The Mafia's Precious Pet

~Rose

My heart was beating very fast. Tears were falling from my eyes, blurring my vision. The whole world seemed to stop as the feeling of pain and betrayal pierced through my chest, clouding my mind. The way his eyes looked pleadingly at me. I didn't think I'd ever be able to forget that look, but then as I raced out of the school's parking lot in my car with my heart in my hand and I stepped on the pedal so hard I was sure my feet had grown white.

Before long, a shrill tone rang through the air cutting the noise around me and soon, it all went dark.

I gasped when I felt a tap on my shoulder which made me jump in my skin.

Amanda's face was so warm as she came up from behind me. A small smile had stretched across her face. She looked even happier than I was on this day.

"Why are you looking so forlorn?" She asked me with a warm sultry voice that almost eased up my anxiety.

"I guess it's because of the whole sudden wedding." I said softly in response, making sure not to maintain a long eye contact with her.

She chuckled softly and gave me a light pat on the small of my back, "I know you'd feel that way. Every woman feels the same on their first day walking down to the altar."

I didn't want to argue so much, after all, they said it was my father's wish before he died- though I didn't remember him at all- that I get married to David.

"Just take a deep breath and you will be just fine. He's very loving and I'm sure he'll make a good husband. After all, he loved you very much before the accident, so I'm sure nothing has changed."

I simply smiled at her and stared back at my reflection in the mirror.

Amanda was speaking as though she knew David so well, even more than I did. She seemed to have been very involved in my relationship. Well, she was a nice woman anyway, my step mother. There was no reason to doubt her.

At least, she hasn't given me any reasons to.

My lips thinned with determination as I readied myself to walk down the aisle and meet my soon to be husband. I tore my eyes from my reflection- my neck, hair and wrists were adorned with gold ornaments of immense worth. A flowing white gown, the top bodice was fitted at the top, above my waist, and very free at the bottom, cascading down my body with ethereal grace as it swept across the polished floor with ease when I moved. A low V neck shape cut, revealed succinctly the smooth skin of my cleavages. The lace was made from fine material that was soft to the touch. It was a show of elegance and sophistication- and turned to Amanda.

"Are you ready?" Amanda asked me,

I nodded in response.

I was about to take a step out of the large room when Amanda wrapped her arms around me.

In that moment, I was so emotionally moved that I felt tears prickle at the side of my eyes.

"You don't want to ruin your dress now, do you?" She asked me and chuckled once more, but it sounded lighter and had a tinge of happiness to it.

It was so contagious I couldn't help myself and so I chuckled too. It helped to take the tears back in.

"Alright, let's go."

She looped her hands in mine and led me out.

As soon as we got to the rolled out red carpet, the wedding procession for the wedding match started and I could feel my heart beating so loudly in my chest. Amanda gave me a squeeze and that was enough to gather some of my courage back.

Rows of beautifully peach decorated seats. People dressed with high sophistication all stood up to acknowledge my entry- people who all seemed strange and new to me.

Did I ever know any of them personally?

The wedding decoration was very grand. It gave me an insight to how wealthy my father really was. Too bad I couldn't remember him.

I got to the altar, David was beaming with a smile which spread from cheek to cheek as he held my hands in his and turned to the priest. A few more minutes later, we stated our vows which were sealed with a soft kiss that felt very new to me. Afterwards, we were pronounced husband and wife and the party fully kicked off.

"You look very stunning." A guest said with a smile on her face, then she turned to David, "you made an excellent choice."

He turned to me and the way he looked at me made my heart melt. There was, I think, love in his eyes.

"I believe she chose me." He said and raised my hand to his lips and gave me a soft courteous kiss which made my heart flutter.

"Such a gentleman." She giggled and gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"Well, if you please excuse me. I have to talk with one of my guys. I'll be back, darling." He said, gave me a small kiss on my cheek and walked off in the opposite direction.

"Your step mother, Amanda, where is she?" The lady, who looked to be in her mid forties, asked.

I used my eyes to search for her amongst the crowd, "I think she must have stepped out."

"Well, I don't imagine she'd linger. She's always been the type to wander off in parties like this one." Then she leaned into me, "or a wilder one." She added and let out a very horrendous laughter that wasn't at all womanly.

I only let out an awkward chuckle in response.

"I must say, your father sure is the biggest fish she's ever caught." She said and winked at me.

It was suddenly starting to feel uncomfortable for me, the way she was talking about Amanda like she was a wayward woman. She didn't seem that way to me at all.

"I think I have to use the restroom." I said to her and walked off in the direction of the house leaving her to down all the remaining glasses of wine on the table because she seemed as though she liked them a lot.

