THE BASEMENT

Stop being so hard on yourself, sweetheart. It's okay to cry.

***

CHAPTER XXXIV

*****

“Araceli.”

I continued speed walking down the hall with the laundry basket balanced against my hip, pretending that I couldn't hear him behind me.

“Araceli,” he groaned, not even having to run or jog like I was doing to keep up with me. “Don't make me call you a third time.”

I froze in my steps, letting a sigh slip past my lips once I realised that I couldn't run from him. Why was I trying to run from him?

I hadn't seen Daniel - like physically seen him - for five days now and I didn't know if I liked it or not, but I knew it had everything to do with me.

I was avoiding him.

I said that I was trying to recollect my thoughts, but in reality there was nothing to recollect. I felt insecure. Even though Pablo had reassured me and told me that I held some kind of meaning to Daniel, I couldn't help but always think back on Samantha's words.

She was his in public. And we were running around behind closed doors. Why was he keeping me a secret when he was pretty open and showy with her?

I felt his hand on the small of my back and didn't put up any resistance as he pushed me towards the empty laundry room, closing the door shut behind him.

I placed the empty laundry basket on top of one of the washing machines before turning to him. He was watching me before I looked at him, but he wasn't affected by the fact that I had caught him staring. He honestly had no shame.

Slowly he looked up to meet my eyes, showing me that he was being completely serious and that he didn't have time for my games. It even surprised me that he came after me at all.

“Have you been avoiding me?” he asked, cutting straight to the point as I flinched back at his harsh glare on me.

My first inclination was to tell him no, but then I remembered what he said in the kitchen a couple days ago.

“All I want is for you to not lie to me.”

I sighed and turned around, quickly getting back to work as I took the clean clothes out of the dryer and dumped them in the basket.

“It's more like cheating on you honestly,” I said, cringing back into myself. Why would I say that? Out of all the things I could've said, why that? I quickly turned to look at him, not hesitating to reassure him. “With myself.”

The look on his face never changed. Just pure confusion. For a second, I even started asking why he chose to sleep with me out of all women on his behalf. That only added to the list of questions I was still working through with myself.

He let out a sigh of frustration and ran his hand down his face. “You're confusing.”

“I'm confusing? You're confusing! Like, what is this? What are we doing? Why are we keeping it a secret? Why don't you want anyone to know about this? What's going on? Are you ashamed of me?” I finally exploded, dropping the basket onto the floor and turning around to glare at him.

He looked up from his hands, his brows furrowed before a smirk played onto his pretty, pink lips. “You're the one that wants to keep this a secret.”

“I—”

I cut myself off, realising that he was right. I was the one that asked him not to let Celeste see me in his bed. I was the one that snuck in and out of his room. I was the one that threatened Lola to not tell anybody. I was the one that wanted to keep it a secret. And I was blaming him for it.

“I—”

He advanced closer to me, making me take a cautious step back and almost trip over the laundry basket in the process.

“What's going on? Are you ashamed of me?” he mocked with that same smirk still on his lips. His steps towards me were massive and he had already reached me before I could even back myself up against a washing machine. He reached out and grabbed my waist, tugging me roughly back into him as he growled, “come here.”

“Dani—”

“I don't care, really,” he cut me off as I placed my hand on his chest. “I just want to get two things straight. Don't walk away from me when I'm clearly coming after you,” he said, grabbing onto my hair and tugging it down roughly as I struggled to hide how wet my underwear was becoming. “And the only reason this isn't public knowledge is because I respect you.”

I gulped, nodding quickly. He picked me up and placed me on the counter, spreading my legs so he could stand between them. He grabbed my ankles roughly and pulled me to him so I was flush against him and hitched my dress up so my underwear was revealed to him. “I don't know how many times I'll have to fuck you before you realise that I'm not playing with you.”

I let out a whimper as he trailed kisses along my neck, unable to stop myself from looking at the door in trepidation. “Daniel... the door,” I breathed out as he took a step back and rolled his eyes.

I fixed my dress as he checked his watch, succeeding in having myself fixed up before he looked back up at me. He let his eyes roam over my body before his eyes twinkled with mischief.

He pulled me closer and sucked in the skin of my neck, biting down on his mark, and licking over it before stepping away.

He gave me a hickey in a place I couldn't cover with my collar.

“Daniel!” I shrieked, ready to slap his chest when he caught my hand and used it to tug me closer to him.

“I've got something to take care of and I don't know when I'll be back,” my stomach sunk at his words, but my heart rate sped up at the next thing he said. “But don't think for a second that I'm anywhere near done with you.”

Before I could open my eyes, he was gone.

***

“Have you seen Daniel anywhere?” Celeste asked me as I placed the tray of water down on the table in her room. I shook my head, making sure to take a step away from her as she poured it herself because the night she slapped me still replayed itself in my head. “I really want to talk to him about this wedding thing because he's making no effort, but I can't find him anywhere.”

“I think he said something about business or something.”

It had been a couple days since my and Daniel's last conversation and I couldn't help but miss him too. At least I wasn't the only one.

Unfortunately, even if he were to come back now, we wouldn't be able to do anything because lady red had decided to pay me a visit. Usually I would hate the fact that it showed up, but after the last few events, I couldn't help but feel relieved that I thankfully wasn't pregnant.

