What wrong had I ever done to anybody?
Everything was perfect. I had my whole life ahead of me, I had my dreams, ambitions, studies and everything.
Then why did I got separated from everything? I am trapped in a foreign country with foreign people speaking foreign language!
Not to forget that I have also been stuck in a room which has its light off.
I think it has been a couple of hours since my huge mishap of landing on the Agostini son so I'm guessing that it's night. I have been sitting on a chair, alone in this room for several hours and simply staring at space.
How did I go wrong in my plans? I swear I had checked everything. The timings of the guards taking patrol, the turning of the cameras and my things. So how in the world did the great Leonardo Agostini ended up in my way?
We were told not to get in the way of the men, but what about the men? They should be taught to not to come in our way too!
"This is absolutely ridiculous." I muttered under my breath.
"I heard that." A familiar voice boomed in the dark room and I looked around to find its owner.
"Uh...okay. Good to know that." To be honest, what am I supposed to do if he heard that? "Have you been here all this time?" I asked.
I shivered in fear when I heard footsteps approaching in front of me along with a chair being dragged with it.
"For how long I have been here, that doesn't matter. What matters is how you, a mere housekeeper of my house, landed on my back."
I knew that he is sitting right in front of me. I could hear his breathing coming in short exhales as the chair creaked, indicating that he has either leaned his body forwards or backwards. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could feel his hazel eyes on me.
"I...um...i-it was an accident." I lied, "I was cleaning the window, lost my balance and fell on top of you."
He scoffed and the chair creaked again. "Nobody falls on top of me, little girl. And I do not tolerate liars. I know that you are lying, Signorina Jones."
I never told him my surname. Shit.
"Um, about that..." I laughed nervously, "I was actually cleaning the bars and they broke on their own."
"Another lie." He growled. "That's lie number two in less than two minutes. Tell me, little girl, why did you have forty nine used, blunt knives under your bed?"
"No, I don't." I lied.
"I made a personal visit to your room. Do. Not. Lie. To. Me."
Shit, shit, shit. I pissed him off.
"Fine, I cut the bars because they were blocking the wind and I like the wind. After I cut them off, I was leaning and accidentally slipped which made me land on you." I said blatantly.
"Hmm. Interesting story. Too bad it's your fourth lie. I think you forgot about your little bag which had clothes and knife number fifty. How did you get so many knives?"
I gulped inaudibly. "I...I stole them. The kitchen has too many knives."
"Tsk. Tsk. The little girl is a stealer."
"I'm not little!" I snapped. "Seriously?! I am twenty three years old. Have some decency and stop calling an adult woman as little girl. Do you have some sort of fetish or something? It's really annoying!"
The chair creaked and I squeaked when I felt his nails digging on my cheeks, painfully. I shivered violently when I felt hot breath fanning on my neck and my heart started beating wildly.
"You talk a lot, Amelia." He whispered in my ear. "I don't like people who answer me back. I have two ways to shut them up. Which one do you prefer? The quick way or the slow, painful way?"
"You...you are h-hurting me." I whimpered when I felt my skin getting scratched, drawing out blood from my cheeks.
He hummed. "I bled once, so I guess I have to make it even, right? Fair play."
"I...I think I just got my period so does that count?" I gasped when his hand left my face and the chair creaked, telling me that he has taken his seat again.
"I don't hurt women, but you make a great exception. Do tell, Amelia, why did you jump from the window?" He asked smoothly which made my body turn into jelly.
"I...I...it's j-just that—"
"Have you become suicida?" He questioned with a fake concern. "Depresso?"
"No!"
Then he laughed.
Leonardo Agostini was laughing at my poor state and it wasn't a casual 'oh, that's a good joke laugh!', it was a sinister one. A cruel laugh from a cruel man.
"You seriously thought that you will jump from the window and escape?"
"Yes."
"Tsk. Tsk. That's so sad, but I guess you didn't think that you'd land straight on my back, didn't you?"
My breath hitched when I heard the gun click in the darkness.
"N-No. I didn't."
I couldn't see anything, but I could feel everything. My fear, his anger, the cold metal on his hands and that sinister smile on his face.
"Nobody leaves the mansion without my permission, little girl, so why did you try to leave?" He growled like an animal who was ready to pounce on his prey.
