Novel ✪ Memory Corruption (R-18) (Book 1 and 2 Finished) (Book 3 on release now)

Spoiler: Convoluted family logistics

Another amazing chapter which raises even more questions So I will go ahead and make the assumption that Alejandro is Ryan’ s biological father, but this is a Spanish name while Domenico is an Italian name, so the question here is, how are Domenico and Alejandro related? Agatha definitely refers to Domenico as “zio” which is Italian for uncle and Agatha implies that Domenico is their uncle. Agatha also switched between English-Italian-Spanish when she was telling off Ryan so there seems to be some Italian-Spanish connection.
Where is Alejandro, is he alive or is he dead? I still recall Louise telling Ryan that he would die alone, just like his “father”. Also what is the story with Sofia and Alejandro (assuming that he is Ryan’s biological father). Did she have an affair with him which resulted in pregnancy or was she a victim of rape? (Yeah, this is pretty dark). And it seems that Ryan was given access to his “other” family, how did this happen?
So getting back to this particular chapter, Ryan knows that Agatha is his half sister but Agatha doesn’t seem to know about Ryan. When did Ryan find out that Edward was not his biological father and that he also had a half-sister? It almost gives me the impression that he was living 2 parallel lives, one with Richard playing a big part and one with Agatha being a big part. I also get the impression that both families made attempts to make Ryan feel included and not treat him as an outsider or someone to be ashamed of. Edward seems to treat him like his own son and actually recognized him legally as his son by giving him the Desmond name and Domenico’s side of the family also seems to go out of their way to try to appease him. Or maybe it was Ryan who pushed his way in to be part of Agatha’s life once he found out?
I also saw some similarities in the way he treated Belle at the beginning, he was definitely giving off protective big brother vibes which kind of explains why he resisted any of Belle’s attempts to get close to him. In fact I think that Belle is actually one year younger than Agatha, she is 21 and Belle has just turned 20.
There seems to be another rich storyline behind Ryan’s early life and I can’t wait to read more about it. I’m torn between wanting yo get back to the main story and learning more about Ryan’s backstory

 

Now that's some sweet words
I'm glad you liked it and that it apparently sounded as interesting to you as it did to me when I wrote it. I really like how I've built their relationship and Richard/Ryan's too.

Spoiler: Some spoilers without spoilers

This is essentially a drama, and my inspiration was Riftan and Max, although it's obviously very different. As he said it himself, he's been through a lot from a tender age. His past is full of bad turns, some caused by his own choices, others caused by other people's choices.
Alejandro is a name in Spanish, but not necessarily from Spain...
A person has a father and a mother...
Sofia/Alejandro story is as complex as Ryan's, but he finds out about it almost completely and in his POV he tells Cecilia step by step how he did.
As you might have noticed, Alejandro translated to English is Alexander(Ryan's middle name).
You got a point, I believe it would freak anyone out to feel sexually attracted to someone that could be your sibling, right?
The same goes for wanting to protect her as he would do to his little sister. Ryan has implied it in book one, btw.

Next weeks chapter is the rest of that encounter with Agatha and then we'll go back to Belle, ok?

 

Subtle hint about Agatha in Chapter 20 of Book 1.
When reading it the first time I thought that Ryan was speaking hypothetically, but reading it now, it has a completely different meaning! Well done by our dear author @GiBro

 

Today's Chapter is very short, but I hope you enjoy it =)

Spoiler: Ryan's POV - Chapter ? - Not that different at all (You'll Be In My Heart - Phil Collins)

-Zio? Just a minute. -She put the phone on mute and turned to Ryan, holding a pepper spray bottle in his direction. -Back the fuck off! Stay away from me, you hear me?

Ryan froze. He could easily snatch it from her, but both of them would get hurt in the process.

-Please, don't tell your father… I was just bluffing. He's gonna kill me. -He whispered, feeling his eyes burn. -He's gonna hurt people I love.

-I'm not calling him, dumbass. -She frowned and brought the phone back to her ear, taking several steps away from him. -Zio? Scusa il disturbo... Va bene, tell me this: do you know a boy called Ryan? Esatto… Sì, black eyes, black hair. Do you know him?

Ryan immediately recognized the voice on the other side of the line and cursed himself for feeling so relieved. Domenico was a problem too. He could simply decide to tell her who Ryan was and she could conclude he was coming to take her place as her father's heir. This would certainly ruin his plans of getting close to her and of giving her a chance of escaping her fate inside that virulent family.

