Thinking of changing the name of the story to "Help! He's Holding Me Hostage" <lots of fun alliteration there :D
Chapter 13
Instead of walking down the main stairwell we walked down the back stairs which led directly into laundry room which was right next to the kitchen, but directly across from the pantry. The kitchen was a full gourmet kitchen, every chef's dream. It had a larger than ordinary steel fridge with unused magnets on the side, a nice sized stove on the island in the center of the kitchen, a deep and wide sink directly behind it on one side which faced a view out a well-sized window and on the other side was a long counter which outlined most of the kitchen and a second layer which rose up a little higher than the first counter to serve as a bar seating.
Next to the sink was about 2 yards of counter space and then two, black, ovens stacked on top of each other. All the countertops were made of sleek black granite. Littered around the kitchen were numerous cabinets and drawers filled with all kinds of crazy cooking instruments I had never seen before in my life, and others that were filled with duplicates of utensils that seems to vary only slightly in shape or size.
Whatever part of the wall was not covered in cabinets was coated in small rust-colored square tiles. On the other side of the bar was a light tan, marble breakfast table surrounded with windows and a door to the balcony which had yet another table.
Somehow I found myself imagining living here, eating here, enjoying some hot chocolate outside on the patio outside while watching the pure white capped mountains turn to pink and then orange as the sun rose and spread its warmth on the cold Alaskan frontier for its few special hours.
Nadya and I were silently washing the dishes, lost in our own thoughts, when Bax walked in. I don't know what it was about the two of them, but they made me feel so cheery, comfortable, and more like my normal self.
"Morning Nadya"
"Good morning Bax," she smiled, but it faded a little, "You made Master very upset yesterday."
He sighed, "What can I say, I can't keep myself away from this little siren." He tapped my nose with his finger and grinned with such boyish delight I couldn't help but smile back.
"What's up Alaure?"
"Not much. Just helping out Nadya with some chores. Wanna help?"
"If I get to spend time with you, sure."
I blushed, lowing my face to hide it. "I'll wash, you dry," I said, unable to bring myself to look at him without feeling awkward.
He chuckled and nudged my arm with his elbow. I ignored it at first, but when he did it again I looked up at him.
"What?" I asked pushing my glasses up higher on my nose to keep them from falling. I blew a loose chunk of my hair out of my face, but it simply fell back into place.
Gently, he pushed back my hair behind my ear, forcing me to look up into his bright, deep blue eyes. I gulped and hoped my face wasn’t too red. Suddenly he smirked mischievously and wiped some soap on my nose.
"Baxter!" Acting on impulse, I smeared my soap hands on his face before he could grab my wrists. I giggled and stood defensively, preparing for another attack.
"Stop it now, both of you," Nadya chided.
"Sorry, Nadya,” we both chimed while hiding our smiles.
As we returned to scrubbing the grime off the ceramic plates I felt a light, soapy pop on my cheek.
"What the..." I turned to Bax only to see him blowing into his two cupped hands. A translucent, rainbow dome appeared from the other end and floated near my face. I popped it, holding in my childish delight, while rolling my eyes at Baxter.
"You'll never stop annoying me will you?"
"Nope," he laughed, "so you better get used to it now."
"And how do you suppose I do that?" I asked with a quizzical look.
"Play with me," he beamed, “you’ll have a lot more fun doing that than fighting me."
"Play with you? You're so immature."
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I always feel so lonely and trapped in this house."
"You're telling the hostage of this house that you're feeling trapped. At least you have the freedom to walk around this house and walk out those fancy mahogany doors."
"Heh, right. Sorry."
"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled. I thought back to Baxter's conversation last night with Eugene, and how he wanted to get me out of here, but said nothing about it. I glanced back at Nadya who was humming quietly to herself while wiping down the kitchen counters, and dried my hands on a towel.
"Nadya, what do we have to do next?"
"We have some things to wipe down in the living room."
"Well I better get going," Bax said.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I have work, honey, but don't miss me too much, I'll be back tonight," he winked.
"Ah, finally! Peace at last! I was wondering when I'd get away from you Barney," I teased back with a smug grin.
"Well that's not a very nice thing to say to someone that lets you have a little fun in this house."
"Yeah, whatever. I won’t be happy until I'm back home."
"Well then maybe you shouldn't try to get on my bad side," he whispered ominously in my ear so that only I would hear his mysterious message.
With that, he strode out of the kitchen. I sighed, lost in thought about his message. Why would Baxter try to help me out of here? Could he really be a ray of hope?
