Chapter 35: Chapter 35

"I was ready to pay an exorbitant amount for you as a child and now, I am ready to pay even more. How much? I am willing to pay any amount to have you in my bed, to finally fulfill my innermost dirtiest fantasies I have had since the moment I saw you, so frail, so weak, so light almost featherlight... Trust me, my lips are sealed. Xavier won't know a thing." He said, stalking towards her. A grin on his face.

"Stay away from me." She whispered, taking a step backward and it felt like she was 15 years again, terrified to death and helpless.

His grin only widened, "I like them when they play hard to get. I love the chase."

***

Amber walked towards her mom, a displeased look on her face with a pout.

"I was having a good time with aunty Maya," then she smiled at Xavier. " Your wife is beautiful and nice, damn smart too. She taught me how to buckle my shoes within minutes." She proudly complimented.

He smiled at her.

"Fiancée," her mom corrected.

"Still the same thing right?" She asked Xavier, defiantly. Her green eyes all fired up for an argument.

"Of course. Wife and fiancée totally the same thing." He agreed, humoring her.

She grinned, reveling in her triumph over her mother, then frowns almost immediately remembering she was complaining.

"I was giving Maya a tour around the house, we were just checking out the gardens while we discussed Fresno dolls Amazing collections..." She said, offended that such an interesting conversation was interrupted by her mom.

"Seems like someone has been torturing your fiancée," Mrs. Tamara said beneath her breath, Making sure Amber doesn't hear her.

Xavier grinned.

"Mum!" Amber groaned, angry that they were not paying attention to her.

"Yes, darling,"

"Why were you calling me. Don't tell me it is time to go home already?" She asked with a frown.

"I never called you. I can never disrupt you when you are having girly chats and adults talk." She said with a theatrical flair that made Amber giggle.

Xavier raised his brow, an alarm going off in his head.

"Who told you that your mom was looking for you, Amber?" He asked sternly.

"Uncle Dominic," she whispered scared of Xavier's tone.

He cursed under his breath.

"Where are they?" He asked impatiently.

"At the garden. Outside." She replied, her eyes teary at his snappy tone.

He turned to leave, Mrs. Tamara held his hand.

"Please don't create a scene." She whispered, aware of how ugly a fight between Xavier and his dad could get, she knew how messy their relationship was.

"I ain't promising anything." He whispered and then strode outside angrily with unfaltering steps.

~The nerve of the motherfucker, he thought angrily.

***

"You are just a whore, Bree! Nothing but a whore! More beautiful I must admit with these generous curves and all. But in there, in your heart you know who you were brought up to be, Stop lying to yourself, don't fight it." He whispered, holding her in his arm as she shattered. "And my love, damn I am curious to know how good of a lay you are, how much you give it to my son that makes him want to keep you around longer." He whispered, grinning as she tried to struggle from his -like grip as he rubbed his erection against her.

Making her aware that her tears and struggle in a sadistic way, turned him on.

"I always get what I want Maya, always. I wanted you 8 years ago, I paid handsomely to have my cock inside of your tight virgin cunt, just like your scumbag of a stepdad had fiercely sworn you are, but then you didn't want it calm, nope you wanted it hard and to be fucked like a whore. I am going to have you now, Bree but trust me there will be nothing gentle about it," he whispered while she shivered in fear at the menace in his eyes and a dark promise.

Mr. Dominic had never forgotten the 15 years old girl who never left his mind after he woke up in a hospital, a bang on his forehead from where she had hit him and, a wound that needed stitches He was going to make her pay, he was going to have her, tame her, take the fire and defiance in her eyes and break her. He couldn't imagine the irony when his son had brought her back to him. He knew there was something familiar about her brown eyes, those big wide eyes that stared at him in fright that night.

One minute he was holding her so tightly, he knew she will be bruised the next, he was on the floor with an angry-looking Xavier looming over him.

Mr. Dominic smiled sadistically as he took a shaken Maya, in his arm protectively.

"Bree, why cry so much when I haven't even touched you. You wouldn't want to give my son a wrong impression of me now... Do we?" He added, smiling devilishly as he regained his composure, rising to his feet.

Melissa and Mrs. Tamara had rushed to the garden hearing the noise, while the latter tried to restrain Xavier from landing more blows on the smug-looking Mr. Dominic.

"Don't you dare come close to Maya. Ever!" He vehemently warned, fuming.

"I won't. Who is this Maya you speak of, the only woman I want to get close to is Bree. Your Maya is safe." He said slyly.

Xavier regarded Mr. Dominic in confusion and he chuckled noticing that Maya had stiffened. She had hidden her past from her fiance, he thought.

"Bree darling, why didn't you tell him your real name and that you are a product of a street whore and one faceless bastard?" He enjoyed how Melissa and Mrs . Tamara stared at him curious to know what the hell he was talking about.

