"you shouldn't have done that Lana; you made her more angry." Gwen muttered as she observed Lana sitting on her bed. Lana knew Fiona was up to no good and that she would stop at nothing to get even. This made her feel a little afraid.
"I was doing what I thought was right, Gwen. I mean, she is rich; she can get another dress better than the one you ruined." Lana smiled, clutching her stomach. She still needed to do the laundry and was hungry.
"I forgot something, Gwen, but I will be right back." She rose, heading for the stairs that led to the hallway where the laundry room is situated and out of the room as well as the quarters. Her stomach began to rumble more and she began to feel hungry. She fought the hunger and, as her strength failed, made her way slowly to the laundry room.
"I guess you forgot to do your job; how about I tell Master about how you disrespected his sister?" Smirking, Kate tried to get closer to Lana's last nerve. Lana ignored her, focusing on where she kept the clothes.
"Kate, this is not about you; in addition, you should not be here." Lana continued, smiling happily as she saw the laundry basket. She snatched it and hurriedly cleaned the clothes, allowing them to dry and ironed correctly. She knew how to do this so well because of her new parents and her experience working as a maid in Gavin's house.
"Too bad, Miss Fiona told Jane and the kitchen maids not to give you food tonight. I can see you must be hungry right now." She chuckled, bringing Lana's attention to her previous statement.
"How did you know?" She stared in confusion at Kate's mocking expression. Kate gave a grating chuckle and turned to leave the room, swaying her hips. Lana held her necklace as a source of comfort for herself because she had not eaten since lunch and her stomach was rumbling.
"Gosh! I hate my life so fucking much." She carefully arranged the clothes in the basket before proceeding to Axel's room. She was exhausted, and her hunger was making her feel worse. She took a moment to gather her strength, and then, after assembling some small strength, she knocked.
"Come in." She received a response from that specific deep voice that just will not quit giving her stomach butterflies. Axel was sitting in his chair, scribbling something down when she softly opened the door. She stepped toward the closet door, her eyes still focused on the clothes.
"I am back with the clothes master," she said, grumbling slightly. Her voice became hoarse, which caught Axel's attention. "And what is wrong with you?" he asked, still not looking at her. She glanced at the basket and shook her head rapidly, twitching her necklace.
"Nothing, master," she remarked timidly, to which he silently replied. She entered his closet and arranged the clothes inside. This took her 15 minutes. When she was finished, she emerged with a frown on her typically innocent face.
The sound of a knock was heard. "Open the door," he said, and she did, revealing an angry Fiona; Lana became scared; she was not completely afraid of Fiona, but she was scared when Axel got involved. Fiona pushed her aside with a sly grin as she noticed her expression.
"And what do you want, Fiona?" Axel asked without looking at her. Fiona matched towards Axel, her face contorted into a fake rage.
"This daughter of a bitch, had the authority to stop me from disciplining my maid Axel," she cried out in a high pitched voice, revealing the Morales' perfectly spoiled last child. Axel sighed loudly, wanting to spend a quiet evening and forgetting about everything that had transpired during the day. Lana remained standing there, debating whether to stay with the two of them or go since Axel had not given her an order yet.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked coldly, surprising Fiona. As he had done with the other maids who dared to disobey his orders, she had expected him to get up, pull out his gun or any other potentially lethal weapon, and strike Lana with it.
"Are you serious? She disrespected me, and you made it a law that anyone who disrespects you or me would be punished. You told me that my maid is my priority and that I can do whatever I want with her, but she interrupted me and disrespected me by challenging me to discipline my maid, Axel, who had damaged my dress. I told Jane and the others not to give her food." She yelled, glaring at Lana the entire time. Even though the room had air conditioning, Lana could feel sweat on her forehead and palm.
"Since you insisted, I will punish her in addition to you. You can go buy a new dress." He waved her off, watching as she bounced out of the room and gently closed the door. He smirked as he noticed this; he despised it when Fiona slammed his door and has punished her for it whenever she did so in anger.
"Disrespectful, huh?" he smirked as he turned to face her, looking at how terrified she was. To him, she was getting prettier by the day. He wants to look into those gray eyes again, but her gaze is always fixed on the floor.
"I am sorry master, I didn't mean to, I swear. She was hurting my friend, and I did not disrespect her. I only begged her on my friend's behalf and gave her reasons why she should not hurt her anymore. I am very sorry, master." He turned his attention back to the sketchbook and was silent for a long moment before speaking.
"I will still punish you; it is one of my rules, and I do not break them. For not minding your own business and disrespecting my sister? I agree she is not going to feed you anything, and that is not all; you will stay with me until the next day." Her eyes widened with surprise as he said that, and she was forced to look at him.
He smirked when he noticed the pair of gray eyes staring at him. Her aura surrounded him more and more the longer she stared at him. He had seen "those eyes" before; he had seen a lot of people with gray eyes, but hers was different—it was gray with a flash of blue and gold. He needed to make sure it was truly her, but he chose not to press the issue.
"What I mean is not what you are thinking, little maid; shrug it off," he muttered as he sketched, and the sound of the pencil against the sketchbook was heard. Lana blushed with embarrassment, but she has no idea what he met by being with him, or how he put it. "Starting now, you are going to stand there and do nothing until I finish sketching," he remarked, his gaze fixed on the sketchbook.
Lana was not enjoying this at all; she was hungry and her legs were already aching. She seized the chance to have a closer look at him. She noticed the small pout on his perfectly chiseled face, his black wavy locs that fell on his shoulder, his nose, which was straight and pointed sharply. Apart from his attractiveness, he had perfect posture; how he stood, walked, and sat was all that mattered. The fact that she compared herself to him screams of royalty.
