Family Business

Chapter 17.

Chapter 17.

Xander wraps his arm tightly around me, leading me off of the stage. The sound of clapping fades as we leave the venue. "Through here," Xander murmurs, opening a hidden doorway in the wall.

I walk up the stairs, opening the door at the top into his bedroom. I turn to protest but he pushes me through the doorway, shutting it behind us. "W-wait!" I say, stumbling on the length of my dress but he ignores me as he unties his tie.

He took me roughly on his bed, only having pushed my dress up before redressing himself. "I have to go see how the recruitment went," Xander grunts, smoothing his hair back into place.

I sat up slowly, pulling my dress down as I stared at the condom on the floor. I felt sick and before I could stand, vomited on his floor. My eyes widen as I heave, unable to stop. I purge the remnants of my stomach up and whimper softly, "I-I'm sorry!" I stammer, coughing. My dress had gotten the brunt of it but there was still some on the carpet and bed frame.

Xander walks over slowly, his eyes narrowed. "That was a five thousand dollar carpet," He growls quietly.

Swallowing, I stare at his shoes as they approach me. "I'm sorry!" I rasp, crying out as he grabs my hair and pulls me to my feet.

"You will be!" He murmurs, pulling me to the hallway before throwing me out of his room. I fell against a table with a vase, both shattering upon impact. Xander looks at me for a moment before shutting his bedroom door, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I look down at my ruined dress and it takes a moment for me to process why my arm felt wet. Pain shoots through me as I stare at the red blood gushing from a vase shard. With a shaking hand, I pull the piece out, dropping it onto the ground. I push myself to my feet and look up as a servant comes rushing down the hall. "I-I'm sorry about the console and the- the vase," I say, my head spinning. I grab the wall for support as a wave of nausea hits me again.

"Let's get you away from here, Ms. Rossi!" The servant says, gesturing to me. When I do not move, he gently wraps an arm around my waist and helps me walk down the hall. I leaned heavily on him, staring at my arm as blood dripped from the wound.

Instead of bringing me to my rooms, he brought me to the servants quarters. I was in a bright kitchen that contrasted Xander's industrial one at the main house. Their quarters were accessible through a long hallway connected to Xander's home. As we walk in, the four or five servants stop what they are doing, eyes locked on me.

"I need a first aid kit and ice," The man says, snapping his fingers at them. He was older, perhaps in his fifties. "Sit here, Ms. Rossi," He murmurs gently to me and sets me onto a chair. There was a flurry of movement and then a beautiful coldness was pressed to my head.

"I'm sorry about the vase and I couldn't stop bleeding all the way down here," I say, leaning against the ice pack on my head. It helped stop some of the dizziness.

"Don't you worry about that," The woman above me says quietly, smoothing my hair as she holds the ice pack to my head.

"Let's get this cleaned up," The man murmurs and lifts my arm to inspect the wound. My blood was staining their white table and I bite my lip as he grabs tweezers, pulling tiny shards from the gash.

I scream in protest, shaking at one of the painful shards. Hands pin me so that he could pull it out as he apologizes over and over for hurting me. He pulls it out and I begin to cry. I had expelled all the liquid from my body in Xander's room so they were just dry sobs.

"Is that all the shards, Joe?" The woman asks, her thumb moving circles on my shoulder.

"I think so," Joe muses, inspecting my arm. They lead me over to the sink to wash off the blood and clean the wound. I let them move me, too dizzy and sad to object. Once the wound was clean, they brought me back to sit, pressing towels against my arm to dry the area. "You're doing really well, Ms. Rossi," He says, complimenting me on my pain tolerance.