His Prisoner IV

Camila's POV
Alejandro is silent and I can feel him watching me. Eventually he hums. "Is that right?" He states plainly like he doesn't believe a word I'm saying.
I turn and glare at him, he has a brow raised with his arms crossed as he leans back against the wall. "Yes." I clarify hating the look on his face.
The one that told me I was going to do no such thing. The one that told me he had all the power here and the one that told me his word was final.
I can't do it anymore. "I can't believe my mamà was so adamant on us being together-my papá too." I ramble as I stuff random pieces of clothing into my bag. "Even your parents wanted us to work." I shake my head at the memories and way I'd built up this man in my head. "I bet if they saw the way you were treating me like nothing but your possessions, they'd regret it all."
"I highly doubt that." Is his snide response bubbling with a twinge of resentment.
I send him a confused glare over my shoulder but when I'm met with a guarded one, I push my curiosity to the side and let the anger take over.
"Whatever- I'm going to stay with Mason." I spit. "From now on, I'm not your problem."
"You're not going anywhere." Is all he says, no anger, no emotion, like he's just stating a fact.
It irritates me but I just continue to stuff things into my tote bag. "Watch me." I finish, making my way to the door, only to have him creep up behind me and slam it shut as I'm about to open it.
I close my eyes in an attempt to calm myself down. Why is it that I always get into this position with him?
It's like he loves breathing down my neck. Literally.
"Alejandro, let me go." I grit out but his hand holding the door shut only slides up higher as he takes another step closer.
"You know I can't do that, now put your shit down." his voice nothing but a low command, "Before we cross a line we can't go back from." His cryptic words are calm in the sense that he's forcing it.
"You've already crossed the line." I say, shaking my head as I go to pull the door open, but it doesn't budge.
"Camila," a step closer from behind, while his free hand trickles up my back as he starts moving my hair to the side, exposing the side and back of my neck. "I don't want to fight you on this."
His touch only distracts me a moment before I hop back on track and yank at the door once again. "Too late for that."
"You don't want to hurt Mason do you?"
The air shifts and I can tell by the way his finger starts to trace my neck that nothing good is going to come out of his sudden change in demeanour. He's not only asserting his dominance but the conversation has veered into a dangerous place.
A pit forms in my stomach, my composure begins to cracks as I'm reminded of who exactly I'm dealing with.
The Don of the Gonzalez mafia. He was capable of so much and far from a good man.
I wasn't an equal and he could pick and choose when to step in and put me in my place and if I disagreed, the man had the power to force me in my place.
He was going to trap and lock me in my place.
Fear lodges itself in my throat and the man behind me continues to softly trace patterns on my exposed skin with his index finger.
He's drawing the same pattern, over and over again.
"You wouldn't." I say, my voice wavering. I shut my eyes and force my mind away from panic. Instead I focus on his fingers.
He sighs, his finger not stopping its movements. "I wouldn't want to, Principessa." His voice is eerily calm and soft, and I continue focusing on his finger and I realize he's not tracing a patter.
It's a word.
A mark.
"But, if he takes you away from me and I have to go through him to get you back... then I will have no problem doing so." His breath brushes the skin of my neck as he places the softest of kisses there before going back to tracing.
"You can't do that."
I force my eyes shut, I wasn't going to crumble, I was going to force my mind away from him and focus on his fingers."There's nothing I wouldn't do to get you back, mia principessa." His voice is nothing but a deep rumble. One that's masked to be sweet. One that's deceiving.
But my hazy mind focuses in on the way he says mia principessa. My princess. Flashes of my childhood filter through my mind, the only constant belief between all the adults in my life being one singular phrase.
"Tu sei la sua principessa e lui è il tuo principe."
You're his princess, and he's your prince.
It sure as fuck didn't feel like it.
Why would they all leave me in the hands of a man like this? Why would they all lead me to believe he's my prince?
He's nothing but a terrifyingly powerful man.
I will the tears of frustration and unease to stay put as I focus on his finger tracing my skin, over and over again.
One line.
Two dots.
Three arches.
Four letters.
mine.
As if solidifying my theory, Alejandro's deep voice kisses my ear. "Sei sempre stato mio."
(You've always been mine.)
Eyes fluttering open, air refuses to escape my lungs as a wave of understanding freezes me over.
