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~ Daniela's POV ~

I held his stare for a few seconds before I eventually took a step away from him, creating a much needed gap between us.

"I guess one day I'll find out."

Carson clenched his jaw, keeping his eyes locked with mine before he suddenly walked past me. I turned my head to watch him as he grabbed a towel and the T-shirt and sweatpants they'd given him before going into the bathroom.

While he was gone, I dropped down on the bed, letting out a shaky breath. For someone I'd only just met, he really did have a huge effect on me and my emotions.

I didn't understand why he was being so...nasty? If you could call telling an absolute stranger that you'll kill them if they talk to you nasty.

While he was taking a shower, I used that time alone to just try and calm myself down while also processing the situation.

I had no clue where I was, I didn't know the people who had taken me, and I had no clue who Carson was and yet, I was now locked in a room with him.

After all that I'd been through with Ayden, being locked in a room with someone who seemed a lot more dangerous than Ayden wasn't exactly comforting for me.

It was the complete opposite actually, my anxiety levels suddenly shot up just thinking about what could happen behind this locked door where there were no witnesses - no one who would help me.

Although I was trying my best to keep a confident front up, inside I was slowly but surely crumbling. I was absolutely terrified of Carson and also of George who was the leader of this whole operation. He could have been the leader of a gang or something for all I knew. I really had no clue what I'd just got myself caught up in.

By the time Carson came out of the bathroom, I was still sitting on the bed but I was now leaning against the wall, gripping the pendant of my necklace in my hand for some amount of comfort. When I heard him enter, I quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen down my cheeks although I was hiding my face from him.

Hearing his footsteps come closer to me, I lifted my head to look at him, causing him to stop dead in his tracks with a concerned expression on his face. For what felt like the millionth time that day we just stared at each other in silence. His eyes were so captivating, like they held so many secrets, so much pain that he tried to hide away.

Like they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Just from the concern and the sudden flash of guilt across his face, something in the back of my head told me that he wasn't as bad as he was allowing me to think he was. It was like that little voice in the back of my head was telling me don't write him off just yet.

Although I have no clue why.

Before he could try to speak to me, the sound of the door unlocking caught our attention. Carson stepped closer to me, although he still kept a good distance between us while I just wiped my cheeks again, hoping that no one else but him would know I had been crying.

I awkwardly cleared my throat when George walked in with the same man who brought the first aid kit to us and then threatened Carson. They looked between the two of us, doing a double take on me before George let out a laugh.

"You've only been here for a couple of hours and you've already made her cry Agnello?"

When Carson just glared at him, choosing not to reply, instead I was the one who spoke up, for some reason defending him.

Or maybe I was trying reassure him that he wasn't the reason.

"It wasn't him."

George just nodded his head although he clearly didn't believe me. Ironically, he was the reason I was crying, he was the one who kidnapped me, Carson hadn't done anything that bad to me - yet.

"Right." He let out a laugh as he sat down on the chair across from us while Carson remained in his spot near to me, leaning against the wall. An awkward silence fell around us while he just stared at Carson weirdly.

"My my, Carson Agnello. I finally got you - after all these years." Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes as he looked at Carson, his reason for creating this whole fiasco in the first place.

"Congratulations, you must be thrilled, now can you tell me what you want from me?"

George let out a deep chuckle as he leaned back lazily into his seat, clearly amused by Carson's harsh tone.

"This isn't a case of me wanting something from you Carson. I want to do things to you." After pausing for dramatic effect he continued assuming that Carson didn't understand him.

"You're the person responsible for ripping my life apart, piece by piece." When Carson didn't say a word, George let out a scoff. "Look at you, you're so cold hearted you don't even know what you did to me. You cost me everything!"

Although I flinched at his outburst, Carson didn't seem fazed. Instead, he clenched his jaw taking a step towards the man who was keeping us here, hell bent on getting some kind of revenge apparently.

