29

29


The days after the poker night settled into a new, suffocating rhythm. I was no longer given chores with the other girls. My world shrank and revolved around the main villa, and my new duties were simple, be available. I cleaned his private study, alone by the way, because Moretti is an asshole, and I'd say it in his face.

Dusting shelves of books I knew he never read. I served his meals in the dining room, standing silently against the wall while he ate alone or with his men and I stare with an empty stomach. It was a promotion that felt like a death sentence. And I'm sure Nora and Nicole will be reeling over it.

Lissa was my permanent shadow now. Her watchful eyes noting every breath I took, every flicker of expression on my face and the books I'd move to clean better.

“I can't be here all day watching you Evadne," she warned me once as I polished a silver picture frame of an old man. ”And be careful with that." I wanted to throw the polishing rag in her face.

The other dolls treated me like I had a contagious disease. In the shared bathroom that I force myself everyday to use after mine surprisingly got clogged, the conversations would die the moment I walked in. Kylie still gave me hesitant smiles, but she kept her distance, her eyes darting around to see if anyone noticed our interactions.

She's been a bitch this past few days.

Nicole, though, was the worst. She couldn't touch me, so she did things that'll piss me off.

I was folding my single spare set of clothes one time when she "tripped" nearby, sending a cup of water she was carrying splashing across my bed, soaking the thin mattress and my only clean shirt.

Yeah we all know you can't trip outside my room and miraculously all the contents in your come would fly into the room.

We're way past the kindergarten lies.

"Oh, so sorry," she said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "I guess you're just so distracting to have around. My hand slipped."

I just stared at the spreading dark patch on the fabric, my fists clenching. There was no point in responding. Anything I said would just feed the fire. I just got up and slammed the door on her face, feeling her triumphant glare burning into it. The hostility was a constant problem I've considered normal in my life, more draining than any physical labor.

The only place I could find a sliver of peace was the garden at the corner the dollhouse. It was mostly overgrown with weeds and a few stubborn rose bushes, hidden from view by a tall hedge. And the gardener no longer visits. I started going there more in the late afternoons after my work at the main villa, just to sit on a crumbling stone bench and feel the sun on my skin, to pretend for five minutes that I was somewhere else that isn't here.

And as always, I can never have peace, with Enzo being everywhere.

The difference between him and his brother is just glaring.

I was staring at a cracked paving stone, trying to take in as much peace and quiet as I could to last me for the rest of the week, when a shadow fell over me. I didn't even have to look up to know who it was.

"Geez, you're everywhere, has anyone ever told you that?" I muttered, the words escaping before I could stop them.

Enzo chuckled, and settled onto the bench beside me, close enough that I could smell the clean scent of his soap and the faint, ever-present hint of vanilla, that sweet intoxicating scent. I really want to think he's been fucking around and those women's scent got on him.

It's be worrying to me if he naturally smells like that, or has a collection of vanilla colognes.

He pulled a cigarette from a silver case and lit it, taking a long drag.

"A man can't enjoy his own garden?" he asked, blowing a stream of smoke into the still air.

"If you're one of the dolls," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the cracked stone.

He grimaced at the word. “I It's a garden Evadne, a public one.” He was quiet for a moment, smoking. I could feel him looking at me though. “So...” he began. “I heard you've been promoted.”

"Oh yeah," I deadpanned. "It's a dream come true."

He grinned again. "I bet." He took another drag. "You know, most girls would be a little more grateful. My brother doesn't hand out his favor to just anyone."

The comment made my skin crawl. "I for sure didn't ask for his favor."

"I thought that'll make your life better?," he said, and I could hear the smirk in his voice without looking.

I sighed and looked at him, the question that had been gnawing at me for days finally broke free. "Why did you do it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"Shoot that guard."

He took a final drag from his cigarette and flicked the butt into the weeds. He looked at me, and his green eyes were bright with a cold kind of amusement. "He was annoying," Enzo said simply, as if that explained everything. As if ending a man's ability to walk was a reasonable response to a minor irritation.

Before I could process that or even form a response, Lissa's voice cut through the garden from the dollhouse doorway.

"Evadne!"

I flinched, the spell broken. I quickly stood up.

Enzo just leaned back on the bench, stretching his arms along the wall. "Duty calls, pumpkin."

I didn't look back at him as I walked toward Lissa, my mind reeling. He was annoying. That was his reason. It was as arbitrary and terrifying as everything else in this place.

Lissa waited for me, her arms crossed. "Stop dawdling. You need to pack a bag."

I stopped in my tracks. "What?"

"The Don is leaving for New York tomorrow and you're going with him."

The words didn't make sense at first. Leave the estate? Go with him? No doll had ever left the grounds except in a casket, as far as I knew. This was unprecedented.

I just stood there, my heart doing a frantic, confused dance in my chest. This could be it. A city. Crowds. A chance. Or it could be a deeper, darker hell, being his exclusive property with no buffer of other people, or garden to escape to.

Lissa sighed, impatient. "A small bag, one change of clothes. Be ready at dawn." She turned and walked away, leaving me standing there. Like there was anything bigger than the small bag I have.