Chapter 43 - Forty-three

When the vibes of hostility appeared, Angelo always knew who was the sender. And he could tell that it was Alexis this time. She was angry but above all, she could feel the feelings of shock and disbelief the most. 

"I thought you agreed to give us a chance," He pointed out. Not exactly she had but then again, she did not have a choice.

"I said yes to the whole revenge fiasco not to the marriage!" Her frantic reply gave away her anxiousness. She looked scared to death after his answer.

"Alexis," he pursed his lips a little to think of what to say. "People all over the world, especially South-Eastern countries have arranged marriages and they work out fine in the end, I promise you that we will have our happily ever after too." His eyes seemed sincere. He was promising her the happiness that no one had ever talked about with her.

"Marriage with a happy ending isn't possible, Angelo." She softly gave away what she thought. It didn't exist. "Happily ever after is a myth. So your promise means nothing."

He scoffed, clearly objecting. "A happy ending doesn't mean a marriage with no fights, because Alexis there is no marriage where you don't fight or you do not disagree and honestly, I am fine with your disagreements but indiscipline and disrespect, in my line of work cannot be tolerated. It just cannot be. I have an image to maintain and I want to live too." He sighed and continued the fact, "The thing is, I won't just die, Alexis. I would be fucking tortured to death. You will be killed, my family, hell my fucking staff too. No one would be trusted and they won't have quick deaths as well."

"What?" She questioned about his change in topic. He had drastically changed it and Alexis had no idea about what he was talking about.

He leaned back in his chair, getting back to the topic, realising that he spoke about this a little too soon. "The thing is, a happy marriage is where we raise good kids, where we fight but know how to make it up to each other, where sex is not as important as we both are and whereby the end of the day, we sit together for a meal without the thought of malice in ours minds towards each other." Angelo didn't talk much. He'd rather be commanding people about what to do and be done with it in a few words. But she was going to be his wife and he had to be open with her. The one person that he could trust with his life.

She was thinking about it or at least appeared to be but that wasn't enough. She had to be more decisive and Alexis was thinking about it. How could he be tortured to death? Was he not as powerful as she thought? That would help her escape even more. Alexis knew that she had to escape quickly, she was sure that if she stayed there a bit longer she would surely develop Stockholm syndrome. As if she was not troubled enough she would have to deal with this too.

"At least go shopping okay? Go and buy a wedding dress if you like one. Yeah?" He gave a little alternative as well. The least he could do. She was concentrating so hard on this that gave Angelo the feeling of her thinking about the situation negatively which would not work in his favour.

"Buy a wedding dress if I like one?" She questioned. "What is wrong with you? A wedding dress is symbolic, you want me to try and if liked, buy one? People save for it their entire lives, Angelo. I do not even know you to begin with, how can I choose a wedding dress then? I feel nothing towards this marriage, I don't know what I want or who, even." She rambled on, running her hands through her hair, she finally had a needed break down. All of what was happening to date was catching up to her. The kidnapping, the torture, manipulation and of course, the whole revenge ordeal. Her sobs were heard as she covered her face and cried.

"Hey," he pulled her up from the chair and brought her to his lap. He cuddled her close and let her cry. She needed it. The thing that impressed Angelo from this was the control of her volume. She had learned from the previous torturous punishment. She had not raised it and kept it low but fierce. That showed improvement. She had learned and it meant that he was right. She learned from her mistakes and kept herself in check. What more could he ask for his future queen?

"Hey, hush now." He softly chided. "You do not look beautiful in tears, swollen eyes and a snotty nose but the red broad nose to dies for." He teased.

"Shut up," she sniffed, pulling away from him and going back to her seat. She dabbed tissues all over her face.

"Just give it a chance okay?" He pleaded a bit, given her condition it seems right. "I will always try my best, as I did now." He reminded. "I will change for you and with you."

"Okay." She agreed, her voice softly faded into the thick, intense atmosphere around them and they continued eating.

She was back in her room, where Agatha was selecting something better to be worn outside. She came up with a baby pink blouse and white pants with white heels. For accessories the colour was gold.

"That's it? Are we done now?" It had been hours since they had been sitting in the dressing room, playing house.

"Yes. Perfect." Agatha seemed pretty satisfied with her work. "Come on let's go. We'll meet them at the mall."

Both of them got up and walked to the front where the cars were waiting. Today the number of cars seemed less.

"That's it?" She looked around her, indicating the security around them.

"Oh, we're going to a public place, madam. So most of the guards will be dressed casually and scattered all around the mall. That's the main reason why we plan out the places that we're going to. So the security is there." She stood still as the driver opened her door and Liam stood right beside her. She sat inside and Agatha came in from the adjacent door. Liam took the seat in the front, next to the driver.

She let the window down and the air in. Breathing the New York's polluted air didn't matter as much as being outside done at the moment.

The moment was gone as soon as it came. The mall was right in front of her with Liam opening her door. She took his outstretched hand and got out of the car. She was given a purse to carry as well with no cash. She was supposed to just take out her credit card from it and keep her phone in.

Rich people hacks, which she did not understand.

She walked along with Agatha to Louis Vuitton where all the women had planned to meet. Isobel had been dying to look at the latest collection and she couldn't wait anymore for it. So everyone had decided to meet there.

On entering she had spotted Isabelle and nodded a bit with her greeting but she was immediately pulled in a hug. Isabelle had heard about the breakdown. She wanted to comfort the child, she had been through a lot and Isabelle had no idea how it felt to her. She was herself from a made background. Her father was second in command to a dying boss with no heir. 

"How are you my darling? I'm so happy that you're giving him a chance." She said hugging her close.

"Wait, I haven't really..." she thought of a corrector more related to the situation word, "decided, per se, yet." She sheepishly gave her reason which now seemed unnecessary and unreasonable.

"Well you should," Nikita came into the view with two champagne glasses. She handed one to Alexis and the other to Isabelle, "the thing is, you get money, your get loyalty from them then comes to a good house, a good status, you're allowed to work but in particular fields, of course. You can stay in all day long if you want or socialize every minute. Your choice, your mood, you decide." She took a glass of champagne the maid dressed just like Agatha, had brought her. "Girl, that's the life you can dream for and frankly, that's better than ending up in a whore house or being dead."

"Cuz you're never getting out of it, Alexis. Never." She looked Alexis dead in the eye while saying that. Alexis felt shivers and goosebumps run through her entire body. 

"True true," muttered Isabelle from behind.. Nikita was right when she said that, for Isabelle had seen it happen.