"I'll pay you, whatever you want. I can't change the past but I can make it better now. A few million dollars will change your life."

Although Carson clearly meant what he said, George only found amusement in his words. From what I could see he seemed like he was past the point of wanting money in return, he wanted Carson to suffer too.

"I don't want your goddamn money, I want revenge."

Any previous amusement on George's face dissipated as he stood to his feet, continuing with his words. "I'm going to make you suffer Agnello, I promise. Just like you made me suffer, I'll do the same to you - maybe even worse. You're here now, there's no one protecting you, nothing you can hide behind."

"So you're keeping me here because of something Carson did?" When I interrupted their conversation, they both turned to look at me and while Carson did well to hide his emotions, George didn't bother to hide his smile.

"No that's not the main reason. I told you the other day when I took you - you've seen too much."

Out of all the things in that sentence, only one thing stuck out to me at that very moment.

"The other day? You mean last night?"

"No, I mean four days ago. We took you four days ago on Sunday, it's Thursday now."

My eyes widened at this sudden revelation and I suddenly sat up, looking at him. I'm sure from the corner of my eye also saw shock on Carson's face too.

"Four days? You had drugged us for that long?" All he did was nod his head clearly unbothered as he walked towards the door.

If we were drugged for that long, we could be anywhere in the world right now which only meant one thing - I was never getting out of here. I went from one hell with Ayden in that stupid apartment to another hell with these awful men keeping Carson and I in one room together.

All George did was shrug as he walked to the door with that guy who had been silent the entire time. He was probably only here for George's protection since it was obvious Carson had a short temper. He could probably also pummel George in seconds if he had the chance.

"Dinner will be with you soon and then you're going to need your rest, we start tomorrow."

After sending us one last sick smile, he left the two of us alone again, slamming the door behind himself.

After he muttered a string of curse words to himself, I watched as Carson walked towards the window, wrapping his hands around the bars in fists - clearly trying his best to stay calm. His back remained tense and in that room I could honestly feel his anger radiating off him.

The room stayed deadly silent for at least the next twenty minutes while Carson quietly simmered across the room from me. Although he didn't say a thing to me I knew he was furious from the glare on his face which he aimed at the man who came in a while later with what seemed like our dinner.

It was hardly anything though, nothing like I was used to eating.

Carson and I sat on separate sides of the room with me still on the bed and him sitting on the chair at the table while we ate. It was quiet between us until I finally gathered the courage to speak, clearing my throat first.

"Do you really not know who he is?"

At the sound of my voice, Carson looked away from his now empty plate and over to me. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he looked at me with the same intense gaze I'd found myself under multiple times already that day.

"Of course I know who he is."

"What?" When I seemed utterly confused, he let out a sigh and turned in his chair to face me properly. "As soon as I saw his face without the ski mask I knew who he was and why he brought me here. I know every single person I've ever...done business with."

I could tell he was choosing his words carefully when he spoke to me which is something I was pretty used to with Ayden.

"And what business is that?"

"It's not yours, that's for sure." His cold glare that he gave should have been enough for me to stay quiet for the rest of the night, but when I saw him glance back down at his empty plate, I couldn't stop the words flying out of my mouth.

"You're still hungry." I mean, it was kind of obvious someone of his kind would still be hungry, he was of course probably a million pounds heavier than me and much more muscular.

"I'm fine." When he spoke, he tried to keep his voice void of any emotion but then he made the mistake of looking at my plate which told me everything I needed to know.

Without another word I stood up from the bed and closed the gap between us as I walked across the room to where he was sitting.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Well aware of his eyes on me once again, I used his fork to transfer one of my chicken wings along with some potatoes to his plate.

"Daniela don't, I don't need your food. Just eat it."

"I'm not that hungry." Keeping my eyes on the table, I pushed his plate back over to him.

Of course that was a complete lie because even though he may have needed it, I was like a machine when it came to eating food. I could eat for three people and still have space for dessert.

I may have been small but I had the appetite of an elephant.

