Resisting The Billionaire

41. Still Ten Years Ago

Still ten years ago….

As Diana was yet to explore the convulsing obdurations of life but at that point, when she was still fourteen going on fifteen, standing in front of her floor mirror, her worries were something else.

Her bedroom was cramped up in the small storage closet ever since his father re married and her step mother Venessa moved in with them. She complained to her father that she got disturbed at night when he would be typing on his computer that was placed in his bedroom and working till late house.

So, one day when Diana came back from school, she found all of her belongings shifted to the small two by two closet storage space of the apartment, while Venessa turned her bedroom in to her father’s office.

It was still new for Diana, who was still going through a number of changes in her life.

First her mother had been dead for no less than six months when her father re married and she only began hating her father more.

She never had a loving relationship with her father. He was never a caring person and all he cared about was his job. Working day in and night out he was able to reach the position of the Head of the planning committee of the CEO’s office and despite of that, he was only able to afford a small apartment in the chicest places of one of the most expensive cities in the world. And it somehow always kept in a shade or in a sense of inferiority, since the family that he was so close to, whose house he always stayed at working till late, bowing to them and being an obedient subject to, were extremely rich and only allowed Ross to mooch slightly off what they had to offer.

And that’s why when Diana’s mother Holly passed away, she became even more distant and aloof towards her father and it only came to her as a surprise to find one day Venessa in her house. When she questioned it to her father, he only grumbled back at her and told Diana that Venessa was his wife and didn’t expect Diana to accept Venessa in to her life but only wanted Diana to not create any trouble around the house.

This only infuriated Diana even more who lashed out at her father and screamed at him and infuriated by her insolent behavior, Ross ended up hitting Diana. But it just wasn’t a single hit that would startle a person his own self and make them reflect back on their actions. In fact it was a strong one and he didn’t stop there, he continued thrashing Diana, until a rib of hers broke.

Ever since that day, she was scared to even talk to Ross about anything at all.

Even if she would breathe around him, he would end up hitting her and cursing her for even being born. He would usually throw slurs at her that were most of the times associated with her mother.

“You are such a w***e like that stupid mother of yours. You should’ve died with her!”

Or most of the times, he would simply curse the day that she was born.

“I regret the day you were born and you ruined my life. Had you not been in my life, things would have been so much better.”

Diana only tolerated Ross and decided to let his a***e be because she had no other place to go.

Only once she requested him politely and asked him, if he would let her go to her aunt’s in Los Angeles, for a holiday and just for talking directly to him, Ross ended up hitting Diana in even more brutal manner.

“I know why you want to go to your w***e mother’s w***e sister’s house!” Ross spit at Diana, who laid flat out on the floor, breathing and trying to catch her life and soul to stay put that she felt losing the grip of, as Ross had beaten her with punches over her stomach, bruising her black and blue and making her see stars during day time.

“I know you want to run away but don’t even think about it. this is where you would stay.”

Ross kicked Diana one last time, before he went to his bedroom and just like the usual where Venessa would sit back on the couch and watch the cruel and violent assault of Diana, she simply got up and took some used up ointments out and threw it at Diana, deliberately throwing them on her head, in order to inflict more pain.

“Use it! even though it is a waste on you but I don’t want you dying on my expensive floors. Also clean your dirty blood that must contain your mother’s w*****g genes in them as well. I don’t want any dirty germs on my floor.”

With that Venessa went inside the bedroom where she knew just what Ross would need after he was charged like a bull post thrashing his own daughter.

Thence, Diana realized that she was stuck and there was no escape for her.

So, when Venessa threw Diana’s stuff out of her bedroom, Diana knew well enough to not argue with Venessa, as it would only mean that she was calling for another round of thrashing from Ross.

When her furniture didn’t fit the store room, being the nefarious woman that she was Venessa sold all of Diana’s furniture and bought her a worn out old mattress and gave her that to sleep on in the storage area, which became Diana’s new bed space.

There was a small rusty and dusty mirror that also belonged to Venessa and she had given Diana only once it was worn out. But Diana was only happy that at least she did get a mirror to look in to and at least know what and how she was wearing something.

Picking a loose shirt from the hanging stand behind her, she put it on and checked herself only once in the mirror, to see through the dirt and the rust whether she looked alright or not.

She didn’t enjoy watching herself quite much. In fact, if anything she loathed and hated the way she looked. Her skin – pale, her bones protruding out of her that pale and thin skin of hers and her body was bland and slander. She had no curves and a very flat chest. She had severe body dysmorphia and image issues but she also did not have anybody to share those concerns with.

The only mercy that Venessa ever showed to her and the only pity that she even took on her was when she brought her tampons and pads alternatively whenever Diana would get her periods. And ask Ross to go easy on her and not hit Diana much who would already be bleeding down in between her legs.

