Knowing that Sophia was sleeping in one of the rooms at the guest room side of the house, I went to the staff side where I picked a room out of the several empty rooms and locked the door.
It was dusty and smelly in this room but that was the least of my problems.
Finding out that my parents were murderers was.
Apart from when Dad was dealing with Daniel, he never looked like he could kill a fly. But mum? She practically carries that "I can kill you" aura around with her.
Then she slapped me.
I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her fingers were clearly illustrated on my left cheek. And my forehead was also red from hitting Sylvester. That really hurt. Seeing the marks made me more angry. But the angrier I got, the more helpless I became. What was I to do?
How long had Riley known about Sylvester and I ? Was that why he hated the guy? Because he felt the attraction between us? If that was true, should he even be mad? He cheated several times before I met Sylvester. How did he get to know by the way? I thought we hid it well. If he knew and Uncle Liam knew, who else does? Was Slyvester going to be in danger now? The more I thought about it, the scarier I got.
I went out of the room and quietly dashed to Uncle Liam's door. I knocked only once and the door opened. He must have been sleeping because his eyes were red and seemed angry. I took a step back but once he recognized me, his eyes softened a little.
"Hmmm?" He groaned.
"Can I come in?" I stammered.
"He cocked his head to one side and gave me an intense gaze. It lasted for maybe a second or two but made me take another step back.
"Hmm!" He groaned again and stepped back for me . I hurried past him into the room and stopped at the center. He closed the door and stared at me. I was so fidgety. Hadn't been into that room for years. It smelled and looked the same. As if it was frozen in time. Wished I had time to look around. Would the stone cold owner even let me? I rolled my eyes in my head and refocused on the issue at hand.
"Riley knows about Sylvester and I
He is threatening to tell Mum."
He walked up to me and gently grabbed my two hands and stared at them. "What are these?" He asked in a very angry soft voice. The type that scared me the most.
I looked at the hands and saw that my wrists were red. Knowing that his anger wasn't directed at me, I felt relieved. So I relaxed.
"It was Riley. He…" Then I remembered this was the guy that killed two men by feeding them to dogs. What if he does the same thing to Riley?
"Hmm?" He groaned again.
"What do you think I should do? Should I warn Sylvester? Will he need to go into hiding?" I was becoming hysterical.
"She knows."
Wait! What? Who knows what?! Nooo!
"Did you tell her? Why would you do that?" I started crying.
"It's my job, princess but don't worry. As long as you marry Riley, you would be free to do as you like."
Silence.
I just didn't know what to say to that.
He cleared his throat, jerking me out of my reverie.
"It's late princess."
"Yeah. Sorry Uncle Liam." I stood up and was about to go but stopped. "Uncle Liam, can I have some of those pills please? You don't have to give me the whole bottle. Just give me the right dosage. I haven't been sleeping well."
He nodded and I milky walked to his bathroom, opened the supplies cabinet and took the pills that I needed including some painkillers before washing my face.
When I got back to the room, he was already seated up in bed with his duvet covering his body from the midriff.
"Prepare to start self defense lessons after the party." He mumbled. I stared at my red wrists and nodded.
"Good night." He groaned and the room went dark after a click.
Uncle Liam was such a natural jerk. I walked out of the room already feeling the effects of the pills I took but when I returned to my room, sleep was the last thing that came to my mind. I was up till dawn, overthinking about everything.
When I finally dozed off, it was almost three in the morning.
I woke up to the sound of someone knocking at my door and a slit headache. I was first disoriented but then remembered what happened last night and why I had to sleep in the staff room. This morning, it looked worse than last night and I started sneezing too. I opened the door just a little in case it was Riley but found Uncle Liam there.
"Breakfast is in 10 minutes." He turned and left.
I closed the door and looked at the time, it was almost 10 in the morning. I was yet to bath talkmore of dress up and breakfast was 10 minutes away. I was wary of going back to my room but I had no choice. Plus it was morning. Riley should know better than to do anything stupid.
When I got to my room, it was empty. I was relieved that I didn't have to talk to him yet. I dashed into the bathroom and was washing up as fast as I could when the door suddenly burst open and the son of the devil came in looking mad. He grabbed my neck and smashed me to the wall.
"Riley… NOO!" was all I managed to get out before he started choking me.
I instantly kicked him in the groin and dashed out of the room. But he didn't miss a beat. He came after me, lunged for my midriff and brought me to the floor of the bathroom. He crawled up on me then choked me again. "Don't you ever talk to me the way you did last night or you are going to get it you cheap slut." He groaned in anger then spit on me before standing up and leaving the room.
I was on that floor for a long time, shocked and scared. I have never seen this side of Riley before. He looked like the devil himself.
What was I going to do? How could I marry such a man? I started crying again but had to get up when I heard someone knocking at the door.
"I am coming." I yelled with difficulty. I then slowly got up and took my time to wash up this time. At this point, I was past caring.
I walked up to my mirror and stared at myself. Mum's palm and finger marks were still on my face, my wrists were still slightly red, My elbow that hit the floor last night was bruised and blue black and my newly assaulted neck was red all round. His hands were quite big.
I went through my closet to get something that could cover up all the bruises but I had nothing that decent. Unless I wanted to wear Riley's clothes, nothing would do. I shrugged and picked a dress that was sleeveless off shoulder. Why not show everything off? See how they react and gauge my importance to them.
After dressing up, I also decided not to use any makeup.
I stepped out of the room deciding that if I got no justice for the abuse I suffered in Riley's hands, I would run away. There was no reason to stay with a family who has no love for me. It wasn't a thought-out idea but the closer I got to the dining room, the broader it got.