"I'm delighted to know about their babymoon. Nonetheless, their parents have graced the occasion with their benign presence── Mr and Mrs Lattif, please enjoy yourselves." Mrs. Warner addressed the Arabian couple and attended to another couple in her conservative mauve dress; her thin golden wristwatch clasped around delicately, hair neatly spun and a golden brooch glimmering in the rich scents of her dress.

"The arrangements are perfect to the t like always. Now we shall see the real element of attraction, your daughter." The man with the wheaten hair chuckled in sincerity, exchanging glances with his nervous son who held a half-consumed flute of champagne.

"My husband forced me to get here all the way from Australia. I even had to cancel my Cuba vacation and face up my friends. Who calls anyone at such short notice?" The paper-thin woman rolled her sharp green eyes. She was wearing a crunched red top with pristine white palazzo and pointed heels.

"I hear you, Camille. I'll try my best to give you a more wonderful experience. You will get your Cuba right here under this chandelier." Mrs Warner smiled in mockery. "Waiter! Please top off Mrs Atwood's glass with a fresh mojito. And tell the chef to include Cuban staple in the entrèes."

"Wha--"

Her son interjected, looking extremely pissed off. "Mom, come on. It has to be right now." He looked up and leaned to ask, "The news is spectacular, Mrs Warner. You must have missed her so much."

"The divine forces from above and below made this miracle possible. That's all I can say." Mrs Warner's placed her hand softly on the boy's shoulder. She grew sentimental but never let her confidence fade away.

As she stepped back to join another couple gaping at her, she heard the same woman bite, "I'm waiting for the time when her so-called daughter will get her naked in front of everyone." She bore holes in Mrs Warner's back. "A girl whose identity was kept away from the limelight for all this time, suddenly unearthing this nonsensical piece of shit in the name of a miracle, I rest my case."

Mrs. Warner turned a deaf ear to this and padded toward Mary who stood silently near the beaufet. She was witnessing everyone's loud reactions and once she saw Mrs. Warner coming onward, she turned herself slightly. Mary didn't talk much to her after the previous incident which only created huge differences between them.

"Everyone is waiting for her. We shall call her down." Mrs Warner chimed, rubbing her hands out of nervousness and excitement. After all, her pride rested in the fact that she found her daughter in a well-off condition.

Mary gave a single deep nod and gesticulated to Lucy to proceed with the unsaid command.

***

Ruby was wearing a nude color off-shoulder gown with an applique of sober glitters around her bust, leaving the back exposed. Her very own necklace sat a few inches below her collarbone. A simple, pulled-back style with softly curled ends like Huntington-Whiteley.

Her almond-shaped eyes were accentuated with a peacock green eye shadow and black kohl. Modern yet classy. She was sitting before the mirror on the couch. Ruby was too caught up in her thoughts that she had scarcely noticed someone standing right beside her.

Until a note of bergamot drifted in her nose. She looked up at the son of a business baron. His appearance was so different today in comparison to the rest of the days she had encountered him. Not just his golden hair looked tidy and pulled back with an extreme amount of gel, but a cloaked devil playing in his blue eyes determined the strangeness.

"Who allowed you to come inside?" Ruby began to move away from him.

"Who? Who can stop from entering inside, Eli? I'm not a stranger, and for the records, I've never been one in your absence." Without breaking eye contact, Tasher took a few steps onward. His voice was exceptionally flat and his mouth parted slightly. It was evident that he was here to wreak vengeance against her for treating him like an untouchable creep all this time. Yes. He literally wanted her to touch him. To be a submissive partner, where he could just inchoate to asperse the colors of his machoism. "Nobody can stop me from doing what I want. I think there is a little problem with your head that keeps on underestimating the power I hold."

"What do you want? And don't call me by that name again."

"Why are you sweating, sexy thing?" He pried at her discomfort washing over her face. "Why such a tight ass? You are making my work even harder baby." He then skimmed a finger beneath her chin teasingly. "Turn around."

"Tasher. I really don't have time for this. People are waiting for me. Don't try to spoil everything, and please leave my room right away!" she ordered him, swiping her hand as much as the proximity allowed toward the door.

"I've got parallel thinking . . . let's not take too much time talking shit. Just strip." His arm encircled her tiny waist and the gaunt fingers of his other hand worked their way upward.

"I'm not a bottle of beer which you could just unscrew and drink it." Ruby gritted, two fists glued to his chest.

"Leave that job on the minutes we will spend together── if you are a bottle of beer or a sour soda. I've varied tastes." He sucked on his finger before pressing it onto her lips.

"For the damn sake of our friendship. Tasher leave!" She turned her head sidewards.

That being said, he pinned her hands on the wall as his other hand slid down her back and grasped her butt. Before Ruby's reflexes could save her, he began sucking on her lip, tasting tentatively with his tongue.

