Entrapped

Chapter 33.

“are you listening to me?” Xavier shook her lightly from her shoulder to gain her attention as she just kept looking at him without saying anything though he saw something in his eyes, they were deep and struggling as if they wanted to say something.

She was brought out of her trance and shake her head a little, trying to shrug of these troublesome thoughts and gained her composure back, “yes I am,” she answered in a soft voice laced with fake sweetness as she gave him a smile, “why didn't you tell me that you would return for lunch? I would have made something for you.”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He smiled and held her hand softly, and led her out with him to the main hall. She followed him quietly while that fake smile was plastered on her face.

When they reached the main hall to get to the staircase that led them to their bedroom, their gaze fell on all the servants that had lined themselves up with their head hung low and they could clearly see their shivering body.

Tiara furrowed her brows as an expression of confusion adorned her face, had not she told them to rest? Why were they still here and why all of them were shaking like withering leaves? such questions came rushing to her.

Xavier, on the other hand, had completely opposite thoughts running in his mind, he had almost forgotten that he had asked for them when he was with Tiara but now that his menacing gaze finally fell on these slackers of a servants he knew what he needed to do in order to make them understand that he was not going to let this behavior of them towards his wife slid and to drill it in their thick brain he intended to punish them severely.

“what are you all doing here?” Tiara could not help but wonder as she eyed them with utter confusion, “what is this about?”

“I asked for them.” Xavier answered to quench the curiosity his wife had and gave her a small smile, his tone was firm yet gentle when he spoke to her but it gradually turned cold and authoritative when he addressed those servants, “where were you when my wife was inside the laundry?”

Sound of large intakes of breaths and gasping surrounded them as they realized what this was about, “my wife, Xavier Black’s wife, was trying to wash clothes when I had more than twenty servants to run all those errands!” Xavier yelled, losing his calm composure and unleashing the rage he felt inside him.

No one had really dared to disobey Xavier, especially not a servant who was getting paid more than what he deserved. He had meant it when he asked them to respect his wife and obey her as they do to him, for Tiara was his equal. He had meant it when he commanded them that she was to be treated as a queen and now that they had bluntly chosen to go against his order, he was enraged and he was determined to take this rage out on those who had caused it without showing any mercy.

Tiara had never snapped her head this fast with a speed of light to look at someone, especially him. She had this instant urge to roll her eyes at him and to knock some sense into his mind that was blinded by the power and dominance to fuss over such a thing.

The way he was making a chaos out of nothing was absolutely unreasonable but then again she could expect such a thing from him yet could not suppress the element of disappointment and surprise rushing to her, was this what he implied when he said that he wanted to surprise her? She could not help but let that thought overwhelm her for a minute, almost forgetting that there were some lives that could be in danger due to her silence.

She blinked her eyes when she heard one of the servants, a male working as a gardener, defending himself by simply stating a fact that he was not aware of what was going on inside the mansion while other servants, especially the maids that were hired for the household works decided to do the same before it's too late.

“Mr. Black we were just following the orders your wife has given us.” One of the maids said in her defence with a shaky voice, trying to save herself from Xavier’s rage.

“yes, master! Your wife did not let us do anything. She forbade us.” Another hasty plea for their defence from yet another servant.

“yes, we tried to stop her but she denied a-and we have no power to question her or to stop her”

“she said it because she is kind and humble and you took advantage of it!” Xavier roared, feeling like an enraged bull when all the servants came attacking Tiara, “you let my wife do all the work you were supposed to do!” every one flinched back in horror as his face turned menacingly dangerous with that lethal expression on his face that clearly showed that he did not intend to let them go unpunished.

“Xavier, enough!” she exclaimed loudly at him as she approached to hold his hand, “I did all of that by myself. They are not at fault, they tried to stop me but I commanded them.” She squeezed his hand a little to give him the sense of assurance, "you are making a fuss for nothing."

Tiara was fed up with him, she was so done with and did not know how long she would be able to hold herself back. She felt annoyed and unexplainable amount of hate for him because she knew that even now it was not about her, he was making this fuss because she was his wife; a mafia king’s wife and the reason behind his outburst was due to the fact that his wife could not even handle the servants around the house.

Xavier was a man of power and authority and if anything endangered it, he turned berserk as the weakest trait of a powerful person was that he could not bear if anyone challenged his authority. They felt threatened and Xavier was the same, he took this incidence as a rebellious act of the servants and he felt he needed to put a stop on it right now and there or they might raise a bigger conflict that could really cross his authority and that could be very bad for his reputation that he was must to maintain as a mafia king to remain his position and fear intact.

Xavier was taken aback from her sudden outburst and looked at her aghast with a baffled mind, he was put in a tight spot because if he refused to believe what Tiara had said then it would appear as his lack of trust for his own wife in front of all these servants who he knew actually did not like Tiara for her betrayal and if he did then he would appear as someone who was easy to sway or manipulate as the way she had snapped at him in front of him was quite disrespectful, especially when he was doing it for her and if the words get out that his wife treats him this way then it would surely tarnish his image.

Xavier chose to go with the former option as she had already disrespected him in front of all these twenty servants who were now looking at him cautiously, he gulped down the dominance that was threatening to take control.

Tiara who was already pissed at his irrational outburst turned her head away from him and looked at all the servants, ignoring his constant gaze on her figure she decided to take the matter in her hand as she had no mental strength to put up with his problematic behaviour, “you all are dismissed and don’t take his words seriously, everything is good and no one is getting any sort of punishment” all the eyes were quick to go Xavier as soon as she completed her words, who just stood still on his spot and kept looking at his wife.

When a moment of long silence passed and he did not react, all the servants assumed that he was alright with whatever his wife had said and followed her order, retreating to go inside their room they left them alone and thanked the heaven above for saving them from this sudden danger that could harm them insatiably.

The heavy and deafening silence fell on them as she slowly turned to face him whose eyes were already set on her and it was when she realized that she had f****d up, she had messed up when she saw him clenched his jaw and that emotion of hurt his eyes held for her.

His grey eyes that generally reflected his cold persona now looked like a pool of sadness. Her action had really hurt something in him and no it was not his ego like she had concluded, it was his heart that was hurting as she so carelessly uttered those words in front of all of them.

If Xavier was being honest then her words sounded inconsiderable and her behaviour ignorant for him as when he was being cautious about her reputation she decided to blow him off in such a blunt way.

Xavier did not know if he was overreacting or if his heart was exaggerating the pain her indifferent behaviour had caused but he swore he just did not expect that from her, he was ready to take the downfall. He had decided to shut his mouth when she snapped at him but the words she had said to his own servants seemed unnecessary to him.

She could have just dismissed them but she chose to assure them that he did not mean what he had said, he was a mafia leader and his words were like a line that cannot be crossed and yet she bluntly said it out loud.

Xavier was confused as he felt a flow of different emotions rushing through his spine making him lose his mind as he did not know which to focus on or which one to control because deep down he felt that both the emotions were right to feel in this situation. He found it understandable when he felt anger rushed through his veins and he found it equally right to feel the severe ache in his heart.

He lowered his eyes on the floor and looked away, clenching his fist tightly he gritted his teeth together and chose to walk away from her as he did not wish to take his anger out on her, she was a sensitive girl and unlike Xavier she would not be able to hear anything that could hurt her. Although Xavier was badly hurt, he did not choose to hurt her back and walked away for his own peace.