⚠️ Warning - this chapter contains detailed descriptions of sexual assault.

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~ Daniela's POV ~

I'll just hold onto you.

"What?"

If it was anyone else, they would have shown some kind of signs of discomfort in this situation, but not Carson. Somehow he seemed cooler and more confident than ever while I was sitting there completely dumbfounded.

"You're my friend."

"But...I thought..."

"You thought I ignored your question?" Carson rose an eyebrow at me, giving me an amused smile before he shook his head. "I didn't Daniela, I was just stalling, I guess? I'm not very good at things like this."

"Then why do you seem so relaxed?" At this he just let out a laugh, shaking his head as he looked up at the ceiling while I just continued to stare at him. "If only you knew how I feel right now."

Although he mumbled the words, it was still loud enough for me to hear, but I didn't respond to him. Instead I was too busy trying to process the fact that he said we were friends.

Friends.

My first friend.

Carson was my first friend.

Carson and I had been much closer than strangers or even some friends were to each other while we'd been here. I don't mean through an emotional connection, I mean through the things we'd experienced in here.

Only we knew how it felt to be in here. How it felt to be away from the outside world and everything and everyone we knew. How it felt to be locked in a tiny, freezing cold room with a complete stranger who you had to sleep next to. How it felt to go through George's games or what Christopher did to me.

Only we knew what it was truly like in this place 24 hours a day for two weeks straight.

That was something we'd only ever share with each other.

"You know you called me Dani for the first time earlier."

As soon as he saw my teasing smile, Carson gave me a frown, shaking his head in denial.

"No I didn't." His cold tone caused me to let out a laugh. "You did."

"I think you're hearing things Daniela."

His response caused me to roll my eyes as I let out a sigh.

"I don't understand, if we're friends like you say we are, why can't you call me Dani?"

"You want me to call you that?" When he rose an eyebrow at me, I nodded my head. "Yeah."

This time it was his turn to let out a very overly exaggerated sigh before he nodded his head.

"Fine."

Giving him a triumphant smile, I turned my gaze to the ceiling as we just continued to lay there.

There really wasn't much else to do except lie there and do nothing.

"I really am sorry Daniela. I didn't mean what I said, it was just the conversation about my mom, it got to me."

"I didn't mean to upset you Carson." Very quickly he shook his head as I turned to look at him again. "It wasn't your fault. I just miss her Dani."

This time I just gave him a soft smile, deciding it was better not to try and give him too much advice.

"I know. You're a mama's boy." When he heard my teasing tone, his eyes snapped to mine and he gave me another glare.

This guy really couldn't handle jokes.

"No I'm not." Once again I just let out a laugh, nodding my head in response. "What were you like as a child? I can't imagine what little Carson was like. Did you have that same glare on your face?"

When I turned my head to look at him I found him glaring at me, which only made my smile grow. "That's the one."

He held my stare for a moment before he eventually let out a laugh. At least he wasn't mad.

"I guess you could say I was a mama's boy, but it was just her anyway so it's not that big of a deal." As much as I was happy we were friends now, I wasn't stupid enough to ask him about his father. Just from the way he said it was just his mother, I knew something was wrong. Maybe his father died?

"So were you happy when you were little?" When I asked the question I kept my eyes on him although he didn't look at me, instead choosing to look at the ceiling when a frown formed on his face.

Just in that split it felt like his walls had dropped and I could see the pain he was in. Like he had this huge weight on his shoulders and he just couldn't get it off.

"Once upon a time yeah, but then the reality of life caught up with me and I realised there's no such thing as happiness."

Before either of us could say anything else, not that there was much to say since I was too shocked at how sad his words sounded, the sound of the door unlocking echoed through the room. Carson and I both sat up as the door swung open, revealing Mark who was holding a tray with our food on.

I watched as his eyes roamed around the room before they settled on the pair of us in the bed. He didn't say a word as he walked over to the table to put the tray down before he went back to the door, meanwhile the entire time Carson remained rigid next to me.

It was only when he was safely by the exit that he spoke for the first time since coming into the room.

"You're getting some too Agnello? She's very good with her mouth, I'll give her that. She even swallows."

As soon as I saw him smirk at the same time his eyes locked with mine, images of the events from two nights ago came back to me.

"Did I say you could stop?"

"But I can't breathe." All Mark did was let out a sadistic laugh as he wrapped his fist around my hair causing me to let out a whimper from the pain. "Good. Now, get your mouth back on there before I force it down you."

