Rodriguez released her and she slowly maintained her balance, not breaking the eye contact.
"Who are you?" His words coursed through her with an eccentric feeling.
Recalling Roberto's tip, she tried her best not to break away from the eye contact even though just staring at him alone gave her cold feet. She could feel his gaze digging right into her soul.
"I am.. m-my name is Aurora" she said within breaths.
Up close he is even more intimidating but Aurora dare not break their gaze.
"And?" He drawled. "Why were you hiding in my van, unconscious?" He inquired.
"I was escaping from my parent's murderers--
"Look at me when you're talking to me" he rasped, trying not to sound too cold on her.
Aurora quickly looked at him. Earlier, she didn't realize she had broken the eye contact as she spoke.
She saw a look in his eyes that urged her to continue.
"My parents were murdered in cold blood and the perpetrators were after me. I needed to get away from them, to hide, so I hid in your van unnoticed.
Look, I'm really sorry for hiding in your van but it was the only option for me. I was helpless, I needed any possible way to get away from them else I will be killed-
"That is not my concern!" He replied coldly, his voice sending a cold shiver down her spine.
"I know but-
"Are you a spy?" He asked.
"What? No! I'm not a spy, I'm just-
"Who sent you?" He cut her off again.
"No one! I swear-
"I said look at me!" He roared, pushing her roughly and Aurora sent her gaze flying to meet his. Tears clouding up in her eyes.
His eyes were widely open, filled with rage and something else that she couldn't decipher.
Staring at him at this stage only aggravated her fears, her heartbeat raced up a million times and she felt the urge, pulling from every corner to run away from him.
But she knew better.
She needed to stay here, he's a dangerous mafia, true enough but he's the only one that can protect her now.
She doesn't know what is waiting for her the moment she walks out of this territory; his territory.
She needs him to be alive; to be safe.
In his territory, no one would undoubtedly want to harm her. He is always known to protect his own and she knew without falsification that he wouldn't hesitate to do the same for her once he allows her to stay here and she becomes a part of his own.
She tried to steady her breathing but the more she did, the more it intensified when his stare bore into her.
"I'm sorry" she whimpered, feeling her knees go weak.
Rodriguez paused for a moment, examining her. She looked innocent, though disorganized he could read through her pure soul.
And with how fidgety she gets at his gaze, he knew she would never have entered his camp for anything bad.
He cut the eye contact and stepped away from her, taking a long sip from the glass in his hand.
Aurora breathed out once he stepped away from her, she gulped heavily and frantically wiped her tears. Positioning herself when he turned.
"What is your last name?" He inquired.
"Stefano" she replied.
"Where do you live?" He asked.
"In the woods," she replied. "Very far in the woods" she said.
He gave her a brief look.
"I'll have one of my men take you home-
"No!" She fell on her knees, "please don't send me back home, I beg you," she cried out to him. "They'll kill me. I'm sure they're out there looking for me and they will kill me. Please save me.. please" she drawled, crying and pleading.
"Who?" He asked. "Who will kill you?"
"Those...men. They killed my parent and they are after me, they will surely kill me if they find me!" She said.
"Who are those men?" He asked. "And why did they kill your parents?" Rodriguez asked.
"I don't know. I swear, I don't know anything. I just returned from an outing to find my parent being slaughtered by them. I didn't see their faces, I didn't see anything; I just ran for my life!" She cried, the memory bringing grief to her heart
Rodriguez turned again, staring into space.
He shut his eyes and sucked in his breath. His dreadful nightmare rushing to his mind at her words. It displayed freshly, as if it happened just yesterday.
Her pains, he understands it.
Their cases were similar, Rodriguez had watched his family die in the most horrible way ever. That death he witnessed, made him who he is today. Gave him a habitat in the dark world and exchanged his red soft heart to a dark and icy one.
He became who he is today because of that night. It transformed his totality.
Because of that awful event, he made the rule of not harming women. Just like hers, he recalls the toecurling event of that night when he unfairly treats a woman, the unfair treatment meted out on his mother and sister rushes back into his head.
He stared at her as if he was staring at Marilyn, his only sister who was constantly raped by different men before being stabbed and killed alongside his parents. He found her crying, whimpering with so much agony, her face buried in her palms with her knees sunk into the ground and his face tightened.
He took few steps towards her and stopped when he got to her, he bent and heard her muttering some words to herself, he listened and realised she was blaming herself for what happened to her parents.
"It's my fault! It's all my fault!" She cried, her body trembling.
Just like her, he had also blamed himself for the death of his family but in his case, it is true.
Their death had been his fault.
"No," he suddenly said and she stopped crying, tilting her head upward to look at him. "It's not your fault" he said, so subtly and genuinely.
"What?" Aurora asked, sniffing, she couldn't believe she heard that right.
"I will not tell you that you'll be okay or that everything will be fine but you will survive. I promise you" he said to her. Aurora stared at him in disbelief.
Did those soothing words just come out from Rodriguez Francesco's mouth?
He offered the glass of rum to her but she shook her head, rejecting it.
"I don't drink," she muttered, loud enough to his hearing.
The stench of it alone made her heavy-headed
He left her after realising himself, picking up the telephone from the lightstand, she watched him keenly as he punched some numbers into and placed it on his ear.
"Michael, I want you in my chambers immediately!" He said before hanging up.
Seconds later, he arrived, Rodriguez allowing him entrance.
"Take her to the servant quarters, she is now one of them" he said and Aurora's face lit up, a smile broadly displaying across her lips but it soon vanished to a frown of terror when he added:
"Introduce her to the head of servants, I want her tidied up, she has become my personal maid!"
.
...