365 NIGHTS WITH THE MAFIA KING

CHAPTER 3: GAMBLE

ELEANOR'S POV

"Smart choice. I see you aren't a complete idiot."

I felt tears sting my eyes as I watched Marcus rise to his feet then walk across the room. I just voluntarily surrendered myself to him. Both my body and mind were officially his.

It must have been so easy for him. To have me accept to his sick condition so easily. To have me seemingly wrapped around his fingers.

I wiped my eyes before tears could begin to fall. I couldn't allow him see me looking so vulnerable. Though he was winning at whatever game we were playing, I couldn't allow him feel victorious so easily.

"What's next?" I managed to ask him as he approached the door. Yes, I had accepted to commit myself to him for a year but he sure as hell couldn't expect me to just sit in a room for the next 365, right? He probably had dozens of tricks up his sleeve, waiting to be unleashed. "I accepted your condition. What happens next?"

"You must have forgotten but you just accepted to be mine. That entails you not getting to have a say in what I do to you," he replied me. "You belong to me now and whatever happens next would be by my accord."

With that, he gave me a final glance and walked out of the room, his men doing the same. Immediately they were out of sight, I watched the door get slammed shut and heard them lock it.

Perfect. Not only had I accepted to give him my body and mind for a year, I had also accepted to give him my freedom.

With a groan escaping my lips, I looked around the room, realizing how empty and wide it was with him gone. I was alone and could only have my imaginations run wild on what was going to happen to me next.

My thoughts shortly got interrupted as I heard footsteps approach the room. I had no idea as to what the time actually was but it was late and I could tell the night was getting darker with every passing second.

Before I could guess who's footsteps were so audible, the door was unlocked open to reveal two men walking into the room.

Immediately, I laid my eyes on them and began walking backwards. They were unfamiliar and looked hefty, obviously thanks to hours and months of intense working outs. Though unfamiliar, they both had a strange resemblance to each other- both with tall figures with great builds, dark hair and matching dark eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Andreas," to my surprise, one of them replied me calmly. "And this is my twin brother, Lucas."

Oh, they were twins. That explained a lot.

"What do you-"

"We're Marcus' friends," he cut me off to continue his introduction. "We were sent here by him to you know, handle you."

"H-handle me?" I stuttered. "W-what-"

"Calm your t**s would you?" It was Lucas' turn to speak up and he did that with laughter. "We aren't here to hurt you or to do any of what you might be thinking. Christ."

"Oh."

"Christ, look at you," he continued laughing. "Little wonder Marcus asked us to take care of you ourselves. You look so fun to tease. You're lucky we are in the ones in charge, if it wasn't us, you'll be tied up on the bed screaming to be freed by nowhere."

"Enough talking, Lucas," Andreas pat his twin brother on the shoulder and moved closer towards me. "Let's get to work."

He shot me a glare and smirked, watching me almost whimper. Without hesitation, he got on his knees and placed a finger on my lips. "Two things. One, I hate noise so don't try to scream. Two, screaming would be a useless thing to do so I'll advice you not to."

Sheepishly, I nodded, unwillingly accepting to his terms and condition. He was right. It was going to be of no use to try to scream in a place like this that was filled with the mafia's men ready to attack me.

"Quietly, let's go."

Ignoring my eyes that pleaded otherwise, he easily lifted me off the ground and flung me across his shoulders. Was I really that light? Or was it just so easy for the men around here to throw people around?

It had to be the other as he balanced safely around his shoulders and walked out of the room and down the corridors. His steps were quick and heavy, making me shut my eyes out of fear of getting dizzy as I was literally hung upside down.

After a couple of minutes of walking, he finally paused. Slowly, I opened my eyes to look around me only to have myself lifted off his shoulders to land on a rather comfortable bed.

"Ow," I winced. Despite the bed being soft, it still hurt to get thrown on it so suddenly.

"This is your room," he said then took a step backwards. "I've done my part so well, anticipate Marcus doing the rest of the introductions to you."

He flashed me a weird smile and turned to face his brother. They both exchange glances alongside nods and turned to walk towards the door.

"Wait," I called out to them before they could leave the room. "Um, what happens next?"

"What?"

I bit my lip as I rephrased my question. "I'm sorry but what happens to me next? Do I just stay here in the room?"

One of the twins laughed in response. "Why are you asking me that? Didn't you know what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to the mafia's condition? Whatever happens to you next is totally up to him. I have no say in that."

"Right," I bit my already bruised lip again. "Yeah, you're right."

I watched them exchange glances then both shake their head before turning to leave the room, immediately locking it from outside as they did.

Having a sigh escape from my lips,I got off the bed. I looked around the room, noticing how wide and empty it was. It was painted in a cream color that looked darker than usual, probably as a result of my eyes being gloomy or cause the room hadn't been used in years.

Other than the bed and a huge mirror by a corner, there was barely any other furniture in the room. I could spot cobwebs hanging from the corners of the room, proving my guess of it truly been an old abandoned room.

Suddenly filled with self-pity, I walked towards the mirror. I glared at my reflection at the mirror, regretting much of my choices. How much longer could I survive feeling that way? How much longer was I willing to have myself feel like nothing but trash all because of a mafia king that was mad at me.

I got the answer to my question as my eyes caught a window by the corner of my room. It was rather wide, with wooden frames that looked perfect enough for me to use as an escape route.

I couldn't stay in his house. I must have lost my mind when I agreed to his condition and now thinking of it made me realize it. I couldn't be whatever he wanted me to. It was simply going to be impossible.

Smiling to myself, I got on my feet and walked towards the door. I pressed my ears against the door to ensure I could hear no footsteps in my direction and on confirmation, I nodded to myself and walked to the window.

Looking down the window, I realized I was in a single storeyed building. I could jump down and walked towards the gate and in no time be granted my freedom. The worst possible outcome was me ending up with a sprained ankle or bruised hand from jumping but at the moment, I couldn't care.

All I needed to do was safely jump down the window. I barely had any memory of them dragging me into the house as I was drugged but I could guess it was still located in the city. Though I had only spent a few days in it, I knew a bit of my way around and even if I managed to get lost on escaping, I was going to be able to easily find my way back home.

Anywhere was going to be better. As long as I wasn't going to be locked in an empty room while I tortured myself with regrets and fear of what was going to happen next.

Nodding to myself, I took off my hoodie, revealing my little tank top underneath. To jump from such a building, I needed to feel as light as possible and my thick hoodie wasn't going to be helping matters.

Without hesitation, I tugged at the frame of the windows and stretched my body forward. Holding on to it, I looked down again and was about to jump down when I froze.

What was I doing? Was I seriously trying to escape from the mafia's place so carelessly? Without a proper plan?

The twins had warned me to not try anything stupid and though I hated to admit it, trying to jump off the window knowing very well I was going to fall into the mafia's garden was a foolish idea. I could get caught and in the worst case scenario, get killed at the spot.

What difference was it going to make anyways? Agreeing to live with the mafia was going to be torture. Torture that was as good as death so what was the big deal if I decided to risk it all one more time?

With another sigh, I looked around the room and then out of the window. I was conflicted on what to do and it drove me crazy.

But one thing was sure. I needed to make a choice to either stay with the mafia or try to escape. Either ways, my life was going to be on the line so I just needed to make that one risky decision.

I just needed to take another gamble.