Chapter 14

Rosella....

I glare at the back of the red uniformed guard from the dark corner I have occupied while he continues cleaning up the cell, oblivious of my presence.

If only looks could kill, I'm sure the guard ought to have dropped dead by now. My glare is filled with every emotion that is whirling inside my chest, tearing my soul apart piece by small piece. I wish I was strong enough to fight him…. Or at least, courageous enough to try to fight him.

But I'm not.

I'm no fighter. I've never been. I'll never be.

I don't have any idea what today holds in store for me. I pause glaring at the guard for a moment to check the clock hanging on the left wall of the small square prison, which has been my home for a whole week now. I study the hands of the clock. Half past 3 in the afternoon, it shows.

My eyes freeze on the ticking hands of the clock.

Not this time again.

At this time of the day, it's definite that something bad will happen to me. Whatever it will be, I'll probably end up in a worse condition than I am already in. It's just like this is the time for my damnation, especially given by God to punish me for the sins I have committed but don't have any idea how and when.

Crap!

I moan out loud and that captures the attention of the guard, who had been oblivious to my presence till now. He drops the broomstick he's been sweeping the floor with and approaches my bed in the corner. I scrabble back on the bed until my back is pressed against the cool wall but the guard ignores my fearful expression and trembling body and keeps advancing towards me.

When he's standing right over me, looming like a shadow, he removes his gloves and reaches out his hand. I stare, wide eyed as his hand comes closer to me…. and touches my forehead.

I frown up at the guard.

What is he doing? Checking my body temperature?

“Are you in pain?” He asks me in his robotic voice and catches me off guard by his unusually genuine question. I just shake my head.

He frowns back at me. “Then why were you moaning?”

“I wasn't. I'm fine.” I maintain the frown on my forehead.

“Don't lie to me.” He warns.

“I'm not.” I respond meekly.

“Alright then, finish your food so that I can take the bowl out with me.”

I grab a slice of apple from the bowl that is filled with a number of fruits and shove it inside my mouth to show him I'm eating like a good girl.

See? I'm eating, you douchebag.

Now leave me alone.

He says nothing and turns back to complete his task and as soon as his back is to me, I stick my tongue out at him and push the bowl away like a stubborn child. Just as the bowl slides to the edge of the bed and is on the verge of toppling down, I snatch it up and hold it on my lap, all the while trying to catch my breath which has started escalating.

I will never forget what Balthazar had done to me when I had acted like a child on my first day in this private hell.

I had just woken up after what it felt like forever when the effect of the drugs he had injected in my veins had worn down. My head was pounding painfully and to add to my misery, the first thing I saw upon opening my heavy eyes was Balthazar. He was sitting on a chair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his bent knees and he was gazing at me intently.

On impulse, I had shot up and crawled back in the bed to put some safe distance between us. He had asked me something, maybe tried to tell me he was not going to hurt me but I wasn't listening. My mind was reeling and my eyes were too busy in figuring out where I was. After trying to speak to me and failing in doing so, he had placed a plate of sandwiches in front of me and gestured with his hand for me to eat. But instead of grabbing the sandwich and gobbling it down as he had expected, I had picked up the plate and thrown it away. I still can't quite remember why I did that and from where I got all that courage but Balthazar was really very disappointed with me.

More like, pissed off at me.

Without another word, he had shot up from his seat and stalking up to me, he had grabbed my arms and shook me vigorously. I remember screaming and flailing my arms at him before he pulled back and slapped me across my left cheek, hard.

And he didn't stop at that, he was nowhere near done with me. Hauling me out of the bed, he had slammed me down on the floor and kicked me in the gut at least five times before pausing to catch his breath. By then, silent tears of pain were already tracking down my cheeks. And like a true heartless Bastard, he had cursed me, called me obscene names and left me there on the floor to soak in the pain of his blows. I was sure that I was going to have some really nasty bruises as my cheek had already started to swell.

I didn't realise just how severely he had hurt me until the next day when the pain had reached its peak and my body lost the battle and left me to vomit all the contents of my stomach out in the toilet. Tears streamed down my cheeks while I continued heaving until nothing was left inside me, my stomach was totally empty and sore and I was extremely dehydrated.

Responding to that terrifying memory, one of my hands reaches up to rest on my cheek and the other goes down to rub my still somewhat sore and bruised belly, a shudder wrecks down my body and I immediately banish the thought from my head.

Don't think about it.

Shaking myself out of my paralysis, I hastily clear the contents of the bowl and place it away from my bed for the guard to take it away without having to come and take it from me. I sit with my arms wrapped around my knees that are pulled up to my chest and rest my chin on top of them, silently willing my body to stop shivering like a fluttering leaf in the whirling wind.

I watch in dreadful silence as the guard finishes his job and picks up the bowl from the floor and moves to the exit door. He slips out and walks away from the small cell, not before locking the door behind him with his pair of keys.

When he's out of my sight and his footsteps have faded away, I loosen up a little and tilt my head back to rest it against the cool rough wall. I let out a defeated sigh and allow my eyes to fall shut and feel my eyelashes brushing my cheeks lightly.

I could have never imagined that Balthazar had the potential to hurt me like that. I thought I was safe with him, at least for the first few days but now, I have realised how naive I was to think that.