"Here you go honey," Nadya said handing me a dry dust cloth. She led me out into the living room and I nearly fainted from sheer awe.
I had expected the living room to be fairly large, but this was beyond my wildest dreams. The stairs curved down into the room, creating a grand entrance into the extravagant living room. The same log cabin type feel continued into the room with its wooded floors and beams. Even the walls were made of horizontal panels of a rich, brown, textured, wood.
Contrasting against the walls, carefully placed, multicolored stones created the wide frame of the fireplace which stretched up to the top of the high-ceilinged room. The mantle shelf was decorated with candles and ornaments. I couldn't help but notice the deficit of pictures. The only "picture" was a large painting of some forest in the indented overmantle of the fireplace.
The indention of the overmantle was so deep that it looked like you could light a second fire in it. A small light illuminated the painting, and reflected off the edge of the bronze frame. Under the hearth (bottom) of the fireplace was a long dark brown cabinet with glass windows which was also blanketed in the same stone as the fireplace above it. It stretched out far on each side of the fireplace to the far edges of the two shelves made into the wall of the house. Each shelf was lit and once again I didn't see any family photos, only more ornamentation from pottery, vases, and books.
Facing the fireplace was a dark colored, 3-seat, leather couch. On the left side of the couch were 2 separate sofa-chairs and on the right was a loveseat. Under the dark brown and glass coffee table was a soft pelt rug. I ran my toes through the fur of the rug and jumped back, startled by its softness which indicated that it was definitely real fur.
Behind the loveseat was large window framed in wooden designs to split the large window into smaller portions. The windows stretched to the very top of the room as well as out width wise to touch the corners of the wall, and then continued along the wall adjacent to it to provide a clear view of the mountains outside of it. One of the smaller framed portions was a door which led out to a balcony which wrapped around the visible parts of the balcony.
There were several lighting fixtures. Some were placed around the walls of the room, others that looked like mini-spot lights lined the support beams of the ceiling, and some were even on the ceiling. Even with all of this, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing.
"Where's the TV?" I asked, finally figuring it out.
Nadya handed me a remote. "Press the blue button right next to the red power button."
I held it down and heard a quiet humming from behind me. I twisted on my heels and gasped as I saw a large flat screen TV slide down in front of the forest picture in the overmantle.
"Mother of god..." Considering the TV was the same size as the one in the game room on the third floor, I was surprised that it didn't fall out of whatever was holding it up.
"Press the blue arrows above the white volume and channel ones," Nadya prompted. I pressed the down arrow first and my eyes bulged as the screen moved forward out of the overmantle. Next I pressed the right arrow which caused the screen to rotate to the right.
"Oh my god! This is SO COOL!" I spazzed out, messing around with the controls some more.
"Haha, you look absolutely adorable," Nadya laughed.
"I can't help it, this is by far one of the coolest things ever!"
"You seem to be very easily amused," Nadya stated with a lopsided smile. "When you're done looking at it, just press the blue button again and it'll go back to where it was."
After messing around with it just a wee bit more, I picked up my rag, went to the shelves near the fireplace, and began to wipe down the shelves and little decorative trinkets. I was absentmindedly pulling things off the shelf, cleaning them, and placing them back when I came across something unusual hidden between two books.
Carefully I pulled out what was a sleek black frame with an actual picture inside of it. Not one of those unsentimental paintings, but an actual photograph. It was very old looking and seemed like it had been hidden on purpose. A thick layer of dust clung to the glass, making it difficult to see the contents beneath it. Gently, I brushed it away with the rag and observed it.
The picture depicted a beautiful woman, with long black hair, cascading down her shoulders, a pale but clean complexion, and bright grey eyes. Next to her was a fairly large man with blonde hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. Below them, each rested their hand on the shoulder of a young boy with a bright, gleaming smile, and equally bright grey eyes. His hair was dark from the roots, but was a lighter, golden brown color from the tips, and his skin was slightly less pale than the woman.
"Hey Nadya, whose picture is this?" She came and stood beside me.
"Goodness, where did you find this?" she exclaimed, stroking the picture, "Can't you tell? It's Master and his parents."
"His parents?" Eugene was such an abnormal figure that I'd forgotten that he was actual normal with parents and a childhood. I stared at the picture, trying to absorb that fact that he was once an innocent child. "Where are they? Why haven't I seen them around here?"
She paused for a moment and sighed, "His parents passed away. He was very young when his mother left him, and his father left him when he was just becoming a young adult."
