《Selena Arabella Calos》

Before I can decide for certain if I want to read his letter, I hear the click of the door unlocking. I back away from the door in anticipation. The door opens, and three people with guns push a person inside the room.

The guards' faces are covered with ski masks, so only their eyes and mouths are visible. The person that they pushed in, on the other hand, has a burlap sack over their head, and their hands are tied behind their back.

The guards force the person to sit on the floor in the middle of the room.

"If either of you moves before we get out of this room, we'll not hesitate to kill both of you," one of the guards says. The guard then looks at me. "Is that clear?"

I'm still in shock over everything that has happened, so I just nod instead of saying anything- because in all honesty, I don't think I can trust my voice right now.

The person sitting on the floor also make their best attempt at nodding. The guards back away, keeping their guns trained on all of us until they close the door.

Now that I'm left alone in a room with a stranger, I feel even more anxious. What am I supposed to do? Should I help them, or should I leave them be?

Before I call fully decide, the person suddenly stands up. This startles me so much that I bump into the wall with a thud.

I bite my tongue to keep myself from crying out because of the pain. Ouch, ouch, ouch. That hurts so-

"Who's there?" The person asks, his voice muffled because of the burlap sack.

Why does the person's voice seem familiar?

I don't answer. Hopefully, if I don't say anything, he'll just assume the noise was from something falling down.

My plan doesn't work because he starts moving in my direction, probably following the source of the sound. I quietly try to tiptoe away from my position.

"I can hear your footsteps," the guy says, making me freeze. He sighs. "I promise I am not going to hurt you. Just help me untie these ropes."

I try to calm my racing heart before replying. "No."

"Why?" The guy asks, tilting his head.

Thankfully he doesn't take another step towards me, or I would have freaked out even more.

"The only advantage I have right now over you is that you're tied up, so you can't hurt me. I would be dumb to take that advantage away," I reply, trying my best to keep my voice even.

"Would that still be an advantage when they come back? Because they are going to. The best chance either of us have against them is if we work together, and we can't do that if one of us is tied up and unable to see," the guy replies and I hate him for being so logical.

"I don't even know you. I have no reason to trust you. For all I know, you could be working with them."

"Do you really think I'd be tied up if I was with them?" He growls, taking a step towards me.

I move around the guy, trying to keep as far away from him as the limited space in the room can allow, and walk to the opposite end of the room.

"I'm not untying you."

The guy turns around and sighs. "Fine, at least remove the thing on my head. I can't breathe properly."

I consider his request. I don't want to listen to him but at the same time if anything happens to him because he can't breathe, I'll feel responsible for it. "Fine. But you need to sit down first otherwise I can't properly untie that rope from your neck, you're too tall."

"How short are you?" The guy says condescendingly, but he listens to me and sits down.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be rude to the only person who can help you right now."

He stays quiet and I roll my eyes. What a jerk. The least he could have done is apologize.

I move closer to him and start undoing the knot around his neck. "What's your name?" He doesn't reply. "I won't help you if you don't tell me your name."

"Daniel," he mutters, sounding annoyed.

"Full name."

"Why? Do you want to go and google me?" I start to move away from him when he snaps: "Fine. My name is Daniel Nicholas Castello."

I blink in surprise. "Francesco Castello's brother?"

"How do you know my brother?" He sounds defensive.

"He's my brother's best friend?"

"Ajax's?"

"Yeah, do you know him too?" I ask him, a lot calmer now that I know he can't be with Adam considering he is Francis's brother.

"You're Selena Calos?" Daniel asks, completely ignoring my previous question.

"Yes."

As soon as I remove the burlap sack from his face, I fall back in surprise. No wonder the voice sounded familiar!

It's him. It's the blue-eyed angel. The guy who I keep on bumping into.

"You lied to me! You're not Daniel Castello, you're Nico."

Once he gets over his shock he narrows his eyes at me. "You lied to me too."

"I didn't. Arabella is my middle name."

"Well, Nico is mine," he replies.

"Ho-"

"Nico is short for Nicholas."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Now that we have established that you do indeed know me, untie me."

