A human needs happiness to stay sane. So I was frightened by my future. Was I going to be insane because being there in Romeo's cage, happiness was something that I never could imagine. I always believed that it was the deep sorrows and miseries that lead people go mad, go cruel. Maybe, Romeo had them? I questioned myself while devouring a really tasty sandwich, I wiped my mouth with napkin and folded it back, putting on the tray. Rung the bell, for the servant to come to take this.

That time, did not open the window and look outside with hopeless gaze like always. That time, instead of waiting for the servant, I picked up the tray, walked towards the door, with another trembling hand, swirled the knob and pulled the door. I was stepping out of my mini cage. I wanted it, I was exhausted, I sneaked a look at myself in the mirror of the hall, my cheekbones were prominent, my hair looked thinner and drier. My skin had a few acne scars on my t-zone, the rest of the face was shiny, not due to glow of a comfortable life, but due to sebum. Ah, I remembered Mary seeing my condition, how she used to make me follow a skincare and haircare routine, and how she took the responsibility of my health in my worse times. Even though in my mini cage, my cupboard was full of all the necessary stuff for skincare or haircare, even they were so expensive; but there was no Mary, no freedom, no willpower to survive.

Putting the tray beside the sink, I wanted to wash them but before I could, I heard someone, did not realize that there were servants in the kitchen, was so engulfed with my thoughts, "Ma'am, I was going to collect the dish, I apologize for the delay." I looked towards the voice, an Asian girl; petite, had innocence all over her face, how did she end up here, I thought. "And please don't wash them, I'll do that." I wanted to stop her, but before I could, I heard another voice.

"What are you doing here, gorgeous?" Ah, the playful tone. Dean, I shook my head, and turned around to see him standing holding a bowl of chips and munching some of them. His eyes gleamed and he playfully raised his eyebrows, "Wanna cook?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes, I heard him mutter under his breath. "Rude."

He followed me outside the kitchen, "How are you doing?" he asked on the way.

I sat on the sofa in the hall, he looked surprised, but then putting the bowl on the table, he sat beside me, "I am fine," I replied. I heard a faint 'hmm' in response.

"It is shocking to see you outside your room," he said, moving a bit closer to me, and turning his head towards me, it was not Dean's usual playful voice, it was just a statement, said in a crisp tone which I did not recognize.

"That is not my room," I moved my head to my left to face him, the proximity we had was disturbing. That inch distance between our faces was dangerous. "This will never be home," I whispered.

"I hope not," he murmured, his sky blue eyes unlocked from mine and moved down a bit and a nervous little cackle escaped my mouth when I noticed him staring at my lips.

"What are you doing?" I asked, putting my hand on his chest, applying enough force to push him a few inches away.

He chuckled, "Trying to seduce you...maybe," he winked at her and moved a bit away himself.

"Not working," I said. He nodded. "What would he think of this, Dean?"

"I really don't know actually, Romeo has stopped thinking of all this jazz a long time ago, so I guess he won't care?" He shrugged his shoulders, I knew he lied to himself and tried to lie to me too. Deep down, he knew the real answer, and that was the reason he stared at the floor while answering.

"You and I both know that that's not the case, he might throw you out for being too close to his one and only slave." A small smile crawled up to my lips, my head asked me what I was doing with him. But I seriously had no idea.

He got off the sofa, straightened up his maroon coat, while running his hand through his dark thick hair, he spoke up, "You are not the only slave," he got me confused as my smile vanished and I furrowed my brows, before I could inquire further, he turned around to walk up the stairs. I still asked, yelled high enough for him to listen, "I only see myself here though, I don't see anyone else."

"You don't see many things darling, many fucking things." He went upstairs then.

I leaned back on sofa, hoping the earth could swallow me and protect me from all these mysteries. Or I just wished Luciano could just come here and beat the shit out of these guys, because I felt tired. My body ached, my mind was going haywire so I just did not think I could fight with anyone of these little shits; at least physically. I closed my eyes, and made myself comfortable on the sofa.

Just a few minutes of bliss, and then I heard a gunshot. My eyes shot open and I sat up straight, chaos slowly brewed in the mansion and I saw some very unfamiliar faces running here and there with their guns of different kinds. I realized a strong hold on my arm, dragging me upstairs. It took me a second to fathom who he was; Jon. "What the hell?" I shouted.

He continued to drag me upstairs quickly, "Shut up!"

"Tell me what just happened, why is everyone rushing to basement and outside when the gunshot was so close, as if someone did it from the hall." I shrugged his grasp off me, "I can walk myself!" My voice raised.

