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One Week Later

~ Daniela's POV ~

It was safe to say Carson and I were never going to get along.

Ever.

We'd been in that room for a week now and still, he hadn't gotten over his unnecessary and unexplained hatred of me.

Sure, every night we slept in the same bed together like we did on the first night but we didn't speak to one another. Carson did me a favour by holding me in his arms to keep me warm during the night and I gave him some of my food when it came to meal times to pay him back for that.

We just co-existed with one another I guess you could say, but there was hardly ever any interaction. He made it very clear how he felt about me through his silence, there was no mistaking it - he hated me.

As the 'games', as George called them, continued every two days, over the week Carson's condition got progressively worse. His body and his injuries weren't given nearly enough time to heal, so every punch and every kick hurt him that much more and took more out of him.

The cold wasn't helping either. Our room was so cold, it just made you feel lethargic and tired being in there, like all your energy was being redirected to keeping you warm.

Each time we went into that room Carson got worse and and worse and the third time he entirely passed out once we got back to the room.

But still, he wouldn't allow me to tell them to stop. The couple of times that I came close to it during the games, the warning glares he gave me were enough to stop me. It's not like I agreed with him though and there was no way I was going to let him off without giving him a piece of my mind. After the first time he passed out when we got back to the room, we had one of our rare conversations when he finally woke up.

If you could call it a conversation, that is.

Flashback

When neither of us broke the stare down we'd been having for the last thirty seconds, I let out a frustrated sigh, taking a step towards him.

I'd already tried talking calmly with this unreasonable human, now I was going to put it bluntly to him instead.

"Carson please listen to me. You need to let me stop them next time it's not safe for you."

"Okay, why don't you get this through your head - it's not your damn place to protect me. It has nothing to do with you Daniela."

I couldn't help but let out a scoff which just caused him to glare at me, again.

"It has nothing to do with me? I have to watch them beat the crap out of you!"

"Lucky you, now please would you kindly shut the hell up."

And ladies and gentleman that was the end of that conversation.

I let out a frustrated sigh when the men dropped Carson down onto the bed where he lay, bruised and bloody after the fourth time we went through these stupid games. This time he passed out while he was still tied up in that stupid room. Honestly it felt like I was alone most of the time since he was either unconscious or asleep trying to let his body recover.

For the last few days Carson had been rubbing his neck and although he hadn't said it, I knew it because of the tiny little bed we were sharing. Judging by the way he was currently passed out on the bed, I knew I'd have to listen to him mumble and curse to himself later if I didn't adjust him now. Just as I was about to take a step towards the bed, the sound of a voice behind me stopped me in my tracks.

"You know he doesn't deserve what you do for him."

When I turned to see George standing by the door, after a moment of shock, I took a step back once realisation dawned on me that it was just him and I alone for the first time. Even if Carson and I weren't on good terms, he always did his best to keep George's attention away from me and so far, George had left me alone for the most part.

When it was clear I wasn't going to reply to him, George let out a small laugh, stepping further into the small room that I'd been in for a week already.

"I'm not going to hurt you, not unless you give me a reason to, I just want to talk to you."

There's no way he just wants to talk.

"Why do you want to talk to me?"

"Because I don't have anything against you Princess, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Although he was trying to be nice in his own sick way, I let out a scoff, shaking my head at his words which seemed to surprise him.

Apart from the first day when we got here, I tried to stay quiet around him so that he would leave me alone which seemed to be working.

"No, you could have let me go, but you didn't."

"I told you, you saw too much."

"That's bull and you know it. You had a mask on and it was dark, I didn't see anything." At this, George let out a laugh, nodding his head in agreement.

"You're right. How about this then- maybe I just wanted to bring you here too?" I narrowed my eyes at him when he took another step into the room coming closer to me before he continued. "When I heard your voice and turned around, there you were in that little white dress and those heels. You wanted attention and you got it."

"I didn't want attention and I definitely didn't want it from someone like you."

"That little dress you were wearing said otherwise sweetheart." Giving me a perverted smirk, he took another step in my direction which instantly caused me to step back.

