The devil you begged for

030

ISLA

~•~

The following week was a lot more confusing.

Lorenzo didn’t lock me up, bark more orders, or threaten me with people’s lives. Those were the things I expected from him. Those were the things he had been doing since I started living with him. What I didn’t expect was the absence of force. It was weird. It was unlike him.

Instead of several men, only one took me to and from school.

Whenever I kept my door ajar, breakfast was brought into my room as promised. Whenever I didn’t open my door at all, breakfast was always waiting for me downstairs in the kitchen aisle. The best part? Lorenzo wasn’t hovering around me while I ate. I didn’t know if he was too busy to bother me anymore but I appreciated the space. Even when he was around and I didn’t want to eat, he didn’t force me as he used to do.

The first day, I thought it was some kind of trick, but it continued for the rest of the week without fail.

At some point, the silence started to unsettle me. I caught myself waiting for his footsteps, for his voice barking out a command. But whenever he appeared, he didn’t linger. We passed each other in the halls and at the staircase. He never said a word to me. He mostly just nodded to acknowledge my presence. He didn’t force a conversation.

Mid-week, I found myself exploring the sides of the house I hadn’t seen yet. I was making use of my newly found suspicious freedom when I saw a slightly open door. What caught my attention was the fact that the door was a different color from all the other doors in the hall. I knew it wasn’t anyone’s bedroom since there were no bedrooms on the ground floor which was why I dared to push the door further open.

Inside was a room that looked out of place in Lorenzo’s house. It was a study with several shelves containing notebooks, textbooks, and stationery. The scent of new paper hit me as soon as I stepped inside. I could tell most of the books were new.

I moved closer to the shelves, more than surprised to see that the textbooks fit my major. They were the exact editions of textbooks I needed in school. I touched one with hesitant fingers. It was new, untouched, and expensive.

While I’d lost some of my books in the fire, I didn’t need new ones. I only had a few months before I graduated. Did Lorenzo buy these for me? What was his angle? What was he up to?

“Consider it an investment,” Lorenzo’s voice came from behind me.

I stepped back from the shelf immediately, turning sharply to see him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, staring at me like he was trying to see through me as always.

“I don’t need it,” I said quickly. “I didn’t ask you to do this.”

“You didn’t have to,” he pushed off the doorframe, stepping closer to me. It was the first time we were having a conversation since I left his office the other day. “I want you to finish school properly without any excuses. I’m sure your family would have wanted that.”

My jaw clenched automatically. Of course, my family wanted more than anything for me to graduate. They didn’t care if I graduated with a low or high GPA as long as I did. But hearing Lorenzo point that out had me heated. The way he said it so casually like my schooling would have been interrupted if it wasn’t for him. “Do you think giving me a desk and some books will make me forget what you’ve done?”

“No,” he sounded honest when he spoke. “I’m just letting you know that you’re not powerless here. You can do what you want. If you want to pursue a higher education, I’ll support that too.”

I scoffed. “When? Before or after you force me into marriage?”

He didn’t respond but he stared at me for a second too long before he turned around and left me alone in the room.

I closed my eyes briefly, hating how easily he got me angry. I was trying to be in control of my emotions. It was needed to be able to survive in such a cutthroat environment. Lorenzo was a master at controlling his emotions which was why he was able to get me worked up every time he opened his mouth.

After that conversation, the rest of the week unfolded like a carefully orchestrated performance.

On Thursday morning, I found the fridge stocked with things I hadn’t realized I was craving. There was yoghurt, strawberries, and even the brand of granola I used to eat at home. I hadn’t had any of these since I came here and didn’t realize how much I missed them, yet they were waiting for me inside the fridge. I didn’t need anyone to tell me it was Lorenzo’s handwork. That man was up to something that required him to be nice to me.

In the afternoon, my laundry appeared in my room, already folded. I usually did my laundry myself, so the fact that someone went out of their way to pick up my laundry, fold it, and return it told me that man had something to do with it.

The niceness was honestly suffocating.

On Friday morning, he was waiting for me at the front door, keys dangling from his hand. “You’re driving yourself today,” he said casually.

I blinked in surprise, caught off guard. “What?”

“You heard me,” he tossed the keys in my direction. I caught them clumsily, staring because I couldn’t believe what was happening. “I got you a car.”

“What if I don’t come back?”

Lorenzo smiled. “You will.”

I hated that he was right. I wasn’t ready to go through what happened last week again.

He stepped aside, giving me space to pass through. “Don’t make me regret trusting you,” his voice was soft as he spoke but it unsettled me more than his threats did.

This wasn’t freedom. This was a test. He had let me leave last week yet I ran into trouble almost immediately and he had to save me. I was certain he was testing to see if I’d run again.

When I went outside to see the car he got for me, I stopped short. It was the exact model and color I used to drive before. He had done his homework on me.

Now the question was was he trying to be nice to me or was he trying to f**k my head up by reminding me of my life before him?