"One of us shot the gun, it means something is wrong outside or in the basement. Now stop being detective, because this is not the right time!" He kicked the door open and threw me in the room, but that wasn't my assigned room.

"Yeah, don't look at me with those judgy olive eyes! You are on the second floor."

"Romeo is-" I was cut off.

"Romeo did not mind you here before, he won't mind again. He wants us to protect you, you're a bit safer here. He is out, not home so...stay here, quietly." Jon left.

"How am I safer here?" I asked myself and I looked around, "shit!" he fucking left me in Romeo's room, is he mad or what! I ran towards the door, guess what, it was locked! I did not know the code. I cursed under my breath. I was not scared. Not at all!

Not at all! Jon forced me to be here! I can throw him under the bus! I thought.

I was pacing around the room, leaned against the door to listen, did not work. Sweat beads shone over my forehead, I saw a tissue box on the dressing, used it. His room was almost empty. Just like him. Silent. Dark. Suffocating. It was beast's den and I was there wiping my nervous sweat off with a freaking tissue.

I lied.

I was a bit scared. Because the last encounter with him in his room was not fun!

Over the dressing counter, I saw some files. Wow, he trusted Jon a lot that he left his files openly on the counter, told his room's lock code to him, wow. I wondered. A dark blue file and a grey file. A bit thick. Curiosity got the best of me. I picked up the grey one, flipped the cover and saw the first page, filled with names. With the smallest font you could ever imagine, I looked through other ivory pages and found the same thing, names and names. Long list of names and dates. Two dates; date of joining, date of leaving. If there was an empty 'leaving' box, it had 'continuing' typed in the adjacent row.

What was it, I was befuddled.I picked up another one and on the first page, my heart lost a beat. It had information about me. My parents. Well, fake parents, because those photos did not belong to my parents. Information about date of birth, schooling, other stuff, everything was wrong. Heck! Even my picture was of someone else. But I noticed the correction, someone did it with red marker, it had big cross marks on the pictures, names were cut and the right names were written beside it. Only my birthdate was correct, my parents had a question mark beside theirs. There was also evidence of police report against my father about theft that Mary and I reported.

On the next page, there were some hand written notes, like, "Elijah Martin; Clarissa's father. Wanted. No picture has been found yet."

"Elijah, he could be with Alfred." This statement was bold. Another was, "Original records are erased, so are police records, no prisoner named Elijah Martin, no sign of Veronica Martin; considered dead. No body found, empty and fake grave, no hospital records." There I stopped, it felt like the floor beneath me just slid away. I felt that my mind was spinning. Empty grave? What did it mean! Considered dead but no hospital records.

But mum was ill, that was what I was told! I crouched down, on the floor, curled up, with the file in my hand crunched up. Did I live a lie? About my mom?

I mumbled to myself, did not realize that tears were already flowing down my cheeks, and I felt my throat dried up, I hiccupped. I was short of breath, I felt my chest tighten. It was all too much. Too much. "I've suffered enough already to know that what I lived before was a lie! NO!"

I looked down to the file, straightened up the creases on papers, and read further, another statement was, "Mariana and Clarissa reported theft against Elijah" how did they know Mary's name. "Stupid girl, they know such details that you never could imagine to know and you are shocked about Mary's real name!" I laughed. Loudly. With my voice cracking.

Stop! This all needed to be stopped!

I threw that file and stayed there on the floor, did not care what was going outside, because the dagger that just went through my heart that moment was scarier than the gunshots and chaos outside. I brought my knees closer to me, hugged them and buried my head down. My tears were never that helpless, but that moment, they were the most helpless tears, I felt weak. I felt I was a lie myself. Was I really Clarissa? Was I really Clarissa Martin? Was Elijah really my dad? Was Veronica really my mom? These questions ran in my mind, I had no answer to give.

How cruel it was all! How could I deserve to feel like a lie in that world! I did not deserve that.

"Clarissa?" I heard a voice. Oh! I knew whose voice this was. I lifted my head, and I had never seen him like that. I mean I hardly saw him but whenever I did, never like that. A wounded Beast. Stood there with face have cuts, bleeding. Shirt stained with blood, right hand grasping a gun. His confused eyes met mine and I knew another round of misery just began. 

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"Romeo!" Madilyn shouted for him, she was running around the basement, with a torch, because apparently the electricity was cut off, and there was a fear of having the cells broken. "Romeo, where are you, we-" she was cut off by a heavy arm pulling her and then pushing her on the concrete wall with a tight grasp over her mouth.

