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CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Emily creeped quietly to the door and pressed her ear against it. There was no sound coming from outside. She tugged at the door knob, and it opened, giving her a sense of relief. She was worried that they might have actually locked her in and was fully prepared to go down the window if she had to. She stepped into the corridor cautiously. She did a quick sweep around, but there was no one in sight. She quietly crept to the head of the stairs and peeked down. There were no guards in sight, so she carefully made her way down the stairs. She looked around, the grand hall was quiet, she twisted the doorknob of the front door, and it gave way seamlessly without so much as a creak. A wave of relief washed over Emily. The front door was open. She almost couldn't believe it as she felt the cool night air from outside trickling in. She opened the door a bit more and stepped outside, hurrying down the stone steps. She stopped when she landed on the ground. She looked straight at the main gate, that there was no way to go. Even if she had been lucky so far and met no guards, there would definitely be guards at the main gate.

She picked up her night robe and ran. She ran round the house towards the back. Another difference between the Romano estate and her own family home was that the Romano estate was connected to a forest at the back; she had noticed the large expanse of nothing but trees at the back when she looked out the window in her bedroom. There were no gates and, as far as she could see, there were no guards. Even if there were some, she would find a way around them. She had to. Emily ran for what felt like hours. The grounds of the estate were large. Running from the house to the back, there was a lot of ground to cover, but she soon saw the barbed wire used to fence the back of the estate up ahead. She slowed down her steps and approached the fence, cautiously looking around. There was no one in sight. She found that a bit weird, but maybe Daniel focused his security on the main entrance.

She shook the barbwire. It was sturdy enough, she took one last glance at the house behind her before she put her leg up and began to climb. She was almost at the top when she heard it, a shrill alarm that rang loudly throughout the estate. Emily froze, motion sensors! Dang! Why hadn't she thought of that? That was why there were no guards on this side of the estate. She wondered how long it would take for the guards to make their way here.

Bang! The sound of doors being slammed shut. Not long from the sound of things. She couldn't be caught. Emily steeled her pounding heart and climbed over the fence as fast as she could. She didn't bother climbing all the way down the other side and just jumped off halfway, landing roughly on the ground.

"Ow!", she groaned.

She looked through the fence and could see them now, heavy-footed men running straight in her direction. Emily struggled off the floor and began to run. She didn't care in which direction she was running, she just wanted to get as far away from the estate as possible. She heard them coming behind her, heavy footsteps echoing in the quiet forest.

Oh s**t!

She tried to increase her pace, but she was already running out of breath. She pushed herself harder anyway, trying her best to put distance between her and her pursuers. After a few more minutes of running, Emily made the mistake of looking over her shoulder so she didn't notice the slight ditch in front of her. Her leg plunged into it and her ankle twisted at an unnatural anger, pulling her to the ground.

"Ow!", Emily groaned as she landed on the ground forcefully.

She hurriedly tried to stand back up once the shock wore off, but a sharp pain in her leg brought her back down on her knees. She looked at her ankle; the bone was all twisted.

"s**t! s**t! s**t!", Emily cursed frustratedly.

Just her luck that she would sprain her ankle. She looked behind her, the footsteps were getting louder, the guards were catching up but what could she do? She had no chance of outrunning them with her ankle like this.

She looked around frantically for a place to hide and found a small hole in one of the trees. She dragged herself there and held her breath as the guards advanced. She watched them run past her hiding place, a sigh of relief bubbling up. She slowly stood up and looked to make sure the guards had gone far away before dragging her leg and walking in the opposite direction.

If she could just find the main road, she'd be fine, she told herself. Relief and happiness bubbled inside her as she walked on.

Emily walked for a few minutes when she suddenly felt a pair of hands grab her from behind. She let out a sharp scream, but a hand was placed over her mouth.

"Excuse me, my lady", a deep masculine voice said in her ear.

Emily looked up to see she was surrounded by the guards from the Romano estate.

"I'm going to take my hand off now, please don't scream", the male voice continued.

Emily nodded slowly and he took his hand off. She turned around and found that it was the man she had Daniel call Adam standing behind her.

"It's late and dangerous out here in the woods. If you could come with me, I'll escort you back to the estate", he said politely but coldly.

"No", Emily shook her head.

"I don't want to go back, I'm not going back, let me go!" She tried to struggle free of his grip, but it was firm just like Sebastian's.

"Please don't make me do this, my lady," he warned.

"Let me go!", Emily continued to struggle.

"Then, pardon me," Adam said and bowed slightly before picking Emily up and throwing her over his shoulder.

Emily was stunned. She screamed.

"What do you think you're doing? "Put me down! "Put me down right this instant!", she whined and kicked, but Adam held on to her firmly as they walked back to the estate with the other guards.

~

"We found her, sir," Adam said as he dropped Emily on the ground.

Emily looked at him in disbelief. He had carried her all the way here, to Sebastian's study.

"Thank you, Adam, you should go", Daniel waved him off.

Adam bowed before leaving the study, the door clicking shut behind him.

Daniel watched Emily intently. A few minutes of tense silence passed.

"Trying to escape?" he spoke up finally.

Emily didn't respond.

"I knew you would try eventually, but not so soon. "I had thought you would at least try to be more logical about it", he mocked, riling Emily's anger.

"But I escaped, didn't I? "I was almost miles away from you and this place, if your lackey hadn't gotten lucky, I would have escaped!", she ranted.

Daniel smirked.

"Is that what you think?" he asked.

Emily was taken aback.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confusingly.

Daniel stood up from his seat.

"Didn't you wonder why everything seemed so easy?" he asked as he walked towards her, stopping only a few feet away from her.

He leaned in and said softly,

"You're not a prisoner here, Emily"

"I could lock you in a gilded cage, but I won't, because whether it's in a cage or a room, you're still mine, that's what ten million dollars got me..."

"You”