Agatha started speaking in Italian and Ryan couldn't understand a good part of their exchange. He had learned a lot during the past two years, but since she was speaking fast, all the words he could get wouldn't make sense when he put them together. He thought he had heard her say the word “bello” under her breath, which he knew was a masculine word for beautiful or gorgeous.

Ryan was about to put on his cocky smirk when he heard the words “stronzo” and “stupido” as she glared at him. He knew exactly what those words meant. He sighed and started to walk away, but Agatha followed him close.

-Grazie, zio. Ti voglio bene. Ciao. -She smiled and ran to catch up with him. Ryan stopped walking and looked back at her. -He said you won't hurt me, and that if you try, he's gonna make you swallow your wee-wee.

-That sounds fairly accurate. -Ryan smirked. -But rest assured, I would never hurt you, little girl.

-Don't call me that! -She frowned. -I'm not a little girl!

-You're right… Little girl doesn't suit you, it doesn't make justice to your looks. -He nodded and gave her an apologetic shrug. She nodded too with a victorious smile. -Baby girl would describe you better.

-Don't. -There was no sign of amusement in her tone. -Don't you dare!

-Why not? Doesn't it sound perfect, baby girl? -He sneered. -Because you look like a baby and…

Agatha turned and punched him hard on his belly, dangerously near his groins. He managed to jump back and avoid the impact, but had to put his hand in the way to avoid it altogether.

-Hey, don't be this way! You can't resort to violence every time you get mad, you know? It was wrong, what you did in the field… -He felt a bit hypocritical, since he would often kick someone's ass if they became too insisting, especially if they were bigger than him, just to test his own limits. But she was a girl. It was different, ‘cause she could get hurt. -You might get in trouble if you keep solving your problems this way.

-What should I do, then? -She crossed her arms. -How do I solve the problem that you're a jerk?

-In this case, you could come up with a nickname for me too, or you could even call me names, but punching me… It was low. -He reproached her. -Literally, in this case. If you're gonna punch someone there, don't expect them to treat you right afterwards.

Agatha pouted slightly with her eyes wide wide open for a moment, then seemed lost in thoughts.

-Was you gonna punch me back? -She murmured, looking at him sideways. -If I had hit you, would you hit me too?

-No. But if you landed it, I'd be very mad. -He absentmindedly took his hand to his crotch, but took it away as soon as he realized she was staring at him intently. -What now? Why are you looking at me that way?

-Why wouldn't you punch me back?

Ryan turned and stared at her, then stopped walking.

-First of all, because you are a girl. And smaller than me. A man should never hurt a woman. Ever. -He sighed. He hesitated a bit, but since this could be the last time he would see her, he decided to be honest. -But mainly because I would never want to hurt you.

-Why? -She tilted her head and her cheeks burned red.

-Because you're important to me. -He smirked. -I don't want you to get hurt. Ever.

-Why do you say that? And did you know that women can fight too? My father promised me that he's gonna let me learn boxing when I turn sixteen. -She said it while jabbing at the air.

-Boxing is useless to a girl for self defense. He should let you learn Krav Maga. Or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu… I'm pretty good at it, by the way. I'm only twelve, but I'm a blue belt already.

She rolled her eyes as if she couldn't care less about whatever he was talking about.

-My father said boxing is better, and that's what I'll do. He knows better than you. Thank you, but no thank you.

Your father is nothing but a piece of shit. Ryan glared at her, but didn't say a thing.

-Why did you fight? -He changed position when they reached the sidewalk, so he would walk on the outer side of it. -With that girl, why did you kick the ball at her?

-She was talking shit about me. -Agatha grabbed the tip of her ponytail and stroked it repeatedly with the tips of her fingers. -She was making fun of me.

-What was she saying? -Ryan frowned. He was trying not to show how much it annoyed him to hear that someone was making fun of her to hurt her.

-My dad is ill. I was sad and a friend asked me why… And she heard it. -Agatha looked down at her feet and he had to put an arm around her to keep her from hitting her shoulder onto the side of a trash can. To his surprise, instead of rejecting his touch right away, she brought her arm up and wrapped it around his hips. He looked down at her and smiled, to which she responded with a shy smile as soon as she lifted her head to look at his face, but it only lasted a few seconds. -I heard her saying that my father is going to hell. She said that everyone knows he's a bad guy.

