20 Chapter 19
February 7th, 2016
Ophelia's POV.
I opened my eyes and noticed I was in a dark, unfamiliar room, my throat felt very dry and my stomach growled because I was hungry. Something wet slid down my cheek and I wiped it off, tears.
Then it all came crashing down, the memories. He didn't talk to me, he pushed me away, he didn't care about me anymore. I pulled my knees up to my chest and cried harder. I was alone now because of my stupidity and desperation.
'I love you, but doesn't give you the right to use me the way you do' He had mumbled on the ride here.
I realized I'd been selfish, thinking about myself, forgetting the fact that Luke's neck was also on the line. All he was trying to do was to keep me safe, but I had pushed him over the edge and lost him.
I raised my hand to wipe my tears away when I felt something under my palm. With the little light in the room I picked up a big brown envelope, it felt heavy, I shook it but I was unable to decipher the contents.
I stretched and turned on the bedside lamp I noticed before. I tore the envelope open and put my hand inside. The first thing I pulled out was a folded piece of paper, I opened it and recognized Luke's handwriting.
There's a phone and a gun inside. The gun is for safety, self defence. Turn the phone on, I'll call you when I can.
- Luke.
Even though I was reading, I could still feel the distance. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell me he had written the note after I slapped him.
I poured out the remaining contents in the envelope. I disassembled the black SIG sauer p226 elite gun and found 12 bullets in the magazine, I sighed, it would do. Then I picked the case that contained the phone. It was a smartphone complete with all the accessories, it was new. A weak smile crawled up my face, he liked keeping me comfortable.
I turned it on.
After booting, I went through the phone and discovered that a lot of apps had already been installed, the music file was filled with my favourite songs.
Oh Luke, would you ever forgive me?
I lay down on the bed waiting for his call.
Two hours later ...
Was he really going to call?
I was slowly drifting off to sleep when the phone lit up and Jason Derulo's 'Breathing' rang out.
I picked the phone faster than lighting.
"Luke?"
"Ophelia."
I flinched. He called me by my name, it felt like he physically slapped me.
Fresh tears flowed out of my eyes, I put a hand over my mouth to keep myself from crying out.
"I'm sorry Luke, are you still mad at me?" I tried, believe me I tried but my voice still came out a broken whisper and more tears flowed. Someone could easily tell I was crying.
He sighed deeply.
"No. I'm not mad at you princess, I can never be."
Princess, he called me princess. He had forgiven me.
The line was quiet for a while.
"How are you?" He asked
"I'm holding up." I wiped my tears away.
"Have you eaten dinner?"
I shook my head, then I remembered he couldn't see me. "No."
"My God...Ophelia, do you want to starve yourself to death? You didn't even eat breakfast this morning. Don't you feel hungry?"
"No." My stomach growled loudly, exposing my lie. Luckily, he didn't hear it.
"What's wrong, princess?"
"I'm scared, Luke... I'm in a house filled with strangers and neither you nor dad are here to protect me. I don't know what to do."
Why was I complaining? After all, I wanted this.
"Listen princess, its a free world there. If you're hungry, go downstairs and get what you want, nobody is going to trouble you as long as you don't initiate the trouble yourself. Keep a low profile, I'll come over as soon as I can."
"Okay."
"Do me a favour and get something to eat."
"I'll try..."
"Ophelia..." Warning.
"I'll eat tomorrow, I promise."
"That's good enough."
Silence.
"Ophelia, I want to apologize for my behavior this morning I..."
"It's okay Luke, you don't have to apologize, its my fau-"
I cut him of but he didn't let me finish my sentence either.
"Listen to me!" He raised his voice in order to get my attention. "I was trying to make a statement. Showing attachment to you is bound to raise suspicion, Gruwero was watching remember? Any hole in our performance this morning and she would have run her mouth off to Antonio, I couldn't risk it. I'm sorry."
I wasn't stupid. He was angry this morning but he never lied to me so I believed him.
"I've got to go, I'll talk to you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Luke."
"Night princess, sleep well."
After a few seconds, I heard a soft click disconnecting the call.
I cried some more and curled into a fetal position. I felt so lonely, so cold. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep.
___________________
February 8th, 2016.
Bright sunlight.
I groaned and turned my face away from the window.
My phone vibrated. I picked it up, one missed call and two text messages from Luke.
Wake up!
-6:32am
He sent that after the missed call. The new one read:
I can't talk right now, I'm in a meeting. Get your pretty arse out of bed and get something to eat, I need proof.
