Chapter Fifteen: Mindfucked

That afternoon, Jerome sat in study reading some documents when the door suddenly flew open, letting in an angry looking Matteo.

" Jerome, what's the meaning of all this? What's all this I'm hearing about you starving that poor girl in her room?" Matteo asked while approaching Jerome's desk. But all Jerome did was snort at the almost fuming Matteo and placed the papers on his hands by on the desk.

" I see you are getting gutsy these days, Matteo. First you deliberately change my orders and now you barge into my study without any permission whatsoever. Tsk tsk tsk. Be grateful for the friendship we share because if it wasn't for that, well, you of all people should know what I do to people who disobey me." Jerome said, casually leaning back on his chair.

" What I want to know is why? What has she done to deserve such treatment?" Matteo stood in front of Jerome, his eyes burning with fury.

" You say it as if I'm maltreating a seven years old girl. She's a grown woman who's old enough to make her own decisions and she chose to be stupid. Now how is that my fault?"

Jerome slyly said and Matteo narrowed his eyes at him.

" She made the decision to starve herself? Jesus Christ Jerome! She hasn't for eaten anything for three days, you are going to kill her." Matteo ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair.

" I don't intend to but if she does end up dying here then it wouldn't be me but her stubbornness that did the job." Jerome shut his eyes and told a deep breath, looking as calm as ever despite being a heartless beast.

" And what do you intend to gain from all this?"

On hearing Matteo's question, Jerome straightened and let out a loud sigh then he looked at Matteo.

" I want to catch that big fish. The company I put my life into, the same one my dear grandfather sees me unfit to have. I am going to claw it out of his wrinkled fingers and that ray of sunshine I brought into this house will help me solve one of my most recent problems." Jerome said, causing Matteo's eyes to slightly widen.

" The marriage arrangement." Matteo muttered, instantly knowing what Jerome was referring to and Jerome nodded with a smile.

After Jerome's family had treated him like an outsider for so many years, they now started reaching out to him and he recently found out the reason for they sudden change towards him. They wanted to get him married to a rich spoilt heiress who also happens to be a gold digger. His family wanted to use his marriage as an opportunity to form stronger ties with the girl's family but too bad for them, Jerome wasn't interested. Not after how his family treated him all these years.

" So you get my drift? Good." Jerome responded with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

" You want to use Andrea to get out of the arrangement? She would never forgive you." Matteo warned but instead of taking it seriously, Jerome chuckled.

" I don't need her forgiveness, all I need is for her to cooperate with me. Once she sees that I control everything around her, from when she eats to the people that are permitted to talk to her then she will learn that as long as she stays in this house I own her. And living with me as an enemy is the worst thing she can ever do." Jerome stood up from his seat and walked towards the door.

" I get your plan but what I don't get is why her?" Matteo's question made Jerome stop walking.

" Why do evil villains ever do anything? First of all, she's amazing to look at and plus I see breaking her as a challenge I want to complete. I kinda like her stubbornness and some might even find it cute. She loves control but unfortunately for her, I love it more." With that being said, Jerome exited the room. Leaving Matteo alone with his thoughts. He knew Andrea wouldn't last long, not with the kind of things Jerome was willing to do to her. He couldn't stop Jerome either. The ruthless man wouldn't care if he killed Andrea in the process of breaking her because he knew that he could always replace her with another toy. And start the fucking process all over again. Matteo knew this for sure, he had witness Jerome done it before.

People call Matteo a monster, a beast, but if they only knew all the atrocities Jerome had committed then they wouldn't have the mouth to talk. Not everyone had gotten the opportunity of seeing Jerome's cruelty but those who have were extremely traumatized by it.

The beast that was Jerome Montenegro.

The person who tortures people both physically and mentally. He plays with people's minds even without them knowing, torturing them but at the same time looking like the hero in front of them. It was crazy how he did it and up till this day, Matteo was still yet to figure out how Jerome mindfucked people. He did it in a way that he made people he broke to trust his every word, to think that they needed him to survive. To fucking see him as a good person.

The sick bastard played a saint in public but in reality he was the devil himself.

Matteo knew he couldn't help her. Not with Jerome watching her like a hawk and only hoped that Andrea would be strong through all this because from the way Jerome sounded a while ago, he was in it to win it and wouldn't let a little girl's tantrums stop him from getting what he wanted.

Despite being aware of all these, Matteo couldn't go against Jerome, not after all the things he had done for him. Matteo owed Jerome his life and had been loyal to him for many years. Things wouldn't change because of Andrea or his growing affection for her.

Andrea woke up the next day feeling her throat and stomach hurting even more that they did the other day. Her eyes could barely stay open and her body felt extremely weak. This had been the longest she had stayed without food and now water.

Jerome was indeed out to kill her.

She forced herself to sit up on the bed, trying not to pass out. Her eyes hurt from crying and her throat parched. She couldn't let herself die, not like this. Not in Jerome's house. Never!

Weakly, she walked towards the door and opened it. She walked down the hallway and just as she was about to get lost again, she saw a maid coming her way.

" Hey, wait!" Andrea called out and the maid turned to look at her. Andrea moved closer to the maid with blond hair and held her shoulders to support herself. " Where is Jerome?" She asked weakly, still holding on to the maid.

" He is having breakfast in the garden." The maid answered, looking at Andrea from head to toe.

