Entrapped

Chapter 18.

Tiara slowly raised her eyes up, her heart was beating fast and she gazed at her reflection when the makeup artist that was working her magic on her for hours praised her for her beauty though she failed to understand that if she was really that beautiful then what took them hours to get done with her makeup and hairstyles.

 Her breath seemed to stop when she finally looked at the reflection in the mirror and she came face to face with a girl that looked so beautiful and serene. It was her own eyes that were blinking in surprise in the mirror but they seemed big under the effect of eye make up and the mascara and nude eye shadow made it look like her green orbs were shining bright. She had a hint of chubby cheeks but the contour had uplifted her cheeks that gave a whole new definition to her face. Her heart shaped lips looked more prominent with the thick coat of nude pink colour. Her long blond hair that were naturally straight had always been a problem for Tiara as it was hard do style them and they have never cooperate with her anyway but today, they were wrapped up in a perfect low bun with some strands that were deliberately left free to tease her by framing her face delicately. She now understood what took her make-up artist and stylist hours to doll her up.

She had never looked that pretty before and all of it was for the man who killed the man she loved, her husband and her eyes instantly teared up at the realization.

Mason’s face suddenly appeared in front of her eyes, his brown eyes that used to look at her with so much adoration and love. His smile that held power to melt away all her worries and his lips that always felt warm and gentle against her own.

A sudden feeling of guilt gripped her entire being as she was suddenly reminded of her wedding with Mason eight months ago. She had actually put in efforts in getting ready and tried her best to look pretty for the handsome man she was madly in love with. Their wedding was not at all grand and had took place in the courthouse by signing the marriage papers but it was more special than the lavish grand wedding she was going to have shortly because it had been done out of love unlike this one where she had literally abandoned her soul and killed her heart to seek revenge from that heartless man who had snatched away all her happiness.

Tears rolled down her eyes kissing her ample cheeks as she remembered her dead husband and how she had once shared all those vows with him, she had promised him her forever but he had gone to paradise leaving her all alone to fend for herself.

“oh my, dear!” her stylist squealed in her high pitched voice as soon as she noticed the crystal like tear on her bride’s face, “I know you must be feeling nervous and that’s completely normal so don’t cry, it will make your eyes puffy and I am sure you wouldn’t want to look any less than perfect.”  She patted Tiara’s back giving her a toothy grin unaware of the storm of emotion the bride was actually caught in.

“yes, it’s just pre-wedding jitters so relax because Mr. Black would not be able to take his eyes away from you.” Her make-up artist butt in, she was proud of her work and believed that Tiara was the best and most beautiful bridal she had ever assisted.

Tiara gazed at them through the mirror, the way they were giggling and smiling made her envious. She wished she could be like them, carefree and genuinely happy and she sighed closing her eyes because she did not want to complain. There was no one who would listen to her, not even the god above. She had prayed every single moment when she was living happily with Mason, she prayed that not to let Xavier or any other person from Black clan find her but God was ignorant and did not grant the wish she had been making for four years. She refused to pray after that and had let go of hope and had taken shelter under the pillar of hatred.

She once again lifted her eyes up and wiped her tears away that were making her weak and took a deep breath and looked at her reflection coldly for a few seconds and the hatred took over her senses soon.

“do you think Xavier would like how I am looking?” Her question made the other two ladies giggle loudly as they reckoned that Tiara was a kind of woman who believed in taking her man’s approval and having him pleased and fairly, they found it suitable enough for a dominating man like Xavier.

“are you kidding? He would fall for you all over again!" Their answer pleased Tiara in a sick way as she found it interesting because the more he would love her the more damage she would be able to cause.

“now let’s get you into your dress!” her stylist clapped her hands in excitement as they were looking forward to seeing Tiara’s final look. they knew she would make a perfect bride.

Tiara nodded and they put out her dress and helped her in sliding in and then zipped it up from behind and fixed a long beautiful veil above her head and fixed a diamond tiara above her head that looked like no less than a crown.

“perfect!” they exclaimed happily, clapping their hands as they took in the beauty of the gorgeous bride in front of them. There was absolutely no wonder Xavier chose her because who wouldn’t fall for such an alluring girl.

A knock was heard from outside and the three ladies turned around in confusion as they did not really think that the time had come, it was way too soon but the knock was heard again and the make-up artist answered this time.

“who is it?”

“It’s Tiara’s father.” Her stylist started to move in the direction of the door to open it and welcome him in but Tiara’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“tell him that I don’t want to see him.” Her voice was firm and lacked emotion as she ordered the other woman who nodded unsure whether to obey her or not because it was her father on the other side.

“I am sorry, sir but Tiara does not wish to see you.” She informed the old man as soon as she opened the door and passed him an apologetic smile. She did not know what was wrong with Tiara and her father, all she knew was that she could not really defy her client and cause any sort of displeasure.

