Serena's POV
I returned to the Rossi estate with fire in my veins and ice in my throat. The guards at the gate didn't stop me. Of course not, I was still technically a Rossi, still the daughter of the man who sold me like a prized horse at an auction.
My father sat at his desk in his study, reading glasses on, head bent over some papers, scribbling away at them. A position that I was all too familiar with growing up.
"You're early", he said, not looking up.
I shut the door behind me. "You sold me", I said in a voice, I didn't recognize as mine, barely above a whisper.
Only the pause in the flick of his hands told me he had heard what I said and yet he didn't say anything.
"You sold me", I repeated the words again, heavy and tasted like ash, louder this time.
Finally, he looked up, his eyes met mine.
"I made a deal for peace"
I took a step forward.
"You sold your daughter for ten million dollars"
"You make it sound crude", he said with a sigh. "It was a strategic move, your mother would have understood"
A lie. I clenched my fists and my nails dug into my palms. "Don't bring her into this.", I said through gritted teeth.
He didn't flinch.
"This is how families survive, Serena. We don't trade in love, we trade in power. And I just bought us twenty more years of survival"
"No", I whispered. "You didn't buy us peace. You just showed how cold you could be"
His jaws clenched then he turned his attention back to the papers on the desk. Picking up his pen, he waved his hand dismissively.
"We're done here"
But I wasn't, not yet.
I stormed down the once familiar corridors. Once familiar because now the house I grew up in and once called home gave me chills and felt so unfamiliar. I walked past my room and stopped in front of another, I tugged at the doorknob and the door gave way, opening up. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the room, my mother's.
The room looked exactly like it did before she died. I hadn't been here since she died a year ago, couldn't bring myself to walk into an empty room that was full of her but today after what I learnt, I needed my mother, even if it was just the remnants of her. Everything was really exactly as she left it, I guess my father couldn't bring himself to have anyone clean out the room. Either that or he had just forgotten. I hoped it wasn't the latter.
I opened her jewelry box, all her trinkets were inside, I ran my fingers over a particular diamond necklace she was fond of.
"When you have a daughter, I'll give this necklace to you peach, then you can give it your daughter and just like that a family heirloom", she would say and laugh.
I took my hands away, now that she was dead I couldn't bring myself to take it. She hadn't been here to see me have a daughter, her granddaughter so I couldn't do it. I opened the drawers instead and found journals. About three of them, thick books, filled with words. My mom loved to write, documenting memories, she called it.
I hugged the journals to my chest and let the tears fall.
__
I returned to Damian's estate with the journals stuffed beneath my coat and in my hands. Outside, the sky was bruised with storm clouds. Rain kissed the windows, like ghostly fingers. I passed through the halls quickly but something made me stop. My bedroom door was ajar, Olivia always made sure to close the door behind her. I slowed my steps and walked into the room cautiously, there was no one in sight. A faint breeze whispered past my ear sending chills down my back. Someone had been in here, I could feel it.
"Have you ever experienced anything weird in the house?", I asked Olivia later as she helped me in the bath.
"What do you mean by weird?", she asked back.
"Oh I don't know, anything really"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, or at least I think not. I've been hearing some strange noises, creaks, footsteps at night, like someone is outside my door...", I told her, withholding the conversation I heard Damian having outside my door.
"And today when I came back the door was slightly open and it felt like someone was in here", I added.
"Maybe some other maid came in and forgot to close the door properly?", she offered.
"Yeah maybe", but I wasn't convinced.
"You're probably just tired. You look like you don't get enough sleep and you seem tense. Just a suggestion maybe you should find something to get your mind off things a bit?", she suggested.
I sighed.
I couldn't deny she was right. With everything I had learnt, I could feel my mind spiraling, maybe I was losing it.
As I got ready for bed, I sighted my mother's journals that I had placed on my nightstand. I picked the first one up and plopped on my bed. Maybe mom would help get my mind off things. I put on the lamp next to the bed and started reading.
___
A week passed by without anything interesting happening. I had barely seen Damian since that night and that was fine by me, God knows how much I hated him. I went in to work, trying my best not to lunge at my father whenever I saw him. Yes, I still held my position at the Rossi corporation, I was after all still a Rossi. And in the evenings, I read my mother's journals, her writing gave me peace and comforted me. I didn't hear strange noises and footsteps at night anymore, maybe Olivia was right, I just needed to get my mind off things.
I picked up my mom's journal. It looked newer than the others, probably her most recent one. I flipped it open and stopped short.
They're planning on selling Serena. I won't let that happen. I won't let my daughter go through what I did.
Mom knew. Mom knew about the deal dad made with the Valeris or at that time was planning to make with the Valeris.
I flipped to the next page with more urgency.
Today I told him. I told him if he dared to go ahead with the plans to sell Serena, I would burn it all to the ground. I would expose them to the authorities. He doesn't know what to make of my threats, if I'm bluffing but I'm not, I would do anything to protect to my child....
I flipped to the next page but it was blank, and the next one too. That was it, that was mom's last entry. I looked at the date; '13th January, 2024'. Two days before she died in a car accident.
I sat up on the bed, my heart pounding loudly in my chest as a realization washed over me. The plans to sell me didn't start today, mom knew, she was against it, she had threatened to expose my father if he went through with it and then she died two days later in a freak car accident. I wasn't a fool, I wasn't new to the ways of the underworld.
"They didn't just sell me...", I whispered aloud, my voice trembling.
"They killed my mother to do it"