"Eat! The food isn't poisoned ?" He said and I didn't believe him until I heard his next words.
"Our past enemity aside. If I wanted to kill you i wouldn't have spent a billion dollars on you! I would have simply allowed you to be shipped away," he said my eyes widening as I heard him continue.
"You must have heard the gunfire! I killed the men then had you put up for auction," he said and my mouth dropped open not sure whether to thank him for saving my life or jump over the table and strangle him for selling me and buying me back.
'He has a gun! He owns this mansion! I can't overpower him yet! Not yet'' I told myself as I seethed in anger and watched him chuckle in response.
"Do I really have to explain everything to you?" He said in what had to be a condescending tone as he met my gaze, not daring to flinch.
"If I had simply taken you, whosoever ordered you dead would come for me. An auction levels the playing field," he said and he was right but it was had to believe him.
The fact that I still sat in front of him safe and in one piece was already more than I could process. Without waiting for him to speak again. I did.
"What do you want? I have nothing to offer you Nico( you might as well kill me!" I told him again only to receive a sneer and a hard gaze.
"…if I raised a gun right now to your head you would beg me! Right now I'm sure you want revenge more than you want to live!" He said, shaking his head as he poured wine into his cup leaning back into his chair with the glass cup in his hand and a smug expression on his face.
"Even now…you still know how to act tough," he murmured as he seeped on his drink but I could barely sit still. Eyes fixed on him as I felt fear wrap tightly around my chest.
I really had nothing to offer and that was what scared me.
Whatever allies I had had clearly done nothing to stop me from being kidnapped in my own room and home.
There were a lot of people involved. Some I was sure of and some I needed more time to figure out. Above all finding out who killed my father was my top priority and Nico was right. I had no intention of dying until I looked them in the face and sent their soul down to hell for what they did.
"What do you want?" I asked and this time, he doesn't beat around the bush. He goes ahead and answers.
"We have no idea what's in the will so the territory isn't yours yet!" He said with a tilt of his head twirling the wine in his cup as he held my gaze.
But he had just held it when I saw his eyes slid down to my shoulders and even lower in a way that conveyed one other thing.
"No!" I instantly gasped jumping to my feet, shocked that he would even conceive such a thought towards me.
"I am a man and you're a woman. We're not related by blood," he said making it clear that there were no lines to be drawn unless he drew them.
But I shook my head hard. There were rumors that Nico wasn't adopted and was actually father's son. Hence why he had married so quickly after my mother was killed. Even more to a woman with a child.
"No!" I said again hating how hard my fists tightened as I fixed my gaze on him. "I'm not a prostitute," I told him and I mean it. Aware that the moment I went down that path there was no going back.
My catholic roots made me believe that sex wasn't to be a casual thing.
"I can work for you!" I tell him and I mean it ignoring the mild way he slightly rolled his eyes but I continue. "…I can work for you to repay my debt slowly until the reading of father's will. After that, once the territory businesses is mine by law, I'll give you half!"
"It won't be enough…" he points out and I nod my head aware of it as I continue to speak," Yes! after that..I'll pay you in installments!" I told him with a hint of worry in my eyes as I hear him chuckle taking a longer gulp of his cup this time around before he spoke.
"…and if I refuse. Maybe, I'm content with tossing you in the dungeon and watching you rot there," the anger back in his voice as he rose to his feet towering over me with ease and anger bled into his gaze.
"…you have no idea how much I had to scrap to take over the northern district, phi's voice much colder the more he spoke as he took a step closer to me his body half a foot away.
"…I save your life and somehow you think you can make demands…in my house!" His voice low but sharp enough that he r minded me of just how powerful he had become something I seemed to have forgotten.
"Go ahead Carmen give me one good reason why I shouldn't call two of my men in here and simply let them have their way with you. For lying against me and having me exiled you deserve more!" His voice as cold as ice and eyes filled with rage.
It was clear in the way he clenched his feet as I felt my hands tremble meeting his gaze and realizing that he wasn't joking around. He would do it and he would watch me suffer.
From there it would simply be a downward slope of suffering.
'Be smart Carmen! This isn't like those useless novels where misunderstandings are used to push the plot! You'll die!" I think to myself my lips trembling as I speak.
Tears slowly filled my eyes as understanding that vulnerability was going to get me more honey than flies.