Shadows Of The Vow

Chapter Two Shadows of Discomfort

Annabelle's POV

“Who's there?” I inquired. Still a little bit tired, I managed to push myself up to the door.

Before I could get to the door, the door rattled from outside and swung open with full force, and an elderly woman came in.

She was wearing navy blue pajamas and appeared like a woman in her early or middle 70s.

Her hair was also looking tampered with, like a hair that was initially long but was scissored deliberately or indeliberately.

I also observed that she looked rather well-fed, beautiful with well-tended skin and red polished nails.

“Why do I always have to knock on the door several times before they let me in! Huh?” She scolded angrily as she made her way inside the room.

As her eyes suddenly met mine, she halted and stood still for a few seconds, weighing me from hair to toe as if calculating what I was worth.

I just stood still in front of her. I had wanted to greet but she didn't give me the chance to talk.

“Oh, our new wife is here and nobody told me…!”

She rolled her eyes in frustration.

This must be Antonioni's mother, there's a striking resemblance between them, I thought.

“...gosh! I don't know what I did to Antonioni, that child's always treating me like an alien.”

Abruptly, she buried her face in her palms and began to give some soft sobs. She emphasized again, as if wanting to get my sympathy. “Always being treated like an alien…”

I wasn't exactly sure how to react to what I was dealing with at the time.

“Good evening, ma'am.” I managed to get her attention, not sure what to say next.

Like a fling, she wiped her eyes with the back of her palm, and a childlike smile crossed her lips.

“Good evening, darling… I suppose you're my new wife, aren't you?” She inquired, searching my face keenly for my response.

I nodded in affirmation, confused about whether I was truly a proper wife, while I also tried to process her overall composure.

“Come here and give me a sweet hug, you sweet thing. We've been waiting for you all day!” She motioned with her hands, still smiling, child-likely as she made to hug me.

I hesitated to hug her, but she quickly took me into her arms and squeezed me tightly in a hug. Tiny tears still hung at the corners of her eyelids.

I shuddered in her arms.

“I hope this one stays because I have seen a couple of women in this house who also appeared like they had come to stay, but sadly, they all ran away.” She said, almost as if she was speaking to herself, whilst releasing me from her tight hug.

I stood there, transfixed, listening carefully.

With a poise that started with hands akimbo and ended in pointing explanatory fingers at me, she added: “Hope you don't get to run too. Girlfriends run but wives, no real wives, stay forever.”

Wait! I needed to tell this woman I wasn't married properly. Her confidence about this “getting a wife” thing was beginning to choke me with annoyance.

“My dad owed him and offered me instead. He didn't…”

A countenance of sympathy appeared on her face.

“...Oh, child. I guess my son has always had a bad attitude towards money and women. He...” She had cut me off, but also, just then, the door clicked open, interrupting her.

It was Antonioni.

“Mom! How many times have I told you to stop speaking with my visitors?”

She looked down like a guilty dog. He came close to her, took her left hand, and dragged her through the door.

“Please call Anna to come and take her.” I had heard him instruct the guard.

“Hey you! How come you opened the door for someone you didn't even know? It could have been an intruder!” He yelled, referring to me.

I couldn't find my voice to respond to him, so I just left him there and went back to sit on the sofa.

When he saw that I was pretty unconcerned about what he said, he lowered his voice.

“How are you?”

I ignored him.

“Oh, I have ordered them to bring you some food.”

“I'm not hungry.” I lied. I was bitter.

“Still proving stubborn, aren't you? Look, I don't care if you stay hungry or not, I’m only showing courtesy.” He started to rearrange the guns he came back with back into the closet. He was also doing other things I wasn't aware of in the closet.

I ignored him again.

I started to think about his mother. She didn't look mentally stable to me.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door, and before he could answer, a voice called out. “It's the chef. You sent for me.”

“Oh yeah. Please kindly take it back, my wife said she's not hungry.” He shouted from inside the closet.

He kept further mute after he had said that, concentrating on what he was doing.

What?!

Who's this dude!? Not even a single patience or a little begging?

“He's done for! He'd never get to see my cheerful face.” I fumed inwardly.

I hate him even more now.

“Don't buy whatever my mom says to you”. He suddenly chimed in while pulling his clothes.

I watched his sexy body building reveal as each piece of clothing left his body, until he remained in panties.

My eyes abruptly went from his well-built abs, down to his waist. I scrutinized his manhood, and it looked lengthy and full. So yummy, I must say.

He detected my intense observation.

“What the f**k are you looking at?”

I quickly looked away, ignoring his question.

He turned back and entered the shower. His bathing was rather long, and I wondered what was keeping him.

Just as I heard him flip the towel, I figured he must have been through, and I waited for him to be out.

I wanted to bathe myself. I couldn't wait to have a bath because I was already needing it so much.

He didn't come out.

In the meantime, the smell of smoke filled the atmosphere.

Oh, he's smoking, and I couldn't wait any longer.

I wanted to bathe and just put my stomach on the bed until the rumbling sounds it made from hunger stopped.

I decided to check on him.

As I went in, I saw him smoking and lost in thought. He was sitting on the toilet seat, although it didn't seem like he was defecating.

On seeing me, he quenched the cigarette and stood up.

“To what do I owe this visit?” He interrupted my gaze.

I didn't hesitate to respond, although I did with a stutter. “I… I… wanted to bathe, and you were staying longer than I could wait for.”

“In my bathroom or yours?” He scorned.

I shot him an angry look and bit my lips.

What does he even feel like? Always stepping on my nerves!

As if I was just realizing he was stark naked, I took him in with my eyes, without leaving a crumb of him, I was stunned at what I saw.

Clothes didn't do any justice at all. This man is bewitchingly handsome.

His macho building could scoop up any woman, no matter how heavy she is.