I narrow my eyes at him. "Stop being rude and I will."

He glares at me. "I don't like repeating myself."

"And I don't like being disrespected."

A muscle in his jaw ticks. "For fucks sake, Selena, do as you're told."

I frown. I hate how he said my name like he was hurling an insult at me.  

I shake my head adamantly. He gets up and starts walking towards me, looking so dangerous that I crawl back until I hit a wall. Despite the fact that he's tied up, I have a feeling he can easily overpower me.

"Untie me. Now!" He grits out. I don't want to listen to him but I don't think I have a choice.

"Turn around," I mutter.

"How did you end up here?" Ni- Daniel asks me as I start untying his hands.

"I don't know exactly why I was kidnapped. All I know is that my father has something that our kidnapper wants," I explain to him, after taking a moment trying to decide if I want to talk to him or not.

I omitted the part about Adam and me because it had nothing to do with why I was kidnapped this time- I think. Also, it would have made the story far too long.

"How did they enter your house?" Daniel asks me, just as I finish untying the ropes around his wrists. He rubs his wrists then looks at me.

"They were wearing the guard's uniforms."

He looks at me for a second, as if he's about to tell me something, then thinks better of it and instead just says, "Oh."

Does he know something about my father- something about the thing that got me kidnapped- that I don't? Looking at his face, I can guess quite possible he does. But I don't know him enough to demand answers from him. Even though he had no trouble demanding me to do what he wanted.

"How did you end up here?" I ask him.

"A similar reason to yours," Daniel answers simply.

"Really?" I ask him, raising my eyebrow.

"That's the short answer," he replies. "If we started with the long answer- we would be here forever."

"Right," I say. "Do you have a plan for getting out of here?"

Daniel shakes his head. "No, I don't yet. It's going to take a while for me to figure out a way to get out of here without getting caught. Don't worry, there are people looking for us. It may take a while, but they'll find us."

"What do you think they're going to do to us before we manage to escape?"

Both of us remain quiet, either because neither of us knows what will happen or we know exactly what's going to happen, and we're just too afraid to say it aloud. The latter is my reason for remaining quiet. I wonder what's his.

-

Apparently, our kidnapper's plan was either to have us kill each other or to bore and starve us to death. I don't know which one will work sooner. But the level of annoyance I feel for the person sitting opposite me- who just so happens to be glaring at me- suggests that the former will work sooner.

It's been who knows how many days since we've been stuck in this room, and since then, I've learnt that Daniel is not the blue-eyed angel that I thought he was. A more apt description of him would be an annoying, arrogant devil. At this point, I can't even believe I thought he was this kind, easy-going, thoughtful gentleman when we first met. The man in front of me is anything but. He is the most narcissistic, pain in the ass person that I've ever met.

A loud bang on the door interrupts our glaring contest, and we both jump to our feet- my eyes suddenly wide and my heart racing.

The door opens with a click, and five men enter the room.

"Come with us, girl!" The man who seems like the leader of the group orders me. Daniel walks across the room, coming to stand beside me.

I struggle to do anything as the man glares at me. I can't bring myself to move forward or speak or even breathe. I feel like this is the start of a terrible nightmare, and all I want to do is wake up, but I can't.

"Didn't you hear what I said, girl! Come with us!" The man shouts again. "Bring her with us," the man orders one of the men that came with him when I don't move.

As that man moves towards me, Daniel pushes me behind him.

"She will not be going anywhere," Daniel tells the man calmly- but anyone can tell from his face that he is beyond mad. He looks like he's ready to kill them all. He looks like he wouldn't hesitate if he got the chance.

I'm surprised because I didn't expect him to protect me, given that we have been bantering non-stop since we've been here.

The man noticing the apparent rage on Daniel's face, immediately comes to a halt. He looks back at the leader.

The leader looks at me. "Adam wants to see you alone."

Daniel looks at me with a questioning look.

I take a deep breath and step forward. "If he wants to see me, then he can come here."