By then, the guests had all begun to leave one after another. I stopped by on my way to the mansion near a gathering where there were only men.

I tapped on the arm of one of them, "Um, please, can I ask you something?"

The ginger head stepped out from his gathering, "yeah, what is it?" He asked.

"I'm looking for my husband. Have you seen him anywhere?"

He looked around before turning to me, "I'm not sure. Probably he's with his pal." He replied.

"And who's that?" I asked him.

He scanned the area with his eyes, before turning to his boys, "do you have Alfred's number?" He asked them.

Only one seemed to have it, "yeah, why?" He asked.

"Can you give him a call?"

"Sure." He replied and dialed Alfred's number while I stood there waiting with impatience.

There was nothing I wanted more than to leave to a more quiet place at that moment,

"He's not answering." He said and placed the phone back into his pocket.

"Oh alright."

I arched my back and packed a handful of my gown in my hands as I proceeded to look for David.

I walked into the mansion and headed for the bathroom on the second floor. I felt as though the gown was somewhat tightening around my chest and it felt suffocating.

The entire situation did.

I needed to be alone for a bit.

As soon as I got to the bathroom, I turned to the mirror above the ceramic white basin and looked at the stranger staring back at me.

I lowered my head into the sink and turned on the faucet so I could get a little water on my face. I considered using a wipe to wipe the make-up off, afterwards.

As soon as I splashed the water over my face, the cooling effect eased up my tensed up muscles in my face but then, I heard a loud thump coming from one of the cubicles in the bathroom and I jumped in fright.

I gasped and my body became tense with fright. The sound sort of troubled my mind, but I quickly shook it off.

I walked very stealthily and slowly, as though I was walking on air, making sure my leg didn't make a sound to where I heard the noise.

I placed my ear very close to the door and that's when I heard muffled moans.

What the hell! Guests weren't allowed into the mansion.

Those were Amanda's exact words.

I wrapped my hand around the knob and opened the door ready to tell them to take their horny as* out of my bathroom. But I froze and my heart seemed to stop for a moment.

Then it started beating so fast. I was gasping for air and an ache, so intense, slid through my heart and then, my head. A tear fell from my eyes onto my cheek.

Suddenly in that moment, something flashed through my mind; moans, heels clanking against tiles, the sound of glasses shattering and then a siren-like sound in my ear rang like a bell and jolted me back to reality.

To the stark naked realisation of David's betrayal. Why did this feeling seem all too familiar?

A sour feeling rose up in my chest as David turned to look at me with sweat dripping from his hair and his chest falling and rising rapidly like he had done a vigorous exercise. Well s*x, was a vigorous exercise after all.

~Rose

I couldn't stand and watch what was going on anymore. It hurt so much. Why did it hurt so much when he was a stranger? Or rather, when he was someone I could hardly recall?

I stormed out of the bathroom with David in tow. I didn't stop until I got to my room in the mansion. I pushed open the door and slammed it behind me.

Such a temper! I didn't think I'd have one but then again, I didn't know myself- I couldn't remember who I was.

"Rose, listen to me. You're over reacting so much."

I scoffed, I can't believe he just said that.

"I can't believe you just said this to me. You were out there fu*king up some chick on our own wedding day. Is that how much you loved me?" I asked him with pain seeping into my voice.

Now, I understood why it hurt me so much. I was told that he loved me and he showed me just that until now. I believed that he did, even when I remembered none of it. That was why it hurt me so much.

He reached out to me with an outstretched hand but I moved away from him. The space in the room was enough to fit fifty people, "Come baby, you don't have to be so angry. It's really nothing. She's nothing to me."

"Don't you get it? This is blatant disrespect. She might be nothing to you but did you have to do it on this day? This important day?" I asked him with my voice raised in anger.

"Okay yes, I admit it is wrong. Now, can we just get past this already and move on?" He asked.

What hurt me the most was how he was so nonchalant and ignorant about what he had Just done. Did it mean nothing to him that his newly wedded wife caught him on the day of their wedding, knocking up some chick in my father's house?

I was so stunned and shocked that I didn't know what to say to him.

He took a step closer to me and snaked his hands around my waist as he pulled me close to him, "you don't have to get so worked up on this day. All you have to do is stay pretty, wait for me to say goodbye to the guest, take you out and have a really good time, eh?"

There was a sadistic smile spread across his face, like he was enjoying just how miserable I was. He was enjoying the argument we were having.

I pushed him off my body, "you disgust me right now." I said to him, "I don't think I want to be with you tonight. Can you leave me alone?" I told him and turned from him, unable to look at him in the face anymore.