She's not wrong, to be honest. Ryan bit his tongue.

-Do you know why she said that? -He tried to lead her into thinking about it. Maybe she would open her mind to the idea that her father wasn't a good person.

-Cause she's jealous as fuck, that my father is richer than hers. -She shrugged, but her eyes brimmed and she looked away. -She's always mean to me. The other day she said I was uglier than her dog. She has a pug!

Ryan started to laugh but she looked really offended, so he cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

-She's got a lot of nerve… -Ryan chuckled after a while. Agatha narrowed her eyes, not sure of what he meant. -To bring up beauty, in a contest between you two…

-I know, right? I'm way prettier than that whopper! -She stomped her feet and gesticulated with her free hand for emphasis. -I'm the prettiest girl of my grade, no of the whole school!

Ryan chuckled. She was a beautiful girl, indeed, and he bet she would be gorgeous when she got older, but he didn't think it would be good for her to have an ego this big.

Fortunately, her mother’s genes had contributed positively to her appearance. Her big almond hazel eyes could only have come from Domenico’s side, since her father had pitch black eyes. Her hair was the perfect balance between black and brown, with curled and wavy patterns that he guessed she would eventually want to mess up with in the future, but that he found perfect. Her skin, unfortunately, was the exact same as his. She would have to endure the same shit he had to, having to explain that he was white, an american citizen, and not some Mexican leech. She was gonna be tall, that was certain, even though now she was tinny as a doll, and if he had to guess, by her mother’s and aunt’s bodies, hers would have to be nice.

His heart sank when he realized he wouldn’t be there to keep the boys away from her. If this was indeed the last time they’d meet, it would be impossible to protect her from weirdos.

-So you think you're prettier than anyone? -He tilted his head and put a hand in front of her when she gave signs that she was intending to run to cross the street, even though it was red for them. She thought for a moment, then shook her head. -How pretty are you, then?

-Anyone is prettier than Rebecca. But I'm gorgeous. -She smiled and threw her ponytail away in a petulant way. -Everyone knows that.

-Is that so? -Ryan smirked. He had never said that out loud, but he too used to think he was better looking than anyone he knew, when he was younger. Now he was extremely ashamed of those thoughts and was glad that no one beside himself knew about their existence. -So you believe you'll be this beautiful forever? You think everyone will think you're the prettiest?

-I don't need to. I just need to be the prettiest for my husband. I don't need anyone else's opinion about how I look, but myself and the one I'll spend forever with.

Ryan made a face as they walked together in silence, his thumb absentmindedly brushing her shoulder and her small hand grabbing firmly at the hem of his shirt near hip. Agatha believed in love. Even worse, she believed in marriage. He wondered if knowing about his existence would ruin it all for her as fast as it had wrecked it for himself.

When they were a block away from the gates to her school, Ryan held her arm to make her face him.

-I can't go on from here. This is where we say goodbye. -His throat had a big lump that he just couldn't gulp down, no matter how much he tried, but he tried his best not to cry.

Agatha just nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest, tilting her weight from one leg to the other as if she was impatient and eager to run away.

-Look… It was very nice to talk with you. It didn't happen as I had planned… It really pains me that it all happened this way, and that's why I can't let everything end like this. -He pressed his lips and took a deep breath. -I'm a man of my word, so I will walk away, and if I come to check on you in the future, I'll do everything I can so you won't see me, ok? I won't get near you or follow you anymore. But… Look, I was thinking while we were walking and… I would like to reach out to you when you turn eighteen. Is that ok for you?

Agatha stared at him with her forehead creased and her lips pressed. Ryan shook his head and looked down. He knew she would say no. She was Alejandro's daughter, after all, she wouldn't make any concessions.

-I don't get it. -She murmured, seeming perplexed. Her voice was thin, and for the first time she sounded her age. -Aren't you coming on Friday?

-No, I swore you wouldn't see me ever again if you agreed to come down that tree. You did your part, now I have to do mine. -His face didn't show how upset he was while he said those words. Ryan thought about everything he had planned to tell her, how he had dreamed many times about taking her on one of his and Richard's trips, even though he hadn't really believed it would happen, at least not within the next decade. Now he didn't believe it would ever happen. -So… I just want you to know that you are even more amazing than I had imagined, and that I'm really, really proud of who I know you'll become.