Does it mean that he hasn't sold me to Master Black? Has he decided to keep me for himself and make me pay for that fake debt anyways?

Just the thought of the fucking debt makes my blood boil inside my veins.

What does he want from me? Why did he go as far as faking a debt and holding it up over my parent's head like a knife to get me? What has he planned to do with me? Why couldn't my parents identify the fake documents? It was so obvious.

I have so many questions but nobody to answer them.

I'll probably rot to death in this small prison and no one will ever know that I ever existed. My parents have already given up on me, not that they ever wanted me in their life and my friends, Judy and Jonathan, they'll never find me and I'll never see them again. They'll never know where I disappeared.

I let the anguish of my situation wash over me and pull me back down in that dark corner where I used to live when I was a kid. I don't hold back, I just let go. There's another kind of peace and relief in letting go of everything. Balthazar can have my body if he wants because I cannot protect it from his claws but I will never, ever let him get into my mind and soul. I'll drown them in the ocean of the darkness where no one will find me.

But before I can slip out of that confined cell and swim away, the sound of heavy footsteps and jingling keys pulls me out of the darkness and slams me back into reality.

What now?

I sit with my breath stuck in my throat as I await the inevitable.

What will Balthazar do with me now? Hurt me again? Escort me to another hell hole? Start making me pay for my fake debt?

But if he has kept me to take pleasure in my pain then why does he keep me fed and attended? What does he care if I die from starving or anything? He had hurt me that day but after that, never showed his face again.

My mind is still in a frenzy of thoughts, desperately trying to understand what's actually going on and how to make sense of this confusing mafia when he's suddenly in front of me, staring down at me with his cold and dead black eyes.

I startle and almost jump out of my skin, breathing frantically.

God…. can he be anymore scary or creepy…. Who does that? Appear out of the thin air and give someone a freaking heart attack??

But when my eyes flicker behind him, I find the prison door wide open. He must have entered through the door, after all I had heard his footsteps and the jingling of the keys. I must have been in my head when he had entered.

I kick myself inwardly and straighten up my back as I face him.

“Good morning, Miss. Danforth. How are you feeling today?”

I raise an eyebrow at his highly enthusiastic greeting. What is he upto today?

“I hope you're feeling well.” He answers his own question and goes on. “Because today is a really big day for both of us.”

Big day for both of us?

What the hell is he talking about?

My eyebrows pull down as I look up at his purple face, which seems a shade darker in the fluorescent lights as though he's flushed with excitement for something.

My throat closes up.

If this is something special for him then it must be equal to my freaking nightmare.

“Now, Miss. Danforth, I'm going to get out of this small room and I want you to do as I say.” Balthazar says, then turns his back to me. “Otherwise I will have to force you to do as I say and it can prove to be very painful for you.”

As if on reflex, my hand goes up to cover my swollen cheek just as he turns to face me with an injection in his hand.

His expressions shift dramatically as his eyes dance with knowing amusement when he finds me covering my cheek. I immediately drop my arm and clench my jaw, only to exhale sharply when a jolt of pain sparks up my jaw.

Shit! I forgot I'm hurt.

“Are you going to drug me again?” In spite of my best efforts, my voice quivers when I ask him that dreadful question.

“Oh no, honey. This is not drugs. It's just a normal injection which will help you get some much needed sleep.” He says, his voice unusually light as though he's talking to a five year old.

“I can sleep on my own. I don't need medication for that. Thank you very much.” As I push those words out of my mouth, my eyes fixate on the injection filled to the brim with a blue liquid.

Fear snakes up my back and coils around my spine, stiffening my body posture as Balthazar's expressions tightens and his pleasant looking smile falters. “That's not an option, honey. Take this injection willingly or I can inject you against your will, your choice.”

“No.” I glare up at him.

“No what?” He grits out.

“No, I will not take the injection willingly. I will not be your victim. You can just go and fuck yourself, I don't give a damn.”

Balthazar looks abashed, as though he hadn't expected me to be this audacious. Even I am quite surprised by the biting tone of my voice. I hadn't intended to come across so trashy but I'm too furious to even consider that.

“Grab her and hold her still.” His cold and detached attitude returns as he orders his goons and they hold me down.

He has started to show his true colours now.

“Stop! No, don't do this. I'll do as you say. Don't drug me!”

“I've told you this is not a drug. Now hold still if you want to do as I say.”

But when I see the glinting tip of the needle, I lose it. I start thrashing like a wild animal in their hold and scared screams tear out of my throat.

“You can't hold still a fucking girl!” Balthazar curses his men and they use more force on me to keep me still. I think one of them is apparently sitting on my back now, because I can't move anymore and they are crushing me under their heavy weights.

“Get off of me, you're sitting on my back idiots.”

I instantly feel the weight lift off of me and I relax for a second, to catch my breath. Balthazar, ever the Bastard, takes advantage of the situation and pierces my neck with the injection.

I flinch, squeezing my eyes shut as he empties the liquid inside my veins.

“She'll be out in a minute and we have to get to the auction before she can wake up and give us any more trouble. I need her to be conscious though, when she's up for the show on the platform so don't inject her again....” Some of Balthazar's instructions to his men register inside my head before I'm pulled in by the darkness.

Not again….