THE MAFIA'S MISTRESS

CLARA'S POV

I felt dizzy again as I almost fell on my face this time around.

It's been two whole days and I still haven't been able to sleep properly due to all the house chores that were kept for me to do.

I had no choice but to wake up so early when the others were sleeping so I would be done with the chores before my stepmother woke up.

After about an hour of washing dishes and cleaning the house, I decided to rest on the floor for a while at the corner of the living room since I wasn't allowed to ever sit or lie on the couch.

In the process of trying to rest, I didn't know when I fell asleep.

A few minutes later, I noticed that I was lifted from the ground but I was too dizzy to realize whatever was going on and as soon as I came back to my senses, I was thrown into the pool.

"Just observe the look on her face!!!" Julius, my stepbrother said as he laughed.

"It is completely priceless!!" Jerry, my second step brother, also said as he joined in the laughter.

I was struggling so hard to catch my breath as I was not much of a swimmer.

"She is going to die guys, please bring her out." Julia, my step sister said as she looked at me with a worried look on her face.

"Then let her die...she is a useless piece of shit anyway." Julius said, smirking.

While the debate of saving me or leaving me to die was going on, I lost count of how many times I swallowed the pool water as it went through my nostrils and ears too.

"Hel...help...help me..pl...ples...pleaseee." I managed to say as I continued drowning.

"What did you say??? Jerry, did you hear a call for help??" Julius asked as he pretended not to hear me.

"No I didn't brother." Jerry said smiling.

I was beginning to see blurry dots as I couldn't hold on much longer.

My body was tired and so was my mind and my will and accepting my fate of meeting my parents soon made me smile as I gave up struggling and sank deeper into the pool.

"Mom, dad..hold on, I will be there with you shortly." I said to myself as I welcomed darkness.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes as I coughed and looked around in confusion.

"Is this heaven??" I asked.

"No but this is your hell Clara." Julius said as burst into laughter.

"You should be happy, you little piece of garbage that Julia pleaded with us to save your life...if that wasn't the case, you would have been with your useless parents by now."

"I would have loved that." I muttered inaudibly.

"What was that???" Julius asked.

"Nothing." I said as tears rolled down my face.

Julius suddenly pushed my face closer to his as he pressed my cheeks so harshly that it hurt.

"You are hurting me." I said as I struggled to push his hands off but his grip only tightened.

"Look Clara, whatever happened right now stays between us and if you tell Mom and Dad about it, I will make sure to give you a slow and painful death and arrange it like you commited suicide and trust me when I say that nobody will miss or remember you...am I clear??"

"You are hurting me Julius." I said as I continued struggling.

"I said, am I clear!!!!!" he yelled.

"Yess...I won't tell mom and Dad." I said.

"Good girl." he said as he let go of his grip.

"Clara!!!! Clara!!!!" my stepmother called.

"I am coming Madam!!" I yelled as I stood up from the ground and ran back into the house to respond to her call.

"Where were you??" she asked.

"I was throwing the dirt I cleaned up from the house away, Madam."

"Why is your body wet??"

"I..I..fell into the pool madam." I said stuttering.

"Hmmm...I thought you were lagging off again."

"No I wasn't Madam."

Even though she was my stepmother, I wasn't allowed ever to call her Mom.

The day I tried calling her Mother, I was beaten so badly that I thought I was going to die... so from that day, I only called her Madam and she was okay with it.

"Your sir will be going to work soon so put some water in the kettle and make hot coffee for him just how he likes it....and after doing that, make some scrambled eggs for my children." she said.

"Yes, Madam."

"And you better be fast about it!!" she yelled.

"Yes Madam...I will." I said as I went to work immediately.

After boiling some water, I made the coffee for my sir who was also my father but I was only allowed to call him sir.

I took it to his room and greeted him before handing the coffee over to him.

"Clara!!Clara, where is our food!!!!"Julius and Jerry yelled.

"I am coming!!"

"I thought I asked you to make scrambled eggs for my children??" my stepmother asked in anger.

"Madam, I wanted to make sir his coffee first before doing that so it wouldn't get burnt." I said nervously.

"Will you get out of here right now and go make my children something to eat!!!"

"Yes madam." I said as I rushed back into the kitchen.

After making scrambled eggs for my three step siblings, I dished it out for them as well.

"Thanks but no thanks bitch." Julius said.

Just a few seconds after they began eating, Jerry spat out his food.

"Are you trying to kill us??!!!!!" he yelled out in anger.

"How?? I don't understand....is something wrong??" I asked in confusion.

"Did you taste these scrambled eggs before serving it to us??" he asked.

"Emmmm, no I didn't but I did it just the way you all like it."

Before I could utter another word, he slapped me so hard across the face that I almost fell.