Agatha stared at him for a few seconds, as if digesting his words.

-That's… That's not fair. -She frowned and her eyes brimmed again.

Then, without any other warning, she burst out into tears. Ryan blinked in surprise, then looked around, not knowing what to do. She was crying with her mouth wide open, like a kid that had taken a bad fall and had hit its head. Ryan crouched in front of her and tried to look into her eyes, unsure of how he should react to the situation.

-Agatha, why are you crying? What is that? -He tried, but she just wept louder. -Hey. Look at me, please.

But she wouldn't stop yelling and sobbing out loud, shaking her head and wiping the snot, tears and drool with the back of her hands. He wanted to stroke her hair, but something told him it would only make it worse.

-Hey! -He called her again, but she just shook her head. Then, an idea occurred to him. -‘Cmon, stop crying like a child, baby girl!

It did work and she tried to hold down her wailing with vigorous sobs while frowning at him, clearly annoyed. Her face was all red and she repeatedly brushed her tears with the hem of her shirt.

-Why are you crying, Agatha? -He gave her an emphatic smile. -I didn't mean to make you cry, what did I say wrong?

-I didn't get down because you said that. I didn't! -She sobbed and wiped her face over and over. The strands of saliva and running nose made her look even more like a small kid. Ryan wanted to hold her and pacify her, but wasn't really sure if they had reached that level of intimacy yet. -It's not fair!

-What are you talking about, Agatha? -He reached out and took a strand of her hair from the corner of her mouth. It was damp with saliva. -Why are you crying? What happened?

-Are you going away forever? -She sobbed again with her eyebrows creased.

-Don't you want me to go? -He creased his eyebrows when she shook her head vigorously. -Do you want me to come again on Friday?

Agatha nodded vigorously, and when he smiled broadly, she threw her arms around his shoulders and held him tight.

-Damn… You have no idea, girl. -His voice failed and he let out a sigh of relief. He held her and stroked her hair, feeling like they could become as close as he and Richard, one day. -Tell me, why did you come down?

She pushed him back to take a step away from him and tried to hide a shy smile. Her nose ran and she wiped it with the back of her forearm.

-Because you were sad. -She shrugged. -I didn't want to make you sad.

He laughed and wiped a tear from the corner of each of his eyes. She wiped hers from her face with her shirt once again.

-Are you gonna come next Wednesday too? -She sniffed and sobbed a bit more.

-No, I'm sorry. I'm gonna visit someone. She's really ill, I wanna spend some time with her. -He pressed his lips, feeling really sorry. -I’ll stay with her for two weeks.

-Can't you go another day? -She frowned. He found it funny that he had thought she would never want to see his face again minutes ago, and now she was already eager, not for the next meeting, but the one after that. -Can't you lie and say you couldn't make it?

-No, I'm sorry, I miss her badly and she's missing me too. I also would never lie to her. -He pressed his lips. -Besides, I already told my brother I'd go, he would be upset if I changed our plans at the last minute.

-Is she pretty? -She tilted her head.

-I bet she was, when she was younger. Maybe she still is, just isn't my type... I like older women, but not that older. -He smirked at her curious frown. -It's my grandma we're talking about, by the way.

-Ah… -Agatha blushed even more. -I don't have a grandmother. They both died before I was born.

-Well, I hope mine will still take a couple of decades to go… -Ryan sighed and checked his watch. -You need to go, your last class ended ten minutes ago. See you on Friday, then?

-It's a date! -She smiled from ear to ear, nodding vigorously.

-Have a nice day, then, baby girl. -He smirked and risked a kiss on her forehead before getting up and taking a step back.

-Until Friday, big boy! -She lifted her chin and poked her tongue at him.

Ryan stood in shock for a moment, but then realized he didn't hate the nickname, not at all. It was close enough to big brother, and she had come up with it on her own. It made him feel like he was important to her too.

-Big boy… -He smirked as he watched her walk away. She turned her head to check if he was still there a couple of times and he waved at her before turning and running to the subway.

 

I’m a bit confused, if Ryan says that he is 12 and I think that he is 6 years older than Agatha, then Agatha should be 6 years old. But in the way she talks and behaves she comes off as being older than 6 years old. So what is the age gap between Ryan and Agatha?