“That was really helpful. Thanks, Araceli,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at me.

I couldn't help but think about how Daniel would be his usual sarcastic self too if he was here. I forgot to ask him how he could keep a straight face when he was.

Sucking in a breath, I decided to ask the one thing I always wanted to know but could never find the courage to do. “Why... Why do you still want to marry Daniel when he cheats on you?”

She looked up at me before snorting out a breath of laughter and placing her drink on the table.

“I don't want to marry Daniel.”

“W-What?” I stuttered, confused at her response.

“I don't want to marry Daniel,” she answered again. “I'm just as forced into this marriage as he is. I'm better at seeing the bright side of things.”

“So... then why are you planning a wedding?”

“Because that's the bright side of it!” she exclaimed, looking up at me with a wide smile. “I've literally got no limits to how much I can spend and you can bet your ass that I'm going all out. Even if the wedding never happens, do you know how many cakes I've sampled? How many dresses I've bought to keep with me? Whether we marry or not, I'm still winning.”

I couldn't help but stare at her with my mouth agape.

“What happens if Daniel does marry you?” I asked, taking a seat in the chair opposite her as she shrugged.

“Don't know; don't care. Daniel won't marry me and that's a fact. He's humouring his father now, but at the end of the day, it's Daniel that owns his Lucien and not the other way around so he does whatever he wants to do.”

My confusion only deepened, but I kept my questions at bay so she didn't suspect anything. What did she mean by Daniel owned his father? Why did he own anybody?

“Celeste—oh.” The door swung open, and in walked the devil himself.

Lucien.

I quickly sat up in my seat and gathered up the tray, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. Lucien smirked at my frantic state, not bothering to hide how his eyes roamed over my entire body as I bent my knees in a bow at Celeste before doing the same thing with Lucien.

“E-Excuse me, sir,” I said, hating the way I stuttered as I went darting out the room, slamming the door shut behind me before bolting down the stairs.

I didn't gain the ability to breathe back until I was safely in the confines of the kitchen. I placed the tray down on the counter and looked up, out of the window just in time to see Daniel's car roll into the garage with two other cars following him. What surprised me though was the fact that after a few minutes he never walked into the house, but he didn't come out of the garage either.

My lips dropped into a frown and before I could think my actions through, I walked out of the kitchen and into the garage, only to find it completely empty.

But I never saw them walk out.

I walked closer to the cars, finding that they were turned off and empty too. So where did Daniel and his men go?

“Let me go!” I heard some distant shouting making sweat trickle down my skin and my heart rate speed up.

What if that was Daniel? What if he was hurt?

I picked up a crowbar to use as a weapon and slowly made my way around the garage, trying to find where exactly they had gone to when a small corner that was more lit up than the rest of them caught my attention.

I had ended up almost falling through the open trap door, but luckily, I caught myself against the wall and looked down. Steps led down into a lit up hallway and I found myself making the second risky decision of the day. I decided to go down them to see where the led to.

Oh, how I wish I didn't.

Once I had stepped off the steps, walked straight and then turned a corner, I felt my breath hitch in my throat and my stomach rumble with the need to throw up.

There was a putrid smell just lingering in the hallways and it seemed like every corner I turned was a dead, rotting body. Every cell in my being screamed at me to turn back since I knew where Daniel was, but I just had to make sure he was okay.

Or maybe I was lying to myself. Maybe I just wanted to know what he did down here and if he had a hand in all the scattered dead bodies.

Whatever it was, I was going to find out anyway.

“Oh my God,” I couldn't help but whisper as I walked in just in time to see Daniel pluck a teeth out of a bloody man's mouth. I couldn't even tell what colour hair he had, and the man's eyes were squeezed shut in pain as he let out gurgled cries of pain, choking on his own blood.

“The only reason I haven't cut off your tongue yet is because you need it to speak,” Daniel said, patting the man's head with the tool like a pet.

His voice wasn't dark or angered. It sounded normal. As if this wasn't even a dent in his armour.

Absolutely psychotic.

I dropped the crowbar, deciding to make a break for it before either him or his men spotted me. Unfortunately, dropping the crowbar was my first mistake.

They all whipped around, their eyes wide with shock, before half of the men in the room pulled out their guns and aimed it at my chest. I was stuck there, the only thing I could do being to look between Daniel and his poor victim, who finally opened his eyes to see what was happening.

"Haha," the man laughed, his voice muffled with blood. "I see the missus may have walked in on something that you didn't want her to see."

"Shut up," Daniel hissed, whipping around to glare at him before looking back at me.

He was almost completely soaked with blood, making me let out an undefined noise of terror as he took a step closer towards me. I couldn't even step back; I was so scared.

“Put the guns down,” he said sternly, making all his men obey his command and tuck their guns away in the waistband of their pants.

I took the moment as it came and turned around to make a break for it, but before I could get far, I felt his arms wrap around my waist.

He pulled me back into his blood soaked chest and I let out a cry of terror as he ran his blood soaked hand through his hair.

“Hey, hey, just calm down. Calm down.”

But I couldn't. And I didn't know why.

*****

Quick question: did I ever mention them using a condom in the other smut scenes apart from the first?

I'm hoping I did because lmaooooo sometimes I forget shit.