That gravel voice, that giant reflection on the painting, those creepy words, it all shook me and I immediately started to tremble on my spot. I couldn't look towards the painting because I could feel his reflection staring back at me, I couldn't turn around because I could have him right in front of me, which was terrifying.

I noticed how motivated I got always when he was not near me, but now that when he was behind me, leaving inches space between us, haunting me, my motivation and courage to ask questions or plan escape...it all just went away. Vanished in thin air, all I was left with was suffocating dark smoke that his presence always brought to me. His heavy words played once again in my mind, "You're a game and I am the player. The only player."

My eyes which were completely and tightly shut gradually opened and I looked towards the painting and the beautiful calligraphy that was gracing the bottom of the painting of a Lily. "A game needs players, players need a game." Though I did not understand what did It mean.

But I surely knew that whatever the Beast said and what was written on the painting...both of them held a deeper meaning, beyond my limited imagination.

My heartbeats quickened as soon as I realized that he wasn't just behind me, but also touched me. His slender fingers that were surprisingly soft over my milky skin roamed from my bare forearm to my elbow to my palm. It sent sizzling sensations down my spine, how could someone's touch be so magnificent yet dangerous. How could someone's silence be so horrifying and beautiful.

His hand rested on mine, for a few seconds, we both stayed like that, he behind me with his hand over mine and me turning my back towards him with eyes down, and lips trembling. A few seconds later, his hand grasped mine, fingers perfectly clasped together as if our hands were made to be fit with each other only. Beast and his victim. His grip at first was loose, moments by moments it got tighter and he did not stop tightening his hold until a wince escaped my mouth.

When he heard my moan of pain, he stepped closer and again tilted his head and reached my ear, his lips were very close to my earlobe, I could feel his entire beastly presence lurking around me, his words escaped his mouth in a whisper that was enough to stop my racing heartbeat for a few seconds, "You knew this is the restricted floor yet you still disobeyed my orders."

His orders. His bullshits. His decisions. What about me?

I veered towards him, found myself in the most awkward and scary proximity with him as I was an inch away from his hard chest, I looked up and found his eyes already locked with mine, calculating my every intention which was hiding in my eyes, his hand still was holding my hand captive, his eyes held my eyes captive, his voice decided the speed of my heartbeats, his presence controlled my mind and always stopped it. He owned me, without even owning me. He made me his slave, without even doing any hard work. He was the beast who knew how to capture his prey.

"Yes, I disobeyed you, what will you do instead of keeping me here," I questioned even though every part of me was under his command but I still managed to keep my soul close to me, it provided me enough strength to stand up to him.

His dark eyes did not flinch, they did not deepened and were irritated, last time when we met, he used to get annoyed with my voice. But now he listened to my question, my challenge but did not glare at me, instead he just looked on and raised his brow at me. His silence gave me the idea as if he wanted to hear me out.

That was shocking.

"You clearly asked your men to not hurt me, you punished one of your most loyal man; Ben just because he hurt me. Then what could you possibly do to me if you want me scratch free. Obviously except keeping me here. " I continued, his silence was demeaning me. Wow. His silence made me feel worthless. His silence made me feel as if I was dependent on his mercy that without his chance, I would not have raised my voice.

His lips were pursed in a line, he did not utter a single word, I stared into his dark eyes, hoping for a response, a reason, a complain, a threat...but his eyes were still caging my stare. His lose strand that used to sling till his nose bridge was not alone, as fistful of his thick hair slung down and covered his forehead as he leaned down to my face and took step towards me, I stepped back, as usual.

He stopped, he lifted his right hand up, that was still grasping my hand and he again tightened his grip on me, I guessed he wanted to hear me wince in pain, I gulped and stared at his eyes and did not let the pain he was causing me...to reach me and hurt me, he again held my hand with his rough grasp, my hand was mashed in his hold but I did not give him satisfaction and did not wince.

He pulled our mingled hand near to his lips and that time, I squirmed, I winced, I did not want him to do what he intended to and then a small smirked crept onto his lips when he saw how disgusted I was looking when he was pulling our entwined hands near to his lips to maybe press his lips against my hand. He got pleasure seeing me terrified.

"I punished my man because he gave you a wound, but there is no any rule or a threat that is stopping me from hurting you. If they can't, I can definitely make you pay for your disobedience." His voice was surprisingly so low, so soft. But I guessed he had a knack of disguising his threat in his softened tone.

I responded, "You won't." My eyes widened as they noticed how hardened his expression got in a nano second and how his smirked vanished and he started gritting his teeth. Why did I have to open my mouth? What was I thinking? The problem was that I did not think! I cursed myself mentally.

