Sold to a Ruthless Mafia Lord

Hailey's POV.

"Where the hell are you?!!" Margaret's screeching voice forced me to pull the phone away from my ear.

Why did she have to always scream like that?

"What do you want?" I groaned tiredly and yawned.

"You're supposed to be at work, you silly girl! Miss Marianne has been livid for the past two hours!!"

"What? Why?", I mumbled in confusion. "But my shift doesn't start until..." I took the phone away from my ear again, this time to check the time.

My eyes widened in utter shock.

This couldn't be....

This had to be a joke!!

My shift started three hours ago!!

"I'm done for, Margaret!"

"I can see you're now fully aware of the doom you've found yourself in", she muttered sarcastically.

If my best friend's loud and insensitive voice didn't get me to wake up, the fact that I was running late cleared sleep from my eyes.

"You know this is the sixth time this month you're coming late for your shift, and we've not even gotten halfway through the month. I've been taking the heat both from the customers and Miss Marianne. I don't know how long I can keep doing that, so get your sleepy ass over here before she brings the heavens down on this restaurant!!"

I flung the old blanket away from my figure and ran to the bathroom immediately.

I washed the most important parts of my body and put on my work clothes as quickly as possible.

If I'd not stayed up waiting for my father, maybe I would've gotten some sleep. He was supposed to come back home for dinner, but he didn't. I didn't know where to look for him, so I had no choice but to wait up for him, until I couldn't anymore and dozed off.

I had more things to worry about now.

I took my bag and immediately made for the door.

To my surprise, I opened the door to see my father at the entrance.

For a moment, I stood there as his eyes hovered around my figure in utter disgust.

"And where do you think you're going?", He grunted as he walked past me into the living room.

From his bloodshot eyes and the stenchy breath I whiffed when he walked past me, it was obvious that he spent the night in the bar, just like he'd been doing for over a year.

"I'm going to work. Good morning-"

"Keep that sentiment to yourself and go get me some food so I can go to bed without getting that haunting hangover", he grumbled without looking my way.

"B... But... There's no food for me to microwave..."

"How is that supposed to be my problem?!! Go make me some food now!!", He yelled in anger.

I could feel a wave of emotions wash me as he shouted at me. I could term it as hate, but it was nothing compared to the one he had for me.

There was no point arguing with him because I knew it would take me nowhere, so I dropped my bag and walked to the kitchen.

I calmed myself down and focused on making a sandwich for him before leaving when I heard footsteps from behind me.

"I don't even know why you keep acting like you can do everything, when you should just stay in the kitchen until some decent lad pities you and decides to manage you as his wife", I heard the man's voice from behind me, but I told myself not to pay any attention to it.

This wasn't my first rodeo. I had developed a tough skin over years of consistent verbal degrading.

"You don't think. You jump from one useless thing to another. You're going this early for a job that doesn't even pay you up to minimum wage? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Maybe that's why you haven't passed any of your scholarship exams", he mumbled with a scoff.

That one hurt me, but I didn't show it.

Other fathers would console and encourage their daughters to keep it up and try harder, but I was blessed with one who not only didn't care about my progress, but also made it a constant passion to remind me of how much of a loser I was.

"If only you took after your mother and tried to listen to me for once. But no, you can't. Instead, you killed her. Your mere existence killed her. How I wish the universe would bring her back and take you away..."

The ceramic plate in my plate slipped from my hand and shattered into several pieces once it hit the ground.

My eyes became blurry with tears.

I'd developed a tough skin, but the way he blamed me for my mother's death always made me crumble to pieces.

"Look at what you've done! You're always so careless! You never do something right for once-"

"And how about you?", I suddenly blurted.

"What?"

"Do you think she's proud of you?", I muttered under my breath and half turned to him.

"Young lady...", I heard rage and shock in his voice as he slowly began approaching me, "who do you think you are to talk back at me?! Have you gone nuts-"

"You are the one who has gone nuts!! You are the one spending money on alcohol, only to come back drunk and make me look stupid for trying to make money for the both of us! Do you think mother would be happy wherever she is for treating me like this?! Blaming me for killing her, meanwhile she died while giving birth to me-"

I was lost in trying to pour my heart and tears out, I didn't see him charge at me. I was too late to defend myself from the blunt slap that sent me crashing to the ground, causing my mouth to fill with the taste of metallic blood.

"You must be very stupid to yell at me!!", He growled in seething fury. "Who do you think you are?!! You don't even deserve to live...", He kept yelling curse words at me, but I was still trying to recover from the dizziness and headache the slap put me through.

He walked out of the kitchen and I was soon by myself on the floor, nursing my burning cheeks as I shed silent tears.

I received a notification from my phone and I checked to see that it was from my boss.

"Don't bother coming. You've never cease to be a disgrace to me, and I can't keep putting up with your excuses. You're not the only person with a problem, so nothing you say is going to make me reconsider. My mind is already made up. I've paid your salary for the month into your account. Go find some other boss that can accommodate your foolishness."

I don't know why this was happening to me.

I don't know if I was cursed to live a miserable life forever.

If it was hard enough that I lived without my mother, but with a father who hated me for no just cause?

I wanted to end this life.

This wasn't the first time this week that I was thinking of commiting suicide-

My phone came alive with a call and I groaned inside me. What other bad news could there be to tear my soul down?

I let the phone ring until it went blank again. I thought I was going to have some peace, but the phone began ringing again.

It rang four more times, and I concluded that I wasn't going to rest if I didn't attend to the seemingly dire situation.

"Hello?", I grumbled when I picked up the phone.

"Good morning to you. Am I speaking with Miss. Hailey Winchester?"

"Who's this?"

"I'm calling from Oxford university. I believe you made an application for a scholarship some months ago?"

Oh. I understood now and sighed. It was just another rejection-

"We called to let you know that we found you worthy of the scholarship, and we have decided to give you an all-expense paid scholarship from your first year till you graduate."

Wait...

What?

Did I just hear her well?

Surely this had to be a joke.

I sprang up to my feet with renewed hope.

"Are you messing with me?"

"No, actually. I just sent you a document for you to sign and we will send the fees for you. Welcome to Oxford university, Miss. Hailey."

This...

This had to be a dream!