This time he didn't let me pull back when I began to panic from the lack of air, instead he used his hand on my head to keep me there for as long as he wanted. When he finally let me go it wasn't for very long before he forced my head back down until the end.

Before I could even try to spit it out, his hand covered my mouth and my nose to cut off my air supply.

"Swallow it, slut. All of it."

"Do you remember what I did to your face or would you like a reminder?"

The sound of Carson's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and it was only when I saw him about take a step towards Mark that I realised he'd gotten up from his place next to me on the bed.

"Carson don't."

Surprisingly, Carson stopped when he heard my voice although he did continue to glare at Mark who was still standing by the door.

"He deserves it." His voice came out in a clipped tone and I could tell from where I was that he was clenching his jaw and his fists too.

It was like it was taking all his self control not to close the gap and pummel his fists into Mark's face again.

"But you'll get hurt too. Just leave it, please."

It took a moment but finally Carson stepped back, indicating that he wasn't going to do anything to Mark. Of course, Mark just pushed his luck, giving us a smug smile.

"Are you going soft Agnello? I never thought someone like you would take orders from a slut."

Someone like him?

That's not the only thing he said, he called you a slut too honey.

Right.

"She's not a slut."

"Maybe, or maybe she's worse." This time, Mark let out a laugh as he stepped out of the room, slamming the door while Carson just continued to glare at him. If it was even possible his glare intensified so much more and he was now breathing much heavier than before.

"Carson..."

"I'm going to kill him." Carson stood there, clenching his fists as his cold glare remained fixed on the door where Mark was just standing moments ago.

"Okay but first, can we eat? I'm kind of hungry."

At the sound of my voice, he turned to look at me and when he saw the shy smile I was giving him, his glare softened, even if it was only a little bit.

"Come on then Trouble." He let out a sigh as he made his way over to the table while I stood up from the bed wrapping the blanket around my body.

"What did you just call me?"

When he heard my offended tone, Carson turned his head to look at me while giving his usual smirk.

"Trouble. It suits you well doesn't it? Now that we're friends I can call you whatever I want."

"No! Of course it doesn't. I'm anything but trouble. In fact, I think I bring more good luck than trouble."

Of course my matter of fact tone only made Carson laugh as he took off the covers for our plates.

"Good luck? Let's see, you got yourself kidnapped with me, you've annoyed every guard that's ever come into this room and you give me a headache every damn day."

"Oh please, me being here is the best thing that ever happened to you."

Giving him a tight smile as I walked over to him, before grabbing a fork from his hand and picking up my plate. I could feel his eyes on me as I took some of my food off my plate, putting it onto his like I did at every meal time.

"Maybe it was."

Although his words came out in a low murmur, I still heard them and they still made my heart feel like it skipped a beat.

Without acknowledging his words, I eventually took my place back on the bed, leaning against the wall as I watched him sit down on the chair to eat his food at the table.

"So when are you going to kill Mark?" When I spoke, Carson eyes moved away from his plate towards me, but the moment I mentioned Mark's name, his expression became cold again.

He has the nerve to call me Trouble, but his response to my question was a sentence mostly put together with foul language.

The only one words which weren't profanities were 'As as soon as I get out of this' and then after that I blocked the rest out. It was too much for my innocent soul to handle.

Come to think of it, Carson actually did have a swearing problem, I just tried to block out of most of it. I was never one to swear or enjoy hearing it.

"Well, I'll have you know it's a rather large building, so good luck with that."

"What do you mean?" When he looked at me in confusion, I very quickly realised I was holding onto information that would be of use to him if he was to kill everyone here.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I gave him a smirk as I took a bite of my food while he just gave me a flat look, clearly figuring out what I was up to.

"I'm not in the mood for this Dani. Just tell me straight."

"But where's the fun in that?" This time he just gave me a warning glare, causing me to sigh. "Fine I'll tell you."

Carson continued to stare at me impatiently while I took another bite of my dinner before I eventually started speaking.

"That day I went with Mark to the poker game, he took-"

"Poker game? What poker game?" When Carson cut me off, it took me a moment to realise that I'd completely forgotten to tell him anything of what had happened that day.

I guess it went through my head so much that I'd forgotten he didn't know exactly what had happened.

"Shall I just start from the beginning?"

When he nodded, an excited smile tugged at my lips causing him to frown. "What?"

"It's story time, I love story time." I expected him to roll his eyes or something but to my surprise a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Just hurry up Trouble."

"Don't call me that, I don't like it."

When I realised he didn't care how I felt, I just started the story from the beginning when Mark took me through the hallways in the house and then into the room on the first floor.