No matter how strong I made myself in front of him, I was dead scared of him.

He glared at me that moment, but his eyes moved back to something behind my back and his glare melted when it focused on it. What was behind my back? Oh yeah, a giant and crazy awesome painting of a Lily. His eyes were lingering on it for a minute then he got back to me, his expressions were composed and not hardened anymore. It was a relief.

He stated, calmly but in spite of no extra effort, he did make me shiver. "Clarissa Martin, you know nothing about me."

My name from his tongue...it seemed foreign and shockingly beautiful. His voice was raspy when he took my name, but also with a glint of power to show me my place. It rolled off his tongue with grace, but I knew his intentions for Clarissa Martin. He wanted to cage me. Why?

"Why?" I again spoke up, without thinking. But thankfully, it didn't trigger him and he immediately left my hand that he was gripping for so long, he left it but made sure he held it tightly before letting it go. I lifted my hand up to see it, it was reddened, his fingers were faintly printed on my hand. I looked up to him again, but he was not holding my eyes captive that moment, instead his eyes were stuck on my reddened hand.

I knew that my whys, whats, whichs, hows were not going to be answered yet again. Instead of losing more time with him towering in front of me, I decided it would be better if I just go one floor down and rest in my room where my mind and heart and eyes...all of it would be mine and not under his control.

I stepped aside and was about to pass by him, away from him, but I felt a feather like touch on my forearm, stopping me. I looked up to my left side and found him looking directly into me, yet again. I almost shouted, considering how much I was irked by his actions, it was way less, "What now?"

"There is a first aid kit in your second drawer of the bedside table, apply cream or whatever for the relief-" before he could finish, I interrupted him.

That time, my voice was loud, the anger that was brewing inside me was now pouring over him, my curt voice surely bruised his big ego, "What is with you applying comfort to my wounds, the same wounds that you give to me? Huh? Why don't you just let me go if you don't want to see me get hurt?! Why don't you just grant me my freedom?! Why do you hurt me in the first place? Stop hurting me if your heart also doesn't approve to me hurt me, Beast-" That moment he cut me off when held me forearm a bit tightly and then pulled me to him, leaving me glued to him.

He leaned down to my face and whispered to me again, responded my yelling with that voice that was enough to tear me apart and also made me feel nervous, "Then don't disobey me!"

"No! That is not the solution. I can't live here. I don't want to live here. You not hurting me is not the damn solution, damn it." I yelled again, he did not want me silenced that time I guessed unlike before...in our first meeting. I pushed his shoulder, I tried to punch his chest...it didn't bring any result as he stood stiffened like a spear on his spot, holding me that close to himself. As If he himself was afraid to lose me.

"Silence! Now go to your room. Make sure you don't disobey me again!" With the same tone, he exclaimed in pure irritation.

"I will. I will disobey you and see how much can you hurt me. I will disobey you! And I am sure you won't be able to do anything about it, beast. A beast with a heart can't rule. A beast with a heart can only capture me but can't hurt me. Now, I am sure of it." I hissed and pulled myself out of his grip, I turned around to see the painting which tamed the beast, which controlled his anger, I tried to memorize it, I don't know why but I did.

That painting had the power to keep him its captive. That must be something important. What could possibly take away the miserable anger of a Beast. A painting of a flower; lily? I turned to him, he was standing with his hands then stuffed in his pocket, his eyes were not on me, but they were glued on the painting. Maybe it kept him sane, that was why that floor was restricted so that no one knew that their Beast had his humanity stored in a lily.

Ignoring him, I walked to the staircase and then ran down to the first floor, where I saw Dean, Luke, Madilyn, Jon, Dorian and my two bulky bodyguards; Dylan and Adrian...all gathered in front of my room, whispers were audible though but then Luke's eyes caught me walking down the stairs and he raised his voice, "There you are, trouble maker."

"Didn't Luke make sure that you must not go to the second floor or the basement?" Madilyn pushed all of them aside and stormed towards me, her voice loud enough to make my ears bleed. She then held the same palm that he held so mercilessly, she held it way more hardly and I realized that he still spared me, he could crush my delicate hand under his hard one but he didn't. But that backstabber Bitch Madilyn was dragging me towards my room in front of which everyone I named were lined to see the one and only person who had the courage to disobey their beast.

"What were you thinking, gorgeous?" Ugh, Dean back gain with his sweet little words and soft voice, he came to my rescue and shrugged Madilyn's hand away from me, held me hand instead and patted it. I jerked my hand away from him too. And he nodded, mumbled then, "Calm down, we are just worried for you. No one simply do what he prohibited so...why did you? Do you want your death sentence or what?"