" Please, can you take me to him?" Andrea asked and the maid nodded then wrapped a firm hand around Andrea's small waist to give her more balance.

The maid escorted Andrea to the garden where she saw Jerome sitting and sipping coffee. Looking all innocent but Andrea had experience a lot of things from him to know that he wasn't.

Looks could be deceiving and his only proved the saying even more.

Jerome looked up from the paper he was reading and saw Andrea standing in front of him. A smile graced his lips when he saw how weak she had become.

Serves her right for being stubborn.

He knew she was about crack, the conversation she had with Rosa proved it.

" Andrea, nice to see you again. You seem to have lost a little weight, am I not feeding you enough?" He taunted in a playful tone and Andrea could do nothing but glare at him.

" Fine, I will eat with you." Andrea said and Jerome's smile widened. The maid left them alone and Andrea shuddered on her feet. She looked like she would collapse any minute, feeling light headed and just as she was about to fall Jerome caught hold of her.

" Careful, you almost passed out." Jerome said, holding her in his hands.

" Let go of me!" She fought feebly out of his grip but he didn't let go.

" Sit down first." He sat her down on a chair with an almost worried look on his face.

Andrea frowned upon seeing the look on Jerome's face. She didn't understand why he would be worried about her when he was the one who caused the weakness she was feeling.

" What do you want from me?" She asked as she sat on the seatt.

" Eat something first. Have some fruit." He said and pushed the fruit basket towards to her.

Andrea stared at the fruits then at him in confusion, wondering why he was being so nice to her. Perhaps the fruits were poisoned and this was all his plan to finally kill her.

" The fruits aren't poisoned." Jerome said as if he had read her mind and his voice brought Andrea out of her thoughts. To convince her even more that they wasn't poisoned, Jerome pick up a random apple from the basket and bit into it. " See" He chewed the apple and swallowed. Andrea blinked twice and also picked one up. She stared at it with cautious eyes as if trying to see through it then bit into it as well. The sweetness of the apple quickly hit her taste buds as she continued devoured to it.

Once Jerome saw she was stable and not feeling dizzy anymore, he sat back on his seat.

" You are being nice to me after depriving me of food for days." Andrea snapped when she got back a little energy, still viciously glaring daggers at him.

" What do you want to eat, huh?" Jerome asked, deliberately ignoring her comment.

" Stop it!"

" Stop what?" He asked, feigning confusion.

" Stop acting like nothing happened, like you didn't just fucking starve me for days." She railed, then putted up another apple from the basket and threw it at him but frowned when he caught it and took a bit from it.

" You should learn to politely give people things. I can teach it to you as well just like I taught you not to reject my meal invitations." He teased with a smug smirk and Andrea would do anything to get that smirk wiped off his face.

" You fucking starved me, you bastard!" She yelled as much as her strength would let her.

" I didn't starve you, Andrea. You did it to yourself. I just asked you to have a meal with me but you refused, saying that you rather starve than eat with a monster like me. From what you said, I concluded that you fantasized starving so all I technically did was turn your weird fantasy into reality. Now how was that bad?" He defended himself and Andrea just stared at him in disbelief.

" You're sick." She shook her head. " Who the hell likes starving?"

" You do apparently, I didn't lock you up so what stopped you from coming down to get something to eat?" He asked and her eyes almost shot out of their sockets.

Her pride stopped her but she was too stubborn to admit that.

" I didn't know the way to the kitchen." She said in a low voice and dropped her gaze to look at her hands.

" And you couldn't have asked for directions like you did just now, huh? What would I possibly gain from depriving you of food, I don't lack anything in this house so why would I do something bad to you?" He asked in the most calm and tender voice he could speak in. Like he had never done anything wrong in his life.

This was one of the ways he mindfucked people, by making them seem responsible for his actions. Making him look innocent to them in the process.

" What about the time you were touching me in the room?" She asked and her cheeks instantly turned red from embarrassment. Jerome flashed her a teasing smile when he saw how red her cheeks were, making them burn even more.

" I wanted to make sure Matteo wasn't hard on you. I was checking your body for bruises and thankfully found none. But as for the poking you, all I can say is that your boobs distracted me." He took another sip of his coffee while Andrea stared at him with both confusion and disbelief written all over.

She didn't know whether to believe what he was saying to her or not. She didn't know what to think anymore. Her brain was spinning now and she was so confused. Jerome was supposed to be the enemy but here he was being nice to her and his explanations kinda made sense. His weird attitude was weakening her resolve.

" Nevermind that now, let's focus on get some food into that little stomach of yours before you actually eat me up with your stares." He laughed as the helpers served the food which Andrea's mouth water as she she got a whiff of the aroma of the delicious food in front of her. She licked her lips and her eyes kept looking from one plate to the other.

' So much food and it was only breakfast. No, I can't let myself be carried away by his food. I have to stay strong and fight him.' She said to herself in her head.

" What about Rosa? Didn't you tell her to stay away from me?" Andrea asked, dragging her eyes away from the food to resist it's hypnotizing siren. It was literally calling her name.

" Yes I did, but in my defense you can't say that you weren't just befriending her so you could use her to escape." Jerome said, exposing her plan to escape and Andrea instantly looked at him with eyes widened like a child.

" That was before I found out you brought me to a fucking island! How the hell do you even know that?"

" This is my house, Andrea. I know everything that goes on here so again I beg you, don't do anything stupid. For your sake at least."