Chapter 5 The Devil's Wife

10 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds, that was how long Lucas stayed by Jean's side. Just waiting and watching her. If she made a slight turn, he was rushing to her side. Steven just stayed with him, occasionally bringing up topics for them to talk about and eventually he ran out of what to say.

"Let me watch her for a bit, go get some rest." Steven offered, the dark circles on Lucas's eyes were evident. He hasn't gotten any sleep the previous night, he stayed up to help Ricardo with the shipment problem and another night has fallen, it was clear he had no plan of sleeping.

"Just get me coffee."

That was the only sentence he made 5 minutes later. Steven nodded, leaving the room and coming back with 6 cups of large coffee.

Lucas looked at the tray, then back at him. "I said one, why are there 6?"

"It's going to be a long night, believe me this 6 won't be enough, you'll need more." Steven shrugged dropping it on the table.

"Thank you, get some rest." He said in a dismissive tone. Steven made to object, but stopped himself in time. It was no use, when Lucas's mind was made up.

Steven sighed, leaving the room to his quarters.

When he was alone, he picked up the photo he took from Ricardo and stared at it. The hate and despise he was feeling towards her was too deep. He picked his laptop and typed out her name. The background of the Morano family popping up.

"If she's to be the Donna of her clan, why become someone's wife?" He asked himself.

He kept reading up on her family till he fell asleep.

<<< FLASHBACK>>>

He was being thrown into a small looking room, more like a cell.

"You dare touch our Master's wife?" A slave trainer asked, hitting him repeatedly with a clob he had in hard. He shielded his face and head to avoid being hit there, it was futile tho. The clob hit him a couple of times. The slave trainer only stopped when he was laying in a pool of his own blood, almost lifeless.

"This is just little, compared to what you will receive if that happens again." The space trainer stated, before leaving him to die. It was barely 24 hours he found himself here and he was in this kind if predicament. When he woke up a day ago, he didn't have time to take in his environment before he was put on the line to go work on the field.

The field was where he was under the scorching hot sun when he saw her. She was the most dazzling and beautiful woman he had seen in his 20 years. Her hair was thick and brown, long enough to reach her waist. And then there were her eyes - there was something about them that called out to him. Her body was equally captivating, with firm breasts and an hourglass figure. She was simply beautiful, to put it mildly. Then she had stared at him, this look felt like she knew him from somewhere. But, it was just for a second; because she was looking fierce and cold when she came to supervise the work done. When she was done, she went and stood behind a shed. It was more like an abandoned building, with the woods falling off if there was a little blowout. Where she stood in particular, there was this rusted huge bell, and it was barely hanging on to where it was hung. The way she stood under there, like she didn't know, busy in a conversation with her personal maid.

"You've been staring," a coworker nudged his arm. "What?" he asked. He was so engrossed in watching her that he didn't hear what his coworker said.

"You've been watching her. Don't, you won't like the outcome," the coworker repeated, going back to his work.

"What outcome? Is she the daughter of whoever owns this hellhole?" He asked.

"If she was 𝘦𝘭 𝘫𝘦𝘧𝘦'𝘴 daughter there's a probability she will be more cruel than her father. She's the wife and we call her '𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘰' if you know what I mean."

"Hey, you both; get back to work." A slave master barked orders at them.

They quickly bent low, going back to clearing grasses.

"Is that her name or by reputation?" He asked, still staring at her from the corner of his eyes.

"By reputation, buddy. She's the devil's wife."

"That would mean her husband is the devil, I mean how bad can she be?" He shrugged.

"Rumor has it, that on her wedding night she slit her husband's member in half. Who in their right mind does that?" The coworker asked. From his tone, you could tell the weight of hate he had towards her.

"You're being bias in this, taking the side of her husband. Who is probably 3 times her age."

The coworker glared at him with a new found hate "i take it that you're new here, 𝘦𝘭 𝘫𝘦𝘧𝘦 is like a god around here. Watch your tone." His coworker warned sternly. He didn't pay no attention to the warning, his full focus was where she stood and the bell that was now shaking with intensity. What he feared finally occurred, first there was a snap and the bell came crashing down. Will he blame it on the adrenaline rush or the fact that he was a good runner? He was by her side in matter of seconds and pushing her out of the way.

"My lady!" Her personal maid screamed in fear.

It was like time stood still. They were both on the floor; the rusty bell few meters away, his body shielding hers. She was even more stunning up close, her emerald color eyes calling out to him.

"You saved me?" She muttered, her eyes on him filled with affection.

It was just for a second, because the next thing she was doing was slapping and pushing him away; while calling him names. "Take him away!" She had ordered the guards, and as quickly as she said it, she was turning her back to him, he saw tears in her eyes just as he was lifted up the ground.

<<>>

Steven woke up with a start, another nightmare; but this time it was different, like he was recovering his memories. It's been 8 years, why now? He looked outside and saw that the sun was almost up. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table and it was 8:30 am. "Shit!" He cursed, getting out of bed to take a bath. He had a change of clothes and proceeded downstairs. Natalie was already setting the table for breakfast, and Ricardo was already dressed for work.

"I overslept, I'm sorry," Steven said.

"Had a nightmare?" Ricardo asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, but it was a different one," he replied, taking a seat at the dining table.

"Who's he husband?" Jean asked, her arm intertwined with Lucas's arm.

Steven looked, his eyes widening. He hadn't noticed her when he came down.

"He's my junior brother," Lucas introduced, smirking. The age gap between Ricardo, Lucas, and Steven was just 6 months, but Lucas loved to say he was older.

"Oh!" Jean pouted her lips, still hugging Lucas's arm. She had refused to let go since she woke up.

"Hi, I'm Katerina, your sister-in-law," she said, stretching out her hand.

Steven looked from Ricardo to Lucas, who was glaring and smirking at him at the same time, and then to Jean. He shook her hand. "I'm Alessandro." He smiled. They both kept staring at each other, until Lucas had to clear his throat. They both broke the handshake awkwardly. Jean wrapped her arms around Lucas again, whispering something into his ears that got him smiling.

"Can we eat?" Ricardo stated in his usual attitude.

"So grumpy!" Jean muttured picking her cutlery.

"Should I feed you, baby doll?" Lucas asked, smirking at Ricardo who was evidently pissed.

"Yayy!" Jean screamed in excitement, clapping her hands.

Lucas patted her head dotingly.

"You're going to be late for work, sugar." Natalie stated to Ricardo, her hands fondling his shoulder.