This man looked like he was in his 60s, it was really creeping me out.

"You're disgusting." He didn't even argue against this, instead he just shrugged before glancing over at Carson.

"Maybe, but you don't really want to stay in here with that idiot do you? I mean, you could always come with me. All you have to do is ask nicely."

"With you?" He nodded his head to confirm the answer to my question. "We could have some fun together."

The more he spoke and the longer he stared at me with that look, the quicker I began to realise exactly what he meant.

"I'm not a whore."

"I never said that. All I'm saying is that it's a deal that's beneficial to the both of us. If you're with me, you can get everything that you're missing out on in here - food, warmth and protection. There's no need for you to stay in here with him." He shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly, gesturing over to Carson who was still out cold on the bed.

I took the short moment of silence to take another slow step backwards, keeping my eyes focused on him. All I wished was that Carson would wake up any second and George would scurry out of the room as quick as he could before Carson tried anything with him. But unfortunately it was just me and clearly I could never do anything to him, so my best bet was to keep as much distance between us as possible.

"My men have told me how much you two hate each other. Maybe I'll even give you a chance to make him pay while he's tied up, huh?" He sounded so sure that I would take him on the offer to be one of the people that hurt Carson while he was so helpless.

"You're sick if you think I would ever join you to hurt him like that. This whole thing you're doing to us is messed up."

At the sound of my words, his eyes darkened causing me to once again shuffle backwards, ironically towards Carson although he couldn't do anything to help me.

He seemed to notice my movements because that familiar sadistic glint shone in his eye along with that smirk that I was beginning to feel nauseous at the sight of.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm sure if you knew who he really was, you'd be just as scared of him as you are of me right now."

As he said this I turned my head to look at Carson, taking in his permanent frown even while he was sleeping. He was covered in cuts and bruises and his expression made him look like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Although he did have this dangerous aura about him, I wasn't scared of him. I knew what it felt like to be scared of a man and Carson was nothing like that, he was nothing like Ayden. I saw that in the little things he did like trying to stop George from ogling my body and by keeping me warm at night no matter how much hated me.

After a moment I turned back to face George who was smirking at Carson's injured body with so much pride and satisfaction it made me sick.

"He could be the most dangerous man in all of America, but I would never choose a creep like you over him." As soon as he heard my words, George's eyes snapped to mine and his smug smile quickly began to fade.

"You're making a mistake Princess."

"My name is Daniela, and no, I'm not making a mistake. I would rather die than be your personal whore."

George nodded his head before he slowly began stepping back towards the door that led to our room, suggesting that the conversation was coming to an end.

"Well, in that case I'll be seeing you in a few days then. I have to go away and he needs time to recover before I beat him black and blue all over again. Have fun in here, Daniela."

With one last glare, he stepped back out of the room allowing the door to slam shut causing me to flinch at the sound.

For what felt like the millionth time in the last week that we'd been here, the feeling of complete and utter loneliness washed over me as I let out a shaky breath.

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

"Daniela?"

Carson's deep voice brought me out of my thoughts causing me to turn my head to look at him.

"Yeah?" When I met his gaze, he tiredly shook his head that was resting on the pillow next to mine. "Nothing, you were just staring at that ceiling like you were trying to burn a hole through it."

Maybe that's a way to escape?

Good idea, except there's only one problem with that - you don't have laser vision.

"That doesn't sound like such a bad idea right now." Although he was lying right next to me on the bed, my words came out in a low mumble quiet enough that he couldn't hear me.

"What?"

Letting out a deep sigh in an attempt to clear myself of my thoughts for the moment, I shook my head as I began to sit up, keeping my eyes on him.

"Nothing Carson. Did you just wake up? Are you hungry? I saved you some food from dinner."

This was what I'd been doing over the last few days if Carson was either knocked out or just asleep whenever breakfast or dinner came.

"Yeah I guess."

I felt his eyes on me as I got up, going over to the table to uncover his food before I took the plate over to him once he was sitting up straight although that did take a moment since he was in pain.

