My feet refused to cooperate with my brain. What was I doing there? I should have ran while I had a shot; not like I had any chance against the husky man by my side. I came this far only to be brought back to the life I so much dreaded.

      

  ~~

    “ How did you find me?” That was the first question I asked when I found my voice. I didn't lose it after all.

Father wrapped his arm around me as he led me out of the small bar where I've lived for the past three months. The small yet cozy place I have grown to call home. I looked back and caught sight of Gracie's half-lifeless body. She would be dead any moment from now if help doesn't come quickly.

    A tear slipped down my cheek as my eyes got watery. I could have done anything to save her but I didn't. She was rude and treated me like garbage but I never wanted her dead, at least not on me.

  “ You are pretty easy to find, Charlotte.” He flashed a shark grin as he addressed me by the fake name I was known by for the last three months. “ I knew every stop you made. Every hotel, cafe and subway you were at until you finally settled here. I could have brought you back the next day if I wanted, but your mother did a pretty good job of convincing me.”

     Three months, she persuaded him to give me that amount of time. She knew how much I wanted to live an ordinary life.

       “ I'm sorry but, I can't go with you. I won't go with you. Please Father, I do not want this life.”

  The guard held out the door for me and Father let go of my shoulder. “ We are going home, Alessia. Look around, you do not belong here with these people, princess. I'm bringing you home, where you belong.”

    No, I really do belong here. In fact I had a high sense of belonging to this strange land than my father's house.

~~~~

     " You look uncomfortable, Alessia.”

   Shouldn’t I be? I was being held captive against my will and when we get back home, I will be tossed back into the golden cage where I have spent all my life as a prisoner. I was very much different from a prisoner; A prisoner had the will to live and the hope that he would one day regain his freedom. I was never going to be free, not even after death.

      “ Is Matteo married now?” I hoped so, he had to be. Going back to the cell was one thing, knowing you had to spend the rest of your already miserable life with someone you clearly didn’t love was another thing.

       My dad scoffed and gave me the look that said otherwise. “ You wish?” He replaced the hand sanitizer and rubbed his hands together.  Those same hands that had committed every and any kind of crime one could think of, yet they felt so soft on my skin.

      “ That’s one of the reasons we are bringing you back Alessia. I tried placing myself in your shoes and was nice enough to give you some time to probably let it sink in, but it’s time I married you off to Matteo. He has been patient enough and any more delay would cause us more problems than we can handle.”

      So that was it. I was just another peace object. Are women so insignificant in this part of the world that we had to be given away, no, sold off like a mere commodity to a man we probably would never grow to love? Were this the sacrifices we had to make to keep the men’s reputation?

        “ Do we never have a mind of our own? Why can’t I decide who I want to spend the rest of my life with?”

A tear threatened to fall, but I held it in. I sucked in breath as though my life depended on it. Weaker vessels or not, I wasn’t going to cry on a matter like this.

   “ You know this more than anyone, a woman is..” I cut in right away and recited the statement I had  imprinted in my brain. “ A woman is meant to be submissive. She has no will of her own. She’s like a trophy, she brings honor and respect to the man who has won her, but can never come to exist without a potential owner. Is that it? Is that the reason why you ship off your daughters to men who they live every day of their life despising?”

   He had no words or perhaps he didn’t want to start up an argument.

     The long flight back home was a quiet one. I kept my distance, ate very little and thought very hard about the new course my life was about to take in a few hours.

     He said " Don’t you worry Alessia, I’m not giving you away completely. You can always visit your mother and I. You can always come home.”

  Was that a consolation? Home? I had never thought of it that way. It was far from being home. Home was the bar I worked happily at few hours ago without any idea of what the early night would bring. Gracie’s louding voice, the hustle and bustle of the lively town and my friend, Ronnie’s soothing melody. Or was it the pizza dude that I always bumped into or the old man at the elevator claiming to be the chief security officer of the building I lived in? That was home.

     Two more dreadful hours and we would be under Chicago’s black sky. The one place in the world that I didn’t want to be.

Two more hours.

       “ Alessia, are you okay? I’m sorry I couldn’t inform you of your father’s plans. All gadgets were taken away from me the very moment he decided to go after you, and I was restricted from going out alone. There was no way I could reach you. I only got my phone back when he found you.”

    I had gone to cry a little since I was too proud to cry in father’s presence. After releasing the contents of my bowel down the drain, my mother’s call came in.    

      “ I’m alright. As a matter of fact, I owe you. Father told me you asked him to give me some time. Thank you so much. You don’t know what it means to me.”

      “ Did you find what you were searching for? Even for a short period of time.. Did you get to experience life as an ordinary human?”

    A small smile lit up my face. It was a sad one. “ I did. I was a waitress and I did what normal people do. Even for such a short period of time, it felt like I have lived for long.”

     I could see her wiping the tears off her eyes. She was trying so hard to hide it but her voice gave way.

       “ I’m sorry I couldn’t give you some more time. But listen to me Alessia, you can always visit us. We could talk on phone everyday too if you wish. I’m sorry I can’t protect you from this.”

    She broke down completely and it only hit me that this wasn’t just about me coming home, there was much to it.

      “ Protect me from? From who, Mother? I’m so confused. Matteo? It was already my fate to marry him, don’t beat yourself up about it.”

The other end of the line went silent for a while. Was there a problem with the network connection or did she hang up? “ Mother? Still there?

      “ Salvatore. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from Salvatore.”

  Salvatore? Who is Salvatore?