"She belongs to me now."
The words echoed in Rosa's ears; she was suddenly frozen in place, with her eyes red, staring at the phone in her hands. Carlos was overwhelmed with the feeling of shame and anger, shame because he caused all this and couldn't even protect his own daughter. He felt regret and useless.
"It's all my fault. Only if I hadn't gambled," he mumbled.
Rosa looked at him with disgust. The air was quiet; she couldn't even say anything to him. She felt hopeless and suddenly dropped the phone and walked back to her room like a lifeless zombie.
Just as she was walking to her room, Camila came out of her room and saw her mom walking in, looking all sad and without life, but Rosa didn't notice her and just entered her room, and a waterfall of tears flowed from her eyes.
Camila walked to her mother's door with her ear fixated on the door and heard her mother cry. She wanted to intervene but decided not to and went back to her room like she never saw anything.
Carlos kept thinking as his eyes stung, still regretting the day he made that deal. He thought of how selfish he was for giving out his daughter as collateral to an evil man to pay his debt. That was a cruel thing to do.
Tina, on the other hand, returned to her room recounting all the events that had happened that day. It all happened too fast for her to understand.
She recalled the phone call earlier at Lorenzo's room and how she could hear her mother's voice on the call screaming. It stung her heart.
And when Lorenzo told her parents about how she belongs to him and there was a huge silence from her parents before he hung up, it made the last bit of hope she had leave because she thought her parents would fight for her since the kidnap, but it seemed that she was on her own and her parents had really sold her off to pay their debt.
She laid on the bed, crying her eyes out with anger and a sense of betrayal. She couldn't believe her parents would do such a thing to her.
She thought of her siblings, wondering how they would take the news about her being sold off to a dangerous man.
Judging from all the things that had happened that day, she knew Lorenzo was not a man to be messed with, followed by his threats and the way he dismissed her like she was nothing.
Truly, she was nothing but his hostage. She passed out on the bed due to exhaustion.
The next morning, Ronita came with food for her in the morning and once again in the evening with dinner. Over a couple of days, she grew closer to Ronita. The only person she saw was Ronita.
It had been a week since she had been locked up in Lorenzo's house. She had gotten used to the life a bit. That morning, Ronita brought breakfast for her, then at night she didn't bring dinner as usual, which made Valentina worry a bit.
Ronita finally came into the room, but without her dinner, and came with clothes instead.
"The master is expecting you to join him for dinner tonight," she said.
She dropped the clothes on Valentina's bed and left the room immediately, leaving the place in silence.
Valentina felt shocked hearing this, wondering why Lorenzo wanted to have dinner with her. She thought of what scheme he was planning this time around.
She went to take her bath and get ready. The clothes Ronita brought in were a pink silk long dress with a slit by the side and a pink jacket with silver heels and expensive jewelry. She wore the dress and looked beautiful. The dress brought out her features.
"Pink really compliments my skin," she mumbled to herself while looking at herself in the mirror.
Ronita knocked on the door and walked in again after some time to take her to the master.
"It's time to go, Madam Tina," she said.
They both left the room with two guards following them. She observed the house as she went; she saw some artifacts and another symbol like the one in his room.
They finally arrived at the really long dining table arranged with food all over with two chairs. It was really bright. There was a man standing in front of a portrait.
"We're here, master," Ronita said.
Then suddenly the man turned around, and she saw it was Lorenzo in a black tuxedo with some part of his hair covering some part of his face. He looked dashing but still had that evil look in his eyes. Then she got a hold of herself and remembered that he was a bad man.
"You may go," he said.
He made his way to sit down. Valentina looked at him, thinking he was being too polite.
"What are you waiting for? Sit. At the far end of the table," he said coldly.
As they both sat at the opposite ends of the table, Valentina looked around and saw the same symbol on the table too.
Lorenzo started eating, and she looked at him and started eating too. She ate slowly, feeling uncomfortable.
Lorenzo suddenly cleared his throat and dropped his spoon on the table, then sipped a little wine.
Valentina stared at him in despair but continued eating.
"Our wedding is in three days. After the wedding, our marital duties are set to occur. Be prepared and behave," he said.
Valentina looked up at him, confused, and dropped her spoon in anger.
"Marital duties? To whom? You?" she asked.
Lorenzo raised his head and looked at her with arrogance.
"Yes, a wedding. Do you not understand? Or should I make you understand the hard way?" he said.
Valentina scoffed. She was shocked and lost her appetite, and she was unable to continue eating. She bowed her head, deep in thought.
Lorenzo wiped his mouth and called for Ronita to take her back to her room.
Ronita took her back to her room, where she sat in thought, unable to cry. These past few days had made her stronger than usual.
She pondered on the fact that she wasn't only going to be his hostage but she was going to marry her kidnapper and, to top it all off, perform marital duties.
Sure, she wasn't a virgin and she had been with someone in the past, and Lorenzo wasn't revolting to stare at, but she still couldn't help but be angry that she had been reduced to nothing but a slave, a slave that had no say whatsoever.
Heck, she couldn't even have a say in what she could eat. She had never felt this miserable in her life. But over the past few days she had begun to adjust to her new life, and no matter how miserable it looked, she was going to make the most out of it. She was going to survive and possibly escape this hellhole.
Just then, she heard a knock on the door, disrupting her thoughts. The door opened up, and Ronita stood at the door wearing her usual warm expression.
"Ma'am Tina, master has requested you prepare yourself early tomorrow morning," she said in a gentle tone.
"Early morning? Prepare? What does he want from me?" Tina said in shock.
"I am just a messenger, Ma'am Tina," Ronita said in a gentle tone.
Then she turned and left.
Tina, on the other hand, was just left speechless. Did this mean she was finally going to leave this place and see the outside world?