Prologue.

Bastard."

The sun illuminated through the window, and from her closed eyes, Arabella could feel its harshness as she squinted her eyes and turned her back to it, only to adjust and fall off the bed.

'Ow!' Arabella exclaimed in pain, 'Dammit.'

The queen-size bed, holding her head and scrunching her face in pain, she wondered how she must have fallen asleep and rolled off the bed.

After falling asleep last night, realization dawned on her about yesterday's occurrence.

The yelling, the beating, the shouts and wailing, and how her father could have died.

How Damian Preston had almost shot her father, and she had run to kneel in front of him, holding the both of them at gunpoint and his bodyguards dragging her away, because of her stubbornness, the butt of the gun smack against her head which caused her to fall unconscious.

"Oh gosh! Daddy! I hope you're fine wherever you are!" she sniffles.

"You should get up and go take a shower!" A voice said, startling her. She almost jumped out of her skin, and her thoughts abruptly ended.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Arabella glared at him for startling her.

"I work for the boss, and you talk too much." The bodyguard said he was standing beside the bed, his handclasp in his front, the tattoo on his chest partially visible from his shirt, tucked in a black pant and black velvet shoe.

Her hand on her chest, "you scared the shit out of me." Arabella eyed him, his expression, a stony face.

"That's because you are a piece of shit." The bodyguard said.

"Coming from a piece of shit himself, I see, pot calling kettle black." Arabella hissed.

Such a sharp mouth.

"you don't speak to me in such a manner." He walked forward to her and slapped her across the face.

Arabella didn't hesitate to hit him back.

He glared at her deadly and dragged her by her hair. Arabella whimpers and tries to fight him off. He backhanded her as she kicked his balls and threw her against the wall.

"Daughter of a debtor." He kicked her.

"Son of a cheap whore." She said and coughed out blood.

A lady dressed as a maid entered the room carrying a bowl filled with body wash and cream and a towel. She saw the scene and pushed the guard off her.

"Dominos, are you mad? The boss will have your head on a platter of the bronze plate for hitting her." The lady said, crouching down to wipe the blood off her head.

"He won't have my head for this thing. Dominos spat out, and Arabella hissed at him.

"Get out now!" the lady ordered, and he turned on his heels and left.

"My darling girl, let me help you up." The lady said. She helped her get up, but Arabella winced in pain from the kick her ribs had gotten.

"Sorry, dear. A little more steps, and you will be on the bed."

Finally, her back rested against the bed, and her left eyes were changing color to purple.

"I'm Arabella."

"Nancy. He has assigned me to tend to your needs, the boss." Nancy said, dabbing her chest with the wet hand towel.

Arabella sniffles as a tear threatened to spill.

"Spill it out, my dear." Nancy petted as she pats her hair. Arabella cries.

"I miss my daddy! He didn't deserve to die, neither does he deserve me out of his life."

"The boss is not merciful, your father is a gambler, and he tried to cheat the boss."

"My father would never cheat your stupid boss." Arabella cried.

"According to what I heard, and I know, I don't think you know what your father does."

"I know he works at the Preston Casino, and I know he gambles, but I don't know what business he must have had with your boss."

"My dear, I understand that you're trying to defend your father, but if you're smart enough, you will at least lie low to find out some things. It may take a while, but you can try. Be thankful that he spared your father's life and took you instead."

"Took me against my wish." Arabella scoffs.

"Would you rather have your father dead?" Nancy asked, and Arabella pouted her mouth.

"No." She answered.

"Now, let's get you properly cleaned up. I will set your bath."

"Wait! About Dominos? Is he a deranged human being?"

Nancy laughed and replied, "Nah, he doesn't fancy women."

"So mother fucker loves his gender." Arabella threw her head back and laughed.

"He does both," Nancy said.

"Wait! What? He's bi." Arabella said. "The son of a monkey is cute, though."

"Wait till you see the boss. I'm sure it will get you before you hear him speak." Nancy said, turning to enter the bathroom.

"You want me to take a bath? I don't have clothes here." Arabella said on top of her voice.

"Of course, there is. The boss sisters had gone for some shopping earlier today and had gotten you enough for some while."

"I don't understand."

Nancy came out of the bathroom and stood at the entrance. "I'm saying Mr. Preston had his sister do some shopping on your behalf."

"Why?" She scrunches her nose.

"Because he doesn't want you outside this environment." Nancy answers, "it seems you'll be here for a very long time. Who knows?"

"Now I'm a hostage." She sighs.

"I hope your father pays the boss as soon as possible so you can get the hell out of here."

"I know, right." She said and got out of bed to take her bath.

Sitting in the bathtub and reminiscing about her life, how sweet it used to be, not sweetly adorable, but lovely.

It was just she and her father and a few family members that cared. She loves her father so much that she is ready to take the bullet for him if Damian Preston has shot him.

Arabella was a girl that had anything she wanted, considering her father's only child, and he has been doing all he could to make her happy and have that comfortable life; she didn't use that advantage to act like a brat or live a wayward life.

Nah! She did things to make her father happy.

Sometimes, she wondered if her mother, wherever she was, always thought about her and the actions she carried out that wrecked her father.

That woman was an evil seed that never should have sprouted and nurtured, but life always had a way of doing things.

Arabella didn't want to dwell on her mother's thoughts; right now, she misses her best friend, Danielle, and her boyfriend Jake; she wondered what they must have been doing now and devastated they'd be when they hear she's gone.

"Gone to where?" Nowhere they'd ever be able to get through."

The motherfucker even restricted her from using her phone and social media.

Arabella's eyes sting with tears as she would allow the tears to fall freely down her face.

There was a short, raspy knock on the bathroom door.

"Who's there?" Arabella asked, already getting out of the tub and wrapping a towel around her body. She quickly opened the cabinet and found scissors.

Being ready and an alert was something her father had taught her to do, to be in defense mode.

"Dominos!" He answered.

Arabella rolled her eyes. "Have you come to beat me again or this time finish me?" She let the sarcasm roll off her tongue.

Dominos chuckled, "he wants to see you."

"Who the hell wants to see me ?"

"The boss!"

"He should go suck a cock!" She muttered.

"Cocksucker is it! I'd deliver the message very well." Dominos said, chuckling.

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

"I'll be out in ten; tell him I'll be out in ten," Arabella said.