Chapter 4 - Stefania
Two days of absolute boredom and misery.
So far, I’ve managed to avoid him like he’s literally carrying the plague. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk to him. I want to go home.
He leaves the house early in the mornings to go out, dressed in a suit that looks way too good on him, and climbs into his car in the front driveway, which I can see from the library window. I like to keep tabs on when he comes and goes because whenever he leaves, I start hunting for a way out.
There are so many things about this situation that are annoying me.
Firstly, most annoyingly, why does he have to be so hot?
I hate being attracted to him. But at least it’s just an empty physical, shallow attraction that means nothing.
I’m pretty sure that the longer I’m around him, the more I’ll dislike him, and eventually he won’t seem attractive at all.
That’s what I’m counting on. Actually, I’m counting on being out of here as soon as possible, so it won’t even matter.
Secondly, he’s so damn rude. In the brief run-ins I’ve had with him, he’s been cold and nasty to me, like I personally wronged him in some way.
He’s so hellbent on being a complete asshole instead of viewing this as whatever business negotiation thing he wants to carry out.
Although the first night I was here, after I mentioned Talia, he almost exploded with rage.
It was intense. It was the first time I actually felt fear being around him.
A glimpse at what this man is really capable of.
Probably also a glimpse at how deranged he is.
Sighing, I push away from the library window. He’s gone. He won’t be back until later this afternoon if his patterns are the same as the past two days.
I’ve been searching the house for a way out, and it hasn’t been going well.
Even though I can get into the garden, there are so many guards on duty that they have a permanent, watchful eye on me.
I can’t go anywhere without being watched.
And when I walked the perimeter of the property, every single gate was double-locked, and the high walls had electric fencing around them.
Today, I decided to search the office upstairs and see if I could use the computer or phone to call for help. It’s a long shot, I know. Someone so obsessed with security is high unlikely to leave a phone lying around with easy access to it.
Still, I leave the library and head to his office right away, not wanting to waste time in case he isn’t gone long.
The office door isn’t locked, and I push it open, gingerly peeking inside to make sure it’s empty before I slip through the door and close it behind me.
The space is barren. Like he’s taken minimalist design to a whole new level.
There is one glass desk in the center of the room with glossed steel legs.
A laptop sits alone on the table, closed.
No draws, no shelves, no paperwork. It’s so bare it’s spooky.
Thank goodness the rest of the house doesn’t look this cold and clinical.
I’m so intrigued by how empty it is that I start, with fascination, searching for the computer cables.
Walking around the table, I notice that one of the legs has a small black cap above the glass.
I touch it softly, and it opens like a lid; inside is the laptop charger.
Easy to pull out and self-retract when you release it.
There is also a phone charging cable in there.
They are very carefully hidden inside the table leg and lead directly into the floor for a power source. It’s clever.
I like the hidden cables, because no one really likes cables everywhere. But the rest of the place is creepy. It’s too clean.
Nonetheless, I sit down at the desk and open the laptop, sighing when the inevitable password screen pops up. I press my finger against the fingerprint lock, knowing it won’t work. The laptop beeps at me in red letters, telling me the passcode is wrong.
“Yes, yes, I know,” I huff, closing it.
Looking around at nothing but white walls and a giant glass window overlooking the garden and the pool, I wonder if his heart is as empty as this room.
“Well, this was pointless,” I sigh, standing up and walking away from the table, then changing my mind and returning to move the chair back into place. I’d rather he didn’t know I was in here.
When Marlen arrives home in the afternoon, I’m waiting for him.
With no means of escaping, I’ve decided to confront him head-on.
He walks through the door, and his expression flickers with surprise when he finds me waiting in the foyer with my arms folded across my chest and a look of determination on my face.
“Stefania,” he greets me coldly.
“Marlen,” I reply in the same tone.
“Is there something you needed?” he huffs, sounding annoyed as all hell that he has to talk to me.
I bite back my sharp retort, opting for some form of professionalism.
