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-Back to Aria's pov-

I slowly open my eyes and blink trying to adjust them so I could see clearer. A ray of sunlight was beaming down onto my face which makes me put my hand in front of my eyes blocking the light. I sit up and a sharp pain shoots through my head. I groan in pain whilst rubbing my head and squeezing my eyes shut. What happened? What time is it? I look around and panic floods through my body. Where the heck am I? I look down and realise I'm on a bed.

A very comfy one. Now is not the time brain.

Suddenly the door opens and a tall man walks in eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. I realise it's one of the men that was in the ally way with the other man that owed money to them, and it's also the one that was laughing at me. I quickly push the covers off of me and got up off the bed backing myself up against a corner. "Don't come near me" I whisper pointing my finger at him. He laughs and then instantly goes back to an angry expression and starts walking towards me grabbing onto my wrist in a painful grip.

"You are coming with me." He tells me whilst trying to drag me out of the room.

I start screaming and hitting him to let go of my wrist. "Let go of me!" I keep shouting at him. He then pushes me onto the floor and points his finger in my face. Memories start filling my head. This is all so familiar.

"Shut up stupid woman and just fucking do as you're told!" He yells in my face. I bring my legs to my chest and look down at my knees, tears start building up in my eyes. He was about to grab onto my arm but then a loud booming voice interrupts making the man pause and his eyes widen.

"What the fuck is going on here Edan?" He shouts standing in the doorway his hands in his pockets and his face in a deep scowl. The man gulps before turning to face the man that just came in.

"I- well I was t-trying to bring her t-to you Boss" he stutters. Boss? So this is the powerful person that owns this place I'm guessing.

The deep voice speaks again. "Did I say drag her?." I look up and see the man shake his head and lower it in shame. His voice raises again and I flinch. "Fuck off I'll deal with you later." The man instantly scurries off without even glancing back at me. I look back at my knees when the deep voice speaks again. "We need to talk." I look up at him afraid. What does he want from me?

He rolls up his sleeves and walks over to sit on the bed. Folding his arms, he looks at me with an emotionless gaze before saying "Sit" and pats the space next to him. His voice is cold and dangerous but oozes with confidence and power. Who is this man? I stand up from the floor and quickly do as I'm told like always and sit on the bed, moving over slightly so there's quite a big gap between us and look back down at my fingers.

"You're probably wondering why I want to keep you here, right?" I don't give any reply, keeping my head down I nod. "Words" he replies his voice going deeper.

I hesitate to answer before stuttering. "Y-yes sir." I can already tell he is looking at me a bit confused.

"Matteo is just fine Aria" he replies, and in the corner of my eye I see him looking at me, brows furrowed. How does he know my name? I can't call him by his first name. I just can't. I'm so used to calling Aaron sir so what if he will hurt me like he does if I don't do as I'm told. I turn my head and look at him with wide eyes before shaking my head and looking back down at my fingers, finding them really interesting suddenly.

"I w-well I can't- um well I mean I don't want to s-sir." I stutter again. I always get nervous around people, you can never know what they'll do to you. I can't help it now but feel paranoid about every little thing, scared about what people think of me and how they will treat me.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you Aria." He says coldly.

I quickly look back up at him trying to look anywhere apart from his emotionless hazel eyes. "And why is it that you can't call me by my first name, hm?" he asks scratching his chin. I just shake my head again not wanting to answer. I can't tell him why. I can't tell him anything. No one can save me from my nightmare of a life. He will come for me and end up possibly killing me otherwise. He sighs annoyed "Listen, just call me Matteo, Aria not sir. There's no need to be that formal with me."

"No." I say raising my voice a little bit unintentionally this time making me cover my mouth in fear. His eyes widen a little, probably not expecting me to raise my voice and I realised I've messed up. I've just yelled at him and now he's going to hurt me. I watch as he gets up and I flinch moving further away from him. I notice him staring at me with a puzzled look on his face making me quickly get myself back to normal and start rubbing my arm nervously averting my gaze away from him.

I pray in my head that he doesn't ask questions and luckily he doesn't. He clears his throat and begins talking again. "So as you know you saw something.." he pauses for a second before continuing "saw something you weren't exactly meant to see." I nod not daring to speak again just in case. "So that means you're going to have to stay here for a while until I figure something else out on what to do with you." I snap my head up to look at him and my mouth opens wide the panic flooding my body again. This can't happen, I can't go back into another nightmare again.

I start shaking my head multiple times and start scratching my arms harshly. "N-no I can't, p-please just let me g-go, I won't te- tell anyone." He chuckles emotionlessly.

"No can do Hermosa unfortunately" he shrugs his shoulders carelessly looking at the wall in front of him.

(hermosa: beautiful)

I'll just have to try to escape then I say in my head, well I thought I did until I hear him speak again. "Good luck with that, I'll always end finding you again. Trust me." He turns his head towards me his eyes glaring straight at me making me glare at him back hoping it would somehow intimidate him like he does to me. He rolls his eyes and stands up from the bed , putting his hands in his pockets and turns to face me.

"Anyways, for the mean time whilst you are staying here, you will work as a maid here so you're not doing nothing. Make sure that breakfast is done by 7am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 8pm since those are the usual times my other maids did it for. I have another maid called Lindsey but she is the one that does the cleaning, she used to do the cooking but now that's your job, got all that?." I nod defeatedly again taking everything in and making sure I remember all the times.

"Don't do any work today but you'll start work tomorrow, I'll show you where the kitchen is so you know how to get to it, follow me." He starts walking off with his hands still in his pockets and I quickly follow him from behind.

｡･:*˚:✧｡ ____________________________ -chapter complete- 👼 Hey angels I hope you liked this chapter! I decided to update twice in the same day to make up for not updating in ages. So Aria has to start working as a maid now. Will she ever be able to escape?

Read on and find out!!🤍

Make sure to keep voting and telling other about my stories!! Thank you <3