"Stop saying rubbish over there, else I will come to get you and make you pay." Xavier's eyes harbored murderous intent as he restrained himself from making the man he hated so much lose teeth or two as a result of his fist.

He didn't want to destroy his mom's birthday, he didn't want to ruin the day for her but if he continued sputtering nonsense and staring at Maya the way he was, chaos and destruction he shall get.

"She is here. She can speak for herself if I am saying nonsense but she won't, because it is the truth. Her identity is a lie. Everything she has told you before now has all been a big fat lie!" His eyes glinted with pure excitement, he was ready to wreak havoc on this new tie between his Bree and Xavier, this night. Now.

"Maya?" Melissa asked, looking intently at her suspiciously.

"I just want to go home, I am tired, Xavier." She whispered, her eyes down as tears blinded her vision.

"Anything babe, we will go right now."

She nodded.

Melissa narrowed her eyes at her, not liking that she was avoiding the question coupled with the compulsion to prove to Xavier and the rest that her dad was not as guilty as it looks and he was not simply calling a bluff.

She walked up to Maya who was about to walk towards Xavier, "Who is Bree?" She asked again, her lips pursed, as she stood in front of her restraining her from moving further.

Maya closed her eyes, not even strong enough to face her, she just wanted to go home and cry into her pillow until she was boneless and completely spent.

"Just let me pass Melissa, please."

Xavier made to rush towards Melissa but Mrs. Tamara held him back.

"Just let them talk okay? Melissa will always be protective of Dominic so just let her do this okay?"

"Maya, are you Bree?" She asked again, her eyes on Maya.

Mr. Dominic just watched the scene with a smug smile, His little girl always comes in handy. Always.

Maya ignored her question once again and tried to make her way past her, but Melissa won't have any of that as she shoved her backward. Xavier swore while Mrs. Tamara held him back once again.

"Just for once, just once fucking say the truth to the man you call fiance, my brother. I and perhaps if you dare to yourself." She shouted angrily, her eyes tearing up with anger.

"Okay, I am Bree! It is Gabriella but everybody took to calling me, Bree. Not only that, my mother is a drug addict and a prostitute that is always high and I can count with just my hand how many times, she was sober. And on my 15th birthday, your dad paid my uncle...."

She paused, lowering herself on the ground as a sob escaped from her throat and her whole body shook, not believing she was about confessing her deepest secrets, fears out loud, reliving that day again, "He was going to rape me, he choked me with a piece of clothing and pushed me on the bed. He unfastened his belt and then forcefully wedged his body in between mine..." She paused, not able to continue, couldn't.

" Are you feeling happy now Melissa? All rainbows and sparkle now?! Just forget it okay, now I hope you can leave with the thought that your hero did this to a little girl, scarred her for life, and made her unable to have any healthy relationship.99 therapy sessions Melissa 99! That was what it took me to bear the touch of a man's hand on mine without my skin crawling, but maybe it was my fault, maybe I was too clumsy too!" She screamed, her eyes wild with anger and her tears flowed freely.

Xavier was holding her now, his arms secured around her body, "Maya..." He whispered.

She looked at him.

"You were right, you should have nothing to do with a family like this, we should never have come here. A dumb sister, a child rapist __" her chest heaved with even more sobs.

"Maya," she turned it was Mrs. Salvador in her white gown and by how pale her face was, she must have heard the most of her admission if not everything.

"Happy birthday ma'am." She mumbled and then freeing herself from Xavier's grasp, she ran out.

Heavy footsteps followed. It was Xavier.

He blocked her.

"You should have told me." He said.

"Why? Why should I tell my boss I was nearly raped as a child years ago?" She asked him.

"Is that all we are to each other now? Boss? Worker?"

What else are we? what else is this?" His eyes were clouded with hurt but she cared less. It was her that had to answer questions like she was a victim, that had to feel the shame of a crime committed towards her, it was her that accusing fingers were pointed at not him.

"I told you about Diane."

"No you told me there was a girl called Diane and it is fine. My name is Bree and I come from a fucked up slum. Hope you are good now and can tell the person who tails me everywhere to stop now." She choked.

"I was just worried and...."

"Suspicious, paranoid! You have been doing a beautiful fucking job, telling me how much you trust me but you need to go on a recess. Maybe take a 5 or something. Just leave me the fuck alone." She mumbled.

"Maya..."

"Just go, Xavier please..." She whispered tiredly, sniffing.

"Just let me...."

"Please I beg you. Just go please." She whispered bringing out her phone from her phone and dialing Jasmine's number.

"If that is what you want." He mumbled defeatedly and then ran back home, with so much anger he couldn't fathom.

She lowered herself on the ground and with her hair buried on her knee, she just let all her tears out, all her strength go and that was how Jasmine and Jessica found her.