 

They are 5 years and 3 months apart. Richard is 6 years older than Ryan,though.

Agatha isn't eight yet in this part, she's still seven and a bit more than a half, but Ryan doesn't know her birthday, he just assumed she's already eight. (She's big for her age and she's forward in school).

It is all addressed in a chapter later, when she invites him to her birthday party. Ryan is about to turn thirteen in this passage.

In current time, Ryan has just turned 27, and he missed Agatha's 21's birthday because he was with Belle. It happens right after Daniel puts a prize on his head.

 

Hmm hmm.. I wonder how Belle's doing. I miss this. Dearest author when are we getting another piece of your work??

 

Very nice to read that I might post it tomorrow at night, or on Wednesday at usual time.

 

Somehow the wait for the weekly update feels like an eternity
Can’t seem to get enough of Belle and Ryan

 

Spoiler: Still trying to figure out the family logistics

In the last line did Ryan imply that Agatha’s mother is his aunt? If this is the case then Sofia and Agatha’s mother are sisters and Domenico is probably their brother? So Alejandro would be Domenico's brother-in-law and could explain the Italian-Spanish connection. This is so messed up, I realize that it’s pure speculation on my part but if this is correct then technically Alejandro is Ryan’s uncle and biological father This can’t be right!!! Also in his reference to “Mexican leech” is that what Ryan thinks about Alejandro? Now it kind of makes sense why he got the nickname of Latino when he first joined NYPD.

 

Nope, you just caught a mix of corrector intrusive change of genre in the middle of a phrase (from her to him) with me not noticing it when I was revising it =( sometimes it happens with Belle too, it changes from his to her and I don't notice it later. Thank you for pointing out but there it was HER mother. Sorry for the confusion and miswriting=\

ps: yep, Ryan happens to be a Karen in rehab process xD no, just a person who was never talked down about his prejudiced ideas before he met Belle. At least not by someone whose opinion he cared about.

 

@GiBro, thank you for the clarification! This dismantles my theory and now I ‘m back to trying to figure out Ryan’s convoluted family connections. This is going to drive me crazy until it gets sorted out
Anyways, looking forward to today’s chapter.

 

Chapter 7


During the week that followed, Belle tried to concentrate on surviving and keeping her faith in Ryan.

She was certain he would soon be there, in a few days he would be coming, and she would have to find a way to help him take that place down. She had to be more than the helpless princess waiting to be rescued by Prince Charming this time. She needed to be useful, to make things easier for him, instead of being a burden.

Her new quarters weren't anything near bad. She had a bedroom with a queen sized bed, a bathroom with a large Jacuzzi in it, a living area with a small dinner table, four chairs around it, a comfy couch and a mini fridge, all that exclusively for herself. There was no TV, since, as she would later learn, it was an item banned in the palace, as well as computers, cell phones, radios, books and any other sources of what Daniel called “outside world’s bullshits”.

Still, she couldn't complain. She had plenty of food and water, she could shower when and for however long she wanted to, no one would touch her without her permission, except to prevent a risk to her life or, she presumed, an attempt of escaping.

Belle was also the one to decide whether the temperature in the room would be colder or hotter. She had feared that the last one would be denied, in order to preserve her “fertility”, and learning that it wouldn't be the case gave her some peace of mind.

At first she felt guilty for having all that comfort, while those women were still suffering inside that damned prison, but, after a couple of days of self loathing and crying, she realized there was no point in blaming herself for something she had no power to change. Instead, she focused on gathering as much information about the palace and how things worked there as she managed to, without alarming Daniel or his minions.

Daniel visited her frequently, usually two or three times per day. He would force her to read a few pages of the Bible, then make her recite some of the verses for him by heart, after reading it over and over again. As Vanessa had told her, it felt like brainwashing.

When Belle got it right, she was rewarded with amenities, like a drink other than water, although never soft drinks or anything alcoholic, a dessert, the right to choose her next meal, or childish activities to distract herself, like paper and crayons to draw. She once tried to convince him to grant her other kinds of rewards, like a music player or other books to read, but Daniel got angry and scolded her, saying that all forms of art were nothing but an invitation for demons, and that the only book that wasn't evil and dirty was the Bible.

Things were calm when she got the verses right, aside from having to endure his disgusting hands touching her body under the excuse of recognizing her for her efforts, like a squeeze in her thighs, a slide through her waist, a tap followed by a squeeze on her shoulders.

