Chapter 20 CHAPTER 20

Chapter 20 CHAPTER 20
EMILIA

I met with Michelle first, and the smile on her face told me everything I needed to know. "I can see you've gone through the new terms and conditions of your stay here?" she said, crossing her legs into my path. I ignored her and tried to walk away, but she stumbled into my path again. "Hey..." she pushed my shoulder lightly, "I'm talking to you." I stood still, anger rising to my chest, as my fingers itched to slap her.

"Amore." A deep baritone voice cut through the air, like steel silencing everyone. Michelle and I turned, our heads in sync, towards Andrea. As he strode towards us with a hand in his pocket. He was wearing a white shirt and a black suit. It looked as if he had just gotten back from wherever he was coming from.

"You are back," Michelle smiled, as she met him halfway. Andrea's arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her in, inhaling her scent. The document that was still in my hands lost its form as my hands crumbled it. And as if an icing on a cake... he kissed her. Not quick and urgent— but the deep and intense type, and I didn't turn away. It was as if they both were doing all this on purpose to torment me.

He pulled away slowly, pushing her ginger curls behind her ears. "You look extra pretty today," he commented.

"Thank you," she smiled in return, before their gaze returned to me. And then his once sweet expression turned sour. It was as if the previous night I had helped him never existed, like he hadn't opted for my room when he knew she was here.

"Why is she here?" Andrea said, his head shifted towards his fiancée. The witch's lips curled up again. "I just happened to meet her here... she seems upset though," she smiled, before wearing a mocking look. "Are you upset?"

So far, I have counted one week. One week out of a year. I can do this. I just have to stay cool. A deep sign left my lips, before I spoke. "I demand answers as to why the terms of the contract were changed." My amber eyes settled on his grey orbs, bold and unmoving. "I want to know."

"It was just an added few necessities," he shrugged his shoulder as if it was nothing. I flung the document on the floor. A déjà vu of my first night in the mansion replaying itself. "I can't agree to this."

He let out a very chaotic laugh, like nails dragging against a wall. "Too bad... you don't have a choice."

"That's because you made it so," I snapped. "Being a stripper doesn't make me illiterate... do you think I don't know how this works?"

Michelle was now staring at me wide-eyed as I spoke to her prince in shining armour. "I wasn't even giving a chance to a lawyer..." I said, taking a momentary pause. "You claim I owe you money, so you abducted me to be your wife and now this—? I have to answer to your finance as well?"

"Come on," Michelle stepped in, a sly grin on her face. "Stop whining like a teen girl whose boyfriend asked for a nude." A little smile left my lips. I saw what she did there. And hell no am I letting this slide.

"I'd rather whine like a teenage girl than be an overprotective, insecure bitch clinging onto her fiancé like she had no life on her own."

Damn. That felt so good. Too good to be true as the words never made it past my thoughts...

"Has your brain gone into freeze mode or am I too eloquent for you to understand?" her words cut through my thoughts, razor-sharp.

I gulped. I didn't have the courage to retaliate her words.

"Say whatever you want to, but I won't agree to this." I said, fighting the tears behind my eyes.

"No one wants you here," he chirped. "The faster you stop acting like a victim, the better for you," Andrea said, his tone foreign... harsh.

I dared to look up at him. He was barely recognizable. A few days had shaped him into a monster. It wasn't as if we were the best of friends. But it was official now.

We were now enemies.

"Considering everything your father did and stole from my family..." he continued, not minding how his words affected me, the little witch holding herself against him as she tried to suppress her laugh. "Consider this a soft landing for you," he said, displaying a satisfactory smile at the end.

My feet moved before I could think, and now I was just a few inches shorter than Andrea, his imposing height towering over mine. Michelle wanted to say something, but when she saw my eyes, she went mute and just remained by his side, gripping onto his left arm. My eyes searched Andrea's for a moment, his eyes were void of any emotions.

"My father took a loan from you, loan sharks... he never stole. So mind your words."

"Loan shark you say?" He scoffed, his brows arched together. "Forget the interest. That deadbeat you called a father couldn't even return the actual principal."

I couldn't hold it back anymore as tears slid down my face.

I said nothing. I couldn't afford to. It just so happens that whenever my family's name is being mentioned! humiliation followed.

He snarled, picking up Michelle's hands as he walked away. "Nothing will be altered in the document. That's your new life now. Break the rules and face the consequences."

My feet lost balance and I stumbled onto the floor tile. I tried not to make a sound while tears rolled down my face.

"One more thing," Andrea said, leaving Michelle for a moment as he turned to me. "It seems two traits run in your family."

"From your father's side..." he chuckled lightly. "Debt."

I bit my lower lips now, as my fists clenched.

"And your mum's..." his words faltered a bit. "I heard she left you and your dad for a younger guy, right?" he asked, bending to my level, as Michelle snicked.

I attempted to slap him, but he caught my hand mid-process.

"Mention a single thing I said about your parents that was a lie?" he snapped, his eyes glaring, he yanked my hands off in a way I felt it pull.

"And the next time you raise your hands on me... I will have them cut off."