Few minutes later, just as she promised, Mercedes returned.

Elodie had retreated to the head board, eyes glued to the door, legs curled under her butt.

If the bitch wanted to have a go at her, then she'd work for it.

She clenched her fingers around the mouth of the plastic spoon, keeping the tip away from her body. It wouldn't do a lot of damage, yes, but it'd buy her time at least.

Mercedes stopped at the foot of the bed, eyes going straight to the tray.

Elodie's eyes roamed all over her face, taking in the cool expression, while her own heart threatened to burst out of her chest.

"I see," murmured the other woman.

Elodie licked her dry lips, and spoke before she could stop herself. "I told you to take it away, didn't I?"

"You're one stubborn girl," Mercedes said. "But, I must admit that I was expecting this."

Elodie tightened her fingers around the spoon. "What do you mean by that?"

Instead of answering, Mercedes snapped her fingers twice.

Immediately, the door was thrust open and three ladies in uniformed maid attire in black and white colors entered the room. They stopped behind Mercedes and bowed at the waist, fingers crossed below their hip line.

"Hold her down."

Elodie's eyes widened. "W-what?"

She watched as the ladies started towards her—one of them approached from the right, one from the left, and the other from the foot of the bed.

Trapped, she whipped put the spoon, pointing it in all directions at the intruders. "Don't you dare come closer."

Mercedes scoffed at that, crossing her arms across her chest. "You're so pathetic, it's painful to watch." To the maids she added, "make it hurt."

"No," Elodie yelled, "don't come near."

Just as the maid from the right gained in on her, Elodie leapt forward with the fork, and only managed to swipe her below the eyes before the other two grabbed her wrists and pushed her down onto the bed.

"No," she said, kicking her foot. "Please. Don't do this."

"Lisa, hold her mouth open."

Lisa, the maid she'd injured with the spoon, straddled Elodie's waist, grabbed her cheek in one hand and pressed down.

Elodie thrashed as much as she could, whipping her head from side to side, trying to escape, but the three were stronger and held her still.

"Pleath," she whispered as tears blurred her vision.

She saw Mercedes approach the bed with the glass of juice from the tray, and began to struggle in earnest.

"Plug her nose."

Lisa did as asked.

Elodie choked on the sweet citrus as it was poured down her throat. Some escaped down the sides of her face, and she took down many, too.

After what seemed like eternity, she was released all at once.

She scrambled up the bed, gasping and coughing, while wiping her eyes furiously with the back of her hands.

Mercedes had returned to the foot of the bed with her minions, and was watching her with a smirk. "I warned you, didn't I?"

"You bitch!" It came out weak and whispered, but she heard Elodie, because her smirk dimmed a bit.

"Clear up this place," she ordered her minions.

Elodie kept her eyes on Mercedes as the maids cleared up the untouched plate of food and took the trolley with them.

"Since you have decided to be ungrateful, then you'll have no meal until tomorrow afternoon."

Elodie glared at her, chest still heaving from her ordeal.

"I told you how much I hate wasters, especially ones who don't have the luxury to do so like you," she said, checking her varnished nails. "A gutter person like yourself shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"You're the one to talk," Elodie intoned wetly, widening her eyes as she spoke. "You're also a gutter person, treating a woman like this."

If she was hoping the other woman would be offended, then she was wrong, because Mercedes merely shook her head with a chuckle.

"You're so naive." She smoothed her palms down her pants, gaze going to the opened balcony doors. "You even have the best view."

"Who cares about a stupid view, huh?!" She shouted, sitting upright on the bed. "I'm trapped here, and you crazy people almost choked me to death oon liquids, and you're here talking about views?"

That shrewd gaze came to rest upon her. It was cold and direct. "The chain around your neck will loosen enough for you to take a shower."

The sudden change of topic rendered her a blinking dummy. "Pardon?"

"You reek."

Elodie could only watch as the other woman walked out of the room, engaging the locks behind her.

She was once again shut off from the rest off the world.

*

Sometime after Mercedes left, the chains around her neck and wrist were released.

At first, Elodie had been pulled out of her melancholia when the sound of machine whirling reached her ears, then she'd sprang upright from her curl on the bed, and watched as more length of the chains were dropping onto the bed until it finally came to a stop.

She'd stared at it, unable to move, not trusting it.

But in the end, the smell of her own body had driven her off the bed.

The new length only went as far as the bathroom, which ran enough hot water to wash about a dozen of people.