“young lady.” Dante addressed the woman who had dared to stop him from seeing his own daughter but he knew it was not her fault, she was just following Tiara’s order.

“I would like you to leave my daughter alone this instant.” Something in his voice passed the message that he was not the person you should defy or mess up with and the stylist nodded at him and stepped out of the room.

Dante nodded approvingly at the stylist and stepped inside to meet his daughter but saw another woman and he frowned before asking her to leave as well who complied obediently and left Tiara with her father.

Tiara looked at her father with a hardened gaze, trying her best to mask away all the disappointment and hatred she felt for him because she did not want him to depict how she was really feeling.

“you are looking beautiful, my daughter.” The old man’s voice was heavy and filled with unsaid emotions as he looked at her daughter dressed in a wedding gown.

“why are you here?” Tiara asked, ignoring his compliment completely, “dad!” she added, emphasizing the word with venom that broke the old man’s heart, having his only daughter using a tone filled with hatred was so much to bear.

“I-I wanted to see you.” He spoke softly and looked down for a millisecond before looking up at her again with those eyes that were surrounded with wrinkles around them indicating that he was indeed getting old, “I missed you.”

Tiara scoffed at his response and made sure that he heard her scoffing before she let out a laugh that lacked humour or any happiness but was rather mocking, “you missed me?” she repeated and furrowed her brows in obvious deliberation, “why?”

“you are my daughter, Tiara. You are the only family I have left and I miss you.” He took a step further and stretched his hand forward hoping to hold his daughter but she stopped him by raising her hand in the air.

“daughter?” she exclaimed, “really dad? Because as far as I remember after mom’s death you only raised me as Xavier’s fiancé and never as your daughter!” she tried, really tried keeping her emotions in check but lost it right away in front of this old man who she had loved dearly, the one who was supposed to protect her; her father.

“It is not like that! It was never like that!” The accusation was so much to bear for Dante. Tiara was his only family and he loved his daughter more than anything and he knew Tiara knew that too. She had never said something like this to him ever before and the sudden claim hurt him.

“don’t lie to yourself dad, because if you think it would hurt me if you do admit it then don’t worry. The people who do not mean anything to me couldn’t hurt me.” It was a lie, a pure lie. Her father used to be her world. He was the one she looked up to but sadly everything had changed now. It hurt her a lot when her father looked at her as Xavier's bride first and then as his own daughter.

“don’t say that, Tiara. You know I love you.”

“really? Then where was this love of yours when I was suffocating carrying the burden of the mafia's heir’s fiancé? You knew me better than anyone else, you knew I did not want that but you kept quiet and let me suffocate! Do families really behave like that? Do they not care about what others really want?” she let it out, all the unasked questions she had for her father, she unleashed them one after another.

She wanted to know why her father who loved her so much turned blind eye to what she was really going through and about how she felt being tied down to the son of the mafia in her early teenage years.

“no dad! You don’t let the one you love suffer like that! You just don’t!”

“I loved you, I still do but I love your mother more than anything. It was your mother’s last wish and how could I have not fulfilled it? Tell me, Tiara?” her father broke down in tears as soon as he mentioned his late wife who died in a horrible car accident, “it was not me who wanted you to marry Xavier but your mother and I trust her. I followed what she had asked me to do and was just trying to have her last wish fulfilled so that she can rest in peace with ease.” His voice was emotional and the only time she had witnessed her father like that when her mother died.

“you lost your faith in your mother and turned selfish but I couldn’t, I know she must have a good reason for what she had asked.”

“I did not lose any faith in my mother, rather I trusted her that she would have understood me if she was alive. She would have taken her words back for my happiness but you, you never tried to understand that!” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks in sorrow and pain. She missed her mom at that moment, she missed her so badly that she had never done it before.

“you said you love me, dad and yet you stood there silently when Alejandro Black whipped me brutally. He whipped your only daughter like an animal in front of you and you were standing there with your head hung low like a coward!"  She was crying and wailing when she started speaking but by the end she raised her voice and shouted at her father.

“that’s because you betrayed Xavier, you betrayed your family and your clan and married another man!” Dante shouted back with equal intensity, his voice made it quite clear that he also thought of her as a serpent and was obviously embarrassed about it and it broke her heart completely.

All the anger she had felt up until now for her father that she was trying to label as hate frozen within her and was overpowered by the sudden feeling of disappointment that washed away all the good memories she had spent with that old man.

She was at a loss of words, she neither hated him nor was angry with him. She just felt hollow, she felt nothing, no feeling at all for him like every emotion was evaporating from her into thin air and she realized that this hollowness was worse than anger and disappointment because it was the first time she did not see her father in the man that was standing before her. She looked at him like he was just a stranger.

“you are no longer my father, I as Xavier's wife and his queen snatches away all your right to call me your daughter.” Tiara announced in a tone that was as cold as an ice glacier. She knew she would no longer see this man as her father and thus chose to abandon him completely.