The entire time that I told Carson about how Mark made me change in front of him, he kept his gaze trained on the floor, although I could see him clenching his jaw.

"Then we went downstairs into a room where quite a few men were sitting. That was when I met Christopher."

The moment I mentioned Christopher, Carson's entire body became even more tense. A moment passed in silence while
I took a bite of my food although Carson still hadn't touched his once yet.

Once I'd finished chewing, I cleared my throat before I continued.

"He basically told me my job was to do whatever I was told to do by him and those men he had with him. He told me he wasn't like his brother and that he wouldn't go easy on me if I upset him."

The longer I continued the story, the tenser the atmosphere in the room became, especially compared to how light hearted it was at the beginning.

I was suddenly beginning to miss his smile.

"Afterwards, once he won the game, he asked me if I knew what the prize for winning was. I'm sure you can guess what it was."

When Carson lifted his head to look at me, I tightened the blanket around my body as if it offered me some kind of safety from the outside world. His eyes locked with mine for a moment, as if he was getting all the answers he needed just by looking into my eyes.

"I'm so sorry Dani."

All I could do was shake my head, hoping it would be enough to tell him that it wasn't his fault. I didn't have it in me to talk too much about what happened to me that night.

As much as it was horrible and traumatising, it wasn't the worst thing I'd ever been through. Nothing was as bad as what happened on my 21st birthday.

That was something I could never see myself ever telling Carson. He was nice enough to get over this but if he knew I was taken by three men, once while I was drugged and another time in the morning, he would be disgusted by me.

He was the only friend I had, I didn't want him to find out the truth and then look at me in disgust.

"First Christopher had his turn and then Mark did before he brought me back here." I tried to keep my tone emotionless and blunt, but I knew he could see straight through it. He was smart enough for that.

A moment passed before Carson suddenly stood up from the chair, crossing the small room to reach where I was sitting on the bed. I watched as he knelt down on the floor to be at eye level with me while I still sat there wrapped in the blanket.

Looking me in the eye, he leaned closer to me as he spoke, allowing me to see his beautiful brown eyes up close.

"I promise you, I will make every single person who touched you that night pay."

All I could see was promise and determination on his face and something told me that he was someone who would never break a promise.

"Thank you." I managed to give him a small smile before I averted my gaze back to my dinner when the little staring contest between us became too much for me to handle.

"You should eat, you haven't touched your food yet Carson."

"I'm not hungry." He shook his head as he let out a tired sigh, resting his head on the bed since he was still kneeling infront of me.

Without thinking I placed my hand on the back of his head causing him to instantly lift his head just enough to look at me.

There's really no way to describe that moment.

We just stared.

He stared at me with his beautiful brown eyes as the air between us suddenly became thick with tension. At first he was frowning in confusion before his frown softened and his lips parted as he looked at me, like he wanted to say something, of course neither of us knew what to say.

Once I'd somehow broken out of whatever trans I was in, I pulled my hand back, ignoring the tingles as I placed it back by my side.

For the next moment Carson continued to look at me as if he was busy trying to find something while I just sat there under the scrutiny of his gaze.

"Just try to eat a little bit before it gets cold. You always say how much you love their broccoli."

Although my attempt at trying to lighten the mood caused him to smile, anyone could tell it was forced since it didn't reach his eyes. Finally, he nodded his head before he stood up from his kneeling position, heading back over to the table.

The moment he was finally more than a few inches away from me, I released the breath that it felt like I had been holding all that time.

What the hell did you just do? Didn't anyone ever tell you to keep your hands to yourself so that you don't cause situations like that? We can't handle that kind of male attention Daniela.

Carson sat back down, turning his attention back to his food while I did this same, my mind still reeling from what had just happened.

It only stayed quiet for a minute or two before Carson let out a groan causing me to look up from my plate and over at him.

"I used to love the way my mom made broccoli but this is disgusting. It's burnt as-"

Cue another curse word.

His words were funny enough alone but when paired with the pained expression on his face as he chewed the broccoli I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"You're overreacting."

"I don't think so. I know can make this ten times better."

"You can cook?" When he heard the surprise in my tone, Carson looked at me with an amused expression. "Why is that so shocking to you?"

"Well...because you're you."

"Me?" Of course he only seemed even more amused at this. "You just don't seem like the type of guy who cooks, unless you do it to impress women, which I guess would make sense."

"Slow down Trouble, you're starting to sound like you're judging me."

"Okay I'm not judging you, I'm just saying. Besides, how can I judge you when I barely know you." I shrugged my shoulders as I took my final bite of my food before putting the empty plate on the bed next to me.

