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The Silent Wish	By : LaurieBaker Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Het Views: 14629 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Luciano Sorelli drummed his fingers impatiently on the small parlor table as he stared at his chessboard, contemplating his next manipulative mood. Taking a swig of his glass of sherry, he sighed in exasperation and rubbed at his temples.

How could he concentrate on his game after what his wayward daughter had revealed to him?

He was utterly surprised when his daughter, Sophia, asked to speak to him the following morning after Aurora’s engagement party. Sitting in the large chair in the Sorelli sitting room, she had tear-streaked cheeks as she confessed to him that she thought that Aurora was having an affair with the Phantom of the Opera.

For a moment, Luciano did no know how to respond. But then he could not restrain a loud guffaw of uproarious laughter.

“My dear Sophia,” he said jovially. “Are you tipsy, daughter? There is not such thing as an Opera Ghost that haunts the Paris Opera House! That is only so much nonsense spread by bored women with too much time on their hands!”

“Do you think that chandelier fell all by itself, Papa?” Sophia snapped. “Do you think Philippe de Chagny just died from a mere accident?”

“Please, Sophia, you are upsetting yourself…”

“Of course, I am upset! I heard Aurora with him last night at the party in the library! I saw the Phantom leave outside of the window last night!”

“You seem to forget that Aurora is a well-brought up young lady!” Luciano snapped haughtily. “She is no flitty ballerina who gives her favors away to the first handsome wealthy man that comes along!”

His insult hit its mark as Sophia blinked back her tears.

“I know you do not approve of how I live my life, Papa,” she said with a sniffle, hatred in her eyes. “I know that even if you have not disowned me technically, you gave me away a long time ago in your heart. All because I refused to be the good obedient daughter who let her life be mapped out by you. And then you turned all of your hopes over to Aurora. If I were not so afraid for her well being, I would never come here to tell you this. I would simply let her have her affair because I know that she is happy with him.”

“How do you know such a thing?” he barked suspiciously.

“I know because Aurora has confided in me for some time about her secret lover,” she answered proudly, obviously pleased to see her father knocked off of his high horse. “And I have never seen her so radiant. If he were not the Phantom, I would wish her well in all of the debauchery that she cared to take part in.”

For a second, Luciano had to clench his fists to keep from striking her.

“As it is, I have suffered first hand from the Phantom’s violence when he murdered my Philippe.”

Luciano bit back a sigh of disgust. Here she would go again with her lament for her lost lover. Didn’t the little fool know that he was only trifling with her and never would have married her?

“And to think of what he might do with Aurora once she has served his purpose…” she continued, sincerely upset. “For she is such a naïve little thing, she won’t be able to please him for long. Eventually, he is going to want another woman with more experience. Perhaps he will even want to try to abduct the Vicomtesse again. And he will think nothing of snuffing out her life, Papa! I have seen too many of his escapades at the Opera House. Life means nothing to him! I know!”

As she began to sob anew, Luciano temporarily put his differences with her aside and patted her hand.

“Do not cry, my little Sophia,” he soothed. “I will attend to what must be done.”

Yes, something had to be done about this menace.

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Yes, it would be risky, but well worth it, Erik mused as he sat in his library, sipping at his cup of Russian tea. Oh, it would be quite a spectacle to kidnap Aurora at her own wedding! A worthy triumph for the Opera Ghost! And that would probably be when his chances of success would be at their greatest.

After all, Monsieur Sorelli and the Baron would be too busy attending to wedding details to keep a sharp eye out for all of the goons that he would murder on his way to fetching the blushing bride. One by one, Erik would crack their necks with his lasso as he would cut through them to retrieve his fair-haired goddess of the dawn. And then he would take her away on Cesar. Madame Giry would wait at a countryside inn with the appointed clergyman. They would marry at once. For perhaps a month or so, maybe Erik would be able to tolerate a life in daylight as long as they were secluded away in a little farm out in the country where no one would find them.

Of course, there were serious practicalities to be considered, like the fact that Erik knew absolutely nothing about farming, did not have the time to study on the subject, and did not have much motivation to learn even if he did have the time. Perhaps he could hire a nice elderly couple as a decoy. They could pretend to own the farm and do all of the practical necessities. Erik assumed this meant mainly milking cows and planting crops and such. Meanwhile, Erik and Aurora could stay safely out of sight, tucked away in their bedroom, making love until they were too sore to keep going…

With a sly grin, Erik reminded himself that he must bring the entirety of his cravat collection with him for Aurora might become quite peevish if she wasn’t bound and helpless on a regular basis. Then he shook his head and chuckled. Just who was the Master anyway?