She was always quite vituperative towards her figure and her own self but she decided to keep herself together because then there was her own father, who abused her and assaulted her like nothing.

She gave up being hard on herself and wearing those baggy clothes, she decided to make her way out of the house.

She picked up all the files of the assignments that she did for Adrian, Carly and Zion and decided to drop them at their house.

The three could collect their homework from Diana the next day but somehow they had ordered her to always drop the homework at the house, by the evening because somehow it hurt their ego that they had the silently creepy, lonely and weird looking girl handing out their homework back to them.

She had finished up all the work at the school library because the moment she came back to the house Venessa handed her over the vacuum cleaner and forced Diana to clean the whole place up.

She knew that if she didn’t clean or listened to what Venessa said, she would only be hurt more by her father. So, like a good little girl she cleaned up the whole place and then it was time for her to finally leave and go and hand over the assignments.

It was her only solace in times of dire and desperate need of peace that she had long forgotten about.

Ever since her mother passes away when she was ten, the last four years of her life had becoming a living nightmare for her. but she still kept going, because she believed that her mother, who was loving and caring towards her and even used to take time out for Diana from her busy schedule, as she worked at a big firm. She would want Diana to live happily and live her life to the fullest. Thence, Diana kept on going and believed that she would see the light one day that would guide her to the right path and lead her towards peace.

Placing the files in her back, she got out of her small apartment on eighth avenue. Even though it was an old, yet upper class building, the apartment was given to her father by the company that he worked for. And as long as Diana could remember she always lived in that twenty by twenty apartment.

Ross always claimed that he could afford a bigger and better apartment but deep down everyone including Diana knew that Ross’s biggest complain from life was that he could not afford a nice apartment and had to line in the small cramped up place only because it was free of cost and provided by the company to him.

Initially Diana also didn’t want much in life. A cozy apartment, where she had her own room was close to the school and even close to ‘The Mansion’. The place where lived the apple of her eyes.

The thought of the school and the mansion, immediately made her stop just as she was about to leave and immediately rushed back inside her apartment, crossing through the small hallway, which was also the drawing room of the house with a kitchen on the left that had a small four chaired table right in the middle.

She went inside her room and picked up her entry card for the mansion.

Then she double checked what was really the necessity for her visit, other than her entry card; which was Zion and Carly’s homework.

If she was not to submit that to the two obnoxious kids, they were definitely going to give her a hard time and an earful for the next entire week for not completing their work two days before the due date.

She had the entry card made by requesting it to Carly, under the pretense that she wanted a card made for her just so it would be easier for her to get in and out of the mansion whenever she could come by to drop Carly’s homework and Carly agreed to have her entry card for the building made, only under the condition that Diana dropped Carly’s homework in her bed room and just left without ever disturbing her.

She then walked out of her apartment, hopped down the four flights of stairs and finally began her stroll towards the bus stop.

Just after two stops away, she finally got off the bus at the fifth avenue and went inside the luxurious red bricked tall building that was situated at the very corner of the street.

Just as she entered inside the building, the concierge, immediately recognized her and nodded at her, allowing her to get to the elevator, where the old liftman also chimed at her, as he swiped her card, that Diana passed her, it allowed her access to the top of the building.

Diana knew the drill and she was way too well familiar with the way things worked in that place.

The elevator stopped right as it reached the twelfth floor, which was the last one on the elevator.

Even though the building contained fifteen floor, the rest of the three top floors were occupied entirely by the Sarmiento Family.

A name that flashed right in front of Diana, as she got off the elevator and walked ahead, knocking at the door, that had the large mahogany wooden plate, engraved with the family name on it.

Soon, one of the housekeepers opened up the door and showed no interest or enthusiasm at the girl’s arrival.

Just stated, Diana knew the drill and as she passed down the large hallways and hopped up the spiral staircase, reaching out for the upper floor gallery, she went towards the west side, where Carly’s bedroom was.

Knocking at the door, she opened it up and found Carly laying in her fluffy pillows and silk robe, along with her usual blond and skinny minion g**g, with all the three of the girls wearing face masks.

“It’s me Diana.” She announced and Carly only hummed in reply, keeping her eyes closed.

“Just dropping these assignments and letting you know, I did what you ask for.” She chimed with a fake accent, as she placed the files on the vase table, present next to the closet door.

“Yeah! Whatever…” Carly shoved her hands up in the air and dismissed the girl right away.

She sighed, as she rushed out of the room and felt grateful that Carly did not ask her to drop Zion’s homework in his room.

Diana wished and prayed that no matter how much she had to live and how much work she had to do, she just wished that she would never ever come across Zion.

Others were just her bullies but Zion was the most vicious tormenter.

But just like Diana’s luck was never in her favor, it seemed like, the universe was plotting against her and just as she had thought that she had escaped the tantalizing torments of the young lad, a hand around her waist, pulled her back and inside one of the storage rooms.

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