"How many times should I tell you all to not yell in the basement," she threw the torch on the body in front of her, his brown eyes turned slightly honey gold in that precise light, and there was annoyance in them. Romeo himself held her. In other circumstances, the mere touch of their bodies, that tension filled intimacy, it would be all she desire, but there at the moment, her breathing was heavy, her chest rose up and down and sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Brandon's men, they are seen around. Probably, basement's electricity is cut by them, someone might be down here," she whispered.

"Impossible. There is no access for this place. It is packed. Though they can mess with the electricity." He took a step back, leaving her forearm, "Is Clarissa safe?"

Madilyn almost rolled her eyes, she wanted to ask him why he cared about her? Or why was her life so precious for him but she did not. She replied, "She was in the hall, Luke asked Jon to take her upstairs. Somewhere guarded."

"Caleb got shot in the forearm, though bullet just almost hit him, he is fine." Romeo said, walking upstairs, "I've got more guards down here, at every cell. And Jamie and his people are working for the electricity issue, call Jon and tell him that basement is handled. I'll see how Brandon's men managed to find us. They can't leave this place."

"Dean is not responding," she uttered. Romeo pushed the door open and they were in hall, spilling with armed dark suited men, connected with each other through ear piece. "He is in his room, but not receiving our signals."

Romeo looked at her, the dark haunting stare made her still on the spot, "Why?" he asked.

"I don't know, last time he was seen interacting with Clarissa in the hall," she flipped her hair slightly, and heaved a sigh, but did manage to notice the changing expression on Romeo's face, his dark strong gaze got harder, and his jaw clenched, "Well, that interaction was a bit too intimate." Madilyn smirked, faintly.

"Leave." Romeo commanded. She nodded and left, dialing Jon to inform about the basement . Romeo though wanted to go outside, he stood there, at his spot, for a second, numb. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, cursed under his breath, he looked up to the first floor at Clarissa's door, wanting to just run towards it and kick it open to know what was happening. What intimacy! But he clenched his fists, he looked down, closed his eyes, regained his composure and strode towards the main door.

"The main fence and grill has been tampered," A man ran towards Romeo when he stepped out to monitor things, "Brandon's three capos on us."

Jon came running at Romeo, with his white shirt stained with blood and mud, but he seemed okay enough, He put his hand over Romeo's shoulder and while being out of breath, he said, "Those fuckers! Caught one. One shot in the head by Rio, it was necessary defense. The other one; still searching for him." Romeo nodded.

"Where is the caught one?" Romeo asked, loading his gun, a clicking sound hit their ears, Jon gulped. He thought about how precise Romeo's shots were. One hit, a man gone!

"Room AB1, there until we get the basement's power back." Jon met a stern look of Romeo, he thought, Romeo was angrier than usual. But it was an underlying anger, Romeo was trying to hide it. Jon knew Romeo for years, enough to notice when Romeo was going through some stress. Jon asked, "Are you okay, we have men here to search the garden and the streets, you can go back."

"Go inside and wake up Dean, send him to Room AB1, I want to know everything; why, how and all. Go!" With the final command, Romeo lifted up his gun and walked. By hiding from pillars to pillars, in search of the remaining one. Jon obeyed. And left to call Dean, while walking up to Dean, he noticed it was the first time Dean did not receive their signals.

Romeo's men running around, vigilant, one was behind Romeo, guarding him, his men were yelling threatening words to get the wanted man out of where he was hiding. They were looking at the wrong place, the garden was empty. He ran towards the street as there were gunshots outside. That entire area is bought by Romeo, it was impossible to have anyone enter the mansion without a mole, that thought ran into his mind and befuddled him for a second.

He passed by the grill, and saw two of his men on the floor, injured. "Men outside!" he yelled, he turned around, his vision turned blurry as the wind carrying sand was irritable, but he saw two men running towards him at his command, so he left the spot. The street around his mansion seemed clear, he thought he had to go further. Around his mansion, there were a few houses, which he owned. Romeo decided to go to the one right beside his mansion.

A comparatively small abandoned house, not much maintained, easy to break in, Romeo shot in the air as he entered that house's little garden, "You know when I hunt, I always catch my prey." He ran towards the door, deep down he felt whoever was the man, he was around, he was near. He could feel the presence of someone's eyes on him. 

Romeo thought it was the third remaining Brandon's man. He saw the door was untouched, he leaned against the wall walking further to the back of the house. With every step a look thrown backwards and then on the front, he slowly kept on moving, and his doubts about someone's presence were confirmed when he heard a female shout. His muscles tensed and he saw that the backside window was broken, with the plant pot being a mess on the floor. He jumped inside the room, dark but lit with a bit of natural and street light.

