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Chapter 10: Little Hellion

Aurora

Grogginess clouded my mind as my eyes fluttered open. I found myself lying in my bed, surrounded by the familiar opulence of my bedroom in the mansion…but something felt off. Really off. The sunlight streaming through the window seemed different, and an unsettling silence filled the air. Yes the mansion was normally silent…. but it felt kind of different today.

I struggled to sit up, rubbing my temples. I felt like my head was being hit continuously by a hammer, my memories were hazy and my muscles were really sore. Gosh.

I recalled my escape attempt, Gabe’s help and Diego’s sudden appearance and then….

Then everything went blank.

I tossed off the covers only to find myself in my night dress. What? I don’t remember changing. Neither do I remember getting back here. I shook my head again quickly, swinging my legs over the side of my bed, my feet dangling in the air and I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. When did I return to my room and how on earth did I get here?

My gaze drifted to the bedside table, where the sleek digital clock sat. The display read 3:47PM, September 28th.

“What the…” I blinked repeatedly, narrowing my gaze to see if my eyes were deceiving me. “September 27th? But I thought….” I paused glancing out the window again. “How can that be?” I asked, pushing myself off my bed.

I was 100% sure yesterday was the 25th. There’s no way today would be the 28th…

“Unless…” I trailed off turning to the clock again. “Two whole days had passed.” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. Two days? But that was impossible. There’s no way I’d be asleep for two freaking days. I blinked again. Nothing was making any sense.

Where do you think you’re going, Missy?

The last thing I remember was Diego carrying me back inside and…

The boss needs to get back first before we can actually decide what we’ll do with you.

I shook off Diego’s cold voice, stumbling slightly as I made my way to the door.

“How the hell had I been asleep for two whole days?” I pondered as I reached the handle, pulling it back. But….it didn’t budge. It was locked? “Wait what?” I tried pulling again but the door didn’t open. I turned to where I always kept the keys…. but it wasn’t there.

Dammit.

I started screaming at the top of my lungs as I pounded on the door. “Is anyone there?! If anyone can hear me please open the door! Let me out!”

I paused, pressing my ear against the door for a reply but I got nothing but silence. Seeing that no one was coming anytime soon, I scanned the room, searching for another way to get out.

There was only one window in this room and since it was way high above the ground, climbing out was not an option. As my gaze swept around, I spotted a tray of food on one of the tables, but my stomach churned at the thought of eating.

I turned back to the locked door, my head swirling with questions. Why was I locked in? They never locked the door. What has been happening while I was sleeping? And most importantly, had Leo gotten back?

“Gosh,” I breathed out, running my hand down my face. I needed to clear my head. The bathroom beckoned and I decided to take a warm bath since it might calm my racing thoughts and maybe, just maybe, the door will be unlocked by the time I got out.

But the thing was…it never was. I just ended up falling asleep over and over again and when I woke up, there’d always be a new tray of food on my bedside table. It got to the point that I couldn’t even take it anymore. I wasn’t going to stay locked in here forever, just because I tried to escape once didn’t mean I wouldn’t even get the chance to breathe in clean and fresh air.

I got up from my bed, sliding my feet into my slipper before marching towards the door. If they didn’t want to let me out of here, I just had to make them. Besides, I'd been way quiet for too long.

I began to bang hard against the cold metal door with my arm, the sound echoing through the silent hallway, my determination growing with every passing moment. First they locked me up in this goddamn forsaken mansion and now they wouldn’t even let me leave my own room. What the hell was going on here? And what were these people up to?

The door’s cold surface began to take its toll on my hands. Just then, a sharp pain shot through my wrists and palms, but I refused to stop. My skin grew tender, then bruised, and finally blood began to trickle from my split knuckles.

“Fuck,” I cursed, flinging my arms in the air before I continued pounding, my cries echoing through the corridors.

Suddenly, another searing pain shot through my hand as my fist connected with the door’s edge. I let out a small gasp, instinctively pulling my hand back to assess the damage.

As I grasped my injured hand, the door’s handle turned and before I could even react, the metal slab swung open causing me to lose my balance and stumble backwards, my feet slipping out from under me.

I fell hard on my butt onto the cold marble floor, my injured hand throbbing in protest. And I couldn’t help but recall how I was thrown into this very room, the same day I was brought here. But the only difference was instead of a couple of guards looming over me, it was the man who had caused all of this and brought me here for reasons best known to him.

A small whimper escaped my lips as I struggled to sit up. I lifted my chin to find his eyes fixed on mine with an unnerving intensity.

“Great,” I rolled my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “You’re back. How delightful.” I bit out.

He took a step closer then dropped to one knee right before me, his eyes locked on mine before they raked over my injured hand. “You seem to take pleasure in annoying me…” he reached for my chin but when I moved to bat his hand away, he gripped my wounded hand tightly sending a jolt of pain through me and it took everything in me not to scream. “Huh little hellion?” he squeezed my chin, his eyes filled with revulsion.

Little Hellion? What the freaking hell?

“Get your hands off me,” my voice came off in a small whisper as I locked eyes with him, my gaze burning with defiance.

Leo’s mirthless smile vanished, replaced by another icy stare. “Get your filthy hands off me.” I spoke through gritted teeth as he tightened his grip.

“You sure cause a lot of trouble for someone your size.” His expression turned glacial. I was 5 '8, way bigger than a lot of women by age but compared to someone like Leo…who was probably nothing less than 6' 5, I looked pretty small, but I didn’t give a damn if he was 10 ft taller. What he was doing to my father and I was wrong. Really wrong. And someone needed to call him out for that.

Before I could say anything, he cut me off by squeezing my chin and my hand even harder. “I thought I told you not to try anything funny.” He growled, his Italian accent rolling off tongue like a Mediterranean wave. There was no need for him to be specific. We both knew what he was talking about.

“I never said I was going to listen you.” I narrowed my eyes and he let out another deep chuckle, the sound devoid of warmth.

“Trust me darling, you don’t want to know what happens to people who don’t listen to me.” He spoke, his fingers digging deeper into my wounded hand. My jaw dropped in response but there was no audible sound, I made sure of it. Showing him that I was in pain was more than enough.

“You’re a monster.” I spat out.

A hint of a smile played on his lips. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

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