-8:25am
When I was finally getting some sleep.
I rolled off the bed and walked to where I kept the box, it was a really big box. 'its time to unpack' I told myself. I opened it and noticed that the shirts, shorts, skirts and gowns, were all folded in individual sections making my work easier. I just picked them out and placed them in a small wardrobe located at the corner of the room. Next, I took out a bags that contained shoes: high heeled sandals, siletoes, wedges that were just my style, in mostly black or white, a pair of running shoes and flip-flops. I arranged them on the floor.
Then I pulled out a large tote bag, containing all my preferred cosmetics and makeup.
Life was better with a friend like Luke. He took notice of everything. There was even a small jewelry box with gold chains and adorable pendants, colourful bangles and earrings.
He deserved an award.
I took my bath quickly in the small ensuite bathroom, applied light makeup, wore a white tank top, sky blue shorts, matching sky blue accessories: belt, bangles, earrings, and a simple gold chain with a Cupid pendant. Lastly, I wore a white high heeled sandal.
I looked in the mirror, it wasn't overkill.
I took in a deep breath before I opened my door. I walked down the narrow hallway and made my way downstairs. It wasn't hard to locate the kitchen, I found it opposite the lounge but what I saw in front of me made me want to run back to my room.
Dirty plates heaped in the sink, some were scattered on the dining table. I turned around but my stomach twisted painfully. Maybe I could overlook the mess, make my own food and leave the kitchen.
I searched the cupboards and brought down the necessary ingredients for my meal but the dirty kitchen irritated the hell out of me, my hands itched to clean it.
I sighed deeply, I could do this.
An hour later, I was adding spices to pasta pesto. Most of the girls were awake, some were in the lounge, others were in the kitchen watching me, I felt extremely shy.
A purple haired girl with lavender contacts approached me, "Hey, what's cooking?"
"Pasta pesto. Want some?" I offered, politely."
"Sure do. It smells divine."
"Hey A, what's going on?" A girl with short blonde hair walked in.
"The new girl is making breakfast, want some?" A offered, without asking me.
The girl nodded.
"You think she'll make some pancakes and eggs for me, A?" Another said, opening the fridge to get the orange juice.
A looked at me.
"Sure. How do you like your eggs?"
"Beaten." She said, pouring herself a glass.
"Coming right up." I got the ingredients I needed to make batter for pancakes.
"I want some pancakes too." Someone chimed in.
Maybe I could make some friends with my amazing culinary skills.
More orders came in.
When I finished cooking, I sat down on the dining table with A. The other girls long gone, only a few remained.
I took a selfie with my cold plate of food and sent an MMS to Luke.
'Happy now?'
I received a reply one minute later.
'Extremely. You look beautiful today, please smile.'
The corner of my mouth twitched a little, even though I knew he couldn't see me.
I finished eating and gathered all the dirty plates. The least they could do was clean their plates.
"Let me help you with that, don't mind these ungrateful bitches, what's your name?" A asked.
"Ophelia."
"Don't just stand there, start cleaning!"
Shocked, I looked up and noticed she was talking to the other three girls.
"What possessed you to clean the kitchen, Ophelia?" A turned back to me.
I shrugged. "I couldn't help myself, the place was untidy."
"It gets cleaned once a week, that's when the maids are around." She grabbed a dish rag to help me.
I smiled, shyly. "I don't know your name."
"Oh, how rude of me, I'm Arabella. This is Ginevra, Rose and Grace." She pointed to the other three girls cleaning the kitchen."
Arabella... So that's what the A stands for.
I finished with the dishes and wiped my hands on a dish rag. A red head walked into the kitchen, got cereal from the cupboard, she walked past us, shouldered Arabella out of her way as if she were a speck of dust that should be ignored.
"That's Carlotta. She's a pompous bitch, Desmonda's diamond mine. Ignore her and I assure you, you'll live longer." Arabella leaned in to me and whispered.
I nodded. She was adorned in a red dressing gown that matched her hair, red talons tore open the box of cereal. She did looked like trouble, a big bag of trouble. We walked out of the kitchen, Arabella behind me.
"You'll come down for lunch, won't you?" She asked.
A subtle way of asking me to prepare lunch. "I will." I replied.
She surprised me by giving me a hug. "I'm just a door away from you, stop by if you need anything."
__________________
February 22nd, 2016.
The next two weeks I spent in the piacere house was more of a bitter-sweet experience for me.
