Page 30 of The Sicilian Princess
Rose
They left me alone in my old room. Old memories tried to creep up on me, but I shoved them down. I poked my head out of my room, hoping to sneak to my father's office so I could eavesdrop. But before I could, my mother swept in. She was as put together as always, her face scrunched up in disdain.
"Rosalina," she huffed, "why did you run?"
I sighed. If there was ever a person who would least understand me, it would be my mother. I was going to try anyway. "I didn't want to marry Thomas Romano." I flopped onto the bed, my eyes pleading with my mother to understand.
"Capo Romano was the only match we could fit you with. Instead of doing your duty, you shamed us."
I held myself straighter. I knew she wasn't going to understand, but I had to try. "I wasn't trying to shame you; I was trying to live."
She huffed again. "You shouldn't have come back. It would have been better for us if you were dead. That way, the Falcones wouldn't think we were trying to wheedle out of our arrangement."
I gasped but tried to cover it with my mouth. I didn't want her to know how badly her words hurt me.
She wasn't finished, either. "Now that you're back, you'll need to beg the capo to accept your hand. I think he's still interested, but it'll be better for us if you fly to New York and throw yourself at him. Get dressed." She looked me up and down like I was a bug.
"I'm not going anywhere," I told her. It was high time I stood up to my mother.
"You either walk out of here now, or I will have you dragged out."
I lunged at her, but she had already foreseen what I was going to do. Before I could land a hit, Mother had bodyguards in the room. I screamed and clawed at their faces to no avail. "Take her away." My mother turned her back on me and left me to my fate. A pinprick to my neck, and then everything was dark.
I woke up not knowing where I was. I was in a small room and there weren't any lights. I was lying on a bed. I sat up and the room swayed, bile rising to my throat. I only had enough time to turn to my side and spew whatever was in my stomach away from me. The door opened and I looked with bleary eyes. A blurry silhouette stood in the doorway, too small to be a man. The person walked forward, and a light clicked on. The first thing I saw was pale bare feet. I trailed my eyes higher until they caught on her face.
"Eunji!" I exclaimed. I ran on shaky legs to my friend and wrapped her in a hug. She haltingly patted my back, something my affectionate friend would never do. I pulled away from her, noting the outfit she was wearing. Eunji wore a see-through short black kimono that hung off her shoulders. It had wide sleeves and showed off her breasts. She had a heavy-duty stainless-steel collar snapped on her tiny neck that had a padlock on the back. I could see everything below heroutfit.On her head, was a pair of white kitten ears and I saw a tail sticking out of her rear. It was then I realized she was plugged. Her face was flushed red.
"What the hell happened to you?" I cried. My conservative friend would never have worn something like this.
Tears filled Eunji's eyes and she motioned for me to sit. "Master won't be back for a while so I can catch up with you until then."
Shocked, I stumbled back onto the bed and sank down. Eunji didn't sit next to me, however. She kneeled at my feet.
"What are you doing? Sit here," I told her, motioning to the bed.
She violently shook her head no. "If I do and I get caught, I'll be punished," she sniffled.
A bad feeling welled in the pit of my stomach. What had they done to Eunji? "Where are we?" I asked her. I needed as much information as I could get.
"In New York. I'm not really sure where, but the men here are bad people." She shivered with disgust.
"Tell me everything that has happened after you were taken," I demanded.
Eunji hesitated, and I already knew she was going to keep a lot of information to herself. "They snatched me before my shift. They kept referring to me as Rosalina and I didn't correct them, for fear of my life. They had guns and drugs. Next thing I knew, I woke in this room and my master was yelling about how they took the wrong person. He was vile. He beat me for not speaking up and then he and his men did other things…" she trailed off uncomfortably and I was forced to fill in the blanks.
"I'm so sorry, Eunji. This is all my fault."
Her head popped up in surprise. "How could this be your fault?"
I felt ill, having to be the one to tell her. "I'm Rosalina, the woman they've been searching for. After they killed Maddox—"
Eunji jumped to her feet and interrupted me. "What? They did what to him?" she cried, and I winced in sympathy. She wasn't used to this life.
I told her how they came to Texas and that Maddox was a casualty. Eunji collapsed on the floor sobbing. She was broken. I had never seen her lose her composure before and I knelt to comfort her.
The door flew open and Romano stalked in like a peacock. "Slave," he snapped at Eunji. "Get out and tend to the men."
Eunji scurried out of the room, leaving me with him. He was just as disgusting as he had been in my father's office.
"I knew you weren't dead," he sneered. "If you think anyone is going to save you now, you are sorely mistaken. Both families know exactly where you are and don't care what I do with you. I was going to marry you, but instead I've decided to make you my good little slave, like that Asian bitch," he ranted.
I flinched away from him when he reached out to tug on my hair.
"What the fuck did you cut your hair for? There's barely anything here for me to grab and I love grabbing a bitch by her hair." He pushed me aside then strolled casually to the closet and pulled out a lingerie outfit. It wasn't like Eunji's. It wasn't themed. I wanted to tell him Eunji wasn't Japanese, but I doubted he gave a fuck. He held the sheer baby doll in front of him. "You'll look good in this," he murmured snapping his fingers he dug in the dresser and found a barely-there G-string. "Put it on," he barked.
I stripped hesitantly, not even giving him my back, for fear of what he would do to me. I put on the outfit he'd picked out.
Then he grabbed me and pulled me against his body. "Good girl," he purred. I gagged, close to throwing up all over him. He pushed me down to the bed and I knew it was over. He had won. He could do whatever he wanted to me and I wouldn't be able to go against him. I just hoped I was able to kill him in his sleep. He started unbuckling his belt when the building groaned and shook. A part of the ceiling fell on us.
"Don't move, bitch," he snarled and redid his pants. As soon as he left, I took off. I didn't know what was going on, but I needed to find Eunji. I ran down the hall as men ran in the opposite direction. I could only hope that whoever was attacking wouldn't kill us.
