She Belongs To The Mafia

Chapter 9

Cherilyn Knight's Point Of View.

“Cherry, where are they taking you?” Anna’s voice trembled with panic. I could not answer her as the tears started flowing again.

“Cherry, you are scaring me. Please talk to me,” She pleaded, while her worry about me only made me cry harder, but how could I tell her? How could I explain the horror of what was about to happen to me?

“H-he wants me to become his personal slave,” I choked out, while my voice was breaking as I felt the weight of those words pulling me down. The tears that I had been trying to hold back began streaming down my face, unstoppable. It was like every ounce of hope, each and every possibility of being free, vanishes into the air, leaving me hollow again.

Anna’s eyes widen in shock, and her face crumples with worry and pity. “What?” She gasps, her voice could be heard shaky.

Before I could cover my face, Anna rushed to me, and pulled me into a tight embrace. “Shh... hush, darling. It can not be that bad,” She murmured into my hair, while rubbing my back in an attempt to soothe me, but her words fell flat.

I pulled back from her hug, shaking my head frantically. “No! You do not understand!” I cried, while my hands were trembling as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “That man — he is evil. Pure evil. There’s nothing good left in him. He... he scares me, Anna. Something about him terrifies me!” My voice cracked, while my whole body shivered from the fear that was flooding through me.

“Cherry, calm down!” Anna said, while her voice was louder now, as if trying to pull me back to reality.

“Listen to me! He won’t do anything to you unless you disobey him. I have told you before how to survive here, have I not? You need to understand something—” She leaned in closer, while her eyes were piercing into mine, “—you are his slave now. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be for you inside this mansion.”

Her words hung in the air, heavy and final. I tried to stop the sobs racking through my body, but the realization that she was right made it even harder to breathe. I felt the walls closing in around me. It was as if all hope was slipping away, like water through my fingers. My chest tightened, and I could barely hear my own thoughts through the pounding in my head. I glanced at Anna, sadness welling up for her and everyone else trapped here, for all the souls who had lost the will to fight. They had given up. I could see it in their faces, in their empty eyes. I did not want to lose that fire, but how can I hold onto it when everyone around me has already let it burn out?

Anna, noticing my struggle, tried again. “Look at the bright side, Cherry,” She said softly, almost pleading now. “At least you won’t be doing the hard physical labor anymore. You know your body can not handle that much longer. Being his personal slave... it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Not as bad?!” I shouted, grabbing her by the arms, shaking her lightly as if to make her understand. “Are you serious? It’s worse! It means he can do whatever he wants to me, Anna! I will be in his line of sight all the time, under his control. He could hurt me — will hurt me and I will have no way out! Do you understand that?” My voice trembled as panic flooded my veins, and I could not hold back the tears that fell again.

Anna’s face softened, her expression shifting from concern to something more distant, almost detached. I could see it in her eyes — the resignation, the acceptance of this cruel reality. She had long since given up fighting, and though she did not say it out loud, her silence spoke louder than any words could. It was as if the battle had already been lost for her, and she was just going through the motions, surviving rather than truly living. There was something heartbreaking about it, this quiet surrender, this acceptance of a fate no one should have to bear.

I sighed and gently released my grip on her arms, feeling a mix of frustration and sadness welling up inside me. The weight of everything — the hopelessness, the fear, the loneliness — was becoming too much to carry. I raked my fingers through my tangled hair, trying to calm my racing thoughts. The strands caught in a knot, and I winced as a sharp, stinging pain shot through my scalp but even that pain was insignificant compared to the deep, aching heaviness in my chest. It felt like a lead weight pressing down on me, suffocating me, making it hard to breathe.

I could not help but wonder how Anna had gotten to this point — how long it had taken her to surrender her will, to stop fighting and simply accept this life. Was this my future too? Would I end up like her, hollow and numb, just trying to survive another day without daring to hope for anything more? The thought terrified me. I did not want to lose the fire inside me, the spark that still, however faintly, burned with the desire for freedom, but it was hard — so hard to keep that flame alive when everyone around me had already let it die.

Anna stood there, silent and still, watching me with sad eyes. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, to offer me comfort, but no words came. Perhaps there were no words left that could make this situation any better, no platitudes or reassurances that would make me feel less trapped. The truth was brutal, and we both knew it.

I looked away from her, my eyes wandering around the room as if searching for some kind of escape. But there was none. The reality of my situation was suffocating, a cold and inescapable truth that loomed over me like a dark cloud. The walls of this mansion felt like they were closing in, like a prison that would never let me go.

I had not eaten anything all day, and my stomach growled angrily. My head was throbbing, while Lucas dragged me to the main mansion without a word. In a different situation, as we approached the main building, I would have admired the grandeur of the place. It was beautiful, no doubt, but there was something off about it. There was no warmth, no life in it. Everything was cold, detached, and sterile.