Chapter 5: I only show you once
Paige reached for the ornament.
Twenty centimeters…
Ten centimeters…Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
Five centimeters…
She almost had it!
Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed, the heat and dampness of his touch burning her skin. Paige almost jumped off the bed in shock.
She was done for.
Just as she was about to push him away in desperation, a dry towel was shoved into her hand. “Dry my hair, sis.”
‘W-What? What exactly did he want from me?’ Paige was baffled but didn’t dare show it. She kept her dazed expression.
Disappointed at not getting the reaction he expected, Enrico grabbed her hand and roughly wiped his head.
After drying his hair, Enrico tossed the towel aside, grabbed her slender hand, and nonchalantly rubbed her finger bones.
“Listen, I’ll only teach you once. Next time I tell you to dry my hair and you don’t, I’ll cut off these pretty fingers one by one and feed them to the dogs.”
‘Psycho,’ Paige cursed inwardly while her mind rationally analyzed the situation. ‘So, the deceased was his sister? I’m a substitute for his dead sister? That’s better. Being a sister substitute is better than being a lover’s substitute. One can’t share a bed, the other can.’
After toying with her fingers, Enrico casually pushed her onto the bed.
Paige lay stiffly on the bed. ‘What’s he up to now?’
Enrico lay down beside her and ordered, “Hold me.”
Paige silently moved away, only to be pulled back.
“You’re really a troublesome little lunatic who doesn’t understand a word I say,” Enrico complained. He then placed her arm across the bed and rested his head on it.
Next, he curled up on his side facing her, throwing one long leg over her.
Seeing him in this wild, childlike position, Paige felt utterly speechless.
‘He must have been just a kid when his sister died…’
“Sis, Father came to see me today,” he suddenly said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “He wants me to give him money to play with women. Isn’t that funny? He wants his son to fund his womanizing.”
“I still let him live in the estate If he keeps this up, I’ll throw him out to beg. What do you think?”
“When you left, I was nine. I couldn’t give you anything. Now I’m twenty-five, I have everything, but I still can’t give you anything.”
He laughed bitterly, his eyes dimming, the previous arrogance gone.
Paige listened silently. She didn’t know what had happened, but it was clearly a sad story.
“Sis, pat me like you used to,” he commanded.
Paige didn’t move.
Enrico grabbed the hand he had been resting on and forced her to pat his back.
Paige was speechless, she complied, awkwardly patting his back.
Her strength was immense, and her movements were mechanical, very unlike a normal person.
“That’s more like it,” Enrico said, seemingly satisfied with her effort, snuggling closer.
She was wearing one of his sister’s dresses, scented with flower buds for a calming effect. The smell was soothing and pleasant.
Enrico slowly closed his eyes.
Paige continued patting.
For the first time in her life, Paige was sharing a bed with a man. His warm breath brushed against her neck, like a feather tickling her.
She didn’t know how long it had been, but eventually, Enrico’s breathing became steady. She turned her head to sneak a peek at him and saw that he had fallen asleep. His hair was still half-wet, and his long eyes were closed.
He was undeniably handsome, but his words were always filled with violence, and he had this peculiar habit of clinging to a mentally ill person to reminisce about the past. She couldn’t decide if he was a psycho or just sentimental.
Paige’s hand grew sore from patting, so she stopped when she saw he was asleep. She tried to withdraw her hand from under his head.
Just as she moved, his commanding voice startled her, “Continue.”
…
Snowflakes fell gently, blanketing the estate in pure white. But this serenity was soon shattered.
Screams echoed.
A young, beautiful girl stood in the courtyard, her eyes filled with murderous rage. She drove a fruit knife into the body of a servant, then pulled it out.