It all suddenly clicks.
I never had a choice.
The signs were always there, I'd just missed them, caught up in delusion.
"There must be a reason he doesn't want you outside of you yourself. He's hiding something."
No.
But despite my denial, my mamá's words from over the years float into my mind, like old memories with all new meanings.
"You're meant to be together."
"He's your prince."
"He'll take care of you when I'm gone."
I wasn't sent here for him to look after me, protect me, no that was never the plan.
How could I have been so naive? How could mamá do this to me?
"It can't be true." I breathe out, my hands shake just as my as my voice, while the man's shadow swallows me whole.
His response comes a moment later when he slips a hand into my back pocket and pulls out my phone, before placing it in my hand. "Call your friend and tell him you decided to stay and it was just a simple misunderstanding." He orders, his tone now nothing but a soft whisper.
He takes a step back, gracing me with the space I'm in desperate need of yet all I can do as I obey his order is run through memories of my life that are all suddenly ruined.
My heart races, my hands shake, my throat tightens. I was being suffocated and I could do nothing but stand by and allow it to happen.
It was all a lie and whatever power I thought I had was an illusion, one that had me believing I had a choice.
I don't dare look up as I've finished with my phone, the weight of the truth settling heavy on my chest.
"Hand me your phone."
I lift my head, staring at the man in an all new light while he swallows, eyeing me with caution. "I can't have you running away." But his reasoning is lost in the haze that is my mind.
With shaky hands, I lift my phone and place it in his awaiting palm, a sense of overwhelm controlling my actions.
He acted like he had power over me because he did. I was nothing but his puppet, living the way I did at his permission.
I bite down on my lower lip that's trembling in fear and when I feel him move forward to trace my cheek with his thumb, I whimper in dread of the dark reality I was so oblivious to.
"I'm sorry if I upset you, Principessa." He murmurs, his lips ghost over my cheekbone. "You gave me no choice, it was time you knew."
And this time when I close my eyes, tears pour from them.
Pathetic and weak. That's all I am in this moment, rendered speechless.
I hear Alejandro sigh, "I'm keeping you safe." We both knew it was a lie, but did it matter? He had the power to do whatever he pleased. And right now he was moving my hair out of my face as I refused to look at him.
His lips find my forehead, and he places a kiss atop it before murmuring against the skin there, "Come on, baby."
I don't move. Powerless and still as he grabs my wrists, interlocks them around his neck before grabbing my hips and lifting me into his arms.
His hands feel like nothing but an overwhelming pressure on my chest as he grabs my thighs and wraps my legs around his waist.
He carries me out of my bedroom. A personal cell disguised and pampered with luxurious goods and expensive furniture.
Like I said, an illusion.
And she had known.
Mamá had known.
She knew that by handing me over to him she was giving up my freedom. It was never my choice.
How long had this been going on?
Had I been brought into this world as a commodity to be handed over to the Gonzalez Family Mafia?
Was my purpose to act as nothing but an object, a gift, a token of appreciation from my parents to Alejandro's?
Either way, I'd come to the same conclusion.
I belonged to them. To Alejandro. And what that meant was entirely up to him.
All those lies they fed me. Mamá, papá, Alejandro's parents. They were just to manipulate me into thinking I had a say, a choice.
Mamá had said Alejandro was going to take care of me, watch over me, protect me.
I hadn't known the price until now.
And mamá had known all along.
Before I know it, I'm being set down on Alejandro's bed while I watch him move towards his bedroom door, pulling out a key.
He's locking his door.
He's locking me in here with him, so I don't run away.
I'd given up the fight, which makes it all an out of body experience.
He lays me down on his bed, covers me in his sheets and looks at me like I'm the most delicate thing in the world. His delicate thing.
And then he's leaning over me and brining his lips to place a soft kiss on mine as I stare at the ceiling in front of me. "Perdonami, mia Principessa." He murmurs against my lips before he walks away. (Forgive me, my Princess.)
I was his and I could do nothing about it.
He could break me over and over again however he pleased, but at the end of the day I couldn't escape him.
I was his and the only reason I'm living like I am is becasue Alejandro is allowing it.
And today was a revelation.
Alejandro could take it all away if he wanted to.
I never had any power. I just thought I did, when in reality I was just a prisoner.
His prisoner.