And I was his prey. Great job, Amy. Really great.
"I-It's just that I want to go home." I mumbled meekly.
He stayed silent for a few seconds then asked, "Casa?"
"Si." I replied in the most basic Italian I knew.
"Why?" He asked and I heard some shuffling of a certain metal and cloth. Mentally, I was hoping that he had put his gun back and he was not cleaning it instead.
I sighed in exhaustion and I wanted to rub the bruise that he gave earlier in the evening, but I couldn't because my poor hands were tied to the chair.
"Can you scratch my hair?" I blurted. "It's f-fine if you don't want to. It was ju—"
"I wasn't going to." Oh. Well, at least this was worth a try.
"Can you untie me then? I want to scratch my hair."
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"With a cherry on top?"
"I do not like cherries."
"Me too!" I chirped. "We finally have something in common, so untie me then?"
I am playing with fire here. God, save me.
"No."
I closed my eyes and sighed. "I'll tell you the whole truth if you untie me and let me scratch my hair. It's really irritating me."
He stayed quiet for some time then I heard him hum in agreement. "We have a deal. Don't try to move or get up from your seat."
"Sure. I follow orders, right? Just like you said."
As soon as the ties got opened and my hands released, I scratched my hair like a dog scratching its ear.
"Damn this long hair to hell!" I muttered under my breath.
I stopped when I heard the gun click again.
"Now," The chair creaked and I could clearly imagine his figure leaning towards my side. "Enough playing of little games and useless talks. I want honest answers so start speaking."
I bit my inner cheeks to stop myself from screaming when I felt the cold metal of the gun drawing circles on my thigh. One pull of a trigger and—stop! This monster wants truth? I'll give him the truth.
I sighed dramatically and began, "The thing is that I have been stuck in this hell of a house for years and I have always been sick of things here. I was brought here by your great daddy itself almost seven years ago even though I had family, friends and a life. It all began as a mistake when some weird looking sunglasses men picked me up from the streets when I was just going for a goddamn sleepover. It took me four years to come up with a perfect plan after I had been through every part of this mansion and three years to cut those bars on the window with the knives I stole from the kitchen. When everything was finally ready, I jumped, but what can I say? Karma sure loves to bite me again and put me in more trouble by making me land on you. By the way which brand of shampoo do you use? Cause your hair smells awesome!"
Silence.
An absolute pin drop silence.
I didn't miss anything, did I? Cause he did ask for the truth.
Okay, maybe I shouldn't have asked about the brand but I couldn't control myself. His hair smelled so good. I can spend my whole life smelling his hair so I really need to know the brand name and ask Louisa about it if I ever get out of here alive.
He cleared his throat and pressed his gun on my thigh. The little courage I had mustered up to speak for myself had vanished and I started trembling.
"You really do talk a lot." Leonardo growled in his accent. "But you also spoke the truth."
"H-How did you know?" I asked, dumbfounded.
He slowly trailed his gun up from my thigh to my stomach and paused right in the center. "I had a little conversation with your little roommate. She had already written a little speech in her little notebook."
How many times did he say the word 'little' in a sentence? He seriously has some fetish for that word.
Then something strikes me and my face paled in horror. "R-Rylie? You do not touch her! She's an innocent!"
"I know. She wrote that too." He said casually and pressed the gun right in the center making me freeze. "...but she knew about this plan of yours. I'll take care of her later, but you, Amelia, are going to regret everything."
"A-Are...are you going to kill m-me?"
I'll never get to see my family again. I'll never get to achieve my goals, ambitions, scratch that, I'll never get to see the next sunlight.
"Is that what you want me to do?" He asked casually.
"N-No." I gulped when I heard the gun click again. The same gun which is pressed on my stomach.
"Nobody runs from my famiglia. Nobody challenges me or my padre. The men know that, the women here fear that, but you, Amelia, need to remember that. And I have ways to make sure that you remember it."
"H-How?"
"How about we make a deal?" He asked. "Let's start with a simple promise of trust and then we will move forward."
I frowned to myself. "T-Trust?"
"You make promise to me that you won't try to run and I will make sure that your punishment would be a little less painful. How does that sound, Amelia?"
Staying in this hell house forever?! Aw, hell no!