The leader let out a short, sarcastic laugh. "You don't have a choice. Either you will come with us willingly, or we'll take you forcefully."

I take a deep breath again to calm myself. I can do this. "Yes, you can take me forcefully. But that would mean that you are unnecessarily hurting me, and I don't think Adam would like that very much. You do know what happens to people who displease him, don't you?"

I look at the leader's face, hoping and praying that my bluff works, and to my surprise, it does.

The leader studies me for a second and then tells one of the men to go and get Adam.

I look behind me, and Daniel is staring at me.

"How did you know that was going to work?" Daniel asks me.

"I didn't. I was just hoping that it would work because I know that if I leave this room without the two of you, there's a very good chance that I won't come back alive," I reply, my voice slightly shaking now.

Daniel looks at me for a moment, then slides his hand in mine. "I won't let them take you, I promise."

"Well, I'm here!" I hear Adam say from behind me.

I turn around to look at him, with Daniel's hand still in mine. "What do you want, Adam?"

Adam's smile turns into a frown when he notices the proximity between Daniel and me. "I didn't expect you two to become so close to someone so early."

"I didn't expect you to come here right now. You must be eager to die." I didn't say that; Daniel did.

"Do you really think that you can kill me?"

"You know that I can. That's why your.... bodyguards are still here," Daniel retorts with a smirk.

Adam knows that Daniel's right, so he doesn't respond. Instead, he looks at me.

"I just wanted to tell you that I had a nice little... chat with your brother," he says, then walks out of the room, along with his lackeys.

How in the world did he know where Jax was? Given his busy schedule- even Jax doesn't know where he will be on a particular day, yet Adam knew. I shudder to think what that bastard must have told my brother.

What if he did worse? What if he hurt my brother? What if he really is the monster I only imagined him to be?

My hand flies to my throat. I can't breathe. I push Daniel away, fall to the floor, shaking, struggling to breathe, and put my head on the ground. I try to control my sobs, but I can't.

What if something happens to Jax because of me? He's the only person who was there for me my whole life. I can't stand the thought of something happening to him.

My panic attack subsides after an hour, and I feel weak. I can't believe that I cried in front of someone. I've never done that before. Crying, for me, is a sign of weakness, and I hate being weak.

I lift my head and look around. Daniel is sitting beside me, his eyes closed and his fingers drawing circles on my back. He didn't say anything during my panic attack. He just sat next to me doing what he is right now. It's as if he knows that once a panic attack starts, there is little anyone can do to stop it. It goes away by itself.

"I'm sorry," I mutter.

He opens his eyes, looks at me and frowns. "What are you apologizing for?"

"For crying unnecessarily."

"How could you call that crying unnecessarily? Anyone in your position would have the same reaction as you. If he said that about any of my siblings, I probably would have cried too. So you unless you're apologizing for being human- don't."

I look away from him. He doesn't get it. He doesn't know that the thought of something happening to Jax was only part of why I was crying. He doesn't know that part of the reason for my crying was Adam.

"Ar- Selena," Daniel says, and I look at him again. "Ajax is fine. Adam was probably bluffing when he implied that he had hurt him."

"He has no reason to lie about that," I retaliate, and Daniel raises his eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Because as far as I could tell, he had a pretty clear reason- to hurt you. And what's a better way of hurting a person than make them think that a person they love has been harmed?"

"But what if he did do something to him?"

"I think you're really underestimating Ajax. He's stronger than you think he is," Daniel says. "But I'm guessing you already know that. You're upset because of something else too."

I'm surprised by his tone. He doesn't sound like he's making a guess. He says it like he knows it's true.

"Am I really that easy to read?"

"No, I'm just good at reading people," he tells me. "Tell m- Do you want to talk about the other thing that made you so upset?"

I shrug. "I don't really know. Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to start."

"It has something to do with the envelope you told us not to open," Daniel says like it's a fact, and I blink in surprise.

"Are you sure you aren't psychic?"

Daniel suddenly sits up and, in his best college girl voice, says, "I took a couple of psychology courses in college, so I'm partially a psychologist."