"When I am talking to you, you keep quiet and accept your mistake, you worthless piece of shit!!!" he yelled at me.

"What is going on here??" my stepmother asked as she walked in on us.

"This bitch is trying to poison us...the scrambled eggs taste awful." he said.

And just like always, my stepmother didn't find out if he was right or wrong.

She took a wooden spoon from the kitchen.

"Madam please, I didn't do anything wrong...please spare me."

"So you are calling my children liars right???"

"No Madam...pleasee."

She began hitting me repeatedly as I pleaded for mercy.

Even when I fell to the ground, I could still feel the impact of each hit on my body as I stopped struggling and closed my eyes to welcome darkness.

CLARA'S POV

"Is she dead??? Why is her eyes opening and shutting like that??? I told you to leave this girl alone, do you want me to get arrested?!!!" I heard some voices saying as I tried opening my eyes.

I tried to open my eyes but with great difficulty.

Suddenly water was poured on me as I got back to my senses.

I slowly opened my eyes as I saw my step family surrounding me.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Jerry said.

"Be quiet!!!" my step Father yelled.

I stood up from the ground as I looked at my body covered in fresh bruises.

"Go inside and clean yourself up." My step Father said as he walked away.

I walked back into the storeroom where I was asked to stay and took off my clothes.

As I looked at the new bruises forming in my body and down to my stomach, tears dripped down my face as I cursed my fate.

I was malnourished and underfed and because of that, I didn't look my age.

My Mother died when I was at the ripe age of seven and although I didn't understand the full details regarding my mother's death, I was told by my Father, Rafeal Nivera that she died of a long term illness.

A few months after my Mother's death, my Father remarried and brought into our house his new wife whose name is Seraphina who became my step mother and she also came alongside with her five years old son and my first step brother Julius.

At first, she was very nice to me and she treated me like her own daughter but things turned out for the worse when she gave birth to my second step brother Jerry.

My stepmother taught her children never to respect me as they were born and naturally the head of the house so even if I was older with age, I wasn't allowed to be accorded with respect.

My father got a better job and because of that, he traveled and had little or no time for me.

I was asked to leave my room and stay in the house's basement just so my step brothers could have their own rooms.

From sleeping in the basement, I was deprived of eating good food as I was only given the leftovers most times, I wasn't allowed to go out or make friends, I dropped out of school because my step mother claimed I wasn't learning anything useful and that I only did better with chores at home.

My father couldn't do or say anything whenever he came back from his travels due to the fact that my stepmother filled his head with lies about me.

From love and care, I gradually saw his hatred and look of disgust whenever he stared at me.

He supported my step mother in denying me from going to school as he said females always ended up in a man's kitchen.

I was underweight for a twenty one year old girl and I looked so small that one would assume I was fifteen years old.

As I cleaned myself from the blood stains on my body, I saw fresh bruises forming again and the more I cleaned it, the more it stung making me wince in pain.

When I was done, as I walked past my father's room, I overheard him talking to my stepmother.

"Why did you yell at me in the presence of my kids??" she asked.

"I thought I told you time without number that you should leave Clara alone?? She does everything in this house which includes chores and cooking and yet you want to kill her??"

Hearing that, I smiled a little knowing that my Father didn't hate me completely but the next words that came out of his mouth shocked me.

"Don't you know that if she dies, there won't be anyone to do all these things anymore?? Or do you want our children to take over??"

"Never!!! Why would my children be subjected to doing house chores??? Are they servants??" she asked.

"Exactly, so if you want to punish her, you can tell her to kneel down for a while or decide not to give her food for some time and that way, she will learn her lesson."

"You are very right dear, I will do as you have said."

"Good."

"Anyway dear, Jerry's birthday is coming up soon and I need some money to throw a lavish party for him."

"There is no problem about that...I will send you some money now."

It was like my heart was broken again into pieces as I heard the words that came out of my Father's mouth.

I walked away in sadness and went into the kitchen to make lunch for everyone.

Just in the middle of making lunch, Julia walked up to me.

"Aunty Clara, are you okay??" she asked.

I looked at her and saw pity in her eyes for me.

"I am very okay dear." I said with a smile.

"You don't have to lie to me because I understand everything that has been happening...why don't you just leave this house and run away somewhere??"

Even at her young age, Julia was very intelligent and sensitive and that was one quality I liked about her.

"I have nowhere to run to dear....this is my only home."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine okay??"

"I know...thank you so much my Julia." I said as I stroked her cheeks.

"Hey Aunty Clara, stop it...I am not a little girl anymore." she said smiling.

"Oh sorry my big girl."

She giggled and went to the living room to watch tv.

After I finished cooking, I set the food on the dinning and called for everyone to eat.

They all sat at the table and were about eating when I dished mine into a plate and sat on the floor in the kitchen.

