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She laughed. “Hello,” she said, taking his hand and shaking it.
“Would you like to know how to spell it?” he asked.
She nodded.
He opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. She watched as he wrote her new name.
She took the piece of paper from him and began to trace across each letter. It looked pretty.
“Do you want to give it a go?” he asked. He held out the pen.
“How do I hold it?” she asked.
“Whichever way feels the most comfortable.”
“I don’t know … is this right? I’m not sure how to … what if I do this wrong?”
“You’re not going to do anything wrong. Just feel it. Feel what is good and right.”
She held the pen in her hand and placed it to the paper. Copying the letters, she wrote her name out.
It looked awful, not very fancy or neat, but she had written her name.
“I have a name.”
“You’re nothing. You’re a worthless piece of shit and no one is ever going to care if you live or die.”
For a long time, she’d been no one and now, she was finally someone.
Chapter Three
One week later
Raphael liked to party. He was known for it. A party animal.
Drinking. Fucking. Not having a care in the world. He still had to keep up appearances. If he stopped going out and spent more time at his apartment, people would talk. His father would find out that he was acting differently. So far, no mention of Elenore, or Slave Girl.
She’d disappeared and no one cared. As far as he knew, his father wasn’t actively looking for her, or for anyone else. She wasn’t part of their world anymore.
Sipping at the same whiskey he’d ordered when he came in, he shook his head at one of the women who’d been eyeing him from the moment she entered. People knew who he was. Women did. While he wasn’t married or attached, they hoped to get their claws into him and to take what he didn’t want to give. They wanted his reputation, his wealth, and the power belonging to him offered.
He was never going to give it to the women. They were all wasting their time, but rather than tell them the truth, he continued to play the game. He had to. If his father ever figured out the truth, Elenore would be punished. He didn’t want to see her hurt.
“Wow,” Antonio said, sitting back. “I never thought I’d see the day you checked your watch more than you did the free pussy available.”
Antonio didn’t care about the women available. He had a woman back home, and he hadn’t wanted to come out and play, but seeing as Raphael asked, begged even, he’d come out to join him. Appearances were everything, and Antonio was the only one he ever hung out with at any bars.
“I’ve already had her,” he tried to give as an excuse.
“Do you remember her?”
“Yeah, she sucked cock a little too eagerly if you ask me.” He didn’t have a clue about the woman.
Checking the time again, for the fourth time within the last ten minutes, he knew he couldn’t leave just yet. Antonio sat back, clearly getting comfortable.
“You took her,” Antonio said.
Raphael tensed up and turned to his friend.
Antonio was loyal to his father. They were close, good friends. There were times even Raphael believed his father wished he was a little like Antonio, not that it would ever happen.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“If you want to keep on lying, I can continue to play this game until I’m fucking bored with it, or you can cut the shit and admit the truth. You have the slave girl. There were no survivors of the raid. We saw to that. My woman saw to that. There was no way for her to leave. There was also surveillance footage of you carrying her out to your car and dumping her in the trunk. Do you want me to keep on going with all the information I have?”
“Why haven’t you told my father?” he asked.
“Last time I checked, we were friends.” Antonio sipped at his beer.
“You’re my father’s lapdog.”
Antonio snorted. “If you were so fucking clever right now, you’d ask if I still had the footage.”
“Do you?”
“No, I destroyed it. I figured you’d come to me when you need help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“What I find curious is how you were able to treat her wounds without your father finding out. It means you know people who are willing to go behind Giavanni’s back.”
“Look, Antonio, I consider you a brother. I love you like one, but don’t get involved in this.”
“I became involved the moment I destroyed the evidence of you stealing. Son or not, we know there would be punishment. Now you have the slave girl locked up somewhere and it will only be a matter of time before you screw up. When you do, you’re going to need me. Don’t turn me into an enemy.”