"I'm not eating your food Daniela." This time, I made the mistake of looking into his eyes when he said my name.

I'd only just met this man and yet he some how captivated me every time I looked at him. "You're still hungry. Just take it."

Without giving him the chance to argue with me I made my way back over to the bed, grimacing when the springs bounced as I sat down on the cheap mattress again. After that it only took a few moments for Carson to begrudgingly eat the food that I'd given him once the silence around us resumed.

Neither of us spoke, from my point of view I just didn't know what to say. He'd been nothing but a dick to me even though I'd done nothing but try to help him.

I got myself kidnapped trying to help him, I asked for clothes for him, I tried to clean his cuts and I gave him my food.

But for some reason he told me if I spoke to him he would kill me. He didn't even know who I was and he said something as horrible as that.

The rest of that evening, or night, continued in an extremely awkward silence. Carson refused to speak to me or even acknowledge my existence in any way. I guess it was good since I was still dressed like a hooker in my shorts and T-shirt.

So it remained silent between us until that moment came up.

"You can sleep in the bed." As I stepped out the bathroom, my gaze shifted over to Carson who was sitting on the window ledge, leaning his head back against one of the iron bars with his eyes closed.

They'd already turned off the lights in our room, but there was a little light coming in from the window which allowed me to at least see where I was going and some small details, for example Carson's angry facial expression.

Stopping in the bathroom doorway, I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down while he kept his eyes closed. "Just me? What about you?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Because we're both stuck in here Carson, you're eventually going to need to sleep in the bed and it's also freezing." Eventually he opened his eyes, turning his head to look at me. "Just go to sleep."

By the look on his face, I knew better than to argue with him and quite honestly after the way he'd been treating me I didn't care.

Or so I thought.

"Fine." I felt his eyes on me as I crossed the room heading back over to the single bed pushed up against one of the brick walls. Without another word I pulled back the blanket, getting into the bed.

In my defence, I did manage to last a minute or two before I turned to look at him again.

Have you ever heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'?

Well in this case, I might as well have died because this was the moment I ended up selling my soul to the devil and I didn't even know it at the time.

Turning my head, I looked over at Carson through the dimly lit room to see him still in the same position sitting on the window ledge.

Uncomfortable wasn't even the word to describe how he looked. He looked like he was in complete agony. He still had cuts all over his face and I'm sure on other parts of his body too along with bruises. The position he was in wasn't comfortable at all and it was so cold in that room that there was no way he was actually able to handle it.

I had the blanket and I was ready to throw up my small amount of dinner it was that cold. Sure I wasn't so comfortable with the situation after my past with Ayden, but something was telling me that he wasn't like Ayden. Little things I'd noticed about him gave me this feeling that even though he may kill me, he has enough respect for women to keep himself to himself.

"Carson?"

At the sound of my tentative tone his eyes snapped open and he turned his head to look over at me. Taking a second to take in his appearance, I noticed the tiredness in his eyes which seemed to be masking all the other emotions he was feeling in that moment.

He just seemed so raw, even without showing his emotions to me.

"Come and sleep in the bed with me."

When he didn't say anything I almost thought he'd completely ignored me until he pushed himself off the ledge and I heard his footsteps on the concrete floor coming closer to the bed. My breath hitched in my throat when he pulled back the blanket before getting into the bed next to me, enveloping me in his intoxicating scent. The single bed hardly gave either of us any room also meaning we were much closer than two strangers ever should be.

Especially when one of them seemed to hate the other so much for some reason.

Maybe it should have been a trigger for me after my past, I know breathing is for a lot of people, but it wasn't. I felt a strange sense of security knowing that in such an unsafe and unfamiliar place, I had him close to me during the night.

Our bodies remained tense against each other as we lay there, in that tiny bed. I could even feel his warm breath against my skin when he spoke.

"Stop staring at me Daniela."

