The door slammed shut behind him.
Cold. Sharp. Without a glance. Without a word.
Eyass had left the room the same way he'd entered: brutal, silent, menacing.
And his shadow still lingered in the air, even after he was gone.
I stood still for a moment, frozen near the bed.
Later that night, Angelina was curled up against my chest. Her tiny head rested on my shoulder, eyelids half-closed, as if she could feel the tension that had charged the air.
Margot, slouched on the edge of the sagging sofa, watched me.
"Is he always like that?" I whispered, my throat still tight.
She nodded, unsurprised.
"He's worse, actually. That was the polite version."
A silence fell between us. Heavy. She stood up, stretched, walked to the window, and lit a cigarette.
I laid Angelina down in her makeshift crib — a cardboard box lined with towels. That's all we had. Not here. Not in a place like this.
"I'm just trying not to set the house on fire," I said quietly, curling up on the floor with my knees pulled to my chest.
Margot took a drag, smirking.
"You don't need to set anything on fire, sweetheart. You're already a match in a barrel of gasoline."
I shrugged. I didn't feel like that. I felt broken. Invisible.
And mostly... trapped.
We sat in silence for a while. Just the wind tapping against the windows and the occasional creak from somewhere deeper in the villa. Maybe footsteps. Maybe just the ghosts that lived here with us.
Then it hit us — a smell. Subtle at first. Then clearer.
Margot wrinkled her nose.
"Damn, did your little princess just drop a bomb?"
I blinked, still dazed. Then I rushed to the box. Angelina was starting to stir. I picked her up and lifted the blanket.
"Oh shit…" I breathed.
Margot chuckled, stubbed her cigarette out in a chipped plate.
"You want help?"
"No... no, it's fine. I'll change her."
I sat cross-legged on the worn-out rug and opened the emergency bag I'd packed two days earlier.
One wipe.
One diaper.
Just one.
A single fucking diaper.
My chest tightened. Panic crept in, cold and sharp.
"It's the last one," I said under my breath.
Margot stepped closer, arms folded.
"You don't have any more?"
I shook my head, my hands trembling.
"Nothing. No wipes, no diapers. No formula either. I've been breastfeeding but... sometimes she still wants more."
"Fuck…"
She scratched her head, eyes scanning mine.
"Alright. We need to go."
"What?"
"Tomorrow. We're going into town. Mall. You need stuff. And I'm not letting your baby sit around with a damn towel on her ass. I'll figure it out."
I shook my head, panic rising again. Eyass had forbidden everything. Always.
"No, Margot... I don't think we're allowed…"
"Listen," she whispered. "I'll talk to one of his guys. They like me. If we've got an escort, it'll be fine. We go early, we're back quick. He won't even notice."
I pressed my lips together.
But silence answered me.
And in that silence, I realized I didn't really have a choice.
---
The next morning — 8 a.m.
I held Angelina close, wrapped in a thin blanket. My bag was packed: two pacifiers, a bottle, a spare onesie. The essentials.
Margot was already waiting at the front door, dark sunglasses on, leather jacket draped over her shoulders like she didn't give a damn.
"Ready?" she asked with a grin. "James is coming with us. One of Eyass's guys. He's cool."
I nodded, barely.
The door was cracked open. A breeze slipped in from outside. A whiff of freedom.
I'd nearly forgotten what the city smelled like. The noise. The real world.
But just as Margot reached for the handle—
A voice cracked through the hallway behind us.
Cold. Thunderous.
"Where are you going?"
We both turned at the same time.
Eyass stood in the shadows. Black T-shirt. Arms crossed. Tattoos running down his sun-warmed skin. His eyes — blocks of ice — locked on me.
My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
Margot stepped forward, unfazed.
"Emma's out of diapers. And formula. We're going to the mall. Thirty minutes, tops. James is with us."
Eyass took one step forward.
The air turned heavy around him.
"You think you give the orders here, Margot?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"It's not about orders. It's about a baby. Needing basic stuff."
"There's nothing out there for you. You're not going anywhere."
My throat closed up. I clutched Angelina tighter.
"But... she doesn't have anything…" I whispered.
Eyass turned slowly to me.
His eyes burned.
"If you need something, you ask. You don't leave. Got it?"
I tried to speak. Nothing came out.
Margot stood between us.
"You think you can stop her from buying milk for her kid? What are you so scared of? That she'll take a cab and vanish? She has a baby, Eyass. She just wants to breathe."
He didn't answer. Just stared at her.
Long enough to make the air shake.
Then, icy and low:
"You're forgetting your place, Margot. You're still here because of your boyfriend. That can change real quick. I don't need you playing big sister in my house."
Margot glared back at him, fire in her eyes.
"You kick out the only person who talks to her in this place? Go ahead. But don't be surprised if she dies in silence."
He stepped closer. Their faces nearly touched.
"You think you're untouchable. But you're nothing here. Just a piece of trash I haven't swept out yet."
Then he turned to me.
Looked me up and down like I was a bug on the floor.
"You. Drop the bag. Go back to your room."
My throat burned.
But I nodded slowly.
Like a trained pet.
Margot stared at me, disappointed.
"You're afraid of him?"
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
---
A few hours later.
I sat alone in my room. The silence was suffocating.
Angelina slept.
The diapers were still missing.
And my heartbeat had slowed to something barely human.
A man came by with a bag. Formula. Wipes. Diapers. Everything I'd asked for.
But that wasn't the real problem.
That day, I realized I wasn't an invisible prisoner.
I was an official one.
And the cage had a name.
Eyass.