"Exactly, so how could you possibly know if I'm the kind of guy who can cook or not?"

When he gave me a smirk knowing he'd won our little debate, I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him to get the last say.

"From my experience, most guys can't cook, or at least not very well."

"Well, just to prove you wrong, I would offer to cook for you, but there's not much I can do in here. Maybe one day I will." Carson shrugged his shoulders before taking another bite of his food, once again making the same disgusted expression.

Once that familiar silence fell around us again, this time my mind was busy conjuring up images of what Carson would be like outside of this place.

I didn't really know much about him, but I wasn't stupid. I knew he was the type to dodgy things, maybe even illegal. Especially since he had that kind of dangerous aura surrounding him.

Maybe he was some kind of powerful businessman who liked to cut corners and make dodgy deals? On our first night here, he did say he did business of some sort.

Flashback

"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."

He really was a jerk back then.

But he's changed so much now. When we had that conversation only two weeks ago I could never have imagined us talking the way we do now.

Maybe if things were different we could have been better friends? Maybe we could have even been friends on the outside?

Friends? As soon as he finds out that you have no friends and absolutely no life or freedom he'll run a mile.

It's true I guess. In here I can pretend that my life outside is perfect, that I have friends, a boyfriend and a job. But in reality, I have none of those things.

I'm a 21 year old girl who has no family or friends, no freedom, no job and has been used by five different men in less than three months.

Why would someone like him ever want to associate with me if they had a choice?

He's only being nice now because it's probably easier than being a dick 24/7 if we're stuck in here together.

And here I was thinking that maybe one day he really would cook dinner for me. If he had the chance he'd go for a girl who was pretty, confident and successful. Someone who caught the attention of every single person in the room when they walked in.

I was the complete opposite. As Ayden would say whenever he took me to one of his business dinners or events, all the attention would be on him because I was so ugly.

You're nothing Daniela. Your parents left, your sister left, Ayden couldn't stand to love you for more than a year and even Carson who was a complete stranger said he couldn't stand the sight of you.

"What's wrong?"

At the sound of his voice, I shifted my gaze away from my hands and over at Carson who was frowning at me.

"Nothing." I shook my head at him, trying my best to shut off the thoughts that I always did my best to block out. Somehow though, they always managed to find a way back in, even when I least expected it.

"You're crying Daniela."

As soon as he said that, I lifted my hand to my cheek, and just like he said, it was damp. I tried my best to keep my walls up, to stop myself from crumbling in front of him, but the moment I saw his concerned expression, it all came crashing down.

Thankfully I was always a quiet crier and I wasn't necessarily an ugly crier.

A few moments after the first sob left my mouth, I was aware of Carson coming over to the bed, sitting down next to me.

He didn't say anything, he didn't ask any questions, he just pulled me into his arms while I cried, burying my face into his chest while he rested his chin on my head.

Moments passed as I struggled to calm myself down, pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind like I always did. I'm not sure exactly how many minutes had passed but by the time I finally pulled away from him, his shirt had a damp patch on it from my tears.

"Sorry."

"You don't have to apologise." When I finally pulled away from him, I refused to look him in the eye as I wiped away my tears. I was embarrassed, even if he said I didn't have to apologise.

For him it probably came out of absolutely nowhere.

"Just finish your food."

"I finished it a while ago Dani, you spaced out." When he said this, I lifted my head, looking over at the empty plate that he had left on the table where he was just sitting.

"Oh."

"Dani..."

"I don't want to talk about it." I shook my head at him as I made a move to get up with the intention to wash my face with cold water in the bathroom.

"I wasn't going to ask you about it." When he spoke, he quickly grabbed my hand to stop me from getting up. "I was going to tell you that you can talk to me about anything that you want, whenever you want."

I wasn't expecting him to ever show me such kindness or care and for a second I didn't believe it was even real - especially after the thoughts that had just taken over my mind. But the longer I looked at him, I could see the genuine concern that he had for me.

"Thank you."

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

"The least you could do is give us some paper and a pencil."

"No, it could be used as a weapon and I mean by him. You're too nice for that." When the nice guard said that in response to my request, he gave Carson a pointed look who just shrugged his shoulders next to me on the bed. "He's not wrong Dani."

"What could you even do with it?"

I think I'm going to regret asking that.

"Well..." Carson turned his attention back to the guard, taking a moment to analyse him while he just stood there watching in amusement. "I'd start by tackling him to ground, getting a few punches and kicks in here and there. Then, when he's a little tired, I'd use the pencil to stab him...maybe in the eye?"

