Elle

When the head of the maid, Courtney, suddenly rushed into the kitchen, Ariel's heart skipped a beat. In this house, there was no peace at all, so she believed every action had something bad in it.

"You all need to appear in the corridor now!" The head, Courtney, ordered them and left immediately.

Ariel was a little bit surprised, as to why they were being called into the corridor again because the head had told them three days ago that they would not be called to the corridor anymore.

They were always called into the corridor for only two things. One, to inspect them carefully for any form of sicknesses or if they were in any bad state, and the second one, is to make sure that all slaves are still around and no one had run away.

They had been doing this for a while, but Ariel didn't know why she felt weird today. She felt like going into the corridor was going to put her into some trouble or as if something bad was going to happen to her.

The only time something bad had happened when they went to the corridor, was when one of her fellow slaves, Emma, was pregnant and she didn't know about it, until they went for their normal inspection. Courtney had called them into the corridor that day just like today and they all confidently went, because they were sure that they had done nothing wrong, nor were they sick.

As usual, the head, Courtney, went from one person to another that day and when she got to Emma, she suddenly stopped in front of her. When she stopped, she turned to face her properly and look into her eyes. She moved closer to her and sniffed her neck dramatically.

Emma didn't feel some type of way because she was so sure that nothing was wrong with her. She just continued looking straight ahead without shaking or even breathing.

A few seconds later, the head suddenly moved back and she placed her palm on Emma's face.

"Are you okay, Emma?" She said, with her plan still on Emma's face. Emma nodded her head vigorously and she continued looking straight ahead.

The head shook her head repeatedly, not wanting to believe what Emma was saying. She started inspecting her body by pressing her face, lifting her arms and checking her feet. After checking her feet, the head rose up and straightened her body. She looked at Emma again before she moved her hands to her breast and she pressed it.

"Ouch," Emma screamed immediately as the head pressed her boobs. It looked like that little action confirmed the head's suspicions because immediately that happened, she told a guard to come over and tie Emma to the corridor's wall.

"What did I do? Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing wrong." Emma protested as the guard carried her by her shoulder and pinned her against the wall.

When Ariel looked at Emma, she saw a stream of tears trickling down her face and she faced forward instantly.

It felt like the whole air in the corridor was suddenly seized, as everyone was now holding their breaths, not knowing what was going to happen after this. Nobody even dared move, the only person that was moving in the room was the head. She was moving from one point to another, thinking of what to do.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks and moved over to where Emma was still struggling with the guard.

"Who is responsible, Emma? Who got you pregnant?" When Courtney said this, an involuntary gasp escaped Ariel's lips and this little action drew the head's attention to her.

Ariel quickly closed her mouth and the head turned her attention back to Emma.

"I'm going to ask you again, Emma. Who is the father of the 'thing' living in your room?"

Courtney addressing Emma's baby as a 'thing' made her feel very uncomfortable.

"I don't know, ma'am. I'm not pregnant," Emma said and she tried to reach out to the head, but she slapped her hand immediately and grabbed her neck.

She started squeezing Emma's neck with every strength in her and Emma couldn't breath. She flapped her legs so fast, trying to show the head that she was in pain and she was losing her breath, but the head didn't either notice that or she just chose to ignore it.

After doing this for a few seconds, Emma finally gave up and she tried speaking, but no words came out.

When the head saw that she was trying to say something, she released her grip from her neck and ordered her to speak up immediately.

Emma started coughing and she tried to catch her breath again. She raised her right hand and started moving her fingers to show that she needed water, but the head started speaking again.

"Start speaking," the head said to Emma loudly.

"Wa-wa-ter," Emma stammered and she struggled to get the word out.

Courtney ignored her obvious need for water and she held her neck again, but this time around, she didn't squeeze her neck.

"Speak, Emma. Speak or I'll hurt you now."

"Okay, I'll speak," Emma said in a very exhausted tone. She finally gave up and started speaking.

"The father of my unborn baby is…" she broke off and looked around the room. Her eyes stopped when it got to the guard that tied her up earlier, but she quickly averted her gaze away from him.

However, Ariel noticed that and she realised what was going on and who the father was.

"Speak, girl. Speak. Who is the father?" The head inquired impatiently.

"He is the father of my unborn child," Emma raised her head and pointed to the guard that pinned her to the wall earlier.

Now, several gasps escaped the lips of all the slaves that were present there.

The head, Courtney, dropped her hand from Emma's neck and she started walking towards the guard. Even though the weather was clearly cold, the guard was still sweating so hard.

He started moving backwards and he stopped when his back hit a wall. The head grabbed him by his ears and he dragged him away.

Ariel could still hear his screams as he was being dragged away. She shivered as the memory creeped back into her head.

She looked around and she saw that the other servants were already moving to the corridor obeying the head. She didn't want to go, but she couldn't possibly disobey the head's order, so she reluctantly walked slowly to the corridor.

Ariel couldn't help but to think about why they were being called to the corridor. She placed her right palm on her chest and she could feel her heart pounding loudly against her palm.

Before getting to the corridor, she took in a very sharp breath and held it. She only released it slowly when she got to the corridor after other servants already got there.

"As usual, you are all here for your inspections, but before we do that, someone is here to address you all," The head announced loudly, looking at all of them from one person to another.

They were all curious to see the person that was here to see them. The head pinged towards the door, announcing the arrival of the visitor.

Ariel was the first to turn toward the door to see the person and her heart stopped nesting for a second when she saw the person that was standing there, looking back at her.

Ariel moved back involuntarily and she held the wall that was behind her for support.

There she was, Damien's precious little girlfriend, Elle. Elle was definitely the last person that Ariel wished to see at that moment. She was already feeling uneasy, but now, she felt somehow and a little bit…scared. Elle was so ruthless and that was an attitude that Ariel didn't appreciate at all.

It felt like time stopped and Ariel and Elle were the only ones in the corridor. Ariel couldn't stop looking at Elle and Elle was also looking at her. She was staring at Ariel like she could look deep into her soul.

Ariel's heart skipped so many beats when Elle suddenly started waking towards her, with a very deadly look on her face. With every step she took, Ariel's heart skipped more beats. Ariel moved her plan to her chest and she pressed it against her chest, but she didn't feel better.

Elle was coming closer and closer to Ariel and Ariel only watched on.

"Welcome, Miss," Ariel could hear Courtney speaking in the background and a few other slaves also welcomed Elle.

When Elle finally got to where they were standing, she pushed her way through the group of slaves that were greeting her and she went over to Ariel, that was standing just two feet away from them.

Elle got to her and stood directly in front of her. Their eyes seemed glued to each other, as they couldn't stop staring at each other. Ariel saw an emotion flicker through Elle's eyes, but she didn't know what that meant. Anger?

Ariel's thoughts were cut short by what Elle did to her next.