Escaping The Mafia Boss

Chapter 17

Katerina Dale 

Four days, nineteen hours and 32 seconds.

With pale glazed over eyes, I stared at the clock ticking on the wall in Arosio's luxrious dining room as he sat across from me with his intense dark gaze never leaving me. The room was in complete silence, much like the last few days. I can vaguely recall becoming unresponsive as soon as I awoke after passing out in the De Luca family mansion. Everyone tried to get me to talk but no matter how much I wanted to, the words would not leave my lips. Images of my grandmama abandoning me as her cold words replayed in my mind over and over again took my heart and mind hostage. 

This afternoon, Arosio's parents told him to bring me back to his personal mansion and said that they would keep Elijah distracted with them. They thought that a change of scenery would be better for me because from the moment I awoke in the De Luca family mansion, I ended up returning to the main living room each day while silently staring at the doors my grandmama left through. Adriano and Alanzo had tried to coax me into eating food but I couldn't bring myself to eat anything. I only managed to eat a little bit when Arosio threatened me to do so or else he'd track my grandmama down in Canada and hurt her. 

"Eat something, please tesoro," Arosio's deep voice pierced through the silence as he sat at the head of the dining table with me sitting silently on his right. I stared at him while blinking my blank eyes a few times before slowly lifting the spoon up to my lips. I missed Elijah deeply but I knew it was better this way. I don't want him to see me like this, it would break his heart since he still thought of me as his mother. 

Dinner progressed in silence as Arosio finished his meal long before I did and bore holes into the side of my head as his dark gaze never left me. I could tell that he was frustrated at my lack of response and the fact that I was barely eating anything on my plate seemed to infuriate him even more. Just as he was about to speak, a maid quickly approached the dining table and bowed towards Arosio before turning to me with her hand outstretched. 

"Ms. Avery, your things have been shifted from your childhood home to here. The other maids found your personal belongings in this bag including your cellphone, wallet and passport. They were not sure where to leave these important items so I have brought it to you," the maid spoke lowly, as if she couldn't bare to speak so many words in front of Arosio. I couldn't blame her since Arosio's powerful presence made it difficult to even breathe. 

But my mind remained frozen on her first two words as they repeated in my mind over and over again. With shaky hands, I reached out and tightly grasped onto the handles of my bag as the maid stared at me in confusion when she met my teary gaze. 

"I...am no longer...Ms. Avery," the first words I have spoken since passing out, left my trembling lips as I slowly opened my passport and saw my picture with the name 'Katerina Avery' written beside it. My hands moved towards the Coach wallet that my grandpapa had gifted me for my birthday last year as I stared at my driver's license and other pieces of identification with the same name written on them. 

"Uh...I apologize Ms....Ms. uh... Ms. Dale?" the maid questioned out nervously and I could feel Arosio's anger intensify even more as I choked back a sob. Clutching my belongings tightly, my gaze remained on my lap as tears fell from my eyes and hit my trembling hands.  

"I...was never...Ms. Dale," the words left me feeling more broken than ever before and I couldn't bare to sit there for another second. Pushing the chair out, I stood up with my bag held tightly against my chest and ran out of the dining room. Arosio's infuriated voice rang through the silent mansion as he screamed at the maid and fired her on the spot. 

In any other situation, I would have ran back into the dining room and asked him not to fire an innocent worker. But right now, the black void in my heart seemed to be expanding with each second that went by, leaving my mind and heart in a blank state.