Chapter 10: TEN

CELESTIA

The sound of his husky chuckle vibrated like a bad tuning fork in my head, rattling my bones and shattering every little hope I held on to. Tears burned at the back of my eyes, knowing a hell awaited me on the other side of the gate.

Raffaele lowered himself on one knee as I lay sprawled on the road. I looked up at his face, the hard contours of his features shadowed under the shimmering moonlit night and I noticed how he was enjoying the sight - the sight of me laying vulnerable in his trap.

Treacherous tears stumble down my cheeks. I gritted my teeth to push my body off the ground, but it was a vain effort. The adrenaline has already begun to drain off, leaving me utterly weak and lightheaded.

"Enough with the running," he said in a voice sounded more tired than angry, and perhaps, more frightening.

Unable to get up, I tried to scramble away, but he quickly caught my arms. "Let's get you inside now." In a flash, he scooped me off the road and bundled me in his arms. It’s weird. He didn’t do it roughly. Instead, he held me carefully and gently

"Please…let me go," I croaked.

Raffaele smiled softly, murmuring, "And why would I do that, bambi?"

I dared to look at his eyes again, the deep pool of honey-brown orbs that held no emotion whatsoever. Impassive at its best, and the thought chilled my bones.

This man – this monster – was capable of doing things to men twice my age and strength, and if their fate succumbed under his force, where would I stand in this struggle?

Apprehensions short-circuited my brain, and my mind went numb with fear. Everything I battled for started to look hollow and lost. I was left an empty shell – absolutely vacant.

"Rafe, Rafe…" I heard a cry and saw a man came running towards us. I recalled his face from the night I was kidnapped.

"Listen, I need a first aid box and an ice bag urgently," Raffaele cut him off as he walked into his lavish villa. A horde of the guard and staff crowded around, watching us with horror and trepidation.

His eyes scanned me from head to toe, and with his free hand, he tore the dress from me in one swift motion.

I screamed. It was the only thing I could do as the once pretty yellow material floated down to the ground, leaving me naked and exposed.

"Look at what you've done to yourself with this silly game."

He moved my head so that he forced me to look down at myself, at the cuts on my naked body.

A horde of guards and staff servants crowded around, watching us with dreadful expressions.

"Where are you taking her, Rafe?" a man asked, whom I have come to know from the night I have been taken.

"My room," he answered briskly."Send for the things I asked immediately."

Without giving another chance for a conversation, Raffaele climbed up the stairs and stormed towards a direction I haven't been in my short stay in this house. He stopped in front of the door, lowered his thumb to a small scanner, and unlocked it.

A new prison, I sullenly thought.

Except for the room he stepped in was something that could feature in Vogue Living. It was remarkable. From the four-poster king-size bed in the center to the heavy drapes and a lust carpet covering the entire floor, all in various shades of beige and off white, this bedroom was beyond glorious.

"I don't know how you managed to slip out, but I assure you that it will never happen again," he stated, again in a calm voice and then lowered me on a chaise chair.

I immediately recoiled in a fetal position, reminding him, "You left me with no choice."

For the first time tonight, a flash of anger glowed brightly in his eyes. The moment he was going to retaliate with words, we were interrupted with a soft knock on the door. He went on to answer the door while I lay my head back with the sharp pain radiating from my ankle and the various cuts and bruises on my hands and knees.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, trembling as he returned with a couple of things and set down on the table aside.

Raffaele grabbed my wrist, pointing at the bleeding elbow. See the results of your silly games??" he admonished like I was some child, and this was all a show. "We need to have a talk about this, but that has to wait."

"Please, Raffaele, please...I—"

"Don't say sorry," he stopped me, fiddling with cotton pads and medicine bottles from the first aid kit. "Don't say sorry because you're not. I'll give you enough time and reason to apologize later."

"Ahh!" I screamed when he pressed the cotton pad to the bleeding wound and swiped as gently as possible. The cuts weren't deep but bruised enough to hurt.

"Shh." Raffaele blew cool air over the wound, soothing and murmuring words.

"Let me go," I begged. "Please, Raffaele. I can't do this anymore, please let me go."

The surge of pain and fear overwhelmed as tears pooled around the corner of my eyes. And the moment he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, the dam burst out. Whacking sobs wrecked my tired body as I latched on to his shirt and wept.

The irony was that it was the first time in my existence that someone held me tight and gave me a shoulder to cry, a strong arm as a security blanket, and it was none other than a monster who kidnapped me.

I had expected him to lash out, to shout, yell or penalize me for running away, but he did none of that. Instead, he held me for a long time and then tended to the rest of the bruises. It was haunting, almost mind-numbing to have him nurse my wounds in utter silence. It didn't matter how much I begged, cried, or questioned his actions. He simply wouldn't answer. After some time, even I stopped because the fight in me had already died.

Raffaele led me to the bed, made me lie down, and pressed the ice pack to my ankle.

"Keep your leg elevated, like this," he guided, sliding a pillow underneath. "Sleep now. We will talk in the morning."

I watched him disappear out of the room as the door closed with a soft thud. Exhausted and lost, my head fell back against the pillow in utter defeat.

Why was he so calm?

RAFFAELE

"What was that?" Amadeo met me halfway as I paced towards the bar. I went around to grab a bottle brandy, uncapped, and drank straight from it because this was one of those godforsaken days—the kind of day when the burning alcohol down the throat felt soothing than justifying your actions.

"Rafe, for fuck's sake, I am talking to you!"

"What?" I barked.

My brother grabbed the bottle from my hand, silently demanding my undivided attention. "Why did you take her to your room?"

"So that she doesn't fucking escape again," I snarled. "And how the fuck did it happen in the first place when I spend thousands of dollars every fucking month on security?"

Seriously, the place was a fortress.

A frown deepened in his features. "The head of staff told me that she attacked one of the maids, snatched the key, and ran away."

"Fire the idiot, whoever that is," I decreed immediately. "I don't want such incompetent fools around here."

"Or maybe that girl of yours is too intelligent."

"My girl?" I scoffed. "She is not my girl."

"How many girls have ever stepped into your bedroom? Let me recall—oh yes, none. Then why, Rafe?"

"Why what?" I snapped. I was blue balled, pissed, and tired. Why the fuck can't he leave me alone?

"Why is getting the special treatment, then?"

"Do you think she is getting any special treatment? Let me assure you, she is not. Tomorrow morning when Celestia wakes up, she will know that I am not a man she should ever cross. And she will most definitely pay for tonight." A fitting punishment for disobedience.

"God, you're stubborn." He sighed, taking the bottle from my hand and took a long swig. "What are you going to do to her tomorrow?"

"Why do you care?"

I tried to snatch the bottle, but he drew it back. "I care as long as you are concerned. We don't hurt women, Rafe."

Jeez, what crazy ideas are swimming in his head?

"Thank you for the moral lecture, but I am not in the mood for it."

He gave me a long look before letting go of the bottle. "Fine, hope you remember my lecture when you deal with her tomorrow." I watched him retreat to his room before issuing a couple of orders to the guards over changing shifts.

Turning around, I closed my eyes, and the worst possible scenario floated in. What if it wasn't me and any of the guards took a shot at her? What if she had collided against the SUV given the way she charging at it?

Fuck! I racked a frustrated hand through my hair.

This girl, Celestia Donovan, would drain the life out me.

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