C4 Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Waking up this morning, I was reminded of my misery. The grumbling of my stomach and my parched throat had the events of last night rushing to my head.

"Now I'm really going to make your life a real hell." He yelled at me and started walking towards me.

"I was doomed."

And oh, was I right. Xavier had me locked up in the basement, which brought back a lot of bad memories I desperately wanted to forget. I had to sleep on the cold, bare ground in the room that had no light, and probably had roaches roaming around.

The thought of roaches crawling on my body whilst sleeping made me want to do anything other than puke.

The pain in my tummy brought me back to reality again. I looked around the basement with the help of the little rays of sunlight that creeped in through the small and only window in the room.

Xavier didn't even listen to my pleas when he was locking me up yesterday. He specifically gave the instruction for food and water not to be brought to me, and also threatened to fire anyone who dared to disobey him.

The thought of my predicament brought tears to my eyes.

Yes, my parents and Blair didn't treat me as part of the family. Yes, I was always treated as an outcast. Yes, insults were always been hurled at me.

Sometimes even I was locked up, and had to eat just a little portion of food per day. But, what had never happened was for me to go without food and water for a whole day.

The pain in my stomach had me doubling over in pain. It was like my insides were being pricked at by a sharp pin.

The sound of approaching footsteps made me sit up and crawl away from the door. As the footsteps became more clear, the fear in my heart increased.

I didn't know if he had calmed down or not. The jingling of keys brought me out of my thoughts.

The door opened to reveal Kate with the bunch of keys in her hand. I noticed she had a bottle of water in her other hand, and I couldn't be more grateful at that moment.

I launched forward, like a deer catching it's prey, and all but snatched the bottle of water from her. In the blink of an eye, the last drop of the water made its way to my mouth.

Only after I had finished drinking the water did I acknowledge Kate, who was still standing in front of me with nothing but lots of pity on her face.

I let out a long sigh and gave her a sad smile. She tried to return the smile, but totally failed. Tears were streaming down her face and she turned away from me, in an attempt to hide her tears.

After she cleaned her tears, she faced me and took the water from me. She helped me up, and I had to hold on to her firmly, because my feet were wobbly.

Realizing that not even a word had been spoken since she had arrived, I opened my mouth to greet her at the same time she also spoke.

"Good mor……"

"Miss, goo……."

We both chuckled and I gave her a nod, signalling to her to speak first.

"Good morning miss. I hope your night was not that bad? Also Mr Kingston has asked for you to be released and taken to your room. I'm so sorry for how you're being treated, you have to go freshen up, and come down to have breakfast." She explained to me.

"I know you must be starving after not having anything to eat throughout yesterday, so I made breakfast already. You have to hurry up too, so it won't get cold."

I gave her a small smile in appreciation and thanked her. Kate and Mrs Miller were the only ones who accepted and showed kindness to me.

The guards and driver were just like a statue, nodding when asked a question, and speaking only when necessary.

Kate led me out of the basement, and I made my way to my room to bath and cleaned out the sweat and dirt from yesterday.

I was grateful that Xavier had left for work, because I couldn't stand being in his presence right now and I knew he couldn't too.

I locked the door after entering the bathroom, removed my clothes and stood stark naked in front of the mirror.

It felt like a rib was broken after I was thrown at the Oak table yesterday, and my reflection in the mirror proved that. A bruise that was beginning to turn purple, had formed just below my abdomen.

I brushed my teeth, took my bath and tried with the strength left in me to wrap a bandage around my stomach.

I limped out of the bathroom and walked to the closet and took out a green sweatshirt and jean shorts to put on. I didn't have any strength left in me, so I had to call Kate and request for my food to be brought up.

I laid on my bed, and took a deep breath, still very mindful of my broken rib, whilst waiting for my food to arrive.

Less than ten minutes later, Kate knocked and walked in through my door with my food which she had served in a tray in her hands.

"Here's your food miss. Sorry for keeping you waiting, I had to reheat it in the microwave before bringing it up."

'Thank you, Kate. You can place the food on the desk over there please, come back for the plates in thirty minutes."

"Alright miss." She nodded and turned around, about to leave.

"And please call me Isa or Isabel. Don't make me feel older than I already feel like." I told her with a gentle smile on my face.

We both chuckled and she left the room after placing the food on the desk.

I stood and locked the door after her before proceeding to the desk to eat. I all but dragged the chair at my vanity set to the desk and sat there to eat.

Kate was a great cook, I came to this conclusion after I finished my food. I sighed and drank the tea that she prepared too. After eating, I went back to lay on my bed and waited for her to come back for the plates.

A little while later, the plates had already been packed by Kate and I was the only one in the room, having nothing else to do, I picked up my phone and started scrolling through the internet, I was doing this till I slept off.

The minute I slept, I didn't know, but I was very much aware of when I woke up, and this was because the devil had returned.

I opened my eyes and peeked outside to see that it was already getting dark. I went to grab my phone so I could check the time, it was fifteen minutes after six. That meant I slept for nothing less than six hours.

This also meant that Xavier was back. I noticed he always returned from work around five since I got here. The thought of him being at home made me get up from the bed and lock the door.

I wasn't going to be taking any chances. I would try my best to stay out of his way and not have anything to do with him besides official duties that involved going out to the public as a couple.

I laid back on the bed and brought out the novel I hadn't finished yet. Some hours later, I started feeling hungry, so I called for Kate to ask if Xavier had retired to his room yet, and she answered in positive.

Once I had confirmed that the coast was clear, I went down and sat at the table to eat dinner. I was so engrossed in my food to the extent that I didn't hear Xavier come down and stand behind me.

I had brought the spoon to my mouth, about to swallow another portion when I heard his voice. I quickly sprung out of the chair like there was fire on it.

