6

SABINE'S POINT OF VIEW

When I opened my eyes, the bed beneath me felt too soft. Too clean.

Wait....this isn't mine.

I bolted upright and scrambled to the door, the events of last night playing in my mind, if too much time hadn't passed.

I bang on the door, my eyes wide, my heart pounding, fear, worry crawling up my spine and throat, making it harder for me to breathe.

“HELLO? Let me out! I don’t belong here! PLEASE!”

For what felt like hours, there was no answer... not until I heard it.

A click.

The door knob turns, and is unlocked.

I grabbed the nearest thing, the white lamp beside the bed.

But it wasn’t him.

It was an elderly woman; she looked no older than sixty as she held a silver tray of food. Her hands trembled as she set it down.

“Ecco. Mangia,” she said softly. Then turned to leave.

I rushed forward, gently grabbing her arm. “Please. I’m here against my will. Help me escape.”

She shook her head, eyes darting to the cameras. Her fear was louder than words, as she trembled, moving her hands from mine. She turns to the door, not sparing me another look.

And then, she left.

The tray remained.

A full breakfast spread. Eggs, meats, cheeses, and fresh bread. The juice was mango.

My stomach rumbled.

But I didn’t touch a thing.

Hours passed.

Then the door opened again.

This time, it was him.

Dominic Vitiello.

He's dressed in another suit, this one is dark blue, tailored to hell. His hair, perfectly styled.

He looks at me with a twinge in his eyes, the stormy pools filled with something I could recognise from a mile away. The stormy orbs are filled with a mix of something....

Somewhere between amusement and hunger.

“I had a feeling you’d be difficult,” he said, eyeing the untouched food.

He took a step closer, and I froze.

“You know what I did to the guard who carried you?” he asked calmly. “I cut off his hand. Gouged his eyes out. He touched what’s mine.”

I gasped, horrified.

“Are you sure you want to test me, dolcezza? Because if you do... I’ll be even rougher than I was three nights ago. At the club.”

“What?” I whispered. “What club?”

He tilted his head, smirked.

“That’s not what you said when you were on your knees for me. Want a repeat?”

A blush burned my cheeks.

No. No, no, no. I’m not giving him the satisfaction.

“You’ll never see me like that again,” I snapped, even though a part of me, a sick, shameful part, remembered exactly how good he made me feel.

He chuckled. “We’ll see. But trust me, by the time I’m done, you’ll beg for it.”

He handed me a shirt. “Wear this to sleep. My housekeeper will bring you clothes in the morning.”

Then, slowly, he reached forward and wiped a crumb from the corner of my lips with his thumb.

His gaze locked with mine.

Then he walked out, the door clicking shut behind him.

I sat on the bed, staring after him, pulse racing.

He was dangerous. Merciless.

And if I didn’t play this right, I’d lose myself completely.

Not just my freedom.

But maybe my heart.

THE NEXT MORNING.

The knock at the door, followed by the sound of the key turning, woke me from. My slumber. I looked at the door to see who would come in and saw that it was the housekeeper.

She had different bags of clothes in her hands, which she took to the walk-in closet. A few minutes later, she came out with a simple white dress in her hands. It looked like corporate attire, and in her other hand, she held a pair of white heels.

"Il Padrino vuole che tu indossi questo (the Don wants you to wear this" she said in Italian and placed the dress on the bed.

I looked at her, dumbfounded and confused, as I did not understand what she said. The language she spoke was still lost on me. She gesticulated after realizing that I did not understand her.

"Oh, you want me to put this on?" I said, and she nodded as though she understood me and walked out of the room.

A part of me wanted to defy Dominic by sitting in this room and not following his command, but the fear of what he would do to my father gutted me, and I hurriedly rushed to the bathroom and had my shower.

I made use of the body wash in the bathroom that smelled like mango, my favourite, as well as the body butter that was also mango scented, before I dressed myself up and put on the heels.

I found some perfume on the huge dresser, and I sprayed it on. It also smelled like mango, and despite everything, I smiled at the fact that everything smelled like my favorite scent.

The room was filled with the smell of mango from the small filter the housekeeper placed by my bed, the bathroom was decorated in yellow tiles coupled with the mango scent, and I noticed that my breakfast was always accompanied by freshly made mango juice. It made. My belly flutters.

After I was satisfied with my dress, I sat on the bed waiting for whatever would happen next.

.....

A few moments later, the door was unlocked and opened again to reveal the guard from earlier.

He cleared his throat and said in a gruffy voice

"The Don will see you now," and led me out of the room.

We walked. Over to where Dominic was and as we moved, j found myself taking notes of the dark walls of the house. It looked like something straight out of an Al Capone movie, everything spoke mafia, and it felt a bit cliche for me because I never believed they existed.

Once we got closer to where he was, I spotted him in a black suit with his hair falling in waves. I loved his full, long hair when he left it down; it made me want to run my hands through it against my better judgment.

"Finally," he said when he spotted me. His eyes ran through my body as he looked me over with approval; the look in his eyes made me shiver inwardly. It was a mix of hunger and passion all in one.

"Where are we going?" I asked him

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. Follow me," he said, and walked over to his garage. It was packed with cars of all kinds; it made me feel as though I had walked into a garage or a showroom for cars on sale.

"Are you selling these cars?" I asked him, and his chuckle that followed made my belly flutter again.

'You need to control that idiot,' I said to myself.

"These are a few of my cars, Bella," he said, and my heart skipped a beat at the endearment he used for me. Out of all the nicknames he used for me, this was the only one I knew of

"What will you do with all these cars? It's not like you can drive them throughout your lifetime," I said incredulously.

" Unless you know something I don't, I am not dying anytime soon, so indeed I can drive them throughout my lifetime time" he said, smirking.

He led us to a waiting black sleek Rolls-Royce with red tyres and said, "Get in."

The look in his eyes left no room for argument, but in true me fashion, I jutted my chin out in Defiance and said

"I am not going anywhere until you tell me where you are taking me."

"Okay, since you asked so nicely,  we are getting married," he said, smirking at my stunned face.

I scoffed and said, "Is this a joke? Where are you taking me?"

"Do I look like the man to play silly games?  You will be my wife today because it will be a big fuck you to your father, the man who dared to forget his place" he said with animoosity in his eyes and i could not help but wonder if the animosity was directed at me or my father.

"All he ever did was do his job!" i exclaimed, exasperated as I tried to make the destination, making me feel yet again that I truly was not in control of whatever happened to me as long as I was in his clutches. for him to see reason, but he was like a bull, charging and uncaring once he had a goal "he only did as he was directed and how is that a bad thing? You are a criminal, the police will always try to look for you after all, so he did not do anything different from what you are probably used to," I said, fighting tears as I tried to think of a way to get him to change his mind.

"I do not care, your father tried to play god, and the sad part is, he forgot that I control everyone and everything in a position of power. I am the apex, and whatever I want, I get, no matter what. Even if your father did not do as he did, you would have become mine either way."

"Why," I whispered

"Because I can do as I want," he said, grabbed me by the arm, and placed me in the car against my will.

No matter how much I hit and smacked him, he did not budge; he was like a bull in that regard, and next thing I knew, he was beside me in the car. 

"To the courthouse, Angelo," he said to the driver, who immediately drove off to the destination, making me feel yet again that I truly was not in control of whatever happened to me as long as I was in his clutches.