Elodie took her time washing her body, scrubbing and scrubbing until she was pink and raw, then sat on the floor to have a good cry.

The thought of Angelo or Mercedes returning to find her on the floor naked was what drove her out.

There was no towel to dry her body with so she wore her panties and bra over her wet body, then went back to sit on the bed.

Instantly, the chain length retreated back into the walls, and she was once again locked in place.

Elodie sat on the bed, drew her legs up to her chest, and laid her head on it.

The sky was slowly getting darker, and she could no longer hear voices from below. In fact, the air was so still, that she felt as though she was the only one on the world at that moment.

But, once again, her peace was shattered when the door opened to reveal Mercedes and her three minions from earlier.

Elodie's back went up, and she got to her knees in the middle of the bed.

Mercedes crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head this way and that. "You call that a bath?"

She bit down on her bottom lip, refusing to reply.

"Very well."

Mercedes walked over to the second door Angelo didn't go into that morning, and went to open it.

It was a large walk-in closet.

She turned to Elodie, tilting her head slightly. "The chain around your wrist would be released, and the one around your neck, too. But the collar will stay. Let me warn you now, don't try anything funny."

Elodie raised a brow, but kept quiet.

"Alright?"

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "I won't."

Merdeces regarded her for a full minute, then nodded. "Release her."

Elodie sat back, watching as keys were inserted into the holes on the cuffs around her wrists, and soon, she was released.

She rubbed the red marks around her wrist, wincing as her palms caught on the cuts with dried blood littering them.

The collar around her neck wasn't heavy now that the chain was gone, but its presence was stark and it felt as though it was choking her.

"Come here," Mercedes snapped.

Elodie took her sweet time getting off the bed, watching as the other woman's expression got darker as she slowly approached her. She came to a stop in front of her, fists clenched.

"Go in."

She stepped into the closet.

It was big enough to hold a chandelier of interwoven glass tubes, a chaise lounge, and a cabinet in the middle.

Elodie eyed the chaise, wondering who was expected to lounge around in a closet.

Then, she turned to the wall of clothes, and realized that person must be her.

Dresses—coded by color and arranged by length—were on the right beside a row of jackets. To the left were shirts, black shading to white, and below that skirts and pants. Another wall was lined with shoes and bags.

Elodie noted that there were no jeans, flat-shoes, or even sweatpants. This place looked like those glamorous celebrity homes she'd seen on TV.

"It's nice, right?" Mercedes whispered in her ear from behind, then moved around to stand in front of her. "As you can see, the Don knows what you need."

Elodie pursed her lips, turning away from the shiny Balenciaga bag winking at her from the top shelf. "If your Don knows me so well as you claim, then he'd realize that I don't like flashy things."

She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "There's no woman on earth who'd deny that having a life such as this is better."

"I'm not that woman."

"Like I said, ungrateful."

"Why should I be grateful, huh? You're holding me against my will." Elodie stopped short of stomping her feet at the last minute, knowing that would make her look like a spoilt child, which would annoy Mercedes to no end. "Tell me what sane person would be happy to be kidnapped."

Mercedes tapped her feet against the floor twice, then crossed her arms again. "Pick a dress to wear. I'll step out for a minute with the girls, and I expect you to be fully dress when I return."

"As if I would do what you said just because you ask?" She scoffed.

Before she could blink, her hair was wrapped around Mercedes' fist, head pulled back to expose her throat, and kicked behind the knees; which drove her onto the carpeted floor on her knees.

Elodie's hand flew to clamp down around the leg pressed against her nape. She dug her fingers into the meaty, silk clad thigh, but Mercedes didn't even flinch, instead she preesed in harder.

"You keep annoying me and I'm this close," she said, leaning in until their gazes locked, "to fucking you up real bad. I'll give you one more chance. Get. Dressed."

"Okay, okay," she choked out.

Her assailant held on for just a tad bit longer, then pushed her forward onto all fours with a disgusted sigh.

"One minute is all you get."

Their retreat was quick, and they shut the closet door behind them.

Elodie panted, tears of humiliation, more than pain, filling her eyes.

An headache was beginning to form behind her eyelids, her whole body ached as though she'd been through a damned washing machine, and she probably had rug-burn.

Did Mercedes say she had a minute?

That was plenty of time to find a weapon in this place.

Elodie pushed to her feet and rushed to the cabinets. She started going through them one by one.

The first one was filled with lingeries in matching sets, and she quickly changed out of her old ones, sighing in relief at the clean underwear.