When my father said the piacere house was where he kept his girls, he omitted the fact that the girls were for his boys, which in turn explained the minimal or non-existent orgies back at the mansion. Luke was right, this place was a whorehouse.
On the other hand, my friendship with Arabella was growing stronger. Every morning, she helped me curl or straighten my long hair, then we went downstairs to prepare breakfast for ourselves. (Rose, Grace and Ginevra inclusive)
When she wasn't working, we spent time together, sometimes waxing, getting our nails done, trying new lashes, checking trending lingerie sets and corsets in magazines and new dance moves.
Arabella was a stripper before Antonio had a run down with a minor cartel and bought her. I didn't tell her I was Antonio's daughter, that would have blown my cover. She taught me some dance moves that were dirtier than everything I had learnt in the mansion combined together.
"You have a beautiful body Ophelia, learn to work your stuff and bring men to their knees."
If she only knew I wanted them far away from me right now.
I started running. Every morning I was out the house by six, scouting the area. For a place with little or no security, I've been wondering why the girls hadn't attempted to escape.
I got my answer a few days later.
While running one day, I noticed some people watching me in the park. I stopped and started stretching, pretending to be engrossed in my morning exercise. For spies, they did a good job, hiding behind newspapers but not good enough to go unnoticed by someone ruthlessly trained in the Mafia. On a closer look I noticed some communication widgets on them, an earpiece with a small microphone attached to it.
Great, just great.
I continued my run, thinking on the way. They obviously weren't mob members so who were they working for?
The next day, I ignored them but this time I noticed a lot of surveillance cameras around the house and on the street. That's normal, I thought. What I found abnormal was the camera following my movements like a motion sensor. I knowingly dropped my water bottle on the way and went back to pick it, the camera moved.
Maybe that's just the way it operates.
I sat on a bench, drinking out of my water bottle. People walked past me but the camera stayed in a fixed position, on me.
Someone was spying on me. I got up and the camera moved, when I got out of it's line of sight the one close to me took over. Time to find out who.
I thought about it, using the facts I observed, I came to a conclusion.
To confirm my theory I asked Arabella.
"Arabella, has anyone attempted to run away before?"
"Shhhh..." She hushed me. She got up and walked to her door, looked left and right in the hallway and closed her room door. "Don't speak about running away again so loudly, the walls have ears, and don't even attempt it Ophelia. Yes, people have escaped before but they don't live to tell the story, usually they come back dead..."
"How..." She cut me off.
"Let me finish, There are cameras, people watching our every movement out of this building and reporting to a central station. Once you attempt anything stupid, Pooh... bullet in head." She made a shooting motion with her hand.
I thought as much.
----------
March 2nd, 2016.
Sorry, I ain't sorry
Sorry, I ain't sorry
I ain't sorry, nigga, nah
Sorry, I ain't sorry
Sorry, I ain't sorry
I ain't sorry.
He trying to roll me up, I ain't picking up
Headed to the club, I ain't thinking 'bout you
Me and my ladies sip my D'Usse cup.....
In...out...in...out
I was running with Beyonce's sorry blasting in my ears.
The sun was shining brightly and the sky was so blue. I had a good feeling about today. I jogged the remaining distance back to the house.
I pushed the doors open and jogged out of the lounge. I waved at Arabella and the others in the kitchen. I just needed to shower and join them so we could make breakfast. Arabella gave me a sly smile. A sign that she was up to no good, what is she up to?
I climbed the stairs two at a time to get to my room quickly. In the hallway, I saw a certain tall, blond guy, hands in the pocket of his jeans, leaning on my doorframe without a care in the world. Arabella's sly smile suddenly made sense.
"Luke!" I reached him in record time and wrapped my arms around his neck.
He put one arm around my waist and pulled me close.
A one arm hug? Who are you and what have you done to my friend?
I looked him in the eye and attempted to ruffle his styled blond hair. He held my hand in a tight grip before it got his hair. "Don't...Not until we're inside." He whispered.
What the...
Then I noticed the other figure in the hallway.
Carlotta stood outside her door, watching us. When she figured that she had our undivided attention she walked up to us, sashaying and swaying her hips all the way.
She was wearing a gown made of fishnet material, no bra underneath, showcasing her tits.
"Hi, Luke." She pushed her chest out.
Luke? So they knew each other and were on first name terms already?
Luke waved but he wasn't looking at her face...no he wasn't.
I rolled my eyes. He's a guy, and guys will always remain guys.
I wasn't going to let her seduce my friend with her pink areolas. I fished out my keys, unlocked my door, and shoved Luke inside. I turned around to see her giving me the stink eye, I flipped the finger at her, closed my door and locked it.
