ELENA'S POV
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
The sun is warm on my face, I can feel the light. But there is something poking my cheek. I swat it thrice, but it keeps repeating.
There's a soft fragrance of cherry blossom, mixed with something musky.
Hmm… calming.
A soft growl. Next to me.
I pull the blankets higher and snuggle. No more Lorenzo. No more dusty house. Just me and my freedom. My first morning in Japan.
A loud roar happens close to me, shaking the earth.
My eyes fly open. I bolt up straight only to see a white furry monster sitting by my feet. Panic grips me.
"Don't scream. Ghost doesn't like it."
My head snaps at the little girl standing next to me. My mouth closes shut. No scream leaves.
Sophie is still in her PJs, carrying bed hair and morning blush on her cheeks. "Good morning, aunty." She gives me a surprise peck on my cheek.
I recall Adrian returning to my room with Alex and— I scramble down from the bed to check myself. I'm still wearing the same flimsy clothes from the auction, which smell disgusting now and are torn at the sleeves. The bandages are still wrapped around my feet, but I see a new one at the back of my hand, stained with blood. Sophia winces seeing me peel it off.
Needle mark.
WTF
What have they done to me?
Scared, I dash toward the bathroom and tear off the flimsy fabric to check myself in the mirror. "Drug addict street hooker" is the correct term to describe my appearance. Multiple needle marks around my neck, my elbow, and my arms. Dark purple bruises that I don't know are how old and who inflicted them. This is the first time I'm seeing myself in the mirror after Markel took me from home.
I slip a hand under my panty, stroking myself—no bleeding, no pain, nothing suspicious down here.
"Where is she?"
I hear Adrian through the door.
Wait. The door!
Before I can lock it, it's pushed open, and I come face-to-face with Adrian's wide eyes, looking at me—with my right hand inside my panty.
"WTF! GET OUT, CREEP!"
He easily sidesteps the kick I aimed at his crotch and shuts the door in my face.
"There is a thing called door lock. If you don't know how to use it, please ask."
"There is a thing called knocking. If you don't know how to do it, please go die."
I hear Sophia's laughter, followed by Alex's.
"Overthinking much, aren't we?"
"Get lost! You all are monsters." I throw out the clothes I was wearing. "Overthinking my ass."
More laughter.
"Shut up. Explain her." Adrian's voice echoes, followed by footsteps retreating.
A knock at the door, and Alex speaks up, "Will you come outside so I can explain why we sedated you last night?"
"The fuck I will."
"I'll be careful to use such words with a child in the house."
"I'm sure she's heard worse. She isn't living between priests."
"Oh yeah, I have," Sophia's sweet voice comes. "Fucker, bastard, bitch, asshole— they are all synonyms of a nice person. Right, Uncle Alex?"
Alex coughs. "Miss. De Luca, please. Don't make me call Adrian. He won't do it nicely."
God. Not him.
I wrap myself with a bathrobe and open the door, zeroing my eyes on the man from last night who betrayed me.
"You were heavily drugged when you came here, which was fatal for you. Markel does it with all the girls. We did nothing but give you the medicine to nullify the effects. The lab reports are on the table for you to confirm."
He points at the table, spread overflowing with food and fresh coffee. I will my stomach not to rumble, but it betrays me. Sophia picks a croissant and dips it in hot chocolate, savoring it, dripping chocolate all over.
"Then why didn't you tell me this?"
"Would you have believed us?"
"I still don't believe you."
"Your choice."
A million questions are running through my mind, and I'm not even sure who to seek answers from. I'm that bird who fell from the sky straight into a tiger's den. A literal one is still inside the room, eating with Sophia.
"You are free to roam here. Just don't do anything stupid. You must have seen the mansion is highly secured and monitored. Our guys don't hesitate to shoot if anyone tries to leave the property without Adrian's permission."
"Why am I here? What are you going to do with me?"
"That's for Adrian to answer. He has some urgent meeting, but most probably he'll join you at dinner tonight to discuss things. Rest assured, he did you a favor by buying you."
Favor by buying me?
The audacity to justify this action. My nostrils flare as I watch him leave, closing the door behind him.
One day I'm going to hack into every single one of his accounts, draining his bank accounts and leaking all his secrets to his enemies. As I watch him squirm, I'll casually send him messages with his darkest secrets, knowing that each one will eat away at him. Then, I'll lock him in a room and play the sound of every password he's ever used on loop—just to make him crack under the weight of his own paranoia.
