Slap of possession
1015 Words
Charlie’s POV
The shouting hit me before I even reached the dining hall.
“We lost over thirty million dollars last night!”
Father.
His voice thundered, shaking the crystal chandeliers. Every glass on the table rattled.
I froze. Thirty million. In one night.
Over what?
He slammed the magazine in his hands on the table, then walked over to his study room in anger.
Curiosity got the best of me as I walked towards the table to get the magazine, at that moment the broadcast on the TV showed up.
“An affair between the Silverclaw family daughter and the Benedetti first son.”
A scandal. The first Don of the Benedetti family,enemy number one,caught by the paparazzi with the first daughter of the Silverclaw family. My father’s rivals. The enemy family. And now the world knows.
That explains the sound of moaning I couldn't seem to remember, waking up to a harsh hangover, I couldn't blame myself more for that.
Worse, I have to pretend I was having a massive headache right now. Father would find out I drank, worst with the son of the De Rossi family.
Investors were pulling out. Deals were collapsing. The Benedetti reputation,carefully built over generations,was teetering. And Vincenzo? He looked like he was about to explode.
He came out of his study room this time with his usual whip.
His gaze landed on the last son, standing tall but tense.
“Explain yourself!” Vincenzo bellowed, slamming his hand on the table.
Three lashes of the whip cracked across his back before the son even flinched. Not a sound. He simply stood and said, cold as ice:
“If she’s my next… target, I’ll have her. I would f**k whoever I want and there's nothing you can do about it dad.”
Vincenzo roared again, red-faced.
“I’ll drag you back to Europe if you dare!”
I watch my brother I haven't seen in years walk out, leaving the room in dead silence.
The rest of us assembled at the dinner table. Ice. That’s what the air felt like. Not fear. Not respect. Just… frozen. Some of my siblings didn’t even care what Father thought anymore.
And then Matteo walked in. Calm. Steady. Carrying a file, eyes unreadable as he approached Father.
How would I even face him now? I knew too well I wasn't completely drunk yesterday but I did what I had in my mind.
Fuck me.
Before Father could speak, Isabella,the eleventh child,cut in, her voice high and demanding:
“Who is this? Why isn’t he mine? Dad, I want him.”
She didn’t wait. She complained, I watched her stand out of her chair and walk up to Matteo.
Leaned against Matteo so shamelessly, ran her hand along his chest, “he's such a hottie, I like him as mine”.....she even dared to compliment his sharp features.
“Why is he still here? He’s so… handsome,” she gushed, and I felt my blood boil.
Everyone's eyes were now on her, but no one said a thing, again what was mine was about to be someone else's.
I couldn’t stay quiet.
“He’s my bodyguard!” I snapped, my voice sharp enough to silence the chatter around the table.
I knew I was the last child of Vincenzo and my voice barely mattered. But this ... .this i couldn't let it go.
Isabella rolled her eyes, ignoring me.
She turned to Father, voice teasing, cruel:
“Do you want to waste the life of this beautiful creature? Everyone knows he has only fifty weeks to live. I heard the last one lasted fifty two weeks.”
She glared at me sharply as she mentioned the last line.
That was it. A knife straight to my chest. My heart ached like someone had squeezed it too hard.
I slammed my chair back.
“I don’t care what you think!” I yelled, standing.
He was my guard. I had already started trusting him. Already started relying on him.
And no one,not Isabella, not Father, no one,would take him from me.
These words only died in my throat and never came out, I don't dare, except I would choose the option of being locked in the dark basement as usual over my room that already felt like prison.
★★★
The door slammed behind me the moment I got to my room, nothing but my heavy breathing filled my quiet room.
Isabella’s words kept echoing inside my head.
Everyone knows he has only fifty weeks to live.
I sank onto the bed, burying my face in my hands as the tears finally came.
Why did it hurt so much?
It shouldn’t.
Matteo was just a bodyguard. Nothing more.
But the thought of losing him, of watching another person disappear because of me, made my chest ache.
Minutes passed before the crying stopped.
I wiped my face roughly and stood up.
No.
This wasn’t happening.
Matteo came here on his own. No one forced him to become my guard. And if my father or Isabella thought they could just take him away….
My jaw tightened.
Fine.
I had a plan.
If he tried to leave, I would simply tell everyone the truth.
That he kissed me last night.
The threat made me feel slightly better as I marched toward the stairs.
But the moment I stepped into the hall downstairs, my feet froze.
Isabella was sitting on the couch near the entrance.
And Matteo was kneeling in front of her.
Helping her adjust her heels.
My stomach twisted.
They were laughing.
“Thank you,” Isabella said sweetly as she stood.
Then suddenly her foot slipped.
She stumbled forward….
Straight into Matteo’s arms.
He caught her instantly.
Something snapped inside me.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I was already walking toward them.
Fast.
My hand moved before my brain could stop it.
SMACK.
The sound echoed through the hall as my palm struck Matteo’s face.
He released Isabella immediately.
She dropped to the floor with a startled gasp.
“Argh….”
- Writer