"Oh," I said, unsure of how to respond to something like that.
"Did you know his mother well?"
"Yes. She was absolutely stunning, even past her looks. A heart of gold, she was sweet down to every fiber in her being." she smiled sadly at the memory of her.
"So then how long have you known Eug--I mean master?"
"Just about since the time he was born."
"So you basically raised him?"
"I suppose you could say that."
Well that would definitely explain how close they are with each other, and why they think so fondly of each other.
"If you've known him for so long , then why do you still call him master? Shouldn't you two have mutual respect or something?"
She laughed, "Oh darling, I don't usually call him master. He requested that I do so as long as you're here."
My eyebrows shot up, "Me? What have I got anything to do with it?" His name couldn't be that important could it?
"Well I suppose he wants to keep his privacy."
"Hm." That just made me all the more determined to figure out his name. What was he trying to hide?
"Has he always been this way?" I asked curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh you know, just a heartless, rude, bunny eating physical incarnation of the devil."
She laughed again, "Sweetheart, you really don't understand him well. If you'd only known what he's been through."
"That's still no excuse for his behavior," I replied, trying to hold back my anger, "I doubt he has gone through half of what I have dealt with in my life with his lavish lifestyle of million dollar houses in the mountains, expensive oddly shaped contemporary furniture, game rooms filled with the latest technology and gaming systems that would make any geek believe he or she died and went to heaven, and fancy home monitoring system thingy." I breathed heavily for a few moments after my rant. What the hell am I saying? I let out a very unfeminine snort before bursting out into laughter. I must have looked like a madman. My suspicions were confirmed by the brief glimpse I got of Nadya's face which made me burst out into another round of laugher.
"I'm...sorry." I choked out as I tried to calm myself, "I don't know what came over me."
Nadya gave me a concerned smile making me almost burst out into laughter again.
"Um, maybe we should put that photo back where you got it from and move on to another part of the house."
I nodded and slid the frame back between the two books on the shelf.
Nadya led me to the grand stairs to take us to the second level. Instead of turning into the corridor where Eugene and Bax's room are, we went in the opposite direction. The two towering, arched doors were thick, made to hold in the secrets of the room.
"So what is this? It seems pretty important."
"This is Master's office, so you need to be very careful around here. There are a lot of very important things in here so make sure you heed my directions well."
"Is he in there right now?"
"No, he was this morning, but he told me he had something to take care of and that he'd be back later."
I nodded as Nadya walked around me to the door. She pulled out a ring of keys, flipped to a particular one, and unlocked the door.
Walking in, my eyes instantly trailed up to the towering bookshelves.
"Woah..." I breathed out. I spun around in shock at the plethora of books in the oval shaped room. At the top was a dome shaped glass roof and directly across from the door was a large rounded-top window. In the center of the room, directly below the domed window were sets of couches and tables with lamps on each of them on both sides of the couch. To put it in perspective, in order to reach the top books, you needed the large ladder which was railed around the room.
"This is like a freaking library!" I exclaimed, "but I thought you said this was his office."
"It is."
"Well then where is his desk, his computer, his paperwork?"
Just a minute darling. She walked to the shelf in the center of the left side of the room, and hooked her fingers into the inside edge of the frame. She pulled it back so that half the length of the shelf was now a door. My mouth dropped.
"You're kidding me right? I thought you only saw this stuff in spy movies and stuff."
She laughed, "I think maybe that's why this room was designed this way. Just wait till you see the inside though."
I scampered in with excitement and curiosity.
"This is so...so...I don't even know how to describe it." The entire front wall overlooked multiple monitors. In front of it was a large arc-shaped desk with papers and a computer on it. On the outer rim of the room there were a few filing cabinets and boxes. The right side of the room had a series of blinded off and curtained windows that blocked off all sources of light. It kind of reminded me of what the control center of NASA looked like--on TV shows and movies anyway--except without the hundreds of different computers.
"So where do we start?"
"Just start wiping off some of the shelves out in the library."
"You're kidding right? That's going to take forever!"
"Don't worry, I usually wipe in sections and do it over multiple days or weeks so it's not so time consuming."
"Oh thank goodness. That sounds much better."
I walked out of the office, climbed the ladder to the top shelf and began to wipe it down.
As I cleaned the shelves instead of focusing on the shelves or even the fascinating books in front of me, I couldn't help but feel like his office was beaconing to me. I couldn't stop my eyes from peering over to get a glimpse of the things on his desk. There had to be something there that would help me. I continued to absent mindedly wipe down the next few rows when Nadya broke my trance.
