Chapter 4 Chapter 4
I was at their beck and call, their sale, and they treated me worse than a dog; even the security dogs were treated better than me.
I lay there in the dimly lit basement and listened to the silence around me. My mind went through all the ways they had punished me, how they made me kneel, crawl and beg. They had broken me; the hope that I had once held that someone would find me and take me out of this hell had long gone. Crying did nothing either; I had no more tears left to cry. I was all cried out.
I was woken up by a loud slamming, and I sat up. I saw the faint light at the top of the stairs and heard the clacking of heels as Vivian came down. She held her nose and stood looking at me.
“Shower and dress; make yourself presentable. Ten minutes,” she said, dropping clothes onto the bed. She turned around and walked up the stairs. I stood up and walked to the small broken mirror and looked at myself. Gold curls were tangled and messy. I never took care of my hair; Blair got so mad once she chopped my hair off, but now it was longer. I was short, five four, my face slim. My brown eyes, hollow, staring back at me. I was just a shell of a person.
I snapped out of it and hurriedly wore the clothes Vivian left. I brushed my hair and put it in a ponytail. I walked up the stairs and knocked once on the door, and it opened. She stood looking at me.
“Good, let’s go,” she said, dragging me along straight to the living room. When we walked in, there were two men there, dressed in black suits. My adoptive father sat in his armchair. He looked like he was carved out of cold marble. He had that face, sharp, arrogant, and perfectly maintained, with silver hair that never had a strand out of place. He wasn't a big man, but he didn't need to be; he used his wealth like an instrument. His eyes were the worst part, a pale, icy blue that never once held a flicker of warmth for me. To the world, he was a pillar of society, but I knew the truth.
Blair was sitting on another couch. If Alistair was the ice, Blair was the spark, the kind that burns you if you get too close. She was the Rhodes family’s walking trophy and had already mastered the art of looking down her nose at anyone beneath her. She had the same blonde curls, but hers always looked like they belonged on a silk pillow instead of matted with sweat.
She was all high-fashion sets and fake smiles, the girl who spent her weekends at galas while I spent mine wasting away in their basement wondering why I was never enough.
Vivian walked over and sat beside her daughter, leaving me standing in the middle of the room. Vivian was the real master of my hell. She looked like she’d been preserved with expensive night creams, taut skin, sharp eyes, and a mouth that was always pinched like she’d just smelled something foul. Usually, that something was me.
She wasn't my blood, and she never let me forget it. To her, I was just a messy smudge on the perfect Rhodes legacy, a useful tool that could be discarded when done with.
Vivian actively hunted for my flaws. She was the one who taught me that a mother's touch could be as cold as a surgical blade.
“Now, Isla. We’ve been good to you and it is now time for you to repay your dues. You will go with the gentlemen outside to the Ferro estate.” Alistair said and I looked at him.
I was being sold, of course I was. They had no more use for me. It couldn't be worse than this hell.
“This is the least you can do,” Vivian said.
I didn't answer. I couldn't. “Okay. Can I take my belongings?” I asked.
“Do you even have any?” Blair mocked.
“Jacob, follow her and have her retrieve her belongings; make sure she doesn’t take anything from this house.” Vivian said to the butler. I walked out of the living room to the kitchen.
I walked to the wall and opened the door and headed down. I grabbed the tattered backpack. I came into this house with this backpack, and I would leave with it. After grabbing what I needed, I walked out. Jacob stopped me. And put an envelope into my hand.
“Stay safe,” he whispered.
I walked back to the living room with him beside me.
“Isla, please don't bring shame to the Rhodes name. Be obedient and do as you’re told,” Vivian said in that same tone that meant a punishment would be likely. I just nodded and walked through the door; I followed the two men to the car.
I walked out the door and didn't look back. The men led me to the car and opened the door for me. I got in, clutching the straps of my backpack. They got in quietly and started the car; they didn't utter a single word. As they drove out of the Rhodes estate, I took one last look at the house, vowing to never return.
The drive was slow and silent, and the silence was eating away at me from the inside. What was going to happen to me? What would I have to face when I got there?
NIKOLAI
I read the contract over, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes. I've been away for six months and just returned to Riverside City, and it has been nothing but death and blood. That old fucker Alistair Rhodes thought that because I was away, I had forgotten the loan.
So I sent Jules and Wesley over to retrieve my money or his daughter; either one would be repayment for the loan. It's been more than two hours since they left; they should have been here by now. I sat forward just as I heard the knock at the door.
Jules and Wesley walked in. “Mr. Ferro, ummm,” Wesley said, sounding confused.
“Spit it out.”
“Mr. Ferro, Rhodes gave his daughter as payment, but…” Jules said.
I was starting to get pissed off. “What?”
“Boss. She jumped out of the car on Wilshire Hill,” Wesley said hurriedly, which made me raise an eyebrow. I stood up and looked at them with my hand in my pocket.
“Repeat that for me,” I asked, my tone low and cold.
“The car was on Wilshire Hill, and she just opened the door and jumped. It was the first turn on the hill. We stopped and searched for over an hour, but we couldn't find her,” Jules said.
“She’s on fucking foot; how did she disappear so fast? Take security and fucking find her, NOW.”