Chapter 6 Marianna

• I wake up hours later to find it's already dark outside. I'm a little out of it and I wonder where we are before I remember that this is the De Luca mansion. What time is it anyway? I'm so hungry that I can't help thinking it would be a shame if I missed dinner. Getting out of bed, I flick on the lights taking in the room properly for the first time. Like the exterior, the color scheme is grey and black. The bed in the middle is huge and the windows are floor to ceiling. I spot a balcony and head towards it, opening the door. The sudden gush of wind reminds me I'm only dressed in a tank and thong so I close it quickly. I'll finish exploring later. There is a love seat on the corner with a small table in front of it, a small shelf with magazines, and a huge TV mounted on the wall beside the door on the other side.
• Next to the TV, there are two doors. I open the first one, noting it's a bathroom while the next one is a walk-in closet. My clothes are already unpacked and arranged neatly on the shelves. To say I'm a slob would be an understatement. My room is never this organized no matter where I am. Settling on yoga pants and another oversized T-shirt, I take a shower. Hissing when the water hits my back. Fucking fuck, that hurts. Maybe if I'd just wiped myself, I wouldn't be in so much pain. Once I'm done, I lean on the sink, waiting for the sting to subside before dressing, and then go in search of food.
• It's so quiet that I wonder what time it is. The clock in the kitchen indicates it's midnight and I wonder how I could have slept for so long. I open the fridge and thank Gianna because only she would do this. There are three lunch boxes stacked together. One is written salad, the other pasta, and the last one cake. I take them out, not bothering to heat it, and inhale the pasta in seconds. After that, I settle down to enjoy my dessert slowly.
• At the sound of footsteps, I pretend to be busy seconds before someone walks in. Tracking his movements from my peripheral vision, I watch as he goes straight to the fridge and takes out what I assume is beer then uncapping it, he downs half of it before speaking to me. "I didn't see you at dinner so you must be Marianna." I finally look up and give him a once-over. He's also tall but his hair is longer, almost shoulder length and his body is built like De Luca's. I don't see any resemblance so they aren't related but he must be pretty important to walk around in the middle of the night. I can't see any cameras or speakers but I know they are everywhere. De Luca would be stupid to not have installed any.
• " Any you must be..." I pretend to think before snapping my fingers and pointing at him "Oh look I don't give a shit." He's in front of me in superhuman speed but I totally saw that coming. With a gun pointed between my eyes he looks at me and says
• "If I were someone else you would be dead" Too arrogant.
• I press the knife in my hand deeper into him, poking his chest until realization dawns on him. It's right below his heart. He might be able to kill me but I won't leave without fucking him up "Too slow. If I wanted you dead, trust me your gun wouldn't save you. While you were busy looking at me, I would have been busy carving your heart out handsome. Now leave me the fuck alone. I still haven't finished my dessert" Chuckling, he leaves muttering something along the lines of 'Clever bitch'.
• Where I come from, stupidity will get you killed. I can't remember the number of times Padre's men tried to cop a feel whenever they found me alone. Even though no one talked about it, they all knew Padre didn't care about me. If I hadn't learned to defend myself, I'd have died long ago. Because I'm a brat, I leave the used utensils on the kitchen aisle, not bothering to clean up, and wander to the living room. There's no way I'd manage to sleep right now so I'm thinking of watching a movie but when I spot a game console, I smile.
• "Yes, come to Mama" I plug it in and then spend the next ten minutes dying until I figure out the basics. But even then, I'm still horrible at this game. I keep dying every two minutes and an hour later I'm still trying to kill my first zombie. I fire the moment my avatar leaves the building without caring who I fire at and when I hit my first dead man walking, I jump up yelling. "I finally killed one. Take that suckers. Woo-hoo"
• Footsteps make me jump around and I almost trip and fall on my ass. There are men everywhere with guns pointed at me. I wonder if they're sleepwalking because some of them are half-naked. They keep looking around like they're searching for something. "Hola boys. Looking for something? Or perhaps someone?" I ask them just in case they need my help. And if they don't then I'll just stand here and check them out. Have I mentioned how hot most of them are? Looks like De Luca runs a tight ship here. I should find out where the gym is. Watching sweaty, half-naked men doesn't sound so bad.
• "Where is he?" One of them asks.
• "Who?" Sleepwalking it is then.
• "The intruder. Where is he?"
• Ooh were they expecting someone "Haven't seen anyone. You boys on the lookout for someone?"
• "If there is no one here then why the fuck did you scream?" De Luca asks emerging from behind them. I'm disappointed he's not naked.
• "I killed a zombie. I've been trying to do that for a while and I finally did it" I can see what's going on here. I screamed, they thought, whatever it was they thought was happening, and rushed over with guns. On the bright side, I'm happy to know they care enough. Groaning they all drop their weapons and start shuffling back to where they came from.
• "Around here people sleep at night. So do me a favor and go to sleep as well." De Luca tells me gritting his teeth. Point to note. Don't talk to the man when he's just woken up.
• "See that's the problem. Since when do mafia people sleep?"
• "Since this is my house and I make the rules"
• "Good to know" I answer then sit back down to continue my game. I've already killed one and in my mind, the rest will be easy. I understand why men are so addicted to this stuff. Once you start, it's hard to stop.
• "Why are you sitting back down? Off you go or I will carry your ass upstairs"
• "Fuck off, De Luca. I'm busy here"
• "Get up Marianna. I'm not joking"
• And I am? Deciding to ignore him, I concentrate on my target. Just a little to the left and... "Fuck, I almost had it" I yell jumping up because this moron just turned the TV off. Whatever crawled up his ass? "What the hell is wrong with you?"
• He strides toward me and then before I realize what he's doing, his right arm is around my waist while the other slides into my hair, yanking it back "When I say go to sleep, I fucking mean..." he stops "What is it? Why do you look like you're in pain?"
• "Because you're hurting me you asshole" I snarl wishing he would just let me go. Fuck, I'd forgotten about my back.
• He drops his hands and steps back "I wasn't even using my strength. Are you that fragile?"
• "Fuck you" I snarl trying to walk past him but he grabs my hand and pulls me back
• "Take off your shirt"
• "Excuse me?"
• "Take it off. Right now"
• "If you wanted a fuck all you had to do was...Hey!" I admonish when he rips it off. Like he put his hands on the collar and tore it into two. I'm thinking how hot that was until he walks behind me, pushes it down, and curses
• "Holy fuck! What the hell, Marianna?"
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