Forced to Love (Original Version)

Chapter 6 - Unforgiven Hate

Trigger Warnings:
~ Explicit language
~ Alcohol
~ Mention of rape
~ Mention of murder

Isabella's PoV <3
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I dust down my grey sweats and sweep my unbrushed hair up into a messy bun on top of my head. A few lighter brown strands fall in waves around my face and I brush them out of the way.

My knuckles rap lightly on the office door, and I wait for his response awkwardly. After I get no answer, I push open the heavy door and step inside my father's dark office.

My breath hitches in my throat as I take in the sight before me. The undrawn curtains let in deep, red glow of the sunrise which casts dark shadows across the walls.

Hundreds of white documents are scattered across the carpet, along with battered folders and glass. My eyes follow the trail of glass to dozens of smashed liquor bottles near the desk.

He was drunk.

I look over to my father's exhasted figure, slumped against the table with his head in his hands. More liquor bottles are smashed carelessly and the liquid inside seeps into a large puddle of brown.

My feet instinctively take a few steps back, knowing it's better not to disturb him when he's in this state. But his eyes have already met mine, and I know it's too late to leave.

"Bella." He drawls out slowly, struggling to form words, let alone string them together in a sentence. "Just the person I wanted to see."

I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not, so I walk towards the desk and take a hesitant seat opposite him. He rubs his temples and groans out at the obvious pressure of his headache.

I'm starting to think that now isn't the time to confront him about the arranged marriage.

He fumbles around his desk for something, grumbling about making a mess. "I... I can't find..." He stutters, out of breath as he shoves paperwork across the floor.

He brings his hand down on the table, and I flinch at the contact. He begins chucking folders around his desk until he finally finds what he is looking for.

He hands me an envelope, with my name scrawled across the paper in delicate handwriting. The back is stuck down with a black seal, and an intricate design of thorns and a red rose.

I tuck the envelope into my back pocket and look back at him. He's gone back to his seat, and slouches lazily. His eyes seem to look straight through me as if I don't exist and this is all a confusing daydream.

"Father -" I start, but I'm cut off by his head collapsing onto the desk. Loud snores start escaping from his mouth and I let out a sigh of frustration.

At least I wasn't home last night when he was drunk, and he couldn't take all of his anger out on me.

I start clearing up all of the smashed glass and stack the paperwork back into various piles. Most of them are in Spanish, and detail information of Mafia organisations and crimes.

Once I've finished tidying the office and been downstairs to picked up breakfast, I walk down the corridor and into Lexi's bedroom.

She's still sprawled out in bed, and I don't blame her. She's probably hungover too from the amount of alcohol she drank last night.

She sits up when she sees me, and I hand her several pancakes covered in syrup and strawberries. She takes them gratefully and slumps against the headboard.

"Good morning, sunshine." She smiles through her headache as I sit next next to her and begin scraping some syrup of the edge of my plate.

"Morning." I smile back and pull the envelope out if my back pocket. "I need to show you something, from my father."