"Did you eat already?" I nodded my head as I sat down next to him on the bed, leaning against the wall while pulling my knees to my chest. "Was it enough? You can have some more food from me if you want."

"No I'm okay, thank you."

Another usual silence fell around us as Carson ate and I just sat there, trying my best to stay warm while I waited for him to finish so I could get back in the bed. This room really was that cold.

"I spoke to George today." As soon as I spoke, breaking the silence, Carson's eyes snapped over to mine and a cold expression replaced his neutral one. "When?"

"When we got brought back to the room, you were unconscious so I guess he took the opportunity to talk to me without you around."

"What did he say to you?" Although I could tell he was curious, I could also tell he was trying his best not to make it too obvious and to keep his cool.

"He gave me a way out. He told me he never had anything against me and that if I wanted to get out of this room I could go with him."

When I said this, he rose an eyebrow at me, clearly understanding what I meant by that.

"Go with him?" When I nodded my head, Carson let out an amused chuckle. "I'm guessing that the fact you're still sitting in here means he's angrier than ever."

"Well, yeah, but I may have made it a teeny tiny bit worse than that." When I said the word 'tiny' I used my thumb and forefinger to demonstrate how tiny, giving him a small smile.

"How?"

"Well, among other things I may have called him a creep and told him that I would rather die than become his personal whore."

Carson once again rose an eyebrow at me before letting out a laugh. "You actually said that? Damn you've got some balls considering, you know, that he actually could kill you."

I nodded my head at this, the entire time keeping my eyes on Carson who still had a small smile on his face. It was the first time that I could remember that I saw him smile...

...and it was perfect.

"He's not going to be back for a few days, he said he had to go away and he wants to give you time to recover." In response to this, Carson only nodded his head. He seemed unbothered on the outside but part of me believed he would at least be a little relieved that he wouldn't have to go through those stupid games of his again so quickly.

It fell quiet between us for a moment as Carson ate, until he broke the silence to ask me a question.

"Was that everything? He didn't do anything did he?" Although he tried to hide it as usual, I didn't miss the small flash of concern in his eyes once again confirming to me that he was nothing like Ayden.

"No, that was it. I was worried he would do something though, since I was alone with him. Thankfully he didn't, I think he enjoyed scaring me though."

"Probably, he's messed up like that."

Nodding my head in agreement, I glanced over at him when I remembered another part of my conversation with George.

I guess there was no better time than the present to try and find out what George meant.

"He told me I should be scared of you too, if I knew who you really were. Probably just another one of his attempts to scare me."

At the sound of my voice, Carson looked away from his food and over to me. It took him a moment to process my words and then all of a sudden any signs of his previous smile dropped and the same cold expression from the last week was back.

"Do me a favour, next time you have a conversation with him, don't talk about me, alright?"

The sudden venom in his voice caused me to flinch and at first I fell silent trying to mask the hurt on my face as usual, until my thoughts began to spiral.

We'd been in that room for a week.

I spent one entire week with one man trapped in a small room and this was the first time we'd had a proper conversation. He couldn't even manage to keep it going for more than a few minutes before he said something horrible to me, again.

Considering all that I'd done for him, you would think he would be a little bit more appreciative of it. He didn't even have to say thank you, just keeping his rude comments to himself was really enough.

The longer those thoughts swam around in my head, I soon began to feel my anger building inside me.

One thing to note is that I've never been one to control myself once my anger gets the best of me. It also meant any rationality went out of my head and I usually said things that would end up getting me in a lot of craplater.

"No wonder he hates you so much." Although I mumbled the words, Carson definitely heard what I said when his head snapped over to me.

"What?"

"George. No wonder he hates you so much when you have that kind of attitude."

Somehow, saying it a second time caused my confidence to increase which was probably not a good thing for me in the long run.

"Daniela don't start something you can't finish."

Completely ignoring his warning tone, I just continued speaking.

"What makes you think I can't finish it? I may have been nice to you Carson and I may not be as outspoken and argumentative as some people but I'm not a push over. I've tried and tried to at least create some kind of pleasant relationship with you but you're just being a...-"

When my words faltered, he took that opportunity to almost instantly call me out on it.