Just in time, Lucy knocked on the door and said from behind the closed door, "Mrs Warner wants you to come to the hall. Please─"

"C-OME I-N-SIDE!" Ruby called out to Lucy in between the sloppy kisses. She thought that the presence of an unwanted person would be highly disliked by him and would stop kissing her.

Instead, the intensity of the kiss reached another level. He plunged his fingers into her hair. The unprecedented loss of control made him appear like some wild animal. "I want you to get under me, moan my name out loud when I will shove my ten inches delicious dick," he said in a broken tone, fingers wanting to get through her skin. "In your juicy clit."

"I wish that ten inches increment should have been in the decision-making component of your brains. But sadly it's in the place where I would never spit," she jeered.

He kissed her again. "I'm afraid I might forget about the tidbit revenge part if you keep on staring that way."

Lucy merely stayed back for a second. Her face blushed at the sight and she quickly covered her eyes, murmuring, "I'm so sorry." She left from there. Why the heck did she have to leave so fast?

Lucy! Lucy!

The cry for help seemed to shrivel within the hard walls of her mind. "Get ready for your punishment, Tasher!" Ruby writhed her wrists from his grip which seemed to have lost strength and walked away with heavy footsteps. "I'll tell Mrs Warner about your stupid-ass behavior and you will be thrown out of the mansion. Got it, asshole."

"Elizabeth . . . you don't know what you are doing, do you?" He grunted and she shut the door in his face on cue.

She thundered toward the porch. The stunning midnight moon's light leaked through the relief ornament spangles. She peered at a man standing a few feet away. He was wearing the super hit combination of a black tuxedo and a crisp white shirt with a bow tie. Nothing extraordinary. Suddenly, the lights went dimmer as she stepped outside, she identified the man as Joseph.

She could see the love glistening in his eyes for the first time as she faced him. She wanted to taste that love. His black eyes didn't leave her face for once. A whirlpool of thoughts like──how was she going to tell him that she couldn't do this anymore? And also, will he never love her the way she did after this?── hurled inside her head.

He turned to look at the moon, resting his elbows on the marble railing. Before he opened his mouth, Ruby spoke on his behalf, "Wondering why am I not there at the gathering?"

"No. That's not what I was going to say." Joseph now imprisoned her entire body in his eyes properly and breached his brooding demeanor by a whisker. "You are looking like a dream girl."

Ruby spun around with a poker face, saying nothing. That reaction lit a flame of doubtfulness in his mind. The idea of running after her would be suspective to his strong-headed character so he decided to poke her from standing there. "At least say a humble thank you; it wouldn't cost much."

She plodded along with the splendor of the white marble floor and the statutes on the wall to where she didn't care to know.

"Hey! Hey!" Joseph followed her and grabbed her bare forearm gently. She hadn't covered much distance, so they were still under the moonlight. "Now that there is no one in her bedroom. Go there and open the locker. Empty that locker ── from jewelry, cash and paperwork, and everything. I want everything."

"I don't have the keys," she stared blankly. She couldn't believe her nerves. Just how easily she poured out the truth, but her heart never let her feel the ease.

"Mrs Warner gave it to me in the car, I was there. How can you say that? Now, get with the program!" Joseph laughed spuriously and tilted his head. "Go to her room──"

"Joseph. I don't have the keys," Ruby enunciated each word with all seriousness she could intend. Her eyes bloated as every second seemed longer than they should be. He was negatively choked by emotion when he realized she was repeating herself.

"I don't believe you." He shook his head and backed away. "Be careful with your makeup, you have to me-"

"Makeup? It's such a blessing for women like me who are asked to cover the scars given by people like you. But what about the scars that are left on my heart, huh? How will you cover them?" she yelled and inched toward him, looking into his eyes with hope. "I'm not okay. Can you not see me cry from this close?"

"Say it all," he asserted darkly, chin up.

"That beast wants to get with me. He pressed me against the wall and kissed the fucking out of my soul." Tears were building in her eyes as she continued through and stuffed-up nose, "I can never agree to sell my body to anyone but you. Joseph, I love you."

Regardless of those words pleading for security, Joseph crushed her dress material with his big beefy fist and pushed her back until a cold surface hit her back. He began to recite a record of her achievements, "This is so expensive that your children would die paying off the entire sum in installments." He ran an unsophisticated hand across her silky and lustrous hair. Ruby whipped her head to the side, hating the way his hand felt so cold. "And this is so surprising to see. You used to have hair like weeds. Dirty and smelly. But now it has changed."

He curled his finger around the silver chain, his unperturbed glare setting her to an edge. "And this . . ."

" . . . is mine."

She stared through him as their faces were too close. Too close to understanding the language of unsaid words and undeniable feelings. When she envisaged him forgetting about everything and declaring that he loved her so much more, she was wrong as he pulled apart.

