2.

The Big House, New York. 2019 

"Argh!" Denyefa cried. The guard brought his whip down hard on her bare back. "Stop please," she pleaded and the guard sent another stroke across her back making her scream. 

"Shut up!" He spat. 

The guard must have gotten enough of her after the countless amount of times the king sent Denyefa to him for punishment. 

"That's what you get for disobeying the king," Cassidy said from the doorway. She examined her nails as if picking something out of them, then returned her attention to Denyefa and the guard mercilessly flogging her. "Enough of that. The king wants to see her," she said and walked away. 

The guard untied Denyefa's hands and blood rushed to her fingers. She wriggled them back to life and picked up her towel from the floor. The punishment room was a bit isolated from the rest of the house there. There was no one in sight as she walked through the gloomy hallways towards the main quarters.

Normally, she would've gone straight to the infirmary but the mafia king wanted to see her first. 

Though her performance had been lacking, it wasn't her fault that all she could think about was escaping the hellhole on her upcoming nineteenth birthday, just three days away. After years of serving the ruthless mafia king, doing his bidding, and living at his mercy, she had gotten her fill. The thought of spending another week in the oppressive "Big House", under the constant watch of the man who had brutally murdered her parents, was unbearable.

She turned the corner and arrived at the boarding section where most of the workers slept. Rooms lined the hallway on either side but the place was desolated. The boarding section was almost always empty until around midnight when the workers were allowed to rest before they were forced to start work again as early as three in the morning. 

As one can imagine, the workers were living the most miserable lives and more pathetic was the way the mafia king had kidnapped and brought them to his lair to suffer. Most of the workers, just like Denyefa were made orphans by the mafia king. Although they had their differences, one thing they shared in common was their deep hatred for the mafia king. But no one could do anything because the last time someone challenged the mafia king, his head was on a spike at the centre of the common ground the next morning.

The common ground was where most of the workers spent their day. The mercenaries like Denyefa, were sent out on special missions like assassinations, stealing, deliveries and some discrete transactions that needed to be done physically without the use of the banking system. 

She walked across the concrete ground of the common space to the hallway leading to the main quarters. A few guards stood at a fair distance from each other on either side of the hallway with their guns pointed to the ground. They looked in her direction as she walked down the hallway. She paid them no attention. These were the same guards who maltreated her when she was a little girl at the big house. their work was to maintain law and order among the workers but instead, they continuously threatened and molested the workers at every chance they got. 

Denyefa climbed up the flights of stairs leading to the king's quarters. On the second floor, close to the king's quarters was a different atmosphere. Guards mounted every corner and only a few workers were allowed in the area. It was like a bridge demarcating the other parts of the big house from the king's quarters. 

The guards barely acknowledged her as she passed by, she had been a familiar sight since she was six years old. The king would summon her to his quarters, initially for business matters only. As a workaholic, he would keep her there for hours, at any time of day or night. However, things took a dark turn one night when his behaviour became unsettling and inappropriate. He grew too touchy, making her deeply uncomfortable. Cassidy, his mistress and around her age, was of no help, being inept and hot-headed. The king's advances ceased when he noticed her unease, but only temporarily. When she turned eighteen, he resumed his unwanted touching, making her feel vulnerable.

She comes to a large wooden door leading to the King's quarters. Two guards stood at each side of the door as it opened automatically. 

There were two flights of stairs leading up to a common platform where the king's room door stood, grand and imposing. It had gold designs etched on it, forming a vinelike kind of pattern.

Some of his top officials had their rooms in the area at the base of the stairs. Almost all the time there were officials there with whores, gambling, drinking or just hanging out and discussing. This was like their chill-out area and the king could join them anytime but he barely did.

This was the same place she met Dante. That night, about two years ago the king had called her to his quarters and these men were around. One of the king's top officials held her just as she was about to leave the quarters after meeting the king. 

She refused to meet him and he got angry at her. He pinned her to the wall and forcefully kissed her, then started training kisses around the sensitive parts of her body. Dante was just coming out of King's quarters, they had been in there earlier although they had not spoken to each other. Denyefa had not expected him to help her.

All the men she had encountered were either perverts or just evil in their special way. She did not expect to find a half-decent man among them but Dante surprised her that day. He pushed the official away which turned into a big case. The both of them fought and Dante being one of the mafia King's top assassins and chief of security, would have easily killed the official on the spot. But he restrained himself. 

The mafia king only spared Dante because Denyefa was involved. Although under the king's Empire, men were given more preference. So Dante was never going to receive much punishment regardless. 

The King was very clear about his principles and rules which he believed were for the good of the people under his care. Of course, these rules involved the punishment room and the very harsh conditions the workers were subjected to. 

Some of the men stared at Denyefa intrusively as she walked up the stairs. Most of the other workers didn't have the luxury of seeing how much of an as*shole these men could be behind closed doors. Outside the king's quarters, they were stern and brutal. Nobody ever smiled with or at them except who was their general plaything. Cassidy's fault for letting herself loose so much as to allow these men to objectify her. She was meant to serve only the mafia king as his mistress but she slept with most of the top officials. The King knew and was already tired of punishing her for her recklessness. 

On getting to the grand door of the king's room, Denyefa turned into the passage at the left. Two narrow passages lined the sides of the king's room. Each passage had two doors through which different parts of the room could be accessed. Only one door which was at the left passage, led to the inner chamber of the room. This was the door the king had ordered Denyefa to always use when visiting him. Even Cassidy couldn't access this door. Another reason is to make the blonde angry. 

Denyefa walked into the king sings inner chambers to find him on the bed, fast asleep. He had never called her while he was asleep. Now she had only wasted her energy walking down there. 

"Denyefa?" The king called to her just as she was about to leave. 

She turned and faced him. 

"Come," he beckoned and she moved closer to the bed. He sat up and tapped the bed beside him. "Sit down, let me see your wounds." 

The last thing Denyefa wanted was to be in the same bed as this man but couldn't possibly disobey him. Her back wasn't strong enough for another round of flogging neither were the other parts of her body. The king was kind to her but he would still send her to the punishment room if she fell out of line. He was an evil man who schemed some of the assassinations in the area, but he was disciplined and kept to his rules.

He wasn't much of a talker so no one heard his voice around the house. Once he passed an order he followed it with immediate action. There was a time he banned Denyefa from using phones when she was sixteen. He had taken the phone immediately and smashed it right in front of her. 

He only had one major flaw and that was his love for younger girls. He was over forty but his mistress, Cassidy was twenty-one, his former mistresses were both twenty years old when he brought them in and in Denyefa's case, he couldn't wait until she was twenty years old. It was unlike him to go for a girl younger than twenty. 

Denyefa sat beside him apprehensively and he reached for her shirt, pulling it up her back to reveal her wounds. 

"You're hurt," he said in a soft tone. 

Denyefa looked away in discomfort. Enzo stood up from the bed and walked into the wardrobe and returned with a first aid box. 

"Remove your shirt, mi Amor."