Chapter 52

Nicole gasped, her eyes widening as the fear ran through her face before she could do anything to hide it.

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed while trying to pull her wrists back but he had her hands locked, giving her no escape chance.

That's when he leaned close, and then spoke in a voice so low but so sharp it could pass for a blade.

"What did I tell you about staying away from them?"

She swallowed. "I didn't do anything. I just-"

He tightened his grip just enough to shut her up.

"Stop lying," he said. "I know you and I know that tone you use when you're about to start trouble. That's exactly what I heard there so don't think for a moment that you're talking with a fool."

Nicole's lungs worked as she tried to speak. "Domenico-" he cut her off, pressing her wrist harder into the wall. "If you ever talk to them like that again," he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper now. "I swear to God, I'll finish off what I should have done to you last time."

Nicole's breathing quickened. Her fear was clear. But something else flickered under her expression and that was rage. She tried to talk back.

"You can't keep-"

He pushed her wrist up slightly, forcing her to stop. "Shut up," he said.

She froze.

He stepped back, dropping her wrist, and then turned and walked away without looking at her again.

Nicole stayed against the wall, her chest heaving because of the threat that she had just heard. What scared her even more was the tone that Domenico used while talking to her.

Yes, he never joked and always meant what he said but he only spoke to people he was about to really hurt whenever his voice was that low and deadly. She felt a tremor of a shiver pro it's way down her spine. Her fear was real.

He wasn't someone you pushed twice. She'd seen it the last time he had her strapped to a chair, almost naked. If not for Blaze, she would have gotten the beating of her life and might have been killed too. Any time she remembered that day, she got scared.

The only thing that kept her sane and canceled out that fear was the fact that Blaze was there for her and would do anything to make sure she was okay.

However, the moment he turned the corner and vanished, she pushed off the wall and clenched her jaw. She really wanted to do everything she said but there was just no way they were all going to pretend that Lucy and her mother belonged to this household in any way.

It had never happened and it never will, she thought, jaw clenched so hard now.

Yes, she was scared of Domenico but the burning anger and hatred she felt for Lucy was more than that fear.

And she was more than determined to act on that hatred. That evening, Lucy and her mother were in the room, still coming to terms with their new environment and lives.

Her mother looked restless and tense where she lay on the bed. She kept tapping her fingers against her leg, and her eyes kept drifting toward the door like she was expecting someone to break it down.

She'd faced a lot at the other mansion but when she saw the kind of person Nicole was and how she was more than determined to make sure everything burned and went to hell, she got very worried.

Nicole, for her, was one of the worst people she'd ever met. The head maid at the other mansion who'd normally give her a lot of work and always cursed at her was a Saint compared to the madness she had seen in Nicole's eyes and that made her feel for her daughter.

She could only imagine what Kucy had passed through in the hands of that deranged psychopath.

"We need to get out of here," she whispered. "As soon as possible. Before something bad happens to any of us. I just have this feeling that something really terrible is about to happen and I don't want to be around when it happens. We should get out of here."

She said,

Lucy turned to look at her. She had heard her mother say many crazy things before, but this one hurt. "Mom... I don't know if you are serious, but that's not possible. It's not going to happen unless a miracle happens. And you don't expect any form of miracle in a place like this."

Anna shook her head fast, like she refused to hear that. "No. No, it's possible. We can try. We can run. We don't belong here and we never will. We don't belong with these people. Have you seen the look in their eyes? They are like monsters. They are like animals and they'll eat and skin you alive."

Lucy rubbed her forehead. As much as her mother was right, she didn't like that the woman was talking like that. She didn't want her mother taking any risk that could kill her. Because that was what risks like that always led to.

Why is she talking like this? Why does she think we can escape a Mafia house? Does she even understand how dangerous this place is?"

"Mom, stop," Lucy said softly. "They’ll catch us before we even reach the gate. Hell, before we even go across the gardens. This place is crawling with guards." Anna sat up and that's when she really saw her.

Her eyes were filled with fear and desperation. "I don't care. I just want us out of this life. I want you somewhere safe. I don't care about me. I just don't want you to be around that psycho batch that just left here because I swear I'm going to fight her if I have to, even if that will get me killed. She feels and smells and acts like a lot of trouble. And I will not keep a blind eye to somebody hurting my child. That's not happening. So it's either we find a way to live or one of us dies."