First Night

The night falls but Mariah is still in Adam’s mansion. She feels so small in this huge room. She’s curled up on the floor with her head buried in her hands. She has been crying for a while now. She keeps thinking about the things she went through.

After being held captive like this, she can’t help and is reminded of all the people who used to bully her due to her weight. They fat-shamed her. Even her parents were embarrassed by her. She tried so hard to lose weight and she eventually did but the scars were always there. She never forgot how people treated her, how her own classmates used to throw her bag and called her names.

She suffered so much just because of her appearance. This is the reason Mariah never judged anyone by their looks. She always treated people the same because she went through so much pain herself. After loosing weight, Mariah finally thought that she would be able to lead a normal life form now on but life had different plans for her.

She suffered greater trauma which she hid from everyone. She hid her secret from her loved ones as well even her sister and Blaire weren’t aware of her secret. She cries thinking of everything she had to go through. Still, she never complained. She never did anything bad because she never used her pain as an excuse. This is the reason why she was so determined to be a doctor because she wanted to be of some help to people suffering like her either mentally or physically. But now she’s stuck in all this mess and there is no escape from here.

Mason knocks at the door and comes inside. Beside him is a man dressed as a chef with a tray of food in his hands. The tray has everything from steak to sandwiches and beverages. A man is behind them with a tray as well but it has desserts. Mason indicates them to put everything on the table which is right next to the bed. Mariah becomes conscious and and stands up quickly. She can’t trust anyone here even people carrying food. Mason asks the both men to leave and they do as said. Mason speaks,

“Hey! You’re names Mariah, right?”

“Yes and I have already told that I have nothing to do with anyone. Why won’t anyone believe me?” Mariah replies with a crack in her voice.

“Hey! Hey ! It’s okay. I’m not here to interrogate you. I just wanted you to have some food as you haven’t eaten anything since you’ve gotten here,” Mason replies.

Mariah sees concern in Mason’s eyes but she can’t trust him yet. She doesn’t need food at this moment. She just wants to go home, take a shower and sleep on her comfy mattress.

“I just wanna go home. Please just let me go. I haven’t done anything wrong,” Mariah sobs while burying her face in her hands.

Mason sees Mariah and goes a little closer to calm her down. To make her realize that he won’t her and is on her side. Mason pats on her head to make calm her down. She stops crying and she sits on the bed with Mason beside her.

“I know Adam can be rude sometimes but he’s not a bad person. I know you aren’t involved in any of this but I can’t let you go until he says so,” Mason speaks.

Mariah listens to Mason’s every single word so she can put all the pieces together.

“So his name’s Adam. I should’ve known what kind of a person he is when I saw him on the street with a bullet wound,” Mariah replies as she wants Mason to know that she was the one who saved him. Maybe this was the only way she could get out of this mess. Maybe just maybe they Adam would let her go after knowing that she saved him and maybe he won’t kill her like he threatened previously.

“What do you mean by this? Where you there when he was shot or were you the one who shot her?” Mason asks moving a little farther away from her.

Mariah panics as she didn’t expect this reaction from him. She just made herself look more suspicious. Now the only person who trusted her is threatened by her existence.

“No, no, no! It’s…not what you think. I…I can explain everything. It’s…not what you think.” Mariah stutters.

Mason leaves the room without hearing another word from Mariah’s mouth. Mason needs to know who she is. Now he can’t just trust Keith’s words. Even if she’s a girl, Mason can’t put Adam’s life at risk.

It’s quarter past midnight and Adam is in his study room going through some papers of few hotels and casinos under his ownership. There have been some copied bank statements that doesn’t match with the original ones. Adam tries to focus but fails as he keeps thinking about Mariah and her identity. Mason told Adam that he sent food to her but doesn’t know if she had some or not. This troubles Adam as he doesn’t want her to starve to death. He tries to ignore his thoughts but he can’t and after a while he decides to visit Mariah in the room she’s in.

Mariah didn’t even touch the food. She didn’t even look at it. She doesn’t know if they’ve put poison in it but she can’t take any risks. She’s weak as she hadn’t had anything since morning. So she decides to sleep, thinking it might help her in some way but deep down she knows that she can’t escape this hell house in any way.

Adam enters the room carefully as he thinks that she might be asleep by now since it’s late at night. Adam sees the Mariah sleeping. He is amused to see the expression on her face. She doesn’t have a frightened expression on her face instead it seems like she’s having a sweet dream and Adam wonders what she’s dreaming about. Adam dismisses his thoughts as he doesn’t to develop any sympathy for her because he still doesn’t know who she works for.

Adam looks at the table which is right next to the bed and he sees the food. And just by looking at it, Adam knows she didn’t even touch anything which makes Adam wonder how is she able to sleep with an empty stomach. He’ll know about her identity in the morning and every single detail about her. Then he’ll decide what to do with her but right now he doesn’t give a shit as she’s guilty in his eyes until proven innocent.

The sun rises and a women enters Mariah’s room and wakes her up. She’s a maid and she tells her that Sir Adam has ordered Mariah to wash herself up, change her clothes and come down. Mariah asks a lot of questions but the maid doesn’t answer any of her question. The maid is the first woman she’s seen since she came here. She had only seen men with guns in their hands. She thinks that this maid might be of some help but she doesn’t answer any questions.

“Ma’am you’re a woman as well. I don’t know what they’re gonna do to me. Please help me get out of here. Please!” Mariah says while holding the maids’ hands.

“I cannot help you in any way my child. Master Adam is waiting for you downstairs, just cooperate with me and wash yourself up,” the maid replies.

She hands Mariah a towel and a royal blue t-shirt and a wide leg pant which is an odd combination but she doesn’t care what she looks like at this moment as she might not be alive in the next 15 mins. Mariah loses all hope and goes to wash herself up.

She cries in the shower thinking that she’s going to die. She thinks of everything she had done and everything she had yet to do. She cries while remembering her loved ones and how she’d been betrayed by on of them yesterday. She takes the shower and wears what the maid handed her. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and her eyes are all swollen from too much crying.

She’s been hurt to many times and she won’t beg for her life anymore. If she’s going to die by the hands of the person she saved then so be it. But she won’t beg for her life.

Mariah comes out of the bathroom and the maid is waiting for her outside.

“Take me to your Master,” Mariah speaks with a stern voice.

The maid leads the way downstairs. They reach outside a room and the maid stops. The door is closed and Mariah knows that it’s over for her on the other side.

“I can only accompany you till here. You’ll meet Master Adam inside,” the maid speaks as she holds the door open for her.

Mariah doesn’t say anything as she enters the room and she doesn’t look back as well. Mariah sees Mason standing beside an expensive executive chair made of leather. Someone’s sitting on it but he can’t be seen as it is directed towards the wall. Mariah can see a large painting hanging above the wall. It is a painting of a beach but the sky is painted beige instead of blue and the sand is dark brown. Everything is painted in shades of brown except water which is painted white.

Mariah snaps out of her thoughts while she’s staring at the painting when she hears the chair turn. He sees the person sitting on it which sends shiver down her spine but she keeps her composure. Adam is the one sitting on it and he stands up when she sees Mariah. Adam picks up a file lying on the desk in front of him. He takes a few steps towards Mariah which startles her. Adam keeps moving towards her and with each step Mariah’s heartbeat increases. Adam stands in front of Mariah. Adam leans forward reaching Mariah’s ear and whispers in a low but stern voice,

“Mariah Renee, you’re free now.”