Chapter 9

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Arya growled at Hernandez, folding her arms stubbornly.

"Don't make this difficult," he said calmly, tugging her arm softly. "Please."

Juan, who was about to leave, turned back and walked towards Arya. "Do not be disobedient, follow him."

"No!" She was resolved to stand her ground.

Juan rolled his eyes and scooped her up, flinging her across his shoulder. "Let me go!" She screeched, her legs and arms flailing about but Juan remained unbothered. He walked up the Gran staircase easily and took her to one of the rooms that were empty and placed her down on the bed.

"You are not to leave here," he said ok a firm voice. "Take a shower, everything you'll need is here. A maid and nurse shall attend to you."

With that, he walked out of the room and locked it from the outside. Then he handed the key to Hernandez.

Arya let out a scream she had kept inside her for so long. She was frustrated with everything happening around her. There was no detailed explanation of what really happened so everything she knew was jumbled up.

Feeling dirty, she took a shower and the moment she was done, a maid was truly there with a meal prepared for her. It was a simple lunch of chicken Alfredo pasta which she enjoyed.

After that, a nurse came to check her bruises and Hernandez was there to supervise as Juan had left him in charge.

"Will you at least explain what is going on?" She asked him when the nurse had left. "You acted like you wanted to protect me and now this...?"

"It's a lot more complicated than that," he sighed. "Your father owed Juan a lot of money and since he could see Juan liked you, he offered you to him but Juan refused."

"If Juan refused, why am I here?"

"Allow me to finish will you?" Hernandez sat on a chair opposite the bed. "Juan was angry that he would think of such a thing so I guess it made Diego suspect Juan fancied you. So he sold you to Juan's rival to get the money to pay Juan back."

"Oh..."

"I was able to bribe some of Dominic's men to bring you here."

"So why do I have to stay here?"

"If Dominic finds you missing and he has easy access to you, you're doomed."

"What is this whole rivalry business? And why are you involved in this shady stuff? What will either of them gain from having me."

"It's complicated and it's not my place to say," Hernandez sighed. There was no way he could tell Arya that this whole thing was Mafia business. He was certain that Juan didn't want her to know about that part of his life yet. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Arya nodded and watched him walk out. She could hear a click in the lock so she sighed dejectedly. There was no way she was going to be able to escape.

She went to the window and discovered it was a sheer drop to the ground. If she tried to jump, she was going to die.

She opened the drawers in the room in the room to look for anything sharp she could use to attack who was at the door so she could escape but she realized that it was pointless.

If she managed to get past whoever was at the door, she did not know her way around and surely someone else was going to get her.

"Patience Arya," she muttered to herself. "It's all you need."

*+*+*+*+*+*

"What do you like to do in your free time?" Juan said striding into the room casually. It had been hours since Arya had been left on her own and the only thing she could do was daydream. "You must have been bored to death."

Arya shrugged and gave a small smile, ready to put her plan into action. "I like to read," she shrugged. "Paint and explore."

"Explore? Why?" Juan asked, intrigued. What was more surprising however was her sudden calm resolve. She wasn't throwing a tantrum about leaving or talking about it.

Maybe she has finally accepted that she's mine. He thought to himself.

"I just like discovering new places," she shrugged. "Never really had much of an opportunity though.' she mumbled, looking at her feet.

"You'll have plenty of opportunity soon," he smiled. "What kind of books do you like to read?" He asked.

"Crime thriller," she shrugged. "I've always wanted to be a criminal lawyer but never got that chance."

"Why?" Juan asked.

Arya raised her eyebrows. "You've met my stepdad, does that answer your question?"

"Fair enough." He came to sit on the bed beside her. Arya moved a little, uncomfortable. "What are your favourite crime thrillers."

"The association by John Grisham, if tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon, Murder on Orient Express—"

"These are all English books," Juan commented. He knew she spoke English and Italian but he did not know she was fluent enough to read English.

"My mom was American. She spoke English to me at home because she didn't speak much Italian until much later," commented Arya with a shrug. "Most of the books she read were English so I read them."

"So you kind of got it from your mom?"

"Yeah."

"If you had the opportunity to study law, will you?" Juan asked.

"Of course," Arya smiled. "I've been saving up for it actually. I want to study at Harvard but it's hard to get in and it's been a while since I left high school."

"Your dreams can still come true mio Angelo," he mumbled. Moving closer to her, he held her face in his hands and smiled. "You have beautiful eyes. Everything about you is beautiful my angel," he murmured.

"Juan what the hell?" Came an angry feminine voice. The door opened to reveal the woman Arya had seen at the bar.

"Belle," he commented wryly but his hands never left Arya's face.