14

Zane~

His body arched from pains continuously and he could not help it. He knew what was going on and happening. The mate bond between him and Ariel is making him feel all the pains she's feeling, making it hard for him to concentrate on his business trip. He decided to put a call through to Courtney.

Courtney picked at the first ring. Not like she dare make screen his call or make it ring twice.

"I'd be coming home soon" he said over the phone and dropped the call, not giving her a chance to reply. Who cares about her opinion?

Alex, his better who has been wondering what was going on. They had postponed a lot of their meetings with their business partners due to Damien's lack of ability to concentrate. They even lot some of the great deals. Curiosity got the best part of him so he asked, "What's going on?'

"Start packing, we're leaving' was all he got as a reply. Alex wasn't surprised, he knows the Alpha well

******

The maids in the kitchen all erupted in hysterical laughter, laughing their hearts. Ariel's lips pursed slightly as her eyebrows puckered, she dipped her hands into the water, whose coldness pierced through her skin despite the gloves she was wearing. She knew they were talking about her but she was too sober to bother.

All of a sudden, a deafening silence enveloped the room and the next thing she heard was the clicking sound of heels on the hard marbled floor. Ariel glanced toward the direction the sound emanated, as she quickly ducked her head on locking eyes with the head maid.

She increased the pace at which she scrubbed the plate before the head maid found another excuse to punish her for absurd reasons.

A hiss from the head maid followed." Why are you all suddenly quiet? I thought that you all were laughing now."

The only thing Ariel wished for was for her name not to be mentioned, but it seemed that luck was against her. "It was Ariel, she was about to eat the leftovers."

"She's pathetic, and she will finally die of hunger!" Ariel heard the head maid say, as she sniffled in her tears and jerked her head back in a bid to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. She made a loud sniffle, rinsing the plate, when the head maid's words caused her to stay frozen to a spot. "Everyone, I have pleasant news to share with you. I am glad to inform you that our master and our one and only Alpha, Alpha Damien, would be coming back from his trip."

The servants squealed and squeaked in excitement, but the only person who was unhappy about his return was Ariel, who gulped a spittle. Her jaw clenched, with her heart pounding in her ear, as her heart thudded hard in her chest, beating with trepidation.

Ariel scrunched her eyes as all the memories of all the torture and pain that she went through in Damien's hands came rushing inside her head like a flood. Her ear was filled with her screams of horror and her cries for mercy.

At that moment, the only thing Ariel wanted to do was to disappear from the surface of the earth, but deep down, she knew that her wish was like building castles in the air.

She chewed on the corner of her lower lip, as blood seeped out of it. "Another series of torture again," Ariel muttered under her breath, obviously disgusted with the servants who delighted in joy on hearing about his dreadful return.

The rain, that seemed to have subsided, plummeted to the ground with more force that made it look like the heavens opened its shores.

The head maid sauntered out of the kitchen, while Ariel heaved a sigh of relief. She removed the gloves from her hands and dipped her hands inside the cold water, taking deep breaths upon deep breaths as she exhaled sharply.

The fear of what Damien might do to her enveloped her, as she stared out the window, which raced down with rain drops. She just wished that her life was different, where she wouldn't have to live in fear and would do anything that she wanted without thinking of bothering herself about people's opinions.

In all, she was glad the head maid left the kitchen and didn't add more chores for her or any of the maids. To her chagrin, the head maid walked in with a long list that looked more like a scroll.

Ariel shook her head frustratedly, but she knew that it was best not to complain and just do the work that was assigned to her. The head maid mumbled some incoherent words that Ariel couldn't grasp, as she stared at the long list in her hands while trailing her hands on the paper.

"Can't she be fast with what she wants to say?" Ariel heard someone grumble behind her, but she played a deaf ear to her words because even if she reported her to the head servant, it would make no difference and the blame would be on her.

"We would be preparing something close to a banquet on behalf of our Master. A number of five different exquisite dishes would be made. I would list them out now. Lamb Chops, Oxtails, Curry Soup, Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Roasted Turkey."

The head maid assigned different tasks to all the maids and gave Ariel more workload. She yelled and cussed out at Ariel, who was still not done with the washing of plates.

While all the maids went on with their duties with joy and delight in their hearts, Ariel was lost in thoughts, thinking about how to avoid Damien's wrath, but she knew that no matter how much she tried to escape his vicious claws, he would always find a reason to torture her.

She heaved multiple sighs against multiple sighs, pulling her sleeves up as she stared at a wound on her upper arm that had barely healed. The mere thought of being inflicted with another series of pain sent her shuddering and quivering in fear.

When she was done with washing the dishes, she began to dice the onion. Her eyes were watery because of the effect of the onion. Ariel couldn't be more glad of having an avenue to bawl her eyes out despite being surrounded by people who loathed her with passion.

Unperturbed by their taunting words and ogling eyes, she reminisced on her suffering, recollecting all the nights and days her body ached with nothing but excruciating pain.

Like a free fall, she allowed the tears to stream down her cheek as she drowned and wallowed in her sorrow.