"I'll be right back sweetheart. I forgot to bring the wood polish from downstairs."
I nodded and listened carefully for her footsteps to fade away. I held off for a moment. What would happen if I got caught?
Before I could think of any other hindering thoughts I climbed down the rest of the ladder and strode over to his desk. There were papers and envelopes of all sizes and colors all over his desk, folded to retain the secrecy each letter held. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears even over my heavy breathing as I became hypersensitive to every small noise in the room. My hands began to feel clammy and sweaty and my head felt warm as the room heated up like a sauna. Was the air conditioning still running?
I carefully placed the rag onto the arm rest of his leather swivel chair.My eyes were rapidly flitting over at the large doors expecting someone to barge in and yell at me. How long was Nadya gone? What if she walked in on me? Was it worth getting caught? Was I really going to do this?
I swiftly grabbed a letter that was already out of its envelope and unfolded the letter. The letter shook in my nervous hands and although my eyes were roaming the page frantically, I couldn't bring myself to calm down and absorb what I was looking at. I took in a few deep breaths to calm myself, but my heart rate sped up once more as I heard the sound of footsteps near the door. I desperately folded up the paper the way it was and put it back on top of its manila envelope, but not before reading the beautifully scripted signature at the end.
I snatched my cleaning rag from the chair just as he entered his office. I quickly grabbed the first shiny object I could find and pretended to absentmindedly clean it. Did he know? Did he see me? I put on my best poker face, which wasn't much especially with how my eyes were probably bulging, my face was probably hot pink, and my entire body was shaking. I was surprised my knobby knees were still even holding me up.
"What the hell are you doing in here? And more importantly, what are you doing by my desk?" he yelled. His grey eyes burned into me. I tried to look away, but he had a hold over me. Oh crud. I was screwed. Did I really think I could do this and get away with it with my luck? My mouth opened and closed like a fish, unable to form a response in my head.
"Answer me!” he said sternly as he strode over to me. In this past week I had never seen him so angry. The fury emanating from him scared me. His eyes were slit into a narrow line like a snake stalking its prey, his forehead was creased, veins were popping out from his neck and arms, and his hands were coiled up tightly into fists. I could imagine blood oozing out from the palms of his hands where his nails dug crescents into it from the pressure.
"Please don't hurt me. I swear I didn't do anything." I screeched, having a nervous breakdown, falling to the floor, and holding my arms protectively in front of my face. It wasn't the first time I fell into a predicament like this.
"You dumb bitch!" he yelled at me, slapping me hard enough across the face to make me fall. "You broke all my bottles!"
"Daddy! I'm sorry! I had to do it. You always hurt me after you drink this. I didn't want you to hurt me anymore. I just want things to be the same way they were before when mommy was still here. I'm sorry daddy!"
He slapped my again, but I held my hands in front of my face to lessen the blow. Grabbing my arms he easily yanked me to my feet and hit me in the stomach, hard. I had the wind knocked out of me, I gasped trying to breathe, but unable to take in any oxygen. I was going to die. I was surely going to die. The pain was too much. My face and arms burned like I had been tossed into a ruthless fire, but the torment in my stomach made me feel like I was broken in half. Tears streaked down my face as I silently screamed for my life, unable to make any noise. Tears were now openly flowing from my eyes like a leaky faucet.
"You're a stupid little girl," he grabbed me by the throat, cutting off any small amounts of air I was receiving, " I don't hurt you because I drink. I hurt you because I hate you. I HATE you. YOU are the only one to blame for your mother being gone." He tightened his grip on my throat and threw me up against the wall until I blacked out.
"P-Please don't hurt me," I whispered with my hand on my throat.
Suddenly Nadya burst through the doors humming a happy melody.
"Sorry I took so--"
"What happened?!" she exclaimed running over to me. As gently as a mother would pick up her newborn, Nadya crouched down to me and wrapped me in her arms. "Shh, it's okay. Don't cry."
I buried my face into her neck and breathed in her calming, floral scent as my tears slowly began to dry up.
"What did you do?" I looked up at Nadya, but she wasn't looking at me. Her hard cold stare was directed at the man standing in front of us.
"Me?! I didn't do anything! I didn't even touch her. I just came in here and found her by my desk and I figured she was snooping so I got a little mad and asked her what she was doing and she just freaked out and fell to the floor."
"You must have done something. She's never done this any other time you've yelled at her, has she?"