Sometimes the hands would slide down from the lower part of her back to her buttocks or from her shoulders toward her cleavage. When it happened, he would slap her, either on her face or wherever he managed to land it, with all his might.

The reason why he did that? He made a point of explaining, every time. His mind was pure. It was the cleanest mind in the whole palace. Maybe in the whole world. That meant that if he had impure thoughts about her, it had to be her fault. The beating was only a reprimand, to remind her of keeping the devil inside her under vigilance at all times, and for discouraging her from trying to seduce him.

When she got the verses wrong, though, things got even darker. At first, Daniel would just take her privileges away and say a bunch of humiliating or hurtful slurs, but, on days he decided she wasn't trying hard enough, he would apply physical punishment.

If the slurs, slaps and pushes were already humiliating and painful, the so-called “physical disciplines” had to be ten times worse, or more. The standard punishment was to kneel over stones and pray a number of times she was pretty sure Daniel would make up right on the spot, and he would often suffer it along with her.

But there were days he got inspired and the punishments were more intense. One day he got there already in a very foul mood and she knew he would hurt her, even if she got the verses right. Daniel picked an impossible one and, as expected, she wasn't able to memorize more than half of the words. Extremely enraged, he literally tried to drown her in her cold bowl of soup that she hadn't touched.

Her solace was that every time he got this violent he wouldn't show up the next day, so she could enjoy a bit of calm after the storm. That alone made it easier to endure the abuse.

If there was anything she hated more in her room than Daniel's sporadic visits, it could only be the candles. By direct orders of their Lord, the maids would keep dozens of them lit all around her apartment. Some of them were even placed in dangerous places, over silver plates on the floor, for example, where they could easily tip and put fire to the carpet.

The candles had terrified her at first. Memories of the smell of burning hair and the sounds of agonizing screams had filled up her mind to such a suffocating extent that she thought she wouldn't be able to cope with it.

No matter how many times Belle would blow them out, they would be lit again a few minutes later when a maid would come in to check on her.

Daniel would insist that the candles were important to help her purge the devil from her body, and she had the impression that the number of candles was increasing every time he showed up.

When she felt low, she laid in her queen sized bed, with a plush duvet on top of her, and the Egyptian cotton sheets matching the fancy down pillow under her.

Daniel had gone to the ridiculous extent of offering her sheets and pillowcases made of gold. Not golden ones. Instead, he claimed he could buy her bedding of a fabric made of true gold. When she refused it, he was amazed, saying that she was surprisingly humble and that he was very proud of her, although he truly believed a queen should have that kind of bedding. The subject immediately died when he implied that they should have it in their bed when they got married instead, and she couldn't hold down her disgusted grimace.

But not everything were nightmares and terror about Daniel's psycho behavior. She eventually found a way of taking advantage of his prepotency and possessiveness.

Along with the room, she got two bodyguards, actually knights. It took her a couple of days to realize that they weren't always the same. That meant allies could come around, she just had to be patient and find an opportunity to talk to them. She already had some faces in mind. Lion, Bob, and the guard named Aaron, though she didn't expect to see that latter anywhere near her room, were the ones she hoped would agree to help her with her plan of gathering information and weakening Daniel's influence inside the palace.

Lion was the first of them she had contact with, and Belle had everything planned already. As usual, the knights would knock on the door when they arrived, present themselves, then would ask her if there was anything she needed. Usually she would say that no, she didn't need anything and didn't want to be bothered, unless it was necessary or if they got word that Daniel would come. If that was the case, she would like to be warned beforehand. Most of the knights ignored that request, and she put the ones who didn't in a “maybe ally” mental list. The ones who did ignore her, whether for fear of Daniel or out of pure spite, were automatically classified as enemies.

This time her answer was different, though. Turns out she had seen a spider inside her bathroom, and needed one of them to come in and take it. The older man stared at Lion with a glare that told him he'd rather be kicked in the balls than to have to lick the princess’ boots. Lion also pretended to find it annoying, but as soon as the door was closed behind him, he raised his eyebrows as if to ask her what her intention was with that move.

Belle wasn't sure if she should trust him, but since he seemed to be willing to talk with her in a respectful manner, different from the other ones that had presented themselves during the week, she decided to use it to her advantage. Once they were alone, she started to ask all sorts of questions about the palace, since one of her objectives was to weaken Daniel's authority and dismantle the palace's structure.