The second cabinet was filled with socks of all colors, but they were her size. She a pair and stuffed them into her bra.

Next, she went to the third cabinet and was pleased to see that this one contained jewelry. She did not linger on the shiny looking necklaces and earrings, and went for the hairpins instead.

There were three in total: a jade colored one with flower petals and blunt pointy tip, the second one was a sapphire shaped half moon, and the last one was shaped like the sun with sharp tip.

She picked the jade.

Then, she rushed toward the pants section, picked a random one with pocket and pulled it on. She was buttoning a sheer top when the door opened once again and Mercedes walked in alone.

Elodie dropped her hands to her side, keeping her defiant eyes on the other woman as she approached with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Not bad," she murmured, circling Elodie. "I didn't expect you to be dressed that quiet fast. That's a great asset to have. But as for your pairing, you look like a three year old. Pink on on orange?"

Elodie pressed her lips together, moving her hand slowly toward her hip as Mercedes stopped in front of her. She prayed with all she had that the witch would lean forward into her space.

"What do they teach you at the agency if you can't even dress yourself properly?"

"How to fight against violence to women?"

"I haven't even started with you and you're crying." Mercedes chuckled, shoulders shaking with the action. "You're such a weakling."

Elodie closed her fist against the hilt of the hair pin, held on tight, biting her lips. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She bowed her head and hunched her shoulders, trying to look contrite, and hoped that it would work.

"I can't wait for you to die, so everything will go back just as it used to be." Her voice sounded closer now.

Elodie decided to count to three in her head.

"I don't know what he sees in you."

One.

"You have no money, no class, zero potential."

Two.

"And," Mercedes breath fanned her cheeks, "I will kill you myself."

Three.

Elodie looked right into her eyes, and bared her teeth. "I'll kill you myself!"

Mustering what strength she'd preserved, Elodie drew out the hairpin, pulled back her hand, and let it fly forward.

"W-wha-?" Mercedes murmured, pushing away from her.

Elodie's hand flew to her mouth as she watched the other woman's hand fly to her neck.

Mercedes blinked rapidly, as wet sounds began to emerge from her red coated lips. She staggered back another feet."H-how...?"

She watched her stagger toward the door and knew that the minute Mercedes stepped out, it was all over.

So, Elodie rushed at her, grabbed her by the arm, and thrust her back into the room. Satisfaction shot through her when the other woman fell onto her back, fingers wrapped around the hilt of the weapon.

"Who's a weakling now?" Elodie mocked.

Realizing that the minions would have heard the commotion by now, Elodie tucked the edge of her top into her pants, took deep breaths, opened just one of the closet door, and quickly shut it behind her.

Just as she expected, the maids were waiting for Mercedes in the room. They all looked startled at the sight of her, though.

"She told you to come inside," Elodie told them, hoping her voice wasn't as shaky as she was inside.

The three exchanged a look of suspicion.

Elodie decided to lay it on thick. "You don't want to piss her off, do you?"

That had them springing into action.

All three of them rushed toward the closet, and Elodie ran for the door, too.

It slid open with ease, and she quickly stepped out just as a cry of alarm rang out from the closet.

The key was in the lock just as she'd known, and she locked it behind her, but opted to leave the key in the lock.

The hallway was large and carpet, and there was no soul in sight.

The room she was kept in was the last one at the end of the corridor, so there was only one way to go.

Elodie slowly crept down the hall, her footfalls muffled by the plush carpet underneath her feet.

She passed a door to her right, and another one to her left. No sound reached her ears from both, so she pressed on.

The first taste of freedom settled on her tongue when she came to the top of a spiral stairs and wasn't apprehend.

Closer, but she wasn't there just yet.

She made her way slowly down the stairs, and ran toward the large entrance when her foot touched the polished wood flooring.

Elodie glanced over her shoulders just in case. When she saw no one, she exhaled sharply and reached for the knob, twisting it downwards.

It opened.

A/N:

I apologize for the late update a lot, I've got no excuse.

But, I will be uploading another chapter as compensation for it.

Thank you for sticking around.

I can't help but notice that I have new readers🎉🎉🎉🎉

Welcome to you all.

I look forward to interacting with you.

Now, back to the story,

Did you expect Elodie to stab Mercedes?

Will she be able to escape this time around?

Will Mercedes die?

Do you think Angelo set her up for failure?

Lastly, where are you reading from?

Don't forget to vote, comment and share.

I always look forward to meeting new people, so you can share your thoughts with me.

Thank you for reading📖❤️❤️