"That is the problem, Mr Dean that I want to live. If I didn't, I would have killed myself the day I was captured so that I could be spared." I spat.

Dean smiled, "Okay, just calm down. Look, please don't do things that will put you and us in danger." I rolled my eyes.

Madilyn spoke up with her screeching voice, "Just lock her up, I don't know why is he allowing her to roam around the house. "

Luke pulled her away from me as she got too close to me and almost yelled at me, what was her problem anyway? "You need to shut up, Madilyn. You know what is happening to Ben for hurting her, don't you want to be in his place?" Luke's statement made Madilyn cringe and almost scared.

"I think it is better if Adrian and Dylan are with you again, it has been only a couple of hours without them and you got to the second floor, " Madilyn again, that girl never listened to anyone. I hoped that she was punished by him as she was a betrayer in my eyes, she looked at her back and snapped her fingers at Dylan and Adrian, signaling them to step towards her, they did. "You both will not leave her alone, wherever she goes, you-"

Dean tried to cut her off, "Madi, stop!"

But she continued after giving a stern glare to Dean, "You both will follow her every move, I don't want him bothered by her curiosity and-"

She was cut off again.

But that time, by him, her favorite...The beast himself. The tone he used on her was enough to remind her the position she held in his eyes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're awfully quiet, it doesn't suit you." Luciano's hands were claiming the steering wheel, his eyes were juggling to see what, the road or the quiet companion who was sitting beside him on the passenger seat. He noticed that Mary was looking at the sky, which was changing its color and was darkening minutes by minutes. While peeking at her silenced state, her blank eyes roaming on sky, her lips formed as a small pout...he was reminded of those beautiful forty days of his that he spent with the real Mary. The picture of the Mary beside him that moment was not similar to the Mary she had become but it was the picture of the Mary that she was before.

"Mariana Sanders," As some flashes of those forty mind blowing days were vanished, he heaved a sigh and called out to her. He knew that time she'd turn her head towards him and frown.

She did. And she glared at him with her dark eyebrows all crunched together, "You call me by that name again, I will cut off your tongue and feed it to Alfred as dogs don't deserve your impure stuff like your damn tongue." Though Luciano wanted to keep his trade mark smirk and continue to show that her venom filled words did not effect him. But the way his face was stripped off of his smirk and the carelessness of his eyes...it was enough to show how damn hurt he was.

And when Luciano is hurt, he always gets angry. So, he did and blurted out the thing that he knew so well would enrage the girl he ruined. "There was a time when you actually loved this tongue of mine, Mariana."

"I said don't call me that!" she yelled, punching his arm.

"I am driving, keep your hands to yourself!" He shouted back, irked at her persuasion of being called Mary. He hated that name, he hated how she embraced that name as if it was her identity. But he knew that she was still deep down his Mariana, no matter how much she tried to adapt that new soul of Mary. She was still that pure and sweet girl named Mariana.

"Don't call me by that name ever, you don't call out the names of people who you killed. Do you get it! You killed Mariana, so don't try to bring her back. Dead people don't return!" Her rage was quite visible in those widened and darkened eyes, she made sure her hatred for him was visible to him.

"Mary-" He toned down, his voice low, but she cut him off.

She threw her bag to the backside and slightly turned to him, "I wished I had told Clarissa everything so she wouldn't have been in this mess."

Luciano rolled his eyes at her and winced, "I told you it was not Alfred's work but you're repeating the same damn thing."

Mary chuckled, "What if this one is not his plan, but one way or another, you and him were going to ruin her so stop giving excuses." Luciano stopped the car and the screeching noise of the tyres scared Mary and she squeaked.

"What the hell!" She cried out.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Mary. I was not looking for a damn argument but you always pick up an argument with me. I was trying to show you that there is still that Mariana I knew in you but you lashed out on me." He groaned and glared back at her.

"You don't have to do that, Mr Luciano. I am fine with whatever name I prefer and secondly, you are in no position to make me realize that. After all you're the one who took that away from me." After clearing herself to him, she did the unexpected, her palm lifted up and she tried to resist the urge to slap him but she couldn't control and then she slapped her beast.

"Okay, I get it, I deserve this." He mumbled, realizing what just happened was totally valid. Her yelling, her argument with him, her slap to him...it was all justified in her eyes and it all started to shape right in his eyes too. Because he couldn't bring himself to give anymore excuses and was not able to form an apology.

"Yes, you do. And if something happens to Clarissa, you will deserve a bullet in your heart, not that whatever you made me go through deserved kisses or anything." She mocked and again turned around to look outside the window. "Drive to wherever you were taking me, we have got to find her!" she muttered.