He turned his back at her and walked a few steps ahead. "In all, Ruby was just a small brand of cheap product. A backup singer. An illiterate. A person without any identity and worth. And nothing else." He whirled around swiftly. "I gave you a name. I gave you fame, and I gave you everything you could've only dreamed of. You wouldn't want me to take you back to your old days, huh? Every time you took to the stage, no one spared to look twice at you. Because you weren't close to the A of attraction." Joseph moved in circles around her. Needled by the cruelty fixating his speech, she quailed with weakness.

"I don't want to fulfill his sexual gratifications. This was never a part of the contract you made me sign," she protested weakly, rummaging through her hair.

"It's an old saying, you have to lose something to gain something. That befits this situation. Need I say more?" Joseph gave a lopsided grin, as his face was magenta with fury. "I don't see it as a problem. After all, you must have spread your legs for plenty of men before."

Her heart stopped for a second as she confessed, "Joseph! I have never let any man touch me." She attached her hands to his chest unconsciously, as if pleading to prove her innocence was going to end all their problems.

"Why are you being so uptight? It's perfectly okay to be one." Joseph kicked up his eyebrow in disgust. "That's gonna help us overcome all obstacles like Tasher and Mark. You must be professionally trained to captivate men of wealth and taste."

"And I'd slap you hard if you speak rubbish again. Why are you going so hard on me?" She swallowed and grabbed his collars, wanting to slap him twice, thrice, and multiple times for committing a massive error of judgment.

"Because despite having those keys in your hand, you are showcasing the dirty tricks rubbed off on you after living within the silo of unethical people for bloody twenty years!" His voice was strident, and he was out of breath as he pried her hands off him.

How can one spill so much venom? Nevertheless, the conversations that blossomed into loud screaming arguments started to settle down. Slowly.

She fell quiet and a forced smile left her mouth parted. "What should I say? Because you did a great job in explaining the undesirable moral influence I have had on me. Yeah, you described it better than I would have described it myself." She whimpered and looked down for a moment. "But, Mr Holden, since the day I took refuge in your home, what kind of wrongful activity did I do behind your back? Didn't we trust each other?"

The brooding man nodded and progressed with slow-biting words, "You have developed a false sense of entitlement. Anyway, open your ears as I help you revisit our plan. You were supposed to commit theft by deception. I had made a promise to settle you in some different country and help you land a suitable job for yourself. From there on, you would've lived a decent, independent life on your own terms."

"Away from you," she confirmed, teary-eyed.

"Yes. Away from me," he said in a tone no louder than before.

"Just say that I've never been anything more than just a fucking raw deal to you."

"You are nothing more than just a raw deal to me."

"I was never alone in this journey. My heart remained my companion till now. But you won't understand it because you are no different from that monster," Her tearful eyes laid on the vaśe of white roses situated near him. The glass shattered as she slung the vaśe on the floor. Everything seemed so dramatic. So injuring. "Go to fucking hell!"

She pulled her gown up to pace out from this site as fast as she could.

The breeze became more chilled and never lost touch with her naked back until she changed her route to some other place where she could find some peace. She eventually wanted to lock herself in her bedroom but there was no guarantee that jerk aka Tasher would turn to her room.

The crystal chandeliers were swaying back and forth and the wind left a wave-like effect on the golden billowing silk curtains. She accidentally found herself standing in front of Mrs Warner's bedroom. "True that is, there's no place for emotions in this fait accompli. I'll prove it to you." She ventured in.

Torn between blind goals and fostered feelings, Joseph closed his eyes and squatted down in meditation. The tiny splinters resembled the white angelic pearls protecting him against the bad omen. He rubbed his face several times and thoughtfully admitted, "Please forgive me."

****

As she entered, the darkness prevailing inside blinded her vision. She wasn't sure about her next step so she yanked against the wall and searched the switchboard. Just as she found it, she flicked all the switches, fingers matching with the frisson bubbling in her movements.

"Paradise . . ." She sighed and heard something. There was a faint and unrecognizable sound, announcing its invisible presence, she was not alone in the room. Motivated by a lachrymose and ardent surge, she could fight anyone and continue to look for that locker to steal her property papers just to prove all the allegations wrong. How dare he talked down to her given her intentions weren't wrong or phony.

She walked up to the massive closet, sliding the entire six-foot with strength; with slats hung from which were rich silks blouses and skirts. Pillbox hats. Purses atypical to her mind's reachability. Colorful office heels, diamonds encrusted on them. Then her eyes fixated on a metallic box with a shiny handle and a keyhole──there it was──the locker.

Her fingers grazed the handle lightly. Something broke her line of thought as she heard a familiar voice, coming closer, and closer.

Ruby bolted upright and almost yelled, slapping a hand on her chest, "You!"

In this particular instance, her necklace was unclasped and struck the floor. She was appalled, as she didn't see it coming. You . . .

Word count - 2950

a/n; guess who's has caught her? 🙀
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