They will shit their pants if they find out I'm the mighty CIPHER and have the key to destroy them. Let me get out of here once, I'll bring them to their knees.
I sit down with Sophie and snatch a croissant off the plate, plotting everyone's demise.
I feel better having something inside my stomach after god knows how many days. Hate to admit, but I was kinda itching to ask for more croissants, but my pride came in the way.
I look around the luxurious room with dark tones of furniture, a huge floor-to-ceiling window which is obviously sealed, a full wall with shelves of old-style leather-bound books in pristine condition as if brand new, and the only balcony with a beautiful view of the sea. If the memories of past days weren't so fresh in my mind, and a little girl with a pet tiger weren't ogling me, I'd have assumed I really managed to leave the house that day.
"What are you looking at?"
She scrunched her nose. "You smell. Do you want me to prepare the bath tub?" She left for the bathroom without letting me say a word, and her furry pet followed. It explains why no one cares that she's with a stranger. Her bodyguard is really effective.
A minute later, she's out and standing in front of the walk-in closet, jumping like a kangaroo. "Help me open it. I'm too small."
I open the door for her, and lights flick on, revealing the contents that belong to a man. A very tall and big man with expensive taste.
"Who do the clothes belong to?"
"Uncle Ady. It's his spare room."
Ooh, so it's the monster's room. Then maybe I could find something helpful? Hopefully an old discarded phone or a laptop?
"Alright, I got this." I shove her toward the door, but she makes a U-turn and continues inspecting the clothes with the eyes of a fashion designer.
Ah, kids these days.
That's why I don't like them. Trouble.
And this one has a 500-pound bodyguard.
I leave them be and go to clean myself before the horrible stink kills anyone.
By the time I'm done, I smell of man products—smooth and deep, with an undertone of leather that reminds you of a well-worn jacket. It's comforting, yet bold, leaving a trace of his presence on my skin that's hard to ignore.
I'm at unease.
It's only while drying myself that I realize I don't have any bra and panty. Ah well…
I snoop inside the bedroom with a towel around me, and surely Sophia extends a white shirt with a huge grin.
Sighing, I accept. The man is a giant, so his curtain-sized clothes should be enough to cover my assets. Hopefully.
Alex said I'm free to roam around the property, and I need this freedom to get my hands on a laptop or phone and plan my escape.
The hallway is quiet. Not a single soul in sight other than the two following me. Walking down the stairs, I spot Alex passing, and he points two fingers at his eyes and then at me before disappearing into a room.
Creep.
I go straight out to the lavish garden I saw last night. Countless armed guards patrol the premises, but none look at me. Surveillance systems and electric fencing around the wall that's too tall for me to even think of climbing. As soon as I step close to the fence, loud sirens ring, and guards warn me to go back. Awesome.
After hours of walking and finding nothing, I fall down on the back garden patio with a sigh. Sophia and Ghost copy me.
"Why are you following me?"
She shrugs. "Because I have nothing else to do."
"Homework? School?"
"I'm homeschooled by my nanny. But my nanny resigned last week. Until Uncle Ady finds a new one for me, every day is a holiday."
She says it with a mischievous grin that I'm certain she and her pet are behind the nanny's resignation.
"Why did your nanny resign?"
Sophia and Ghost look at each other. Sophia shrugs. "How would I know that?"
"Because every time she tried to conduct a lesson, Ghost would interrupt with his 'purr-sonal opinions' on the subject. Eventually, he started 'marking his territory' on the homework, and the teacher just couldn't compete with a 500-pound furry critic who refused to follow the syllabus." A deep male voice breaks my skin into goosebumps. God, that voice! Seductive in bed, but a promise of pain and death to enemies.
A shiver runs down my spine as his unblinking gaze scans me from head to toe, focused and intense. I feel naked under his gaze.
Well… I truly am naked underneath. But he doesn't know that, or does he?
His shirt that's curtain-sized on me snuggly fits his tall and built stature.
He wets his lips.
"That's my shirt."
"Good observation," I cross my arms over my chest.
He tilts his head, not moving his eyes from me. "Soph, can you go tell Maria to not add chili in the food?"
Sophia's eyes ping-pong between us, then she mumbles while leaving, "Let's go, Ghost. Uncle Ady is going to kiss Elena, that's why they are asking us to leave. Adults these days. I just can't."
My lips twitch.
I swear I see a little movement in Adrian's stoic face as well.
"I think it's time we talk about your little situation."
"Finally," I huff, and he throws a set of papers in front of me.
The words written in bold: MARRIAGE DOCUMENTS