I placed one hand over my waist while the other one rested on top my forehead as I tried to massage it and make the ache go away, "and to think I actually believed that you loved me and that we were such lovely couples that my father even wrote it as a mandate to get married to you." I mumbled to myself, then I turned to him, trying in futility to bottle it all up, "what else are you all lying to me about?" I yelled in so much anger and pain.

"My gosh, I'm so stupid!" I exclaimed and turned away from him.

I heard him scoff, there was something like pain, etched in it.

"Indeed you are and I can't blame you." He said menacingly.

I turned to him with furrowed brows, unable to fully grasp what he just said, more like unable to believe what he just said to me,

"What did you just say?" I felt the need to ask and indeed I did.

"That you're so dumb and I don't blame you. I blame the freaking accident that wiped off half of your memories, literally half of your entire life was erased in that accident." He suddenly raised his voice back at me.

My eyes were wide with shock at his sudden outburst.

"Yes, we were once the cutest couple. At first, your father was against us being together, but thanks to Amanda, we started to make it work. However, it seemed as though you had suddenly changed, or perhaps, it was who you were from the very start but, I was just too blinded by love to think of you any differently from the sweet girl I met back in college."

He let out another pain infused scoff and I could see that the rim of his eyes were growing watery with tears.

"You started going out to parties a lot, meeting up with your equally dumb friends. Every night you were brought home by one guy or the other, mostly drunk."

No, that couldn't have been me. It wasn't me he was talking about. I couldn't have been that type of person. It didn't make any sense to me, nothing did.

"That doesn't prove anything, David." I said sternly, refusing to accept the validity of what he was saying, "I mean, how is it that a few drunken nights are enough to give you enough reasons and conviction to cheat on me on our freaking wedding day?"

"That's because I caught you doing the same." He answered coldly.

What-

"What are you talking about?" I asked him as I suddenly felt my palms become sweaty and clammy with anxiety.

"I caught you that night. Naked, three men on top of you. You were moaning as each of them took turns at having your body, at digging themselves so deep into you. It was the worst night of my life. I had seen you with my own two eyes. You were satisfied and enjoyed it all and you weren't very drunk seeing as you chased after me that night." The tears in his eyes were slowly falling and he didn't feel it.

"Three-"

"Yes three, Rose. Three." He yelled at me with so much anger that his veins popped from the side of his neck and at the side of his head. "You want proof? I'll give you proof!"

He walked past me, bumping his shoulders into mine roughly as he left.

I just stood there, battling with my mind. Trying very hard to conjure a flicker of memory. Anything at all but it only left me feeling useless and my head aching even more than it was.

Few minutes later, he stormed back into the room and threw a bunch of photographs at me.

"You want proof. Well, there it is."

I picked up the photos and checked them out one by one. A lump grew in my throat and my eyes were filled with tears that blurred my vision.

It was one of my clothes I had seen in my wardrobe the night I was brought back home from the hospital. The zip was open and the dress was hanging very low on my waist while my legs were spread out over a man. It was my hair and the bed looked like-

I turned to the bed and the walls around me. It looked the same as the one in the pictures.

I gasped and threw the photographs away, like it burned my skin.

"Neither your father nor Amanda ever let anyone in and you were so drunk that you forgot that you had CCTV cameras all over the house. Your father was very enraged but since he already liked me so much, he begged me to look over it but guess what?"

He bent low so that his eyes and mine would be on the same level, "I could never forget. I haven't forgotten and I don't think I ever will. Every time I look at you, all I see is your betrayal."

His voice was menacing and his words cut a deep hole in my heart. I couldn't believe that I was that kind of person. He stood up and made to leave the room.

I swallowed hard and managed to find my voice and ask him, "then why- why did you agree to get married to me?"

My head ached so much as a result of the tears that were pooling from my eyes.

"Because your father liked me so much he didn't think any man out there would be able to put up with his precious daughter like I did. It was the only way to get you to stop your promiscuous lifestyle. But that didn't sit well with you at first. You ran out of the house, ignoring your father and I who were willing to accept you regardless, and got into that bloody accident." He paused, "that was how you got to this point. You caused it."

Those were his final words before I heard the door banging shut. My world crumbled before my very eyes at that moment.

This revelation was enough for me to wish I had never woken up from the coma I was in- to wish I had died in the accident.

~Rose

My eyes slowly fluttered open with the rays of the sun which bathed it and forced me to be awake. I glided my hand over the soft mattress and just as I expected, the space beside me was empty and cold. He didn't come back home after we had that argument. This was meant to be our honeymoon, but from the first day of our marriage, everything had gone down the drain.