He made sure that he kept his feet with no noise, heels pressing on the floor and breathing almost stopped. Woman's shout alarmed Romeo. There were three men, from where did the woman came. He thought.

"Son of a bitch!" He heard the voice again, with a loud thud following as if someone was pushed against the wooden surface harshly. The voice. It seemed familiar to Romeo, he could not fathom the  familiarity at that very moment. 

He moved towards the voice, "Stay the fuck away, I will shoot." The woman threatened someone, perhaps the man Romeo is looking for. He thought about the possibility and with light steps, continued to move in the direction. He was faced with the stairs, he walked upstairs, with each step,his shoulders felt heavier, his body felt hardened, as if he was making himself prepared for whatever was to come. The more he stepped further, the darker it got. 

He could see nothing, reaching for his pocket, he brought out his phone, pulled it under his coat and opened the flashlight, but kept his finger on the flashlight, to not attract attention, a fearful thought ran across his head that what if it was Clarissa stuck, he shrugged that thought out of his head, to shake off the concern. It was making him slow.

The main door was broken all of the sudden, it picked Romeo's attention and that woman's and whoever was with her, "Sir, are you here?" Romeo growled under his breath and walked down the stairs, directed the flashlight towards the door. The men at the door got their answer, but a yell followed the scene and it belonged to a man, who seemed to run down the stairs, with hard steps making noise behind Romeo. Romeo was already downstairs so he waited at the end of it but no, the one fell in Romeo's trapping hold was not a man, but a woman. 

Romeo's two men who were at the door, ran upstairs, the woman however met the one she wanted to meet. Romeo keeping her hand in his, threw a flashlight on her face, and he recognized those dark gleaming eyes right away, a whisper left her mouth, "Rome." There was relief in her tone as she gasped with a broken smile.

"Mary?" Romeo even though expected to see Mary but not like that, he took her name, as if he himself was confused about her presence there at the moment. His eyes roamed on her face, noticed bruises on her cheek and chin and her tired and trembling body in front of him was about to fall on the floor, he left her hand immediately and held her by her waist. Mary seemed to be out of breath, leaned on him, she held a dagger in her other hand, which Romeo noticed. It had blood on it. "I thought you meant to shoot him."

"Fucker took away my gun, Mary is not as good as before, you know." She chuckled softly and buried her face in his chest, "I thought..." her voice broke, muffled, "I thought another nightmare was about to start when these three lunatics started to follow me." Romeo was taken a back. Shock hit him hard. No matter the differences between Mary and him, he knew her state, he knew her toughness was farce, she was scared, scared of even the shadow of her own following her.

"You need to wait outside." A curt tone, that was what Mary got.

"But I-" Mary resisted, not wanted to leave his side.

"Go!" Romeo took his hand away from her waist and then saw her walk with a limp towards the door. He ran upstairs, cursing, got into second floor and then stumbled with figure who was trying to run, he threw a fist at him, not seeing where it could hit. But it definitely hit hard. In return, he had his forehead knocked by a heavy metal; a gun.  For a second, the sharp pain that ran in his head made him stumble to the back and the other guy got the upper hand. He again threw a good hit with gun to Romeo's cheek. Romeo could feel the pain aching his every part of the face, but with a good presence of mind, took a blind shot and the gun shot alarmed the Romeo's men in the house and Mary waiting outside on the porch.

Romeo's men followed the gunshot and reached the spot to find both of the men on the floor, the man who was shot was laying upside down on the floor, Romeo crouched down on the floor, checking his wrists. "You two are the most useless men I have!" he yelled at those two of his men who looked at him, terrified. Romeo threw a hard look at them, gritting teeth, "Take him to Room AB1."

Romeo got off the floor, from the pool of blood. Blood was sticking on his coat and dripping from his skin where it spilled, as he shot him from the ground, the guy almost fell on Romeo, making him shower with his blood. Groaning, Romeo went downstairs and saw Mary crouched down on the porch's stairs, keeping her head buried on her knees. The two men walked pass her, with the body of a man who was hopefully not dead but a new addition to Romeo's basement instead. Romeo sat beside Mary and cleared his throat, Mary lifted up her head, looked to the side, met the honey gaze, the one which could be the scariest thing for anyone but at that moment, they were not. They were empty, but empty of emotions, instead filled with inquiry.