Luke was looking around the room. When I stood in front of him. He dived, taking me with him and we landed on the bed. "I missed you." He kissed my cheek before placing his head on my chest.
Now this was the friend I knew. "I missed you too, Luke." I ran my fingers through his soft hair.
Then I realised the state I was in, sweating buckets in my running clothes, I smelt horrible too!
"I need to take a shower, I'll be quick." I tried to shove him off but I was pinned under him.
"Take a shower later." He groaned, not wanting to give up his position.
"Seriously Luke, I smell horrible."
He turned to face me and attempted to sniff me.
"Get off me!" I pushed him off, got some clothes from my wardrobe and ran into the bathroom before he got a chance to put his nose in my pits.
I emerged from the bathroom 10 minutes later. Luke was sitting on the bed, his black leather jacket off, he was stretching. His shirt went up a little giving a sneak peek at his abs, it also stretched across his chest, showing off his pecs.
"Like what you see?" He teased.
Giving him a reply would only make his oversize ego bigger.
I sat down on my small dressing table brushing my hair. Before I knew it, the brush was no longer in my hand, Luke took it and brushed the hair just the way I like.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
After my hair was tangle free, we sat on the bed looking at each other. I noticed bags and dark circles under his eyes, his skin looked very pale too.
"What's wrong Luke, are you sick?" I cupped his cheek.
He leaned into my touch. "No princess, just tired. Too much work, less sleep."
I forgot about his insomnia. Since he became dad's right hand man he didn't sleep very often, other times he slept only an hour out of the 24 we had in a day.
It worried me.
"You should sleep more."
He yawned. "I don't mind sleeping now as long as you join me."
Why not, besides I didn't sleep a wink yesternight. The girl in the room adjacent to mine had been extremely busy last night. Sounds of flesh against flesh, grunts, moans and screams kept me up all night.
We lay down and he pulled me into him. We were spooning again, this time I didn't argue because I missed his annoying presence. He pulled up my shirt, draped an arm over my stomach, his fingers moved in gentle motions, lightly tracing and caressing it until I fell asleep.
__________________
I opened my eyes and looked at my bedside clock 12:57pm. Four hours of uninterrupted sleep, good enough.
I was awake now because of the pressing need to use the bathroom... I really needed to go but Luke's arm was around me, if I moved he would wake and I didn't want to wake him.
I traced the hand resting on my stomach, marveling at his long, thin and skillful fingers he got from handling weapons. His hands were not rough, neither were they callused. I interlaced our fingers together, Luke squeezed softly. He was awake and it was my fault, I forgot he was a light sleeper.
"Luke, I need to go to the bathroom."
He released me.
I finished my business and climbed back into bed, this time facing Luke. He looked so peaceful with his eyes closed, breathing softly but I knew he wasn't asleep.
"Why don't you want to go back to sleep?"
"I have work to do. Your work, my work, stupid emails to reply, I was hoping you'd go back to sleep so I can start."
Poor Luke. That explained the bags under his eyes.
"I'll help but first let me get us something to eat." I missed breakfast so I was freaking hungry.
I got up but he pulled me back down. "Don't go anywhere... I want to spend the day with you, I don't want you out of my sight for even a second, we can survive on snacks." He got off the bed and searched through his bag.
He pulled out fruit cakes and a large carton of tropical fruit juice. "Mind eating like a barbarian? No cups."
I laughed. We took turns drinking out of the carton just like old times.
After eating, I fired up his laptop, using my bedside table as an improvised work table. He made himself comfortable on my lap while I worked, replying emails, fixing appointments on his phone before drifting off to sleep.
When he was awake and fully rested we switched positions. I had already done more than half of the work, I covered the legal business side and half of the mob side. It was already a few minutes past 6pm.
I didn't fall asleep until he shut down his system, climbed into bed and pulled me into his warmth.
___________________
March 3rd, 2016.
The sun was up and shining brightly. I smiled. A very good night sleep and my friend was still here.
I moved but I didn't feel his arms around me, maybe he was in the bathroom.
The bathroom door was wide open and empty. I rolled to the other side of the bed and found it empty.
Was it all a dream?
If it wasn't for the rumpled sheets and golden hair on my hairbrush I'd have thought I imagined his visit.
He left like he was never here.
I checked my phone and saw a single message from Luke.
'Text me when you wake up.'
I tossed my phone on the bed in an angry huff. He didn't even say goodbye.
__________________
