004

~ANTONIO~

My mind was racing that night as I headed home.

I could not believe that Isabella walked out on me and pretended as if she was the only girl who looked beautiful enough to get attention from me.

She had the audacity to talk to me as if I had no power to pin her against the wall and make her beg for me.

I wanted to teach her a lesson so that she would never think of herself as special enough to refuse when I decided to spare a minute of my life looking in her direction.

My phone rang inside my pocket, and I quickly slipped it out and answered the call without looking at the caller ID.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Rodriguez, this is Andrea Albero. I don't know what my daughter did, but I'd like to apologize on her behalf, and I assure you that tomorrow she will be back at work."

"Uh yes, Andrea Albero..." I pulled up on the side of the road with a mischievous grin.

At that very moment, I knew just what to do and how to get Isabella to be mine.

Oh, how I'd love to see the look on her face when she realizes that I won and kept my word, I thought to myself.

I knew that this was not going to be a flop, but Isabella was going to be forced to be mine and only mine.

I wondered why it took me so long to think of this.

“I hope she didn’t cause you too much trouble. If she did before she left, I would deal with her.”

“Don’t you dare think of lifting a finger on her,” I frowned at his words.

No one dared to lift a finger at my angel, not even her father himself.

“Of course, I won’t,” his voice trembled.

“Andrea, you owe me half a million dollars. Do you remember that?”

“Yes, Sir, I remember. And we made a deal that as long as my daughter worked in your club, you would deduct 30 percent from her salary.”

“Do you think that 3,000 bucks a month will ever be enough?”

“3,000? You can double it then, or take her whole salary. She can work for you for free.”

“To pay the 600,000 dollars that you owe, she will need to work at the club for 5 years without pay. Do you know that?”

“Sh-she can do that,” he stuttered.

“I have a better plan, Andrea. Do whatever it takes to bring her to the club. If you won’t, I will do it myself,” I said to him firmly.

“Yes, Sir,” he hesitated.

I hung up the call and drove back to the club. When I got there, I instructed my bodyguards to fake a fire alarm to get everyone out of the club.

And when it was finally empty, Andrea called and informed me that he was at the backdoor with her.

My bodyguards went to help him get Isabella inside and tied her up on a chair at the podium.

She looked unconscious, and I figured that Andrea must have drugged her. “What did you do?” I asked him when he got to my side.

He hesitated for a second. “She will awake in a moment, Sir.”

“I hope you didn’t do anything to harm her,” I wanted to confirm that he didn’t take my words literally when I said that he should do whatever it takes to bring her to the club with him.

“No, she’s fine.” He confirmed.

I nodded and watched as Melo finished tying her up on the chair.

This was the only way to make sure that she ended up being mine.

If I failed to lure her in with flattery, perhaps this was going to work, and it had to.

“What’s going on?” Andrea asked as I leaned against the bar counter, waiting for Isabella to flip those beautiful eyes open.

She just looked so beautiful even though she was asleep.

Her beautiful face always aroused something in me, and I just couldn’t stand aside and not make sure that she was mine.

“You are auctioning your daughter,” I looked at him and smirked.

“What?” He looked at me horrified, but there was nothing that he could do.

“Relax, this will be equivalent to the number of years that she was supposed to work without pay in the club. I want her to be my wife for 5 years. The good thing for you is that you will be the one to get the money, and you won’t ever be indebted to me.”

He looked at me confused. “I don’t understand, Sir.”

“Wait for the princess to wake up first,” I took my glass of bourbon on the counter and sipped.

“Please, we can -”

I interjected him before he could finish his sentence. “Look at that, she’s awake,” I put down my glass on the counter and instructed one of my bodyguards to go and give Isabella a bottle of water for her to fully regain her consciousness.

I turned to Andrea. “Name a price of your choice, and it will be yours, but she will be mine as repayment for the money that you owe me.”

“Father, what’s going on?” Isabella asked with tears in the corners of her eyes.

“She’s my daughter, Antonio, I can’t sell her off to you just like that,” Andrea protested.

“50 million dollars for her or you pay me the 600,000 dollars that you owe in 24 hours. Your choice.” I smirked.

I knew that he could never say no to that amount of money. And the moment he heard it, his eyes went wide in amazement, and he was tempted.

And just like that, Andrea Albero and I made a deal, and Isabella was mine.

One of my bodyguards, Melo, came over with a piece of paper and a pen.

I sat down with Andrea and gave him the pen to sign on the paper that he was consenting the hand of his daughter to me for a sum of 50 million dollars, and he scribbled his signature on it without hesitation.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, father-in-law,” I held out my hand once again, and he took it.

We shook hands while Isabella watched with wrath on her face.

She looked like she could walk through the walls if let loose from the ties on her hands.

“Melo, let my wife loose and take her to my car. We are going home,” I got off from my chair.

After Isabella got untied, she walked towards us and stood before her father. “I can’t believe you did this to me, Father. You just sold me off to a man you know very well that he will break me at every chance that he gets,” she cried.

And oh no, I was not going to break her. She was far too precious for me to even think of doing anything to hurt her.

She was my prized possession, and I was going to take good care of her.

I was only going to break anything and anyone who thought of hurting her or even those who bothered to lay a finger on her delicate skin.

“You have lost me as your daughter.” She looked between her father and me and then walked away with Melo to my car outside the alley.

“You will get every cent of your money before morning. And don’t worry, I will take good care of her and she will never miss home,” I chuckled as I walked to the backdoor and went inside my car.

“Are you ready to go home, sweetheart?” I asked before shoving the key to the ignition.

Melo was in the passenger seat next to me, and the other Melo was sitting next to Isabella at the back.

Well, I called all my bodyguards ‘Melo’ because I didn’t have time to memorize their names, and secondly, I preferred to drive myself.

“Fuck you, Antonio.” Isabella hissed.

I rolled my eyes, looked forward, and started driving home.

I knew for sure that she was going to come around. One way or another.