"And? Do we have a deal?"
Silence.
"Signorina Jones?"
More silence.
"Amelia." I could clearly hear the anger in his voice.
More deafening silence.
"I do not have much patience. Is that a yes or a no?"
I closed my eyes, remembered the faces of my parents and whispered, "No."
He released an animalistic sound which made my blood freeze and I realised that he just surpassed his limit of control.
I screamed when I felt myself being dragged away from the chair and my back hit with the cold surface of the wall, making me shiver at the sudden contact. I was sobbing profoundly as I felt his hot breath fanning on my neck and his gun pressing on my stomach.
"P-Please..." I cried and tried to push him away from me.
"Nobody defies the capo!" He barked then chuckled darkly. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, Amelia. I'm going to enjoy a lot so tell me, where do you want your first bullet? In your stomach? In your leg? Or straight in your head?"
My efforts of pushing him away from me are in total vain. His one hand was holding his gun and the other was pulling my hair. I still couldn't see anything, but I could feel his hazel eyes, which I find so dark and dangerous now, glaring at me and enjoying my weak state.
"P-Please...s-stop!" I cried in pain when he yanked my hair harshly.
My hands started roaming around the wall, hoping to find something so that I could save myself from this monster.
"Are you afraid?" He whispered in the darkness. "I can stop if you say yes to my deal. Y-E-S, it's a very simple word."
"N-No." I sobbed. "I rath-rather try to run again."
My fingers trembled as they came in contact with a small switch and I flicked it.
The lights turned on and I found myself face to face with the Agostini son who was raging furious. His whole body was shaking, his unshaven jawline was clenched so tightly that I could hear the teeth grinding inside it. Disheveled black hair and those familiar hazel eyes which were showing something strange besides anger.
"You are too fiero." He cooed and tapped my cheeks.
"A-And y-you are a monster." I hiccupped.
"I've heard much worse than that." He muttered and pointed his gun at my head instead of my stomach. "Any last wishes?"
"F-Fuck you." I cursed.
He shook his head and sighed in exhaustion. "That's a very common last wish, little girl, and I'm tired of hearing that."
I closed my eyes and waited for him to press the trigger as I remembered what I had told to Rylie days ago; things didn't go as planned, but at least I'll be happy that I tried to go back home.
Suddenly I heard the door knock in a very strange manner and my eyes shot open in surprise.
"Caapoo?"
That voice! I know that voice!
"Are you done killing the humaaan? So come on lets go out and plaay. A little meeting is overdue, so come out the door. It's like you've gone awayyyy."
Leonardo cursed under his breath, put away the gun from my head, gave me one last grave look and opened the door which was right in front of me.
"Capo! I missed you!" The voice chirped and I saw Leonardo pushing away someone who was trying to hug him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Padre wants to see you." The man deadpanned.
"Tell him I'm busy."
"Padre wants to see you. Now."
I kept staring at the men as I tried to scoot then suddenly two heads turned in my direction and I froze on my spot.
A pair of baby blue eyes widened in shock. Why am I looking straight into these men eyes?!
"Rapunzel, is that you?" The man gasped.
Oh Jesus, how can I ever forget that voice?
"Waxi—I m-mean, Adrian?" This time Adrian was wearing a three piece suit instead of his SpongeBob pajamas. No face mask, no ice cream bucket and no gun in his hand.
"When I told you not to let down your hair for Mama Gothel, I didn't mean that you will jump from your tower!" He snapped and face palmed himself.
I shivered when the cold air blew in through the door. Adrian noticed that so took his coat off and wrapped it around me.
"Why am I so surprised? I should have guessed it. If you can roam around the house in the middle of the night then you can jump out of it too. Oh Amelia, what am I going to do with you?"
"Nothing." Leonardo interrupted. "I'll be taking care of her. Tell padre that I'm busy. He has to wait."
Adrian shook his head. "No can do, Capo. You have to go. It's related to the..." He paused and gave him a look.
Leonardo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Si, si. I'll go then."
"What about Rapunzel?" Adrian asked and Leonardo's lips slightly curved upwards as his eyes lit up in excitement.
"Let her go and enjoy freedom because it is not going to last very long."
Then he left me alone with multiple bruises, threats, pain and a man who is obsessed with Disney characters.
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