“I wanted to find out if you’d contacted my brothers yet to make your demands and what the plan was for my going home?” I ask, looking up at him, trying to keep my face neutral.
“Contact your brothers? Why would I do that?” he scoffs, walking around me toward the kitchen where he dumps his phone and keys on the counter and opens the fridge.
“Um, that’s how these things work. It’s how you get what you want, isn’t it?” I say in confusion.
“You’re making assumptions regarding what I want, Stefania,” I say, pulling a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge and pouring myself half a glass.
I watch the bubbles cling to the side of his glass as it sits on the counter, narrowing my eyes to try to figure out what he means.
“You want to make some sort of exchange,” I say, with less conviction than I had a moment ago.
“Wrong.”
Why does he look like he’s enjoying this?
“Are you going to tell me or are you going to mess with me?” I snap, growing impatient with his games and agitated because I clearly have made some wrong assumptions.
Marlen reaches into a high cabinet and pulls out a bottle of whiskey. He tops up the soda water with whiskey, then puts the bottle back. He goes back to the fridge for ice, and I can see he’s dragging this out on purpose to annoy me.
I stay still, waiting, not showing him that it’s working.
Marlen picks up his glass and turns to face me, leaning his ass against the kitchen counter.
He takes a sip, and his eyes roam up and down my body.
I take a deep breath, staring at him and telling myself not to notice how the shirt wraps around his thick biceps or how thick and sturdy his thighs are in those pants that were cut to fit his form.
He cocks his head to the side.
“I won’t be contacting your family, Stefania. I don’t want them to know that I have you. They are going to be kept in the dark for as long as possible, so they believe you are missing,” he says, watching my expression, waiting for my reaction.
“Why?” I blurt out, unable to hide the shock.
“Because my goal isn’t exchange. It’s torture.
Imagine the psychological pain they are going through, searching for you, running in circles with no idea where you are or if you’re even still alive.
They’ll experience fear, heartbreak, torment, pain…
and I want that to last. It’s the first stage of this revenge.
Then, when the time is right, my brother will plant evidence to suggest that you were taken by someone much more powerful than they are and that this ruthless family has tortured you beyond recognition.
And dumped your lifeless corpse somewhere where the rats can gnaw at your decaying flesh. ”
For the first time in my life, I am speechless.
My jaw has dropped open, and I’m staring at this man, this monster, in utter disbelief.
A devious, malicious smile spreads over his face as he studies me.
“You’ve gone very pale, Stefania,” he muses.
“You’re a fucking monster. A real one. I said it before, but I didn’t realize the depth of how evil you actually are!
” I shout, shaking my head as fear creeps into my bones.
After he’s played out this tortuous game, what use would he possibly have for me?
Why is he even keeping me here? Why not just get rid of me?
“You’re a demon from the pits of hell, Marlen,” I snap.
My words don’t have any effect on him at all.
He shrugs, sipping his drink, raising one brow at me.
“Girl, you have no idea what drove me to become this man. Everything I do is for a reason, and your family and their allies gave me damn good reasons to seek this revenge. They deserve every ounce of pain I’m going to cause them.
Don’t for one second think that I’m the monster without knowing all the facts,” he whispers, dark and dangerous, sending a cold bolt of warning through my bloodstream.
“What are you going to do to me?” I whisper, not sure I want to hear the answer.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he shrugs.
Disgusted by him and what he plans to put my family through, I slowly back out of the kitchen without taking my eyes off him. When I’m free of his stare, I run upstairs to my bedroom and close the door, leaning against it and pressing my hand against my heart to try and slow it down.
“What the hell…” I mutter to myself. “He’s… he really believes his actions are justified,” I say, suddenly realizing just how convinced he is of his own words.
I step away from the door and walk to the window. He doesn’t plan to let me go, and from my investigations around this place, there’s no way for me to escape. I need another plan. A plan that doesn’t end up with me dead in a ditch with rats gnawing on me.
What in the world did we do to him? My brothers? The Abashins? What happened to him to make him so angry with them?
With a sinking heart, I realize I only have one option.
I need to win him over.