What was I expecting when I was nothing but a-

I couldn't bring myself to say those words about myself because I didn't know for sure if I was what he described me to be. There was only one other person I could ask and that was my stepmother.

I sluggishly drew myself out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to get ready. After a few minutes, I was done. My choice of clothes was just as gloomy as I was.

A long maxi flowing skirt with overlapping sewn fabric of dull forest green and a cotton body con black long sleeve top. My black-brown hair was worn down in waves. I paired the outfit with jade earrings and accessories, picked up my black shoulder sling leather bag and headed to my Stepmother's mansion.

I was told that she moved to one of my father's resorts to give David and I some time alone for the meantime we were going to be at the mansion.

I was done dressing up and was now staring back at myself in the mirror; this was the right thing to do.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, gathering enough courage before picking up the picture of me and three other strangers in a very crude sexual state and placing it into my bag.

I was going to search for more answers. I got into one of the cars parked in the large garage and drove off to meet my Stepmother.

After a few minutes of driving, I finally got to the resort. It was a big glass house painted white all through with some mahogany brown woods to adorn the polished floor. There was a pool out in the front of the yard. My hills made clicking sounds as I opened the front glass door and walked in.

"Amanda!" I called out to my Stepmother.

The house was awfully quiet and it made me wonder if perhaps the housekeeper who had told me she was here was wrong.

"Amanda!" I called out to her once again and moved a little past the white cushion which was strategically arranged in the lounge area, overlooking the pool at the front. There was a fireplace next to the other sofa beside the one I was standing very close to.

A long spiral staircase which had a steel handrail and glass infills, adding a more elegant and sophisticated look to the entirety of the house, was constructed behind the sofas and led to the rooms upstairs. The white walls gave the mansion an airy feel that exuded comfortability and opulence.

I was about to take a step up the staircase when I heard footsteps,

"Rose?"

I looked to the side of the staircase where an even bigger space was constructed to see Amanda standing there with an almost empty glass of wine in her hand.

Her eyes were wide with shock, "you didn't tell me that you were coming." She said with her usual soothing and sultry voice as she walked into the lounge from the space which seemed to be leading to the back of the family resort.

She wrapped one of her arms around me in a warm short hug and kissed the sides of my cheeks in a form of greeting style, which I reciprocated.

"You seem to have been busy considering the fact that I've been waiting for some time now." I said and flashed her a small smile that didn't reach my eyes in any way.

She looked about the house and held my hand with her free hand and led me to one of the couches where I sat down. She sat down on the couch very close to the fire.

I don't know but it seemed like she didn't want me going further into the house and it made me wonder what she was doing inside the house while I had been outside calling her name.

"Indeed I was." She said simply without saying anything further.

I sighed, a bit hesitant to state the reason for my visit.

"Oh! And I'm so sorry I had to leave very early after your wedding vows had been stated. I had some work to attend to." She said, "as you know, your father's business is not for me to handle. I had to start up my own business that way it won't seem as though I was relying on the money your father worked so hard to make."

She was such a reasonable and sensible woman. She also did the right things, in my own judgement, so I knew she wouldn't lie to me and what that lady said about her at the wedding ceremony must be a lie.

People after all were so used to sticking their noses in matters which are not in any way their concern.

At least she knew to apologise when she was in the wrong and I appreciated that, "it's fine."

"So tell me, what are you doing here? I thought that you and David might be out of the mansion by now, you know, going on some cruise or just travelling around the world, enjoying each other's company as you converse and learn more about yourselves." She said,

The way her voice pitched with enthusiasm was in contrast to how solemn and serious mine sounded. It was a relief she didn't really notice it as I hid it behind the small smiles I flashed at her.

"I actually came to ask you about something."

Her face contorted to one of curiosity, with her brows drawn together and her lips in a quirky pout.

"What's it about?" She asked me.

"My past." I replied.

"Your past?"

I could only nod. The thought of it was making my body curl up in disgust. My present self saw my last self as disgusting. There was nothing in this moment that hurt me more than this.

I tried to speak, I opened my mouth to speak but the words wouldn't leave my lips. It was at the tip of my tongue but saying it was so hard for me because I still found it very hard to believe that I would do such a thing or that I was such a person. It was as though it was hanging on a hook like a fish trapped by one and just dangling from it.

She placed her hand on my shoulder, "are you alright?" She asked me while staring with concern at my now pale face.

Fu*k this!

I reached into my bag and handed her the photographs. My hands were shaking so much that I thought they would fall off before she would take them from me.

"What's-" her words hung in her mouth when she brought out one of the pictures from the brown envelope I had used to package it.