"Where else am I supposed to look? You're right in front of me." Carson rose an eyebrow at me, keeping his expression cold as he did. "Well turn around and stare at the damn wall."

"Fine."

Giving him a glare, I began to turn over which was rather difficult in that small bed since the wall was also right next to me, until his hand suddenly shot out where he placed it on my waist to stop me.

"What are you doing? You told me to-"

"Just stop moving and go to sleep." As much as I was starting to get used to his attitude, the pained tone he used still managed to shut me up instantly, for the moment.

"I'm cold."

"And I don't give a damn." Letting out a sigh at his response, I did my best to wrap the blanket around myself while also making sure I didn't pull it away from him. The last thing I needed was for him to squish me like a bug against the wall during the night because I stole the blanket from him.

"Can you shut up? I can hear your teeth chattering."

"It's not my fault, I told you I was cold, I can't control it." Although I could tell he was annoyed, he didn't say anything for a moment and then I suddenly felt his arm drape over my waist. With ease, he pulled my body tightly up against his, allowing me to bury my face into his shoulder.

In my opinion, sleeping, and only sleeping, with someone is one of the most trusting and intimate things you can do. You're allowing them to be close to you when you're in your most vulnerable state ever.

And the moment I fell asleep in his arms, I should have known I was absolutely screwed.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<

"Goddamn. Get off me." The deep voice next to me woke me up out of my sleep, bringing me back to reality for the second day in a row.

I could have sworn it was all a dream, but alas, I'm still trapped in this ice box.

Keeping my eyes closed, I left my head resting on his shoulder as I spoke in my probably disgustingly hoarse morning voice.

"Carson I'm already up against the wall and it is freezing so just-"

"That's not my problem." Letting out a groan, I forced my eyes open, looking into his tired brown eyes which probably resembled mine. "Why can't you just be nice? This whole mean act of yours is getting old, you can't keep it up forever."

"It's not an act sweetheart. I can't stand the sight of you."

Maybe he was just a nasty person by nature and maybe I shouldn't have cared since I hardly knew him, but his words still hurt me.

Regardless of what anyone says, shit like that hurts your feelings whether you show it or not.

"Why?" When my voice came out a lot softer than before, unfortunately showing my emotions and therefore my vulnerability, he let out a sigh.

"Because I can't." He held my stare for a moment longer before abruptly getting up and out of the bed. As soon as he moved the blanket, the cold air of the room stung against my skin and I was suddenly a lot more grateful to have him sleep next to me all night.

It was kind of like that scene in Twilight Eclipse when Bella is forced to sleep with Jacob because he can keep her warm.

But then she ends up kissing him so I don't think that's a good comparison to you and Carson.

Pulling the blanket tighter around me, I watched Carson's retreating figure as he went into the bathroom, gracefully slamming the door behind himself.

As expected, whatever time we spent together in the morning was in utter silence after that conversation. It was quiet until the door to our room opened and the sounds of multiple sets of footsteps came into the room.

"Good morning! Rise and shine we have much to get to today." From my place still curled up in the blanket on the bed, I grimaced at the sound of George's loud voice.

"Must you shout like that?" When he heard my voice dripping with irritation, he turned to look at me before turning to look at Carson.

"Of course I must, have you seen the look on his face?" At the mention of my roomie, I turned to look at Carson who was glaring daggers at George from across the room. Shaking my head, I just shifted my attention back to our annoying captor when he spoke to us.

"Both of you get up, let's go." When neither of us moved, his amusement very quickly dropped and he stepped forward threateningly. "Now."

Although I really didn't want to get up, or remove the blanket which would reveal my hooker outfit to everyone, I could tell by his expression he wasn't playing around. As gracefully as I could, I got up off the bed, attempting to try and straighten my T-shirt and pull my shorts down a little under the blanket before I let it fall onto the bed.

I didn't miss the smirk of satisfaction when George let his eyes roam over my body but before he could comment on my outfit that he'd chosen for me, Carson was already standing in front of me, blocking his view.

