“Mr. Marchetti, I didn’t realize you were bringing company.” Mrs. Jacobs was all smiles, hands clasped high over the rounded swell of her stomach. “Shall I have a lunch prepared, sir? We have that salmon you like, or perhaps chicken?”
“She’s not company, Mrs. Jacobs. She is my mate.” Leon’s lipsthinned as if he tasted something foul, jerking Elena forward. “Show her upstairs so she can make herself presentable.”
“Your mate,” Mrs. Jacobs said with a quiet gasp, her hands fluttering before she clasped them again. “Of course, sir. If you’ll follow me, miss.”
Elena was given no choice, Leon shoving her after Mrs. Jacobs as the woman set off towards a staircase leading up to the second floor. There was no grand, sweeping stairs in this home. Utilitarian and steep, the blocky structure lent nothing but more hard lines to the architecture. There was nothing soft here.
Not even the room Mrs. Jacobs showed her to. The vivid red coverlet and mass of bloody pillows against the massive black lacquered frame were intimidating, the heavy ebony painted furniture scattered around the room with artful care adding to it. This was to be her room, she realized. The place he came to her. Hurt her. Forced himself upon her. There was nothing she would ever be able to do to stop him.
The pristine white of the walls leaned in on her as soon as she took a step in. Suffocating her by degrees until her feet retraced their path in quick, mincing steps so that she stood in the hallway gripping the doorway for support.
“This is…” Elena shook her head, unable to form words for how terrified she was to step foot in that room again.
“It is rather… red, isn’t it,” Mrs. Jacobs murmured at her side, giving Elena’s arm a gentle pat. “I know it’s custom for the room nearest his for the first Omega, but… Well, come with me. The blue room might suite you better for the time being, deary. We can sort it all out later.”
The blue room did in fact suite her far better. Done in soft pastels, it didn’t remind her of old blood and torture. Furniture in some pale wood, it felt fresh and clean as Elena stepped inside the room and ran her fingers over the silken coverlet folded over the foot of the bed.
“Ah, yes, this will do. The bathroom is just through there, miss. Please let me know if you need anything.” With that, Mrs. Jacobs was gone, leaving Elena alone.
As much as she didn’t want to follow Leon’s orders, she did look a mess and felt even worse than she had after the leering doctor that morning. Sighing, Elena went into the bathroom to try and restore some order to her hair and clothes.
ELEVEN
ELENA
After splashing her face with water and seeing her face after wiping away the remains of the thick makeup she’d applied that morning, Elena avoided the mirror at all costs. The hazel green of her eyes looked haunted, the bruised smudges beneath them making her look sickly and as exhausted as she felt. She didn’t even bother with her hair besides to smooth it down with her hands, working the worst of the tangles free with her fingers. Her clothes were a mess, beyond all hope, and he’d made it clear she wouldn’t be returning to the hotel for what little remained in her possession.
The hours ticked past, shadows lengthening over the floor as afternoon slid into evening.
He didn’t return for her. Neither did Mrs. Jacobs.
Shrugging at the feeling of being slighted and forgotten so quickly, she sighed and looked around the room. Perhaps she should get some much needed rest. To steel her against the next battle she’d wage against Marchetti, or whatever demands he made her endure. She turned the lock on the door and then crawled up onto the narrow bed. Plumping a pillow, she dared to let her eyes drift closed just for a few minutes.
She screamed and vaulted off the bed as the door shuddered against the frame. Plastered her back into the far corner of the room as it jostled once more with a heavy thud, something within the wood splintering with a deafening crack.
Leon Marchetti burst through the door with a vicious roar, his stalking strides bringing him to her as his unerring gaze caught his prey. Grabbing her arms, he lifted her straight up, giving Elena a brutal shake before he turned and carried her from the room. Toes skimming the plush rugs, Elena shrieked and battered him with her fists, unable to claw at his face for the grip he had upon her. Twisting within his grasp had his hands tightening, bruising her already tender skin further.
Her scream died in her throat as he launched her through the air. A moment of weightlessness that terrified until her breath left her in a heavy grunt when her back slammed into a wide bed. Bouncing across the plush mattress, she clawed at the covers to remain on the wide expanse.
“This,” Leon bellowed, grabbing hold of her ankle and elbow to haul her to the center of the bed, “is where you sleep.”
It wasn’t the dreadful red room.
Elena’s mouth opened and closed over dead air as she looked around bewildered. Neutral shades with bright pops of rich navy blue and indigo surrounded her. Dark paneling climbing halfway up the walls before being overtaken by a delicate tonal pattern of beige and gold on the wallpaper in soft geometric shapes. The nightstands held golden lamps with deep blue shades and nothing else. Two doors stood at right angles in the far corner, showing nothing of what they hid inside.
“I thought it would be all right for now,” Elena stammered out, still uncertain what he was so angry about if he hadn’t taken her back to the red room. Still, she was loathe to get Mrs. Jacobs in trouble simply for not making her remain in the hideous space. “Until I could talk to you about… maybe redecorating it…?”
“Already spending my money, I see,” Leon said as he leaned in close over her. Covering her in his shadow, smothering Elena in his heat.
“No, it’s… I’ll stay in there if that’s what you want,” she whispered, looking anywhere but up at him. Unconscious as it was, she bared her neck to him in a sign of submission as his hands tightened upon her.
“Are you hard of hearing or just incapable of listening,” Leon ground out, releasing her leg in favor of pinching her chin between his fingers. Forcing her to meet the molten brown of his eyes. “This is your room now. You will sleep here. Your things will be kept in here. I will fuck you here.”
All of a sudden it clicked on a wave of deep evergreen that didn’t come only from the man above her.
“This is your room.”
“It is.”