He looked at her, but she didn't turn to him or said anything more so he started the engine, sped up and resumed again towards their journey, seconds turned to minutes and then minutes turned to almost an hour, they kept quiet, they didn't utter a word to each other. In her head, it was only Clarissa along with her own past in which she suffered way more than anyone could imagine. Not even Luciano could imagine the pain he brought to her. All she knew that she couldn't let Clarissa have the same fate as her. She knew Clarissa wouldn't be facing any beast the first time, she remembered the agony someone else brought to her for years. Someone who was monstrous and broke her into pieces, she couldn't afford to have any new beast of this world to tarnish her.

That monster couldn't come back to her friend again then who could? That question lingered in her mind, with rotten theories again and again.

On the other hand, Luciano's head was occupied by Clarissa's bright smile, questions and doubts about the kidnapper, sadness about his past sins that took away Mariana from him. All of it was just making his mind go crazy, in his annoyance, he spoke up, after a long time gap, "Mary, do you have any wild guess that who could be the culprit here?"

She shook her head, still didn't look at him.

"You know her the best, Mary. She must have told you something about her enemies," he asked.

She turned to him, her eyes' emptiness again pulled the strings of Luciano's heart. But he chose to not say anything to her and anger her again, instead he listened to what she said, thought it was bitter, "She was a sweet girl, genuine and harmless. She didn't have enemies. Except that...her closest are her enemies so she couldn't do anything. Poor girl." She blinked twice and looked down, cleared her throat as if she said something that she regretted. Though her statement caught his interest and he investigated more.

"What do you mean?" He pried.

She snickered, tried to form a smile to hide something, a secret that she spilled but he couldn't reach to it, "I mean that you, me and Nate, we all are her enemies. I didn't tell her about the world you have because of my own dilemma and you...obviously were an enemy in disguise. So, we are the real culprits." That moment, he didn't buy words lace with bitterness. He knew there was more to it, being in Mafia made him a good judge.

He let it go for a while, thinking that if it could have helped them finding Clarissa, she would have let him know. "Hm, right."

The air around them were thick, Mary seemed nervous all of sudden, she started sweating and Luciano offered her his handkerchief, she denied and looked away again. She cut the tension that was brewing around them by asking, "You told me that we are going to confirm our doubts and get some clue? So where are we going exactly that is an hour away from my house."

He spoke up, thinking that again they were going to be in a fight."To Alfred's Den." He was dead wrong as the way Mary nodded and ignored the fact that they were going to 'Alfred', it made him worry. What did Mariana has become? He mentally asked himself.

"You don't question why?" He asked.

She shook her head, "No, why would I? You thought about getting any information out of Alfred so I had a wild guess that we'd have to go there." She shrugged.

Luciano narrowed his eyes and analyzed her, she seemed pretty fine with going to the place that snatched her life from her. "I thought-"

She interrupted and answered him as if she read his mind, "Yes, I am okay with going there because I got my freedom from him and his crusade, by agreeing to his rules and conditions. It didn't require me to never visit him, remember the contract. The only good thing about Alfred is...he was moody and could give you your freedom if he willed, I requested him at his good day even though he had already took everything away from me...he gave me something. That is why I don't have problem visiting that bastard. My real culprit is you, Luciano. If I can bear seeing your face almost everyday after your sins then I can face him too. Now, shut up and drive."

Though he knew she was perfectly right about whatever she said, all he could feel was remorse and pain. But all he could have give her was emptiness. And it broke him from inside, Mary didn't know but she still had hold of his soul. She still owned Luciano Marcel. She made him feel guilt, she made him feel hurt, she made him feel ashamed. That was the impossible thing in people's eyes but she did that. Keeping himself quiet, he continued to drive and didn't utter a single word in his defense. Not that he should have. He could at least ease some pain of Mary and himself by finding Clarissa so he was going to.

---

Vote, comment and share.

Yooho, I updated after exact seven days. 😉 Last sunday was the MBS day, this one is too. I've noticed I update MBS on sundays most of the time.

Okay guys I wrote the longest chapter (8k words) so I decided to divide them into two parts. This is the first part. The other is to going to be the second. Expect the update in seven days.
NEXT SUNDAY.

How was this? Did you enjoy the interaction of the Beast and his beauty. Last one was quite 'Silenced convo' so I hope you liked his arc this time more.

What was your fav moment or line?

What do you think of this Luciano and Mary's situation? I think a bit has been explained here about them.

What can you expect from next chap: some more mysteries and an answer to one as well.