Recap:
"Your cousin is so amazing." Hank chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife.
"She's probably going to end up all alone cause of that." Danniella sighed as she relaxed into his hold.
"No she isn't. She's going to be mine." He found himself declaring. She was too pure and too innocent for him. But she would be his nonetheless.
Chapter 6
Letting out a heartfelt sigh, Clayton leaned his head against the back of the couch. Thoughts of Victoria plagued his mind, she was never far from his thoughts. Even though he didn't know her that well, she was always on his mind. A total of two days had passed since he had taken the gorgeous Victoria from college. Luckily for him, it had been the weekend so there hadn't been an immediate need for protection and privacy arrangements for his girl. But he knew he would have to come up with an acceptable arrangement soon. He couldn't keep her all to himself, no matter how much he wanted to.
"C-clayton?" Sounded the most angelic voice ever, interrupting his thoughts.
"Yes darling?" He was sure he sounded like a love-struck puppy, but Clayton was behind caring. He wanted her to be his; both body and mind. He would do whatever necessary to achieve that goal.
"I h-have t-to go t-to coll-lege tomorrow." Clayton hated the fact that she felt so nervous and scared around him that she resorted to stuttering and frantically twisting her hands in her lap and not being able to maintain eye contact with her. He wanted her to feel comfortable and safe in his presence.
"I need to know your schedule for that." He sighed.
"Y-you're going to l-let me go?" Even though she was honestly surprised, a pang of hurt struck Clayton's heart. She honestly thought of him as a monster.
Clayton knew that having such intense feelings for someone you barely knew was not normal, but he had fallen in love the very first time he saw her. Victoria had unknowingly become the kryptonite of an extremely dangerous mobster.
"Your education is important for you, I wouldn't want to take away something you treasure so much." He knew that if he stood any chance of getting into her good books, he had to be honest. No need to give her further reasons to hate him.
"I see." Her head hung low, she seemed to be engrossed in her thoughts. "You seem to hold a lot of importance for my wishes."
Not knowing what to say, Clayton merely shrugged. He had never been good with words. Silence was almost always the better option.
"If so then why don't you let me go home? That is most desired wish, I want to return to my family." Her voice rose with each word she uttered, till she was shouting at him.
"That is a different matter." He took care to keep his voice low. If only she knew the entire situation, she wouldn't treat him like a villain.
"How is that different?!" She shrieked.
"You don't have a choice!" He was losing patience, Victoria being riled up was working him up too.
"Let me return to my family! I don't want to stay here!! I belong with my family!!" She seemed broken, battered and exhausted. Both physically and emotionally.
"Your family?" Clayton scoffed. He was well aware that he had lost all control over his temper. Victoria had ignored him and cowered away from his touch for two days and he needed to vent."The same family that put you up for sale to clear their drinking debts?"
"Don't you insult my family!" She screamed.
Turning on his heel, he bolted to his office and yanked out the folder containing all the evidence he needed. Clayton quickly rushed back to where he left an astounded Victoria staring out in space, immersed in her thoughts.
"Tell me this is fake." He thrusted the flyer containing the advertisement toward her. Tentatively Victoria reached out and took ahold of the paper Clayton had so unceremoniously thrust at her.
What the paper contained shocked her beyond words. She traced her trembling fingers on the paper that contained an image of her and an offer stating she was for sale. A sob escaped her mouth as she recalled that she had been the one type out the text on the flyer. Her father had come up and asked her to type up an advertisement for someone about to sell their dog. She felt numb. Her mind refused to accept the evidence in front of her.
"Please tell me this isn't true."
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Clayton detested how pale and frail she seemed at the moment.
"This can't be true." She swayed as she tried to step towards him.
Rushing forward, Clayton steadied her before she fell. Slipping an arm under her knees, he lifted her into his arms and as quickly as he could carried her up to his room. She needed rest, this whole ordeal was too much for her. As he lay her down, he smoothed down her hair and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.
"I'm sorry." He whispered into her hair.
Reaching behind him, Clayton grabbed his mobile telephone and dailed up his doctor and ordered him to come to his house as quickly as he could if he wished to keep his head attached to his body.
"There's no need for that. I'll be fine." Victoria reasoned. "I feel bad enough already that I've inconvenienced you so much."
"Inconvenienced me? I don't follow." Clayton knit his eyebrows as he tried to understand her statement.
"You got dragged into this mess. You had to spend you mone-" Suddenly Victoria sat upright. "Oh Dear. How much did you pay?"
"For?" He was finding it hard to keep up with her haphazard thoughts.
"For me. You bought me didn't you." A bleak and lonely emotion had replaced the twinkle previously in her eyes.
"I've called the doctor, he should be here to check up on you soon." He avoided the conversation, and headed out the room. He had barely made it off the bed when two small, soft hands latched onto his arm holding him in place.
"I need to know." She pleaded.
"Ten."
"Ten...hundred?" She guessed.
Clayton wanted to avoid her the pain if this entire conversation, but this seemed to be something she was not going to get rid of easily.
"Ten minutes till the doctor gets here." Prying his arm out of Victoria's hands, he rushed out of the room. There were certain things she didn't need to bother herself with and her family was one of them.
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"How is she?" Clayton questioned the doctor. He had been answering an important phone call as the doctor was checking Victoria. The only reason Dr. James had been allowed in the same room as Victoria in Clayton's absence was for he was a trusted friend.
"She's just in shock. I've monitored her vitals for the past hour and I am convinced that she needs rest and lots of it. She's been working herself too hard these past few days."
"I'll have her on house arrest for the next month." Clayton gritted out, angry with himself for not finding her and bringing her to him sooner.
"Good God, I told you she needs rest. Not to be mummified." Exclaimed the Doctor. "Give her a day or so of absolute rest. And then she should be good to go."
Thanking the doctor, Clayton quickly saw him out and rushed over to Victoria.
"Do you feel any better? You've been working yourself too hard! I'm not letting you go to college till I deem you rested enough. Don't you even dare to overwork yourself again. Am I understood?"
"W-what?"
"No college till you get better." Clayton couldn't bear the thought of his Victoria being anything other than whole and healthy.
"B-but yo-" She protested.
"That's final."