Seven

Everyone held their breaths as Luiz Diane squared up with Ricardo Alvarez. If anyone would have told Ricardo that he would encounter such a woman in his life he wouldn't have believed it. Sharon was very high-spirited but she never disobeyed him and that was one of the reasons he ended up marrying her.

"What did you just say to me?" Ricardo asked in a thunderous voice.

Diane lifted her head an inch higher trying to match Ricardo's, "I am not going anywhere with you or your "goons" " she added giving death glances to the two men that had frozen in place. "My father will pay you back every single penny, now, if you'd make an attempt at being a human being, I'd like for you to leave my house"

Ricardo's mouth almost dropped to the floor alongside his men, how could such a small woman command so much authority?

"Okay, I'll leave you" He flashed her a huge smile and everyone watched quietly. If a pin had been dropped, it would have probably been heard by every body present in that moment. Noone wanted to believe that Ricardo Alvarez was going to just leave after the woman had insulted him. "But, you" he added putting the gun in the back of his trouser, "You're coming with me"

Like soldiers that had been given an order to succeed without fail, the men reached out and one of them lifted her off the ground in one clean sweep. Diane's screams fell on deaf ears as one of the men proceeded to place a blindfold over her eyes, gag her and then the other one tossed her into the back of the SUV Ricardo and Eric had driven to the house in. The gag and blindfold were necessary in such an occasion, the gag was used mostly the make the offender keep his or her mouth shut and the blindfold was to instill fear into their minds if they weren't already scared.

As Eric turned on the ignition and turned to drive out of Luiz's house, he turned to the back and saw how curled up Diane was in the back of the car. Diane had made a very stupid move when she decided to go against Ricardo's wishes. It never ended well for anyone that defied him not to talk of the person that insulted him and Luiz Diane had done both of them.

All through the drive back to the mansion, Ricardo was fuming with rage. Luiz Diane had humiliated him in front of his men, she had not only defied him in front of people that feared him, she had called him names. The gun was supposed to scare her, it didn't and Ricardo was worried. The most feared weapon in the Mafia was the gun and with good cause both somehow it didn't faze Luiz Diane.

With both Diane eyes and mouth restricted, it wasn't long before fear started to creep in. Her mind went to how she had publicly disgraced the lord of the Mafia in front of her house and she shuddered at what he would do to her. Diane had felt so much rage as she came out of the house to meet Ricardo Alvarez, she had never hated a human being so much in her life. She wasn't sure he was human at all and with the way his men had handled her, she was certain he wasn't.

Eric pulled up in front of the Alvarez mansion and glanced at the back of the car for the hundredth time. Ricardo didn't even look fazed, Eric couldn't shake off the feeling that Ricardo's plans for Diane weren't good at all. Eric got out of the car and walked to the other side to bring Diane out of the car as Ricardo had ordered. He realized the men had tied Diane's hands along with the gag and blindfold.

Ricardo stood at the entrance of the house as he watched Eric bring Diane out of the car, he felt a bit bad for the way the men had handled her but he decided against it, she wasn't going to get away with the humiliation she had caused him. As Eric removed the blindfold, he saw fear written all over her face and that unfamiliar wave of guilt swept over him again. Ricardo Alvarez wasn't used to feeling guilty, he had never made a decision in haste, he was a master of precision. Whatever was happening to Diane was the right course of action.

"Get a room ready for her" Ricardo said to the workers that stood next to the door with their heads bowed. Luiz Diane may be the worst woman he had ever met but he wasn't going to treat her like a slave even though he had started up by binding her like one.

Two women walked up to Diane as she stood next to the car, the blindfold and gag was off but she still had the ropes tied to her hands. She was flailing and scratching which prompted the men to bind her hands. The mansion in front of her was gorgeous and so very huge. Diane stared at it in awe and one of the women whispered, "Wait till you see the inside".

Diane wasn't exactly given a tour as she was taken to the room they had prepared for her, she didn't mind though, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be held captive by the worst man alive and nothing was going to make her feel comfortable in his house, hef throbbing wrists were proof of that.

Luiz Sanchez glanced at the dashboard as he drove his truck back from his sister's place, he had stopped to pick it up as he left Salamanca. His brothers had cut off ties with him when they found out he had joined the mob after Christina's death. It wasn't like they were much help to him anyways. When the accident happened in the factory, Christina had gone to Salamanca to seek aid from his brothers and they had all declined.

Their excuses were similar and definitely hurtful. One of the them was running for a post in the house of representatives and according to him, all his finances were going into his campaign. Christina had returned home in tears and with just a little sum that had come from Luiz's only sister.

From the now member of the house of representatives to the chairman of one of the most influential businesses in Spain, Luiz went to all his brothers and ended up making the trip back to Centro with nothing. It was the third day and Luiz wanted to just go home, take a bath, kiss his daughter and then head out to Ricardo Alvarez's house to face his fate.

Ricardo Alvarez was someone that never went back on his word and Luiz knew he was definitely going to keep his word. As he pulled into the little driveway of his house, he noticed it was quiet. Diane had formed a habit of waiting outside for him since the three days deadline started and Luiz was surprised to find the entrance empty left for a note. He got out of the car, walked to the porch, picked up the note and walked into an empty house. Luiz knew instantly that something was wrong and as he opened the note, he knew why.

I always collect my debts, don't forget.

Ricardo Alvarez.