I’d been able to escape that taint in London, but it seemed I had been firmly and inflexibly returned to my default status of being the do-little princess in the tower.
Well, I wasn’t going to accept that and neither would I accept the fact that everyone thought they could so easily allocate me a husband and a life they deemed fit. Not from my father and not from Angelo Freaking Barone.
None of this was a joke.
I was a human being, with emotions, desires, aspirations and fears just like everyone, but I was practically fighting for my life here. I could never have imagined it wouldn’t be out in the world but within the confines of my own home. Feeling absolutely drained from all of the drama and surprises, my eyes began to sting with tears. It reminded me of how I had felt the first night I climbed all alone into my cold, narrow bed in my new boarding school in England.
Chapter 13
Sienna
“Hey, when are you going to be here?” Christina asked.
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I’m so pissed.”
“What the hell is going on, Sienna?” she demanded worriedly.
“I’ve been saddled with a bodyguard?”
“What?”
“Yeah, and just by looking at him, I can tell he wasn’t randomly picked by my father. He’s going to be damn good at his job. I won’t be surprised if he can even hear me breathing right now.”
“Is he in front of you?”
“No, but he’s probably somewhere near enough to save me from myself.”
She laughed, then quickly apologized.
“It’s okay. Don’t apologize,” I said, and pulled my thick duvet over my head to further muffle the sounds from the conversation.
“You’re not allowed to leave the house at all?”
“Actually, I am.” I threw the cover off my head, and sat up with a widened gaze. “Holy shit, I am!”
“I’m confused. Are you or are you not allowed to leave the house? You just said that there’s someone guarding you.”
With a stink-eye at the door, I told her, “I can leave the house.” I lowered my voice as I scurried off to the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind me, “My father didn’t explicitly say that I was forbidden to leave, but the guard is required to come with me.”
“Um … is this good news?”
“Of course,” I said. “Well sort of. It’s passable news. Since I can leave the house, it means I’ll have to find a way to escape from him when I'm in town. It will be much, much easier there than in this cage.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
We hashed it all out, and I thereafter, rushed to get ready. A few minutes later, I was dressed and ready. I had left almost everything I owned behind, because going out with a big suitcase would be a dead giveaway. All I had was my passport, some money, a change of underwear and some toiletries. Until my father saw reason and understood that I would never marry anyone I didn’t even like or respect, Los Angeles would be too small a city to hold the both of us. I intended to return to England and remain just out of his reach until he was ready to treat me like an adult.
I threw the door to my room wide open, and without checking for Angelo, stalked out my head held high. Contrary to what I’d imagined, he wasn’t hanging around my door because no one followed me as I headed regally down the stairs. I could hear the sounds of people talking and laughing in the kitchen as I took the elevator alone down to the underground garage.
As the doors swished open, I kinda thought he would be standing outside there, hands folded with a self-satisfied smirk plastered all over his handsome but completely detestable face. But the fluorescent-lit area seemed empty and quiet. I almost couldn’t believe it could be this easy.
I hurried towards the matte black Mercedes I received for my 21st birthday. The sound of my shoes echoed around me as I pressed the button on the remote clutched in my sweaty hand. It unlocked the doors with a bleep that sounded too loud. It had been parked here since I test drove it on my birthday and never used all this time but I was good with cars and didn’t worry about not being able to remember what to do. I glanced back nervously and to my horror, I saw him arrive out of the side stairs door.
“Hey,” he called out.
Wings sprouted from my feet and I ran like the wind. I wrenched the door open, slipped in, and locked the doors, so he wouldn’t be able to force his way in. My shaking fingers crashed down on the ignition button and the engine roared to life. A shadow fell over me and I jumped. He tapped on the window and pulled at the handle, but I didn’t even look at him. I struck the accelerator and the car jumped away with a screech. I pressed the remote for the garage doors and felt a wild mix of relief and fierce joy as the door slid upwards, just in time for me to zoom out of the gap.