I laugh lightly. "Wow, I really didn't expect that from you."

"Well, with me, you should expect the unexpected," he replies, then points towards the envelope that Adam gave me that's still sitting by the door. "So it does have something to do with that."

"It has more to do with the sender of the envelope itself."

"It has something to do with the fact that he obviously has feelings for you." Daniel's tone again suggests that he's speaking factually and I freeze.

How could he possibly guess that?

I open my mouth to speak, but he starts talking before I can. "It was obvious when he came into the room that you meant something to him. Let's not forget his jealousy when he saw your hand in mine."

"He doesn't have those types of feelings for me. I mean, we loved each other once, but just as friends- nothing more."

Daniel shakes his head. "Maybe you love him like a friend, but he obviously loves you more than a friend."

"I said 'loved' not 'love'. I don't feel anything for him anymore other than hatred."

"If that were true, you would have already opened the envelope," Daniel reasons, and I sigh. "I'm not saying that you don't hate him. I'm just saying a part of you might still love him."

"It's hard to fully hate someone when you know about every terrible thing they've been through," I say to Daniel, and he smiles sadly.

"I know."

"Speaking from experience?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "In a way, yes. A friend of mine experienced this. He loved someone who he knew was a terrible person. A part of him still felt sorry for her and wanted to save her."

"Was he successful?"

"No, he was not successful in saving her," Daniel says, then pauses for a second. "Not fully anyway. He was successful in getting rid of his feelings for her, though."

"May I ask how?"

"She did something that he could never forgive her for, and he finally began seeing her as the rest of us saw her," he replies.

I can't read the expression on his face. It seems to be a mixture of conflict, anger and sadness.

"I'm sorry," I say after a while of silence.

He blinks in surprise. "Whatever for?"

"For judging you unfairly and bring mean to you and arguing with you about things that don't even matter."

"No worries. Truth be told, I should be the one apologizing for being a jerk," he replies, and I roll my eyes with a slight smile on my face.

-

《Daniel Nicholas Castello》

When I first saw Selena in this wretched room, I was surprised. I didn't expect her to be the girl I can't stop thinking about. And to think I wanted to fuck Selena to get rid of her memory. What a fucking joke. The surprise soon turned to anger because of her stubbornness. Despite that I could not help but think about how right Francis had been. This girl is beautiful. And she does have this thing about her that draws you in. But I can't figure out what it is.

Then that anger turned into guilt. For involving her father in this mess. If I hadn't, she would not be here right now. But if I hadn't involved her father, dozens of people would have gone through hell. Every time I look at Selena, I can't help but blame myself for putting her in this horrendous situation. It is my fault she's here.

She is so innocent, pure, nice and precious, that I feel the urge to protect her from everything and everyone- including myself because, after all, I am the worst type of evil to ever exist. But until we are here, maybe that evil will help keep her alive.

I've been doing everything I can to distract her from our current ordeal. By that, I mean I argue with her so much about pointless things that she is too occupied with being annoyed by me than by imagining the horrible things that could happen to us here.

I look at her, only to find her staring at the door again.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but you don't have any superpowers, so staring at the door won't help open it," I say in a monotonous tone to provoke a reaction out of her, and as always, I am not disappointed.

"Don't make me regret being civil to you," she warns me, but she has a slight smile on her face, so I know she's joking.

"Go-" I stop short. I'm so used to bossing people around that I have to stop myself from ordering her to do things- like tell me what she is thinking or in this instance go to sleep. "Why don't you go to sleep?" I ask her, and she shrugs.

"I don't want to."

"You haven't slept since we got here. Staying up so much isn't healthy. You should sleep."

"Any reason why you're not following your own advice?" She asks me scathingly.

"Don't make me regret being civil to you," I say, imitating her, and she gives me a disapproving look.

"You just can't help being annoying, can you?"

"I can, but I like the reactions that I get from you, so I won't. And as for why I am not following my own advice- it's because I am used to not sleeping that much."

She tilts her head. "How?"