I traced him down to his manhood. Oh my! My breath ceased! His huge manhood slacked down. It's long enough to reach the last layer of a woman's v****a.

I bit my lips hard. I'm getting wet. I wanted him.

I wondered what it would feel like to take him deep inside of me and be lost in his macho touch. To have him grinding me hard and groaning at intervals.

Fuck!

I traced my gaze back to his eyes and realized he was staring hard at me, too, as if examining my body as well.

“Are you done watching, or do you need to take a picture too?” He mocked as he walked past me into the room, taking his towel with him.

I snapped out of the erotic thoughts and sighed, ignoring him again.

I quickly undressed in the bathroom and stepped into the shower. I allowed myself to savor every downpouring of the water on my skin.

By the time I was done bathing, I had barely stepped outside the shower when he came in again to hang back his towel.

He looked at me, and I perceived a soft gasp escape his mouth as he saw my body.

He gently drew closer to me and touched my face like he owned it.

Then he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me so roughly. I kissed back, and our bodies jerked closer.

We continued to move back, kissing and breathing heavily until I could feel the bathroom wall against my back. I relaxed on it.

His manhood pierced deep into my stomach as he licked me hungrily.

Without warning, he jacked me up and spread my legs around his waist as he left soft, sexy bites on my face, neck, chest, and breasts.

I moaned at every bite.

I was already very wet and dripping, he could feel my wetness on his body.

“f**k!” I heard him exclaim.

“Go down! Suck me!” He yelled, staring deep into my eyes.

What? I'm not a s*x object and not like he cared so much about me since the few hours I have known him. “I'm hungry!” I stamped, sounding like a small child in my own ears.

He quickly dropped me and burst out laughing.

“Am I some kind of play stuff to you?” I blazed hot, but softly at him.

He shot me a look as if to say, “I thought you said you weren't hungry.” He chuckled again, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Nah… you're my kind of full-course meal.”

I scoffed and left him there in the bathroom, tying his towel on my way out.

“You’re good but damn, your timing is…”

I blurred him out and gave him a piece of my heart. “I don't even know why I should be doing that with you. You don't care about me, you care only about yourself! First, you had your boys pull me today from my home like I was some rogue. And then you waved off the chef that brought me food without even asking twice like I was some piece of trash that didn't matter…”

He pulled on his shorts, listening without speaking.

I was still tying his towel.

A hollow knocking had broken into my voice.

“Come in.” He ordered.

The door creaked open, and two corporately dressed servants stepped in, arms laden with some neatly folded clothes.

I was shocked to see them still in corporate wear at almost midnight.

“We brought a mix of everything comfy as you instructed, sir. Would you like us to hang them?” One had said.

“Lay them on the bed.” He instructed.

They did, arranging them in rows. When they were done, they bowed slightly and left.

“I ordered the clothes for you from Shein.”

“Thank you,” I said while grabbing a short red gown and trying it on.

It had fitted so well.

He cast me a brief, seductive look, as if appreciating how the dress looked on me.

And then, turned his face towards his wardrobe and reached for a hoodie and a jogger.

He put them on, and they looked so handsome on him. “Come with me, lemme get you something to eat.”

“Please, give me a little time. I will need to hang these clothes.”

He groaned a little. The sound of that almost aroused me again.

The clothes were all beautiful.

They consisted of some loose T-shirts, colorful crop tops, short gowns of different colors, joggers, jeans, sweaters, and cozy long-sleeved tops.

We headed to where he was leading me as we walked past the hallways.

We took the elevator down to the second floor. I was surprised when I heard loud disco music thumping from the club.

I thought it was almost midnight, and our basement was very quiet all along.

But in the club, people were still partying hard under the club neon lights, which flickered across the room.

What I saw shocked me further.

The club was full of people committing all manner of exploitation and boundary-crossing. The ladies dressed almost naked, and some of them were seen in all corners of the club, being intimate and having s*x with the men in the dimmer corners. Heavy smoke filled the atmosphere.

I tilted my nostrils.

The air was thick with the smell of sweat, alcohol, and the faint smell of illicit substances.

Talks, shouts, and laughter ladened across the air of the room, hidden in the sound of the jamming music.

I turned right and saw two naked ladies dancing and spiraling up and down the poles.

I gasped in shock.

“Not your kind of place, right?” Antonioni's voice cut through my thoughts. I also perceived he was observing my reactions all the while.

I nodded in affirmation, my hands wrapping tightly around my body in some sort of tension.

His voice came again. “Don't worry, you'll get used to it.” With that, he pulled out his vape pod and took a slow puff.

I was mute.

Instead, I sighted the food menu in front of my table and took it to read. I needed to have something light since it was already rather late.

The waiter came to us, bowing to Antonioni.

“Good evening, boss, good evening, ma'am. What would you like to have?”

“Direct that question to her. I'm not hungry.” He responded, pointing at me.

“What would you like to have, ma'am?”

“Some diced potato and lobster sauce with water,” I responded immediately.

Once I mentioned “water,” I realized I wasn't just hungry; I was extremely thirsty.

I waited for my order, looking around to completely take in the environment of the club while Antonioni fiddled with his phone.

Within the shortest while, she came back with my order.

I ate as Antonioni spent his time pressing his phone and entertaining himself with the showbiz of the people who misbehaved in front of us.

I ignored them all and gulped down my food. I was starving.

“Boss!” A hoarse voice had called out from afar.

I quickly looked up, and he was coming to us.

“Adolf… ” Antonioni called his name, and they exchanged a handshake.

He was just someone he knew, I guessed.

They had their discussion while I ate.

Before I could finish eating, he had left.

We went back to the penthouse and I went to bed while Antonioni left again.

I slept on his bed, at the far end of the bed.

I was scared of any possible harm.