She slowly brought out each picture one after the other. I looked away and blinked back a tear that threatened to drop from my eyes.

"Where did you get this?" She asked.

I turned my head abruptly to her, there was shock on her face. Was he perhaps lying?

"It was David. He had given them to me."

She closed her eyes and placed her hand over her chest whilst she let out tired breaths, "I already told him to let go. It happened so long ago. I didn't think he'd still be bearing grudges."

"What?"

My lips trembled and my heart sank so low in my heart that I could have sworn to have heard it hit the ground in a splash. A chord had broken in my heart. Tears welled up in my eyes and I didn't think I could stop them if they ever began to fall.

Was this really who I was?

"That night you ran out of the house and was reported to have been hospitalized, your father-" she paused and sniffed as tears were beginning to stream down her face, "-his poor heart could not bear it. The state in which you were in, a most devastating one. And so, he had a major heart attack and he-he" she was stammering so much, struggling to say the words.

I stood up abruptly and sniffed, I had heard all I needed to, to confirm what David told me.

I was a terrible daughter and fiancée.

I snatched the pictures from her hand and put them back into my bag in a haphazardly manner, as I felt very uncoordinated and suffocated.

"You don't have to think about it, dear. It's all in the past now. I had hoped David would be able to forget it." She said, her once enthusiastic tone now turned solemn.

"No, you don't need to try to make me feel any better. I was a sl*t who killed her father and now, has ended her marriage before it even began. There's no need to justify what happened on my behalf." I said and sniffed again, "thank you for your honesty."

With that, I stormed out of the house and headed to my car. I wanted to be a changed person so badly now but then will it change any of the bad things I had done in the past?

I opened the car door and turned on the ignition. As soon as my hands gripped the steering wheel, it felt as though a wave of uneasiness hit me and soon my head began to throb.

I had to relax back into my seat and let out slow and calm breaths. I was the one who got myself to the situation. I sent my father six feet in the ground and I was so ungrateful to have forgotten him. How horrible of me?

I grunted and hit my arm against my steering wheel multiple times as I tried to drown my anger but it didn't help. I clenched my lips tightly as I tried to stifle my sobs but even that seemed difficult. I was breaking apart so much I didn't think my parts would ever be able to be repaired ever again if they shattered.

I heard the glass door opening and I looked to the side to see my Stepmother coming out of the house. I didn't want to talk to her anymore so I stepped hard on the accelerator and sped off, making my way back home.

After a few hours, I was back and was tiredly walking up the stairs of the mansion with my back hunched over. My brain was numb and I could feel how sore my eyes were. A small throbbing ache made my crave the softness of my pillow.

But as I thought of my bed, images of me in that crude position flashed into my mind but I shut my eyes to keep the thoughts away.

I walked through the door and passed the lounge. As soon as my hands gripped the handrail of the spiral staircase in the right wing that led to the rooms upstairs, I heard screams- a woman's.

I immediately ran upstairs without hesitation as a sudden burst of energy surged through my body. I got to the corridor and headed straight to the door where I heard the sound, the voice of whom seemed familiar.

I placed my hand over the knob and pushed the door open with furrowed brows but then I saw David, his pants down on the floor, the woman's smooth legs, raised above her head as she moaned in ecstasy while he dug himself into her continuously also letting out soft yet labored moans. It was that same woman from the wedding ceremony I had caught him with.

My hand dropped from my hand and their attention both shifted to me. This was the second time David was cheating on me so brazenly.

I turned around and stormed out and made my way back down the stairs as I couldn't stand there anymore.

I heard his footsteps as he followed me till I got to the lower part of the stairs when he held me by my arm and spun me around to face him. I didn't want to cry but then the tears were falling from my eyes uncontrollably.

"Where are you headed and where are you coming from?" He asked me, more like he demanded from me.

I scoffed, a sharp pain slicing through my chest at the fact that he didn't care that I just caught him cheating on me for a second time only a day after we had stated our vows.

"I asked a question." He yelled.

"I want a divorce." I said to him, ignoring his question.

He scoffed and then let out a laugh, like I was joking with what I said to him.

"Really?"

I said nothing in response.

He got down the stairs and stood directly in front of me, "look sweetie, as much as I hate to break it to you, we won't be getting a divorce. I won't be letting that happen and as for this?"

He gestured to his bare top body which was dripping with sweat, "this is only just the beginning. I'll make sure you have a taste of the nightmare you put me through." He said so callously without a tinge of remorse or any emotions whatsoever in his voice.

His eyes roamed over my body, then he let out a sadistic smirk before walking back up the stairs unapologetically.

My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. What have I done?