"I was scared to come to meet you," Mary lightly sobbed, "But what I faced in the way, the following part, dragging me to this abandoned house, beating my face with a gun, putting a cloth in my mouth, tying my hands and leaving me in the dark house...it messed me up badly, reminded me of the past." Mary did not notice, but the tears fell down her face, over her bruises, making it itch a bit and she winced in pain. Romeo calmly listened and took out his hankerchief to clean off the blood that was staining his hands. And provided one to Mary to wipe her tears.

"Rome, all of it took away my fear of you." She moved closer to him, Romeo immediately turned to her and raised his eyebrow at her, "Because no matter what, you would never do this to me, ever."

"You trust me a lot, suddenly." Romeo smirked. Not reacting at the way she slightly leaned over his arm.

Mary almost rolled her eyes at him, "Well, I have heard a lot about your torture but...you'd rather kill me than make me go through these sort of situations.You and I both know, you'd never punish me in a way I was tortured before, right?" A little part of Mary's heart was scared that his answer could tarnish the expectations she had.

"They were Brandon's men, why did they get to you?" Romeo moved a little on the spot, keeping a distance with her. She straightened up and noticed the way Romeo got uncomfortable with the physical contact. Some things never change, she thought.

"I was coming to you." Mary did not prolong her other conversation with him, instead answered him. She felt relaxed to see Romeo not throwing her out or whatever. Nate and She feared that he wouldn't see their faces, but Romeo had got nothing to blame on them. She thought.

"I expected you," he said. She nodded, not forgetting the purpose that led her there. "You shouldn't have come though, there is nothing for you here. Nathan and you need to stay the hell away from all this, why don't you understand that, why don't you people value your freedom." His voice raised, Mary moved a bit away from him. The anger brewing inside could be felt and seen with the nerves popping on his neck.

"They started to follow me from our new house," Mary pondered, "I think I know why they followed me." She caught Romeo's attention. Mary felt her words fighting to not come out, she faltered, she felt a sharp tremble, "Well, you know Luciano and Brandon had issues, he messed up with him big time-" before she cut off, Romeo immediately stood up.

"Go back!" he shouted.

"I am just saying now that Luciano is officially under Alfred's radar, Brandon must have had his men following Luciano, and as stupid as he is in these past couple of days, he did not notice and came to meet me. Brandon's men must have recognized me and thought there was something going on so when I left to come to you, they followed and then when I went to this side of the town, they must have noticed the unusual abandoned houses which is your style, they could have sensed something fishy..." Romeo had too much, he could not yell at her anymore, the respect, little shred of respect he had for Mary kept him from going off on her. He started to walk away from her, Mary shook her head and followed him, "They dragged me here to inquire about this place, two of them did sneak inside your mansion, one remained here, but when he got no response, he followed his death in your den again. He came back, trying to take me away for possible investigation but you saved me. I saved myself too, but you came in the right time too. Thank you. You know the kind of favor you did to me today will always be my blessing."

He started walking faster, he reached his mansion, he was granted entry but the guards held her back. "Rome!" she yelled.

Romeo could not walk away more, he turned to her, "Don't mention his name so casually in front of me again, don't!" he yelled back. The silent, cunning beast hardly yelled but when he did, it meant that whatever was inside him, was tearing him apart.

"I just wanted to tell you my theory!" she held the grill tightly; the barrier between her and him, between her and Clarissa.

"You still meet him, Mary. You still tolerate him after what he fucking did to you!" he came closer to her, Mary's eyes softened because there were only a few who could understand the pain and reasons of Romeo, and she was one of them, she could understand his frustration so well. "You will have Zed dropping you off at your location."

"You know why I tolerate him!" she replied.

Romeo knew that he had enough of her that day, he turned around again, refusing to face her. Mary banged the grill, "Don't punish her, Rome. You know she is not the one who is guilty!" she yelled! With all the strength she could muster. "It is not her fault that she fell in love with a devil; the man you detest and have sworn to destroy is still out there, it is not her fault...just like it was not mine!" she wished she could convince him, she wished she could tame the beast.

Romeo heard her yelling, dabbing his hand on his bruise on his cheek, he muttered, with his dark eyes determined and targeted, his heart not caring what morals and values were, his mind not caring what right and wrong  were, "It is not her fault that she fell in love, it is his fault that he fell for her!"

A/N: VOTE, COMMENT OR SHARE.

I hope you enjoyed, did you like how Rome and Mary met, how did you like their bond? What do you feel about them? And what do you feel about Clarissa's arc? What happened to her Mom exactly?