Chapter 2 Leaving with him

The ride home was filled with silence after the incident with the cigarette, they both got home and a room was assigned to her by a maid.

"Wow, this is huge", she said as she tried starting a conversation with him.

"Get in your room and don't come out till I say you should", he said as he walked away from her.

"Well I guess this is my life now, I have to live with it and hope my father is happy"she said as began rejecting her decision.

The room was furnished like that of a little princess, pink with teddy bears around it. Even though it wasn't her taste, she had no choice but to manage it.

"Thank God we aren't sharing the same bed," she said.

The De Mario estate lay nestled in the hills outside Palermo, surrounded by vineyards and silence. It was beautiful in the way prisons sometimes are-stunning, but inescapable.

Ava's first days there felt like wandering through a museum curated by ghosts. The villa was old, sprawling, with marble floors and ancestral portraits that watched her every move.

Servants came and went like shadows, never making eye contact, never speaking unless spoken to. She wasn't allowed outside the estate's walls unless accompanied, and even then, only for family functions or church.

Mason was absent most days, his work consuming him, or so she assumed.

He left early, came back late, always with a different look in his eyes-tired, burdened, dangerous.

She learned quickly that her role was to be beautiful, well-mannered, and silent.

But Ava had not been raised to be silent.

One evening, after a tense dinner, she asked him, "Why me?"

He paused mid-sip of red wine. "Because your father owed me. And because you're smarter than you pretend to be."

She stared at him. "So I'm paying for his debt."

"You were a strategic alliance," he said coolly. "Your family was collapsing under pressure. I gave them relief. And I got you." Mason replied

"Do you always buy the things you want?" she questioned him in shock.

"Only the valuable ones," he responded

His bluntness shocked her, but it also clarified something. To him, this wasn't about love or even lust. It was about power. Control. Image.

But even as he sought to control her, Ava studied him in silence. She learned his routines, his expressions, the way his jaw tensed when someone crossed him.

She saw the softer moments too, how he treated his elderly mother with care, how he once took a bullet meant for his second-in-command. There was humanity in him, buried deep, guarded like treasure.

Late at night, she would lie awake, wondering what it would take to reach that part of him.

Days turned into weeks

Ava stepped into the shower and turned on the water, she left out a sigh of relief as the warm water cascaded over her body. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax, her thoughts drifting into a more peaceful place.

Suddenly, she heard her room crack open, and her eyes shot open in alarm, "Who's there? She called out, her voice echoing off the tiled walls of the bathroom.

Ava turned off the shower, her heart racing in her chest. "Who is there?" she called out again.

There was no response and she called out again for the third time louder. But there was no response still and she began to feel a sense of unease creeping over her.

As he reached for her robe, someone stretched their hands and grabbed it, causing her to jump back in alarm. She covered her breasts with her hands, her heart pounding in her chest as she screamed out in terror. "Who is it? Who's there?"

She came out of the shower and her heart leaped into her throat as she saw Mason standing outside her bathroom door, looking straight at her with her robe in his hands.

"OH MY GOD!!" Ava screamed, crossing her arms over to cover her exposed body.

She quickly grabbed the robe he was holding and used it to cover herself up immediately.

"Why are you covering up so quickly ?" Mason asked her, as he noticed her robe was wrapped tightly around her body.

"You don't need to cover up for me, I am your husband and have rights over you". Mason said.

"You wouldn't-" Ava said

"I protect what's mine, Ava," Mason responded.

She looked him in the eye. "I'm not yours."

He stepped closer, placing a hand gently on her cheek. "You are."

She didn't speak. She didn't slap his hand away. She didn't move. He took it as surrender. But it wasn't.

Ava shifted back a step, feeling her heart race with nervousness.

Mason could sense her apprehension. He moved closer, his eyes still locked on hers and he reached out to brush her hair back from her face.

Ava's heart skipped a beat as she felt his fingers on her skin, She wanted to pull away to tell him to stop, but she couldn't seem to find the words.

"Are you scared?" he asked, his voice low and husky." Scared that you won't be able to resist me?" he asked.

Ava's eyes widened in alarm as she breathed heavily," No I'm not scared, I just don't want us to do something we would regret".

She swallowed hard, her eyes still locked in his. She knew she was at the brink of giving in even though this was not the type of love she imagined.

But before she could say anything else, Mason leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, cutting off any further protests she wanted to make.

Suddenly, Ava's room door was pushed open.