Chapter 6 Fitting In

Selena’s pov

Signing those papers was the dumbest thing I had ever done.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my hands like they had betrayed me. Which they had. The moment that pen touched paper, I had handed Luca Marciano every right to do whatever he pleased with me and I had no one to blame but myself and the ghost of Uncle Andrew.

That selfish, greedy bastard.

He had walked me right into this mansion like a lamb being delivered to slaughter and then had the nerve to try and auction me off like I was something he owned. Like I was furniture he could trade for his freedom. And Luca had shot him for it.

I should have felt something about that. Grief, maybe. Guilt. But I felt nothing. Only a hollow, tired kind of anger that sat in my chest like a stone.

The room they had given me was large. Unnecessarily large for a prisoner, which was essentially what I was. The bed alone was bigger than Aunt Maria's entire bedroom and the thought of her sent a quiet ache through me that I didn't have the energy to sit with right now.

Martina and Ras.

That was where my mind kept circling back to. Were they scared? Did they know yet that their mother was gone? Luca had said his men would bring them tonight and that tomorrow I'd get to see them. I was holding onto that like it was the only rope keeping me above water.

He had said they'd be in a separate building. That they'd be taken care of. I didn't trust a single word that came out of his mouth but I had watched him give Fabio those instructions himself. Schools. Guards. Rooms. He had rattled it off like a checklist and something about the efficiency of it made me feel a fraction less like the world was ending.

A fraction. Just a fraction.

I stood up from the bed and moved towards my bag to find something to change into. The clothes I had on still carried the weight of everything that had happened today and I needed them off my body.

I moved towards the door to push it slightly, just enough to check if the hallway was clear. The last thing I needed was one of Luca's men catching an eyeful while I changed.

The door barely moved an inch before it was pushed back open from the outside. One of the guards stood there, arms folded, expression carved out of stone.

"Boss said the door stays open." He said it flatly. Like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

I stared at him. "I need to change my clothes."

"Door stays open."

"I heard you the first time." I kept my voice even. "I am telling you that I need privacy to change. I am not running anywhere, there is nowhere to run. I just need two minutes."

"Boss said—"

"I don't care what the boss said!" The words came out sharper than I intended and I watched his jaw tighten. "I am a human being and I am asking for two minutes to put on clothes without an audience. Is that really so difficult?"

The guard opened his mouth and then closed it again because footsteps were already coming down the hall and of course, of course it was Luca.

He appeared at the door with his sleeves rolled up and that insufferable calm on his face like he had all the time in the world. His eyes moved from the guard to me and back again.

"Leave us." He said it quietly and the guard was gone before I could blink.

Luca leaned against the doorframe, tilting his head slightly. "What are you doing?"

I turned away from him and started going through my bag. "Nothing."

A pause.

"Selena."

"I'm arranging my things." I said it without looking at him. "That's all."

Another pause, longer this time. I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck like a brand.

"Fine." He pushed off the doorframe and moved further into the room and I went still. He stopped near the door and raised his voice slightly down the hallway. "Lisa!"

Light footsteps followed. A woman appeared, young, with a neat appearance and careful eyes. She looked at Luca and then at me.

"This is your assignment from today." He gestured loosely in my direction. "Whatever she needs, you get it. Food, clothes, whatever she asks for. You answer to her."

Lisa nodded. "Yes sir."

Luca looked back at me, his expression giving nothing away. "I'll come for you later tonight." He said it the way someone would say they'd stop by for a cup of tea. Casual, Unbothered. "And leave the door open. not halfway. Open."

I didn't respond. I stood there with my bag in my hands and I looked right through him like he was made of glass.

Something shifted in his jaw but he didn't push it. He turned and left, his footsteps disappearing down the hall.

I let out a breath that I had been holding since he walked in.

Lisa was still standing near the door, hands clasped, waiting. "Is there anything you need, ma'am?"

I almost laughed at the ma'am. "Cinnamon tea." I said after a moment. "If that's possible."

"Of course." She was gone quietly and quickly and I was grateful for the silence she left behind.

I changed, finally. Then I moved to the window and stood there for a while, just looking. The mansion grounds stretched out below, wide and groomed and heavily guarded. High walls. Men at every corner. It was beautiful the way a cage could be beautiful, all clean lines and controlled order hiding the fact that nothing inside it was free.

When Lisa returned with the tea, I took it and sat with it by the window until it was gone. Then I ran a bath, stayed in it longer than necessary and climbed into bed with damp hair and a body that had finally stopped shaking.

But my mind wouldn't quiet.

Luca. The way he had looked at me downstairs like he had won something. Martina's soft snores from the last night I had watched over her. Ras and his gap-toothed smile. Uncle Andrew crumpled to the floor.

He had brought it on himself.

That was the thing I kept returning to, turning it over like a stone. He had brought it on himself and still somehow, I was the one lying in a stranger's bed, staring at a ceiling that didn't belong to me, waiting for a devil to come collect what I had signed away.