Just as I put the first spoon of food into my mouth, the plate was dragged from my hand.

"And who gave you the permission to eat my food???"

CHAPTER THREE

WRITER'S POV

Clara looked on in confusion as she didn't understand what was going on.

"I asked you a question, who gave you the permission to eat my food??" Seraphina asked as she looked at Clara with anger.

"I am sorry Madam, I just thought that since everyone is eating, I should also eat something." Clara said.

"Eat something?? Are you the one who bought the food items?? Did you give me the money to buy them??"

"No I didn't."

"So what gave you the right to think you should have a share??"

"Nothing, I am sorry."

"You better be...you are not to eat anything in this house till tomorrow..am I understood??

"Yes Madam." Clara said.

"Good, now get lost."

Clara stood up from the floor and went into her room as she broke down in tears.

Her stomach grumbled loudly indicating that it needed to be fed.

Deep down, Clara knew she wouldn't survive starvation till the following day being the fact that she didn't eat previously and she was getting weak due to the beating she received from her step mother a while back.

Her step siblings all dressed up and went to school and when Clara also found out her father and stepmother went out, she went into the kitchen to see if she would see something to eat but there were no leftovers and the store room was locked.

She knew she had to look for something to eat and so she did the last thing she ever thought she would do which was going outside the house to beg for food.

Clara walked out of the house as she locked it behind her and strolled down her street.

It was the first time in a long time she saw what the outside world was looking like and she looked on in surprise as to how much things had changed.

Just as I walked down, I saw a mini mart and walked in to see if there would be anyone enough to give me something to eat.

"Hello, how may I be of help?? Do you have something in mind you want to buy??" one of the workers asked.

"Emm..oh no...but can I ask you for something??" Clara said in almost a whisper.

"Yeah sure, what is it??"

"I am really hungry but I don't have any money to get something to eat...can you help me out please??"

"I am sorry but I can't be of help to you and I suggest you leave right now before I call security." she said.

"You don't have to do that....I will leave..thank you." Clara said as she walked out.

Clara never expected the lady to call security on her but she did expect her to refuse to help because she knew that's how the new world works.

After getting rejected and also hit from five different marts she decided to head back home and just accept her fate.

Just so she could get to my house on time, Clara decided to follow a shortcut which was through an alley.

She walked in fear because It was a lonely place that she had never walked through before and it was also very long before getting to the end.

As she walked through, Clara saw some two boys talking and instant fear gripped her.

She increased the pace of my movement and walked past them.

"Didn't your parents teach you how to say hi to elders??" One of them said to her, making her halt her movement.

"I..I..a..am..sor...sorry...good day to you both." Clara said.

She was about to walk away again when she was hit with a tiny stone.

"Why the rush honey?? We don't bite." the other boy said.

"Please, I don't want any trouble...I just want to go back home."

"But we just want to have a simple conversation with you honey...it won't take long."

The boys started walking towards her as she also walked backwards in fear.

"We won't hurt you gorgeous...just give us a chance to appreciate what the heavens has created." one of them said as he laughed.

Clara was about to run away when the other boy held her hand so tightly that it hurt her.

"Please don't hurt me...just let me go please." Clara pleaded in tears.

"Where were you running to baby girl?? We just want to have fun with you...don't you like fun??"

"Please let me go." she said as she cried harder.

Clara suddenly got slapped in the face so hard that she could feel that a bruise was forming.

"Shut the F**k up bitch!! Or else I will shut it for you."

She was then pushed roughly to the ground as her clothes were about to be ripped off of her.

"Pleaseee just let me go!!!!!" she said, screaming.

"Close your mouth bitch!!"

"Leave me alone....pleaseee." Clara closed her eyes and waited for the worse to happen as she laid on the cold floor helplessly.

"What the hell is going on here!!!!" she heard a voice say behind her.

"None of your business so just walk away man."

"I ask again what the F**k is going on here!!" the stranger said again.

"And I said you should walk away...or do you have a death wish??"

"Please help me." Clara pleaded to the stranger.

"Come here." he said to her.

Clara couldn't see his face properly because it was a dark alley but she felt safe just hearing the sound of his voice.

She stood up from the ground and ran to him without thinking twice.

The two other boys started laughing.

"Oh, do you think this is a fairytale movie where prince charming comes to rescue the princess??"

"I am not going to repeat myself again....walk away boys." the stranger said.

"And if we don't, what are we going to do about it??"

Suddenly about three men came from behind and at first Clara got more scared but then she realized the men were with the stranger she was hiding behind.

As soon as the boys saw the three men behind Clara and the stranger, they took to their heels.

The stranger turned around and faced her and as she tried looking at him, her vision became blurry and she held her head as her eyes spinned.

Clara felt dizzy and disoriented and before she could figure out what was going on, she closed her eyes and welcomed darkness.