"Or the throat, the throat would be good too." I rose an eyebrow at the guard when he gave Carson a tip on how he could kill someone with the pencil - or particular how Carson could kill him with a pencil. "If you go for the throat the blood would pour out nicely, but with the eye-"

Carson nodded his head in agreement as he cut off the guard, continuing their conversation.

"You would just get a splatter, you're right, it's not as satisfying."

Of course I was just dumbfounded by their conversation.

"You're both sick." I shook my head at them, especially when Carson let out a laugh. We both watched as the guard finally picked up the tray of empty dishes before leaving us once again in that stupid room alone.

It had now been a week and two days since George disappeared. After I cried last night after dinner, Carson and I didn't speak for the rest of the evening and instead I just opted to go to sleep to pass the time and to recover from the headache I had from crying.

This morning, we hadn't really spoken much until now, after breakfast when we were coming up with ideas on how to pass the time.

Once that guard left we were back to trying to think of something to do. Of course, it ended with an argument because that's just how things went with us in that stupid room.

"You could tell me something about yourself."

As soon as I suggested it, Carson narrowed his eyes at me, firing his response back almost instantly.

"Why do you want to know about me?"

"Because I don't know much about you."

"And that's how I like it." When he said this, he stood up from his place next to me on the bed, heading over to the table instead.

"Carson-"

"No." His tone held finality telling me that he didn't want to have this conversation, but of course, I wasn't really blessed with much of a brain to notice that at the time.

"Yesterday you said we were friends and you said I could talk to you about anything. The same rules apply to you too Carson, how can we be friends if I know nothing about you?"

"Daniela don't. I don't want to snap at you again like yesterday so just don't push me. I'm not telling you jack, this is how I want it."

As he finished his sentence, he held my stare, clearly trying to appear as intimidating as he could with the glare he was giving me. Unfortunately for him, I didn't back down so easily.

"Fine, but then I'm not telling you anything else about me. Nothing about my job, my family-"

I guess in a normal friendship, someone would care about a threat like this.

But this wasn't a normal friendship. In my eyes it wasn't even much of a friendship at all.

"I never cared about that stuff in the first place." As soon as he spat those words at me, the room fell silent as I just continued to stare at him, refusing to break eye contact.

He may have been a jerk but I wasn't going to show him I was weak, especially after crying so randomly yesterday.

"Well, thats good to know, I guess."

I watched as he clenched his jaw, still keeping his eyes focused on me until he suddenly stood to his feet. My eyes followed him as he walked over to the window next to me, wrapping his hands around the bars.

"I need to get out of this damn room." The longer he gripped onto those bars, the whiter his knuckles became and the more worried I became.

I knew what he was like when he got angry. He was the type to want to let the anger out of him, to do something to release the tension. Being cooped up in this room wasn't doing him any favours.

"Carson..." I slowly stood to my feet from my place on the bed as I watched him struggle to control his temper which was suddenly out of control. "It's okay, you just need to stay calm. Getting angry in here isn't going to do any good."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do. When you feel overwhelmed you cry and when it happens to me I get angry, it's the same damn thing."

"Actually no it's not because I didn't scare you when I cried yesterday." When I said this, Carson fell quiet before he eventually turned to face me, letting go of the bars.

He looked so...ashamed.

"You're scared of me?"

In that moment all I could feel was my heart pounding in my chest when he looked at me like that and although I was feeling a mixture of emotions, I knew I wasn't scared of him.

"I'm not scared of you Carson, I'm scared that you're going to hurt yourself."

When I said this, that look of shock followed by shame and sadness was replaced by something I couldn't really identify. Before I could try, it was gone.

For a moment, Carson just continued to stare at me as he just thought. It was like he was trying to understand what was even happening.

That feeling of almost losing all your self control and then suddenly snapping out of whatever it was that you were in was something that only happened in this room. Maybe not this particular room, but when you were trapped in a place or a situation that was taking everything out of you.

The sound of the door unlocking caught our attention causing me to turn to face the door. At first I thought it was just one of the guards coming to the room, but when I saw his face, I knew we weren't that lucky.

I felt Carson come closer to me as George stepped into the room, an angry frown on his face instead of his usual smug expression.

At first he just stood there, staring at the two of us until his gaze fell on me.

"You."

As he stepped closer to us, I felt all the anxiety from moments ago wash over me in an instant.

"It's your turn today."

The next chapter is the saddest chapter in the book but it's so important to the story 😞

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