Lion promptly agreed to play along. While pretending to be hunting the spider down, he explained that Daniel sorted random knights among the highest ranked, twice a day, to watch her door. He also revealed that the knights were separated into teams, and, although most believed their selection to each team was based purely on their individual abilities, Lion was convinced it was also a form to sort them by personality. This way a calm, more disciplined knight would always be paired with a more energetic and most likely aggressive knight. It made sense to Belle. Daniel had always had that distorted concept of balance and justice, often saying that for a good to exist a proportional evil had to sprout.

When he said he had to go, she handed him the spider she had been keeping inside a glass turned upside down over her dinner table, a big one. His face contorted while he tried to hold down the laughter.

-Ok, should I assume you can open your own jars too? -He smirked while using a piece of paper to smash the spider, even though Belle had asked him to take it and release it in the garden.

-I guess I could throw them at you next time you come around, in case I don't manage to open them. -She glared at him and rolled her eyes as he headed for the door with a sneer and a low chuckle, taking the spider as proof of his work.

A few hours later, Lion came to her room again, explaining they had to search her room every day, since Daniel was worried about traitors coming to her room and planting traps to hurt her. Belle believed that what he feared was that she could conspire against him with the maids that came to tend to her meals, clean the apartment and other matters, probably assuming that no man would build enough empathy for her to risk their lives to help her escape.

Glad for the unexpected opportunity, Belle nodded and followed him, while Lion rummaged through every inch of the room, and they chatted in a very low tone.

Once she was sure no one else was coming to supervise them, right after the maids came in to clean the table and rushed out, she approached him and asked him why there were no cameras inside her room. Lion explained that no electronic devices were allowed in this part of the palace, since Daniel believed they could not only summon demons but also cause cancer and modify DNA. When Belle pointed out she doubted Daniel really believed in that, Lion confessed he actually guessed that Daniel wanted to avoid producing proof against himself, so places like the plates, the nursery, a place he called “Arena” and the whole floor where his private chambers were located, were sterile places, where it would be impossible to prove what was done in them.

This confirmed what Belle had been wondering about: Daniel was sleeping near, even though he wouldn't sleep in the same room, he was close. Even so, she asked Lion about it, just to know if he would refuse to tell her, and he even gave her the directions, three doors to the right, a corridor watched 24/7 by four bodyguards and an iron door. Only Daniel, four maids, the Doctor, Destiny and Corey were allowed in. No one else knew what his apartment looked like.

Lion shared a bit of Daniel's agenda with her. Aside from visiting her room and recruiting the called “golden sheeps”, his role as the Lord of the palace assigned him a lot of other responsibilities, like, for example, approving large expenses, overseeing and censoring the upload of messages on their official websites on the deepweb and welcoming the new recruits, although he would only meet the ones they called “warriors'', whom would be later trained and ranked to eventually be promoted to guards, or knights, or Royal knights.

He never showed up to greet the ones who would work at the palace as staff, to whom he referred to as “servants”, since he considered it to be a waste of his time. Those were the ones who ensured the maintenance and services, like cleaning staff, plumbers, electricians, mechanical engineers etc, and were officially called “workers”.

Most of them were unaware about what was really going on inside that place. They were there because the salary was way above the market value and a number of benefits. They would be allowed to leave the palace only once a year, for one month, and had the right for one voice call per week with a family member. The palace would provide health insurance, scholarships for up to three children, and life insurance, all that guaranteed for life, as long as the employee wouldn't tell anyone about his work, including his family, and would be back to work after vacation every year, for twenty years uninterrupted.

When Belle asked what would happen to those people when twenty years passed, Lion shrugged and grunted that none of them were there for twenty years yet, but that he doubted any of them would.

Daniel also headed a bunch of meetings with what they called “investors”. Lion wasn't allowed to attend those meetings, but he had heard from others that they were usually held in one of the sauna rooms or huge jacuzzis on the first floor. All participants would be naked and some of what they called “fine sheeps”, apparently the girls from the plates who behaved more submissively, would serve them drinks and provide them other kinds of attention.

When Belle tried to inquire him about who the investors were, Lion seemed uneasy, but explained anyway. Politicians, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, socialites, media influencers and even famous artists were rumored to have taken part in meetings and of “tasting the pleasures” of the palace.