"A what?" Raising an eyebrow at me, he paused for a second and when I didn't respond, a smirk tugged at his lips. "Say it Daniela, or do you not have the balls to say what you think to me?"

"You're being a dick." I managed to force the words out of my although I knew in my heart, I wasn't the type of person to ever try to hurt someone's feelings.

Maybe I'm not like most girls then, but that's how my parents raised me. I knew deep down that I was just unlucky to be surrounded by so many bad people but not everyone in the world has cruel intentions like Ayden, Atticus or George.

Before I could continue my rant, Carson began to stand up from his place on the bed next to me. I watched his movements as he took his plate over to the table where my empty plate was waiting for the George's cronies to come and take it away.

Moments passed in silence as he did that and after some time I assumed the conversation was over, until he spoke again.

"I told you the day we met, I didn't need your help and I would never trust you. I also told you that I might be worse than George. I warned you Daniela, it's not my fault you're living in some fantasy land where you think we might one day get along."

"You might say that but eight days ago I never would have imagined I would be kidnapped and trapped in a room with someone like you. So, no, it's not a fantasy land, maybe I just have hope for someone who's completely and utterly hopeless."

Carson held my stare as I spoke, his expression remaining cold and hard as he listened to what I was saying. In the short time I'd known him I could see that he had this ability to completely be able to shut away his emotions and to not let things effect him.

"If you have hope in me then you're a naive little girl. You'd have more luck finding happiness as George's whore than with me."

"I'm not a naive little girl Carson. Maybe I just have a cleaner heart than you." In response to my words Carson let out a mocking laugh, taking a few steps towards where I was sitting on the bed.

"And that makes you naive. You may live in a little protective bubble with your boyfriend and all your money, but trust me sweetheart, out there in the big bad world, there are people who would make you wish you were never born."

As he spoke he came closer and closer to the bed until he was right in front of me. Bringing his face down level with mine, the volume of his voice dropped as he finished his sentence.

"Those people are closer than you think."

It seemed like he thought his words and his actions would scare me into being quiet again like I had been for the past week. Usually they would, except for the fact that I was slowly coming to the realisation I was never going to get out of that hell hole.

Which meant I had nothing left to lose.

Closing the gap and bringing my face even closer to his, I matched his glare with one of my own.

"Don't assume things about my life Carson, you wouldn't want to appear naive now, would you?"

Being so close to him allowed me to see the flash of surprise cross his face as he began to back up a little, letting out a humourless laugh.

"At least you're finally losing that little nice girl act of yours."

Using his own words from a few days ago against him, I shuffled to the edge of the bed, standing up as well.

"It's not an act. I gave you a chance Carson, even after the horrible things you said to me I still tried with you, even while you were unconscious I took care of you."

Carson clenched his jaw, looking away from me for a moment before he finally spoke.

"What the hell do you want from me Daniela?"

As much as I knew I could stand there and list to him all that needed fixing in his attitude, all I did was shrug my shoulders.

"Figure it out." Dropping back down on the bed, I leaned against the wall, pulling my knees up against my chest again as I watched him. All he did was just stare back at me for a while before he eventually let out a scoff, shaking his head.

A few moments passed as he paced around the small room while I was busy wrapping the blanket around myself to stay warm.

"I'm sorry."

At the sound of his deep voice, my eyes snapped up to meet his but before I could try to speak, he spoke again.

"You've done a lot to help me and I should be more grateful for that, so I'm sorry."

"That's all you're sorry for?" He held my stare for a moment before he nodded his head. Everything about his stare was daring me to argue with him and to try and get him to apologise for how he's been treating me.

He knew I wasn't satisfied with his shitty apology. Unfortunately for him, I was never the type to give people the satisfaction unnecessarily.

"I forgive you." When I gave him a soft smirk, his expression showed he was a mixture of surprised and impressed by my response. Carson let out a sigh, nodding his head as he came back over to the bed, dropping down next to me.

Although I did feel bad, I decided to let him sit in the cold since I was already comfortable in the blanket.