"I'm busy most of the time. So I don't have much time to sleep. But I will admit that I'm finding it harder to keep awake after being hungry for so long."

She looks away from me, making me think that she wants to hide something. "Same."

"Clearly not," I reply, and she looks back at me wearily.

"What do you mean?"

"When I finished talking about being hungry, you looked away from me- which implies that you are hiding something, and maybe you don't feel the same way about hunger," I suggest, and she narrows her eyes at me.

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying that is?" She asks me, and I smile.

"I usually don't give my psychoanalysis of people to them aloud. Usually, psychoanalyze people in my head and keep it at that."

"Wow, I feel special," she replies sarcastically.

"You are special. Why you don't feel the same way about hunger?"

She looks at me for a moment as if debating whether she should tell me or not. In the end, she sighs and starts talking, "I'm used to controlling my diet for excessive periods, so this isn't that bad for me in terms of hunger."

I frown. That isn't healthy at all. She could get hurt if she continues controlling her diet like that under normal circumstances.

"Why?" I ask her in a concerned tone.

"Body image issues and stuff with my family," she replies simply, and I can tell she doesn't want to talk about the topic anymore.

Does she have any eating disorders?

"I know you probably already know this, but you are beautiful the way you are. You don't have to remain hungry for any amount of time to look good. I think if you eat properly, you'll be happier and will look more beautiful- if that's even possible."

Selena blushes and looks away from me. "Thank you," she mumbles uncomfortably.

"You don't like compliments," I note and she shrugs.

"I just don't know how I'm supposed to react or reply to them, so I rather people don't give me compliments- especially about my appearance."

I'm surprised that she is so uncomfortable with compliments about her appearance, given how beautiful she is. Surely she must get many compliments. But then again, even if she does, the human mind is a complicated thing. She may just convince herself that people are just complimenting her to be nice- even though that's not the truth.

"Why purple?" I ask her and she looks at me, confused.

"What do you mean?"

I point at her purple pajamas. "Every time I have met you, you are always wearing purple. Why that colour?"

"It's my favourite."

I roll my eyes. I figured as much but that wasn't my question. "Why?"

Her eyebrows furrow as she thinks about her answer. "There isn't a particular reason for it, if I am being honest. When I was small, most people my age used to like pink or blue. There was barely anyone around me who liked purple. It's like purple didn't fit in and that's how I have always felt so I choose that to be my favourite colour. Eventually, it just became a part of my personality. I use purple to express myself." She looks at me and I smile. "What's your favourite colour?"

"I don't have one."

Although now, I must say, I have started developing a fondness for purple.

"Everyone has one," she says and I shrug.

"I have never really give any thought to it," I reply. She rolls her eyes and yawns.

"Go to sleep, Selena," I tell her after a while. 

"I can't sleep," she replies in a vulnerable tone. "Every time I close my eyes, I feel like someone is going to attack me."

"I won't let that happen. I'll protect you, no matter what," I promise her, and she smiles.

"Whilst I have no doubt in your ability to protect me, you need to sleep too."

"No," I say, and she gives me a blank look.

"Yes. If you're ordering me to sleep, then I'm ordering you to do the same. Besides, I think we'll be able to think of a better escape plan if we get some sleep."

I look around the room, trying to come up with a counterargument, but I can't. "Fine," I relent, sliding down to lie down on the cold, hard floor.

"Good night, Daniel," she mutters, closing her eyes.

I look at her for a few more minutes before closing my eyes and trying to relax. Hopefully, I will be able to get some sleep- which seems impossible given the fact that I can barely sleep in my own bed. Sleeping on the floor of a literal prison again is going to be impossible for me.

-

A/N

I'm on a roll. Three chapters in two days and I have one more half written.

I ended up not studying for my exam, opting to watch Suits instead. I can't really blame myself for that- Suits is way more interesting than Intro to Biochem. God, that course has been a nightmare. All my courses have this semester which is odd because all the professors are amazing.

I haven't slept in the last few days (like 3-4 days), so I'm signing off for the day.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tag me if you see any errors and please do not forget to vote.