"Lead the way then." Although his voice was laced with boredom, he also sounded like he wasn't playing around either.

Amazingly, it sounded more like Carson was in charge here than George. He just had this aura of power emanating from him even though we were the most helpless people in the room.

Both Carson and I followed George and his men out of the room, back down the hallways that we came through yesterday until we reached another door. The moment we stepped inside, I was both confused and yet scared by the sight infront of us.

Although I expected something like a torture chamber that you would find in a medieval dungeon, I was surprised by the empty, dark room that we entered. The only thing I could see were some chairs to the side and a stage in the middle of the room with some steps.

"Welcome to my playroom." Both Carson and I glanced over at George before an uneasy expression passed over Carson's face. "You're not about to pull some 'Fifty Shades of Grey' thing are you?"

"Don't worry, I'm not into you like that." George gave Carson a disgusted look before his eyes met mine and a smirk replaced it. "But if Princess is up for that, I wouldn't mind."

"You're disgusting." All he did was laugh at my response before he stepped further into the room, going up the steps to the stage. "I know. Anyway, this room is where you'll be coming every two days for the rest of your lives, however long I choose for those to last."

We both watched as he walked around, admiring the room and all the items inside fondly.

"Why every two days? Why not everyday?" At the sound of my voice everyone turned to look at me. "So that there is a day of recovery in between. It's no fun if the person you're torturing is still out cold from their session the day before."

Giving us the smallest insight into what was coming our way, his words came out as if he was speaking from experience which caused a shudder to go down my spine. This guy really wasn't messing about.

"You'll come here to earn your food for the two days, for punishments and whenever I feel like exacting my revenge on Agnello. I told you I was going to make you suffer." The sadistic glint in his eye made me unconsciously step closer to Carson who was tense next to me, keeping his gaze locked on George.

It was all slowly becoming much more real to me. This wasn't just Carson and I being held in a room by our captives, it wasn't for ransom or for some kind of benefit that they could earn.

It was for their sick idea of revenge and there was no one to stop them from doing whatever the hell they wanted to us.

"Let her go and you can do whatever you want to me. She doesn't need to be here, she never did anything to you."

"That's very noble of you but you know that's not going to happen. I'm glad to know you care about her though." George smirked before he stepped down off the stage, heading over to a chair on one side of the room.

"Tie them up."

Before I could even comprehend what he just said, the men behind us suddenly grabbed both Carson and I. While some men took Carson to the stage, the two men behind me took me to one of the chairs where George was sitting. For me, it didn't take long for them to tie me up but, as you can expect Carson put up a fight.

By the time they finally got him tied up on the stage, George was sipping on some drink nonchalantly.

"This is what you will do to earn your food every two days. If you can withstand watching whatever we do to him, you can have breakfast and dinner for those days."

"Me?" When George looked me in the eye, that sadistic glint that I was becoming all too familiar with sparkled. "His pride would never let him give in. You on the other hand, well I want to see if you want food or if you want to stop seeing him get hurt. Maybe one day we'll switch things around but for now you're in this chair and he's over there."

When he said this I turned my head to look at Carson who surprisingly didn't seem at all fazed by the way he was tied with his hands above his head and his feet barely touching the floor. When we made eye contact, his eyes remained cold and emotionless which was probably his way of telling me to put my big girl panties on and deal with this.

Instead of replying to George, I just kept my eyes on Carson in an attempt to make it look like I was cool, calm, and collected.

Of course I was the complete opposite of that. I wouldn't have done all that I had done to try and help Carson in the last few days if I wanted to see him in pain. Anyway, the thought alone of seeing someone being tortured was enough to make me sick.

Taking my silence as a sign to start, George gestured for his men to begin whatever they were going to do. Of the two men who were tasked with torturing Carson, one was blonde and the other had black hair, both were tall and bulky.

They seemed like the typical bouncers that you'd find at your local club, except that these ones were evil and weren't the type to let you slip inside the club on the sly.