"No." he mumbled curiously," but she shouldn't have been so close to my desk. You know how precautious I am when it comes to things on my desk."
"That's my fault; I didn't tell her to not touch anything on your desk."
I sat quietly, shaking and sniffling, still curled up in Nadya's soothing arms. I brought this upon myself. I have no one else to blame. I felt absolutely ridiculous. The walls I had built to hold me up were easily crumbling apart with a little fear from this man. Here I was, a grown woman, curled up in the arms of a woman I barely knew like an easily frightened toddler.
"Alaure, sweetheart, what happened?" she asked softly. I pulled myself out of Nadya's arms and stood up. I brushed myself off.
"I-I'm fine," I mustered out, wincing at the way I stuttered.
"Obviously you're not," Eugene said to me.
"Care to explain what the hell happened.
"I just got a little startled."
"A little?" he said incredulously.
"Just don't worry about it. I'm fine.” I started to walk out of the room with unsteady legs when Eugene grabbed a hold of my arm making me wince. He quickly let go of my arm.
"You can't just breakdown like that, and walk away like nothing happened."
"Watch me," I replied, feeling bold.
I stalked out of the room, realizing as soon as I had made it out that I had no idea what to do now. Should I run? I looked behind me and realized there was no one chasing after me. This could be my one chance! I was facing conflicting feelings. I made a few reluctant steps to the stairs.
Wait, no. I must not be thinking properly. I'm in the freaking middle of nowhere in ALASKA! I'm going to die if I run, and if I don't die, I'm going to helplessly be dragged back here. It was a stupid idea that shouldn't have even entered my mind. Even in movies, the person who runs never makes it out. I was smarter than that.
I sighed and sat down at the top of the stairs, staring longingly at the door. I was more confused than ever before, but ironically I had made progress. That signature at the end of that letter...Damon Ferragamo. He was associated with Damon Ferragamo! Who was this master guy and why on earth was he associated with one of the richest men in America.
What would he be doing with the owner of the largest technology and electronics company? More importantly, what could someone with so much power and wealth want from me? What kind of information did he expect me to give him?! Sure I had double majored in business, but I couldn't match the knowledge or experience of the CEO of the most successful business in America.
Who could this guy possibly be? I began to run all the facts through my head once more, which wasn't much. So this guy was obviously wealthy and powerful, his house just exudes that...and well...uh, that's about it. I frowned internally. I didn't know any solid information on this guy. He could be the owner of some small private business or just be living off money from his deceased parents. Baxter did say this house had been in his family for generations. Was there anything else Bax said yesterday?
I ran through our crazy conversation yesterday, smiling at the way Bax teased me and made me feel alright around him. Although I was pretty peeved yesterday with the clothes he first gave me, in hindsight, I had to admit that it was pretty funny. The corners of my lips twitched up as I thought about the conversation once more in my head. Wait a minute...There was that one point in the conversation. I had almost overlooked it, but it was nagging me in the back of my mind. Bax slipped up. It was just once, but it was sufficient enough. One letter. Bax had sounded out the letter D before correcting himself.
Holy shit. My hands felt clammy again, butterflies swarmed in my stomach, my chest was pounding from the beating of my heart. I began to hyperventilate, feeling lightheaded from the heady new revelation. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. OH MY GOD! Master isn't associated with Damon Ferragamo. He IS Damon Ferragamo.
I was suddenly even more confused.
So then what did one of the richest, most influential, and successful people want with me?
hehehe :) FINALLY you get to know his name :D
FUN FACT: When I first planned out the story, Damon Ferragamo was actually supposed to be Damien Knight. I changed it as I wrote the story because I always mix up my 'i's and 'e's. :/ His last name also didn't seem fitting enough because it just didn't seem powerful enough (I intended his name to sound like "Day and Night") < I'm not explaining why though :P hehe
I apologise for the long wait, but hopefully this long and revealing chapter makes up for that.
I couldn't write this week because my mom was on my arse about studying for the ACT *sigh*
Sorry about the awkward formatting too. Since the freaking indent key doesn't work in this box I became too lazy to go through and space everything to the proper formatting...it's 2:44 AM...give me a break lol
What do you think about me changing the name to "Help He's Holding Me Hostage"?
Next chapter is probably from Jayden's point of view. I'm not sure exactly what I'll include in it but I'm kind of excited :D It's gonna be pretty interesting.
Um yeah that's all for now. Comments are much appreciated and very motivating to write more chapters sooner :D
Thanks for reading! :D