"Are you really into staring at me, Lana?" He interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to her senses. She gave off an innocent look as she blinked quickly. He dropped his pencil on the desk and turned to face her.
"Come here," he ordered, his voice sounding a little more menacing and deep to her. With her head down, she slowly made her way towards him. "Lana, can not you stop getting yourself in trouble?" she asked herself as she stood in front of Axel. She felt so shy, her cheeks flushed as his cologne filled her nose.
"Since I am constantly warning you about staring, let me give you the opportunity." She knitted her brow in further confusion at what he had said. "Look at my face! And when you do, do not take your gaze away from me; you will not like what I will do to you."
Lana could feel her body trembling; she was terrible at maintaining eye contact, especially with him. This would be extremely difficult for her to pull off because he would notice every move she made, especially when it came to flushing.
"Get down on your knees," he instructed her. She was very shy because she felt she was too close to him. She noticed her reflection on the marbled floor. Within her, she wished Kate would return and take up her duties as his maid; this was not what she expected when he chose her.
"Look at me!" he said again, triggering a memory of the first time she met him in the club. In the same manner, she was kneeling and her mind was filled with the sound of the guns. Then Axel noticed that she was shaking. He always noticed that whenever she was with him, she would always be holding her necklace, and something told him that this was more than just a necklace to her.
Her head slowly lifted to meet his, and her eyes met his. It was so dark, it screamed fire. His eyes were a little smokey, which gave him a more darker masculine appearance. She fought hard not to blush and keep her gaze fixed on him.
Axel studied her face, holding her chin gently. Her small nose had an upturned or lifted tip, and she had lovely gray eyes with curly lashes resembling a doll's. Her slightly plump lips were a darker shade of pink. Her beauty was pure and innocent, giving the impression that she is too pure to exist in this corrupted world. Her beauty is something that people are willing to fight and defend.
He felt weak and suddenly at ease. He was feeling the effects of Lana, and he was not happy with the direction this was going. His gaze went to her necklace as a means of resisting himself; he wanted to touch it, but her protective instincts made her cover it.
"Get up and stand over there," he sighed angrily, which she could not understand. Was it the necklace? She thought, and didn't like the fact that she made the situation worse. Now that he had made her picture all of him in her head, she was lost in these new feelings she had never experienced before.
Lana had stood for an hour. She was exhausted, and her stomach hurt so much that she could not stand straight without shaking. Her head and eyes both felt heavy. Another knock on the door soon followed, and this time Lana was not instructed to answer, so she left it open. Jane entered with a straight face and cleared her throat.
"Boss, your meal is ready. It is already placed on the dining table. "Miss Fiona is waiting for you," she said softly before leaving. Axel got up from his chair and motioned for Lana to follow him. She let out a tired, "Oh Lord no, not again," as she followed him with all the strength her body could muster. It dawned on her then that he lacked empathy. As they approached the dining table, Fiona, who was seated at the far end of the dining hall, glanced at them. Fiona was glad her brother decided to punish his maid, but she had no idea how he would punish her.
Axel pulled one of the seats from the other end and sat on it, directing Lana to stand aside. Fiona frowned when she saw her, but she said nothing because she appeared colder than usual. His face is devoid of emotion.
The table was brimming with various delicacies. The aroma filled the air and reached Lana's nose. Her stomach grumbled loudly in response as she sniffed the aroma through her nostrils. This is torture, she reflected deeply. Her mouth watered when she saw the food, which included margaritas, one of her favorite meals. There were also desserts. She had not had a nice dessert since she was first introduced to Hilda and Andrew. They avoided candies and pastries even though they do not like anything sweet, but that did not stop them from getting Lana one.
Overthinking hit her hard, causing her eyes to water and threatening to burst into tears. She missed home, she missed her parents, she missed her family, both biological and foster. Fiona saw her quickly wiping away the tears that were about to spill down her cheeks.
"Oh my! Want to cry so badly? Next time, you will think twice before challenging me. Nobody dares to challenge me aside from my brother; not even your soul can do so. I will break you completely," she laughed, sipping from the water beside her.
"Fiona, I am warning you and I will not do this twice, so do not even consider doing it without my permission." Axel ignored her priceless response and gave her a glare. Surprised too was Lana, who had been taken by her thoughts.
"Are you kidding me Axel?"
"Do I look like I am kidding? You have your maid, and I have mine. You can do whatever you want to her, but do not touch mine or it will not be funny." He gave a chilling warning in a dangerous tone that made them both shudder. The table was silent, just the way Axel wanted it, until she broke it again.
"Draco called me and inquired about both my and your well-being." She said this, eliciting a moment of silence from him. "Who is Draco?" Lana thought within herself as she listened to their conversation.
"He told me he will return from Russia next week. I can't wait to see him again, don't you axel?" She asked him, but his actions never proved that he does not care. He and his brother were never particularly friendly. Despite Draco's numerous attempts to persuade Axel to recognize him as his twin, Axel consistently gave him the cold shoulder.
"Fiona, I am requesting peace and quiet from you while trying to maintain focus. If you are going to run your mouth again, I recommend that you take your meal to your room, or I will seal your lips." Lana became uncomfortable in this situation because she felt she was not supposed to be there to listen to their conversations and fights.
"I am done." Axel mumbled and grabbed a napkin to wipe his lips. He got up, turned to face neither Lana nor Fiona, and left with Lana trailing behind. She clutched her stomach as it continued to bite her. When he got to Axel's room, he demanded that she prepare him a cold bath, which she did. However, she drank a lot of water to stay hydrated along the way, even though it did not satisfy her as much as food does.
"Drinking water in my bathroom? How ridiculous, little one."