"Look who it is, see who finally decided to come out after trying to avoid me." He mocked me.

If there was another word for frightened, that was what I was feeling right now. I thought Kate said he had gone to bed, I looked towards the kitchen and caught a glimpse of Kate with an apologetic look on her face.

I immediately figured out what had happened.

Xavier must have been around when I called Kate to ask about his whereabouts, he would have told her to lie to me.

Only God knew what he wanted now. I had been 'well-behaved' today, I didn't receive or make any calls and I also didn't insist on going to work, I didn't even have one again.

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "Hey there, little one. Don't I get a reply? What? Have you suddenly gone mute?"

I couldn't even bring myself to lift my head and look him in the eyes. Yes, I was that terrified of him.

My head remained downwards while I tried to form the words and even get them out of my mouth.

"Um, um...goo….good evening, Xavi…." I mentally slapped myself in the face because I knew I had just embarrassed myself in front of him again.

"It's Master to you. As far as I know and I'm concerned, your parents sold you to me."

That was what I got as a response to my stuttering.

His words made we want to tear up, but I pushed back my tears and greeted him properly.

"Sorry master. Good evening,Master." I greeted him while my head was still facing downwards.

He scoffed and put his finger underneath my chin, so I was looking directly at him now.

"Where were you when I returned from work? Why were you trying to come down to eat because I was here? What would have happened if I had a guest with me when you called to know where I was? Do you want my name to be slandered?"

Both his face and voice was cold as usual and each of his words sent chills down my spine, it felt like I was about to pee on myself.

"I'm sorry, master. It won't happen again." I knew he was about to lose his calm so I knew begged him in order to salvage the situation.

"Yes it will not, I won't give you that chance. Starting from tomorrow, you have to be waiting outside the door for me when I get back home." He started.

"If you come outside a second after I drive in or you forget to do so, I believe I don't have to use my words to tell you what the consequences would be." He reached out and twirled a piece of my hair, smiling sickeningly at me.

That was a threat, I wouldn't have taken it serious if it was coming from anybody but coming from Xavier, I knew he meant every word of what he just said and I also knew now not to go against his words, or try to argue with him.

I didn't think I can handle another night locked up in the basement. I might pass out this time.

His tightened grip on my chin brought me out of my thoughts, "Yes master."

"Yes,what?"

"Yes,I'll be outside the door waiting for you everyday before you drive in. I will try not to forget to the extent of being even a minute late."

"Not try, you have to."

"Ok, Master."

It was only after this did he release my chin from his deathly grip and sat down in the chair opposite me.

"Since you disrupted my eating, it is only right if you make another food for me from the scratch," he chuckled at his words, "Let's see, how about homemade pizza? Yes, I want the pizza to be here in forty five minutes, not a minute early, not a minute late. Am I understood?"

"Yes master."

That was all that could come out of my mouth. Homemade pizza in forty five minutes? How was I to do that?

"Mind you, your time began to count since a minute ago, meaning I'd hurry up if I were you, you have 44 minutes left now."

I rushed out of his presence and went to the kitchen. "Kate and Mrs. Miller, you both can retire for the night." He dismissed the other people I was counting on to help me.

That meant I was all alone and the reality that I was going to do this by myself dawned on me very quickly too. I brought my phone out of my pocket and set a timer for 35 minutes, when that went off, it'd be a signal to me to start rounding off my cooking.

My cooking. The thought brought a little smile to my face, that was one of the things I was proud of. I wasn't a professional chef by any means, but I had been told on several occasions that I was a great cook.

After some minutes of rummaging through the kitchen cabinets in search for the necessary equipments, I was finally ready to start cooking.

I had my cornmeal for the baking sheet, flour for the surface, pizza dough, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, which I grated coarsely, wine and some basil for sprinkling.

I placed a pizza stone in the oven and heated it, after I had done this, I then dusted my baking sheet with cornmeal, then I cleaned and sprinkled the surface of the cooking table with flour.

I took the pizza dough, shaped it into a circle and place it on the baking sheet, I spread sauce on the dough, and sprinkled it with mozzarella and Parmesan.

I then went on to slid the pizza off the sheet onto the stone and baked until the crust was golden brown, this took about 10 to 12 minutes. I took it out of the oven, and that was when the timer went off. I was still on track, the only thing left to do was to sprinkle basil and serve it to him.

After I sprinkled basil, I divided the pizza into 8 parts with a cutter and set it aside in a tray. I checked the time again, and saw that I had just a minute left. Quickly I picked the food, and as I was leaving the kitchen, I was conducting an inner countdown.

My phone dinged again, and I knew that the time was up so I walked out with the tray in my hands to the dinning area where Xavier sat with his phone in his hands.

I placed the food on the table and I retraced my steps as soon as I was done, I turned to leave him and go to the kitchen but his words stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going? You probably laced the food with poison already, just so I can die after eating it, then you'd take my wealth, I don't think so. Take a bite of what you made and after taking a bite, you have to wait here till I finish eating!"

I went back to where he sat and took a bite like he had commanded.

I stood beside him till he finished eating. I didn't know if he was generally a slow eater, but Xavier was eating like a kid that just started to eat by himself. I was tired and my feet were aching from standing up for so long.

The ding of his phone made me see a glimpse of the time. It was around 12am in the morning. I let out a loud sigh, the same time he pushed his chair back and stood up from the table.

The pain in my tummy reminded me that I had just a little portion of my food, before he interrupted me.

"That's all you could come up with? Just one pizza? Anyway, clean the table and do the dishes then come back to the loving room when you're all done."

"Yes master."

I didn't know what he wanted to tell me, but my own conclusion?

This night wasn't going be a good one.