" For your sake at least." Jerome said in a calm voice, staring straight at her. Andrea blinked, trying to understand whether he was advising her or threatening her. His words were threatening but the tone at which he said them was soft. Like one you would use to talk to a toddler. Andrea didn't know much about Jerome, well aside from his name, but from the little encounter she had with him before, she knew for sure that he wasn't what he seems to be.
A green snake in lush grass.
He was crafty and cunning.
Not only did he kidnap her and starve her for more than four days, he was making up very believable excuses for his wicked actions to mess with her head. To manipulate her into thinking he was the good guy, to convince her that all the cruel things he did wasn't his fault. That he was as innocent as he looked. And the worse thing was that he was succeeding.
Although Andrea didn't fully believe him yet, she looked conflict. Trying to figure out what to think and believe. And that was exactly how Jerome wanted her to be. Indecisive. Confused. That was the first step of his mindfucking, make the person confused with your words. Make their brains run, let them struggle to find answers that doesn't even exist. Then he uses their confusion to his advantage, carve it into a tool to control their minds. To mess with them and that was the same thing he was doing to Andrea.
Though Jerome didn't really lie to her, most of what he said to her were true and every single word that left his mouth was deliberately twisted in his favor.
" And again I ask, what do you want from me?" Andrea asked with a her voice calm and Jerome let out a tired sigh. He noted that she didn't sound as angry as she did a while ago. Good. Very good.
" I need your help." Jerome finally said after a while of being silent, only causing Andrea to look even more confused.
" And you couldn't have asked for it like a normal person? You just had to kidnap me first." Andrea rolled her eyes at him and he leaned towards her a little.
" If I came to your house and told you that I needed to borrow you and change your surname for over a year, you would have screamed bloody murder." He said, causing Andrea to be seriously taken aback. She eyes widened to the size of basketballs.
" What the fuck?!" She exclaimed but Jerome just looked at her like he didn't just say something extremely weird. Like it was a normal thing he says to everyone.
" You heard me, or has not eating anything for awhile ruined your ability to hear?" He asked and she shot him a glare for the underlining insult in his question.
" You want us to get married for a year and then breakup?" She asked in misbelief.
" Now you saying it like that makes it sound weird." He said, making Andrea's misbelief and confusion turn to anger. She immediately stood up from her chair, grabbed hold of the glass of water on the table and splashed it on him.
" Fuck you!" She said angrily to him and left the table but not before snitching two plates of food from it. She walked angrily to her room with two plates stuffed with food in her hands, stumping loudly like a rebellious child and slammed her room door shut.
Jerome was left alone in the garden, wet. But instead of getting angry, he chuckled. He wasn't angry with Andrea for splashing water on him, in fact he actually expected her to do something like that. Obviously she didn't like his proposal or even understood what was going to be at stake if she refused. After wiping his face with a napkin, Jerome dug into his food like nothing happened because nothing really did. Jerome believed that all Andrea needed was space to process things properly, to come to terms with reality and realize that he owned her. She was the payment for her father's debt.
Jerome was giving her but a small task to prove to him that she wasn't just a pretty face with nice ass, that she had smarts as much as she had pride. But if she couldn't do the job then he would be forced to take her out of the picture and replace her with someone more capable.
Andrea sat on her bed angrily munching on the food she stole from Jerome's table while vilely cursing him in her head.
' What does that bastard think of me, huh? After kidnapping me and letting his dog Matteo shoot my father in front of me, does he really think he can make me forget all the horrible things he did just because he offered me food? He wanted me to get married to him for a year. Never! I will not do any such thing and will take the hate I have for him to my grave.'
Andrea's original plan was to keep one plate of food for later just in case Jerome was crazy enough to starve her again for what she did but she ended up finishing both plates at once. It wasn't her fault, she hadn't eaten in days and felt extremely hungry.
After stuffing her stomach full to the point that it hurt, Andrea laid on her bed, breathing through her mouth and had a satisfied smile on her face. She finally got to eat delicious food after not having anything for days and though her stomach kinda hurts now, she was still happy. It was a joyful pain, a pain to be thankful for. Hopefully the food she ate would last her till dinner before she felt hungry again but for now it was smooth sailing.
When she felt her stomach stop hurting, Andrea moved one of the chairs in her room closer to the window since it had a nice view of the island. Though Andrea hated being trapped there, she couldn't deny how beautiful the island truly was. It was the second most prettiest thing she had ever seen in her life while the first was Jerome. And as much as she hated to admit it, Jerome awhile ago sitting in a garden of flowers made him look like an angel. Prince charming material.
He had some tattoos on his knuckles and wrists but didn't give off any bad boy vibes like Matteo did. Jerome looked like someone who couldn't hurt a fly, so innocent. Andrea recalled their encounter in the garden though it didn't end well, remembering how angelic Jerome looked wearing all white, sitting with beautiful flowers surrounding him. looking like a picture from Vogue magazines, his unearthly beauty could make a lot of girl go crazy and Andrea included but not when she kept constantly reminding herself that he was the enemy. That he was her enemy.
Matteo looked good too but Andrea wasn't a fan of devilish beauty. She didn't like bad boys as they kinda scared her but now she was a little confused on which category of men to place Jerome in. He didn't look bad but was bad at the same time.
Such a weirdo.
Andrea sat on her chair and stared at the beautiful view of the island in awe. She wondered how rich Jerome really was to have such a beautiful property like that island. Even the mansion he lived in was magnificent, looking like a castle but his food amongst everything else was the best. Kudos to the chief.
It was absolutely mouth watering and stomach filling.
Since Andrea didn't have anything to keep herself busy with, she just stared at the view of the ocean for the longest time until she finally fell asleep on the chair. But the sound of her door opening woke her up, she instantly looked at the window and saw it was already evening. She then turned to the person who just walked into the room and saw that it was the maid who escorted her to Jerome in the morning.
" Ma'am, the boss wants you to have dinner with him." The maid reported and Andrea creased her brows in a frown, remembering what happened last time she was in that situation and the consequences she faced after her refusal.
" Okay." She said and followed the maid out.