Before she could ask more about what those pleasures could be, aside from the most obvious one of abusing hopeless women, Lion had to go, and he avoided the subject ever since.

A few days later, during one of the inspections, Lion showed some irritation about the candles, complaining that he had to move them every time he had to push or pull some furniture, and was surprised to find they weren't there by Belle's demand.

When she mentioned her trauma with fire, Lion suggested she should tell Daniel about it, so he would have them to be removed, to make her feel better, but once she pointed out his lack of empathy was absolut, even when it came to her and told him about his sadistic exercises with the Bible, he agreed she was better not to share any fears with Daniel, so he wouldn't be able to use them against her later.

This advice, more than anything, had given her the motivation to learn to rule her fear of fire. It only grew stronger when Daniel realized she would get anxious and avert her eyes every time he lit the candles or brought them near her. It was impossible not to notice that this had fed his imagination about her punishments.

On a day when he got there already livid in rage, and she stuttered in the middle of a phrase, he forced her to place her hand over a lit candle and keep it there until she got a blister in her palm. On another occasion, when she had refused to recite a part of Leviticus that he had used many times to justify his prejudice against Bill, he dragged her through the floor, pulling her by her hair, then threatened to throw her face first into the fireplace, even though he knew it was a faux one and didn't really have a fire inside it.

Nightmare after nightmare, she eventually became apathetic to his threats. One day she woke up to find she simply didn't care anymore about the fire.

For a moment she thought she was losing her mind, but guessed it was all a matter of rationalizing the fear, as her psychologist had taught her: she knew what would happen if she got close to it, so all she had to do was to keep away. It couldn't harm her if she didn't touch it, and if Daniel forced her to touch it again, it wouldn't be to kill her, just to hurt her, and she would heal.

The fact that there were a bunch of flammable things near the candles scattered around the room still gave her goosebumps every time she thought about it, but Belle tried to keep that out of her mind. On the other hand, she had convinced herself that if, for any reason, the room caught fire, Daniel would literally do anything to save her life, maybe even come in person to her rescue. She didn't want to burn alive, and certainly didn't wish that fate to anyone else, but her anger toward him was tremendous, to the point that she had come to believe that it would be a small price to pay, reliving her worst fear, in order to release all those girls and herself from the hands of that terrible monster.

Daniel tried to use fire to intimidate her again a couple of times after she had come to that realization, but only found an apathetic stare in response, then never tried again.

Maybe she had indeed lost a bit of her mind, but at least it was the part that would only make things worse had it been working as it should.

 

Hye..im silent reader before this. From malaysia. Im here because of utot..but come across to this ongoing novel from that forum. Stuck here until finish just now. Its really drain my energy this whole week. Im taking a break after some emotional chapter but not long after that i resume as fast as i can. But still its pain to have this on going because im feel like become too attach to this story so waiting to be finish is really sickening me.hahaha

Every time i read some part that sting my chest or just a tear drop to my cheek..i know this story will effect my feeling. Waiting next chapter will be agony to me. But i can resume utot after this to overcome my sanity. Forgive me.

Dear author.. You done great job thax to you for your free feeding of emotional touch of love between ryan and belle. I love you. Sorry for my emotional rant and babling. English is not my 1st language also.

See you

 

Dear @arinzone, welcome thank you for writing.

oh, I'm sorry for that It's not my intention to make you feel bad by reading it, it's just a passage to illustrate what Daniel and his people build up during the past years, just to show the other side a bit, sorry for making you feel anxious

I too hate having to put a space between one chapter and another, but that part has lots of details, revelations about both main characters past, so it's taking more time to write and revise them, soon it will get faster, I hope.

thank you for reading I love emotional rant, feel welcome to write every time you want to

 

Please dont bother me. You just done great work. I become addicted but thx god you give me space to do some daily house chores and taking care my children n husband because i alreadu abandond them lately

 

When the next chapter. I feel ashamed for keep coming every hour

 

Don't feel ashamed, you guys keep me motivated to keep writing =)
I'm trying to post every Wednesday if I manage to speed up the writing and revising process for next chapters, I might go back to posting twice a week.

 

That would be awesome, but pleased don’t feel pressured

 

My fave tv show some like criminal like csi and so on. After read this novel i think i need to watch and focus more to the scene just to feel the situation on my eyes