A comfortable silence fell between us, until I broke it, again, while turning to give him a smile.

"So..."

"So what?" The boredom in his tone was definitely not hard to miss.

"What shall we talk about?"

For what seemed like the millionth time that week, Carson rose an eyebrow at me, giving me an irritated expression.

"You want to talk?"

"Yeah, maybe you've never done it before since you probably don't have many friends with that attitude but it's really easy. How about we play a game - I'll ask you a question and then you ask me one?"

The fact I was giving him a sweet smile while I spoke only seemed to irritate him even further which was absolutely my intention.

"No."

"Too bad. So, how old are you?"

"Carson."

"Carson."

"Car-"

"Damn! I'm 25! Are you happy now?"

As soon as he reacted I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped my lips causing me to instantly slap my hand over my mouth in an attempt to muffle it.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're easy to wind up?" When he heard my laughter, he gave me a cold glare in response. "Has anyone ever told you that you're freaking annoying?"

Giving him a shrug, I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes as I did.

"Maybe once or twice."

~ Carson's POV ~

The moment she closed her eyes, I took that opportunity to take in her appearance.

Her long brown hair was tied up in some kind of messy ball on her head and yet it still looked perfect on her. Her long lashes cast a shadow over her cheeks and her plump lips were in their natural pout.

She really was beautiful, even I couldn't deny that.

Especially when she laughs.

Even though I'd only just heard her laugh for the first time now, I knew it was the kind of sound that would make your entire day better, no matter what happened. You could just listen to it all the time and never get tired of it.

But she was his.

She was his and I hated him.

Ayden and his older brother Atticus were two people I wouldn't think twice about killing. The fact she loved him meant she was on their side and that meant she was my enemy.

In this life you don't have people in the middle. They're either your enemy or your friend and if she knew who I was, I would be her enemy and she would be mine. I was surprised she didn't know who I was but he probably didn't bother to tell her everything.

She clearly knew enough though since I only knew of her because I'd seen her with him at stupid events and dinners and things.

But, there was a big reason I hadn't told her why I hated her. If someone here found out who she was, it was almost a certainty she would end up getting hurt. George was keeping me here for revenge but if he knew Daniela could be used for ransom, he would stop at nothing to hurt her and scare Ayden into paying her ransom.

As much as I hated who she was, I didn't want to see her get hurt.

I hated her for her association with Ayden and the Irish Mob, I didn't hate her as a person. Even if she was irritating as hell.

She was a nice person though. She was kind and caring, she had this innocence about her like she didn't belong in this life.

So how the hell did she end up with Ayden then?

"What are you thinking about?" Her soft voice brought me out of my thoughts and it was only then that I realised she was staring at straight back at me.

"My question, it's my turn, right?" She definitely seemed surprised by my quick response and to be honest so was it. It made me sound like a girl.

I don't play these stupid games with people.

She nodded her head waiting expectantly for me to ask her a question and of course I had no clue what to ask her.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"What?"

"All you do is try to help me, even when I'm a dick to you. Damn, you couldn't even call me a dick."

I could tell she was caught off guard by my question when she looked away, taking a moment to reply to me.

"I guess I'm just a nice person? As for the language, my parents didn't raise me to speak badly to people. It's not something I enjoy doing but I guess, I do sometimes, more than I should."

In my usual fashion I didn't respond to her, instead I just nodded my head which was my way of acknowledging her words.

"Why are you so mean?" Her question was accompanied with a teasing smile causing me to roll my eyes. "It's just who I am."

"Well I think you should stop, it's not a good habit to be mean to people."

"I think you should shut the hell up."

Although the aim of my words was to shut her up, all she did was let out another beautiful laugh.

"Oh trust me, now that you made the mistake of talking to me once, I'm never going to stop."

Ooh 👀

What did you guys think? I can't wait for you to read some of the later chapters that I'm currently writing, they're so good I can't even 😭❤️

Thank you for reading! Also I think this whole schedule of mine is out the window so these daily updates are really starting to become a thing. We'll just see how it goes.