The room was silent until the blonde guy lifted his gloved fist and drove a punch into Carson's side causing him to groan and me to flinch at the impact. The men circled Carson who was struggling to breathe once the first punch completely winded him. After a moment, they began to take turns delivering blow after blow to his midsection.

Sitting there I had to keep my mouth clamped shut, trying to stop any noises leaving my mouth when each punch landed on his skin. Once they eased off the first round of punches, Carson let out a groan, coughing as he struggled to catch his breath.

It may sound simple - just keep your mouth shut and watch, especially since I wasn't the one getting hurt. But honestly, it was harder than I thought it would be.

The sound of every punch making contact with his skin reminded me of Ayden. Every time Carson grunted I imagined the same pain which I'd experienced time and time again.

With my experience I was probably the worst person for Carson to rely on to keep quiet. All I could do was wait for him to look at me and as soon as he did, he shook his head at me.

"You still want more?" George's amusement didn't go unnoticed when he saw Carson shake his head. "You'll have to kill me if you want me to give in to you."

Although Carson was trying to keep a strong and confident front up, anyone could tell he was struggling to stay up on his feet.

"Carson-"

"Carry on then." Before I could even try to convince Carson to give into his pride, George told his men to continue with their task. It first started with the punches to the midsection then they included his face. He may have been horrible to me more than once, but that didn't make it any easier for me to watch it.

At least half an hour passed with the same thing happening and every time they eased off, he still shook his head at me. By the end I just focused my eyes on the floor instead of on him.

"That's enough for now. We'll leave them here for a while and then come back for round two." As soon as George gave the order, he and his men left the room, leaving Carson and I tied up in there.

"Are you stupid or something? Is your pride really worth getting beaten up like this?"

Instead of replying to me, all he did was lift his head to look at me through tired eyes before he eventually dropped his head again. His breathing was ragged as he took the much needed reprieve from the beatings.

"If you can't handle it just close your eyes and think of something else."

"Carson-"

"I mean it. Don't you dare tell him to stop Daniela." As much as I wanted to argue with him, I knew I was the one who had it the easiest in this scenario. And anyway, whatever this was, it was between Carson and George.

"Fine."

Seemingly satisfied with my response, we stayed in silence for the next half an hour at least until George came strolling in again with his men. Very quickly they got back to inflicting as much pain as they could on Carson while I just sat there, quietly.

By the time they were done, they'd punched him and kicked him and still, he didn't let me tell them to stop. In my opinion what he had to go through was one of the worst forms of torture - they kept hitting him in just the right places to keep him awake for as long as possible. He couldn't move, he couldn't do anything to try and ease the pain or work through it, he just had to take it.

It was only when we were finally taken back to our room that he showed any kind of pain when he slumped down on the floor, leaning against the bed.

While he was sitting there, I noticed there was a large pile of clothes on our bed along with some towels and shoes too.

How thoughtful of them.

A little while passed while he sat there and I sat on the chair, but neither of us spoke. Weirdly it wasn't an awkward silence, it was just a silence of understanding. He wasn't in any position to talk, not that he would have much to say anyway, and I was busy deciding whether I should try to help him or not.

"Do you need help?" When the words left my mouth in a cold tone, Carson lifted his head to look at me. "I'm fine."

"Cut the crap, we both know you're not fine Carson and it's all your fault. Why wouldn't you just tell him to stop?"

Letting out a ragged breath, Carson shook his head as he began to stand to his feet. "The fact that you'll never understand why just shows how stupid you are."

His words left his mouth as he began to walk towards the bathroom, not even bothering to look in my direction.

"I'm stupid? You just let yourself get beaten up for no reason!"

Somehow he managed to completely ignore me as he went into the bathroom and for the second time that day he slammed the door behind himself.

If only I'd taken a different route home that night I wouldn't be stuck in here dealing with two men and their crap.

The part when they sleep together in the bed always gets me 🥺😍

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