As he thought of how entrancing she would look, naked in a barn on a bale of hay, her hair wildly spilling about her with her wrists tied over her head to a post, he grew painfully hard.

There was no question about who the Master was, he thought wryly. Aurora was. She owned his heart and soul and cock and love and every part of his worthless carcass…and a month was a long time to be without her.

A noise startled him out of his daydream.

As he neared the Maze of Mirrors, he knew those choking gasps for air entirely too well. Someone was fighting against death and losing the battle horribly. Lighting a candle, he saw the twitching corpse before him. A man dressed entirely in black with swarthy Italian looks.

It is hard to stalk a stalker, Erik thought with some amusement, for he recognized the man hanging at the end of the noose. It was one of Luciano Sorelli’s minions.

Apparently, he would have to change his plans.

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Something was upsetting her father this afternoon.

Aurora was always very good at discerning his moods. That and he was not a man accustomed to being subtle when something upset him.

“Papa, you asked for me?”

“Daughter…” he snapped out with the viciousness of a rattlesnake.

Aurora’s heart started to race. Yes, something was decidedly wrong.

“P-p-papa,” she started, hating herself for stuttering. “Are you w-w-well?”

He was very quiet…too quiet…

Then with a roar, he threw up his arms, upturning his chess board. All of the ivory and ebony porcelain game pieces spun across the floor as he arose from his chair.

“DON’T PLAY GAMES WITH ME!”

Aurora was so startled that her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. He knew. He must have known for why else would he be acting this way with her? He had never acted this way around her before!

Dear God, how had they been discovered?

“After all I have done for you,” he snarled, pacing towards her looking like a mean tiger. “After I have given you everything a father can give a daughter, raised you with the best that money could buy, and let you have your way with almost anything you ever wanted, you repay me by whoring yourself to a common criminal!”

Oh, God, it was true!

Taking a deep breath so that she would not faint, Aurora began to beg.

“Please, Papa…I…”

What could she say? How could she tell him how Erik had kidnapped her and stripped her and aroused such deep passions in her that had always been asleep until that time? How could she explain how their attraction was so strong that nothing else mattered? No religion or morals or piety seemed real. Nothing existed except the yearning for each other’s bodies and their satisfying that endless hunger. And then it turned into something stronger and deeper…to the point where she was not sure how she would live without him. How would her father understand that? How would anyone understand?

Only Erik understood. Even now, she began to see that he saw her in a way that her family and friends never would. In his eyes, she was no delicate doll to be constantly protected. She was no stepping stone to more money and power. She was simply a woman with all sorts of faults and frailties. And he loved her for them. He loved her in spite of them.

“I…I love him…” she pleaded weakly, trying not to cry.

“Don’t insult my intelligence!” Luciano shouted. “What do you know of love? You think meeting with a masked stranger in the basement of a building is love? You think fornicating with a killer who would just as soon kill you as fuck you is love?”

She winced at his words. He made her time with Erik sound so sordid and dirty. And even at first, she had seen it that way herself. She acknowledged that the excitement of doing the forbidden was an addictive drug. And she knew that Erik had the same sort of cravings. Perhaps that was part of the reason they were so well suited. But it was more than just sex now. It was also walks in the moonlight, sharing of each other’s dreams, and marriage proposals. And she knew that she would never have a husband as right for her as Erik. Surely, the whole concept of marriage, of a man and a woman binding together in love and honor, was meant for two people who loved each other as much as they did.

“No, Papa, it is not like that!”

“It is exactly like that!” he raged. “You have been behaving no better than a bitch in heat!”

Aurora never knew that she could hate her father. And this new revelation stung.

“And like a bitch, you shall be locked up until you marry the Baron! Antonio!”

“Papa, no!” she exclaimed. “You can’t keep me locked up for an entire month!”

“You misunderstand me,” he answered coldly. “For the plans have been changed in light of this new information. You shall marry him as soon as possible. You shall marry him on the morrow!”

“What?!”

“I have discussed the situation with the Baron,” he explained. “And he is willing to overlook your youthful indiscretion. But he has requested that, under the circumstances, the wedding is performed very quietly to avoid any more scandal. You are quite fortunate that he is such an understanding man.”

With a snap of his fingers, Luciano ordered his strong man to keep watch by Aurora’s door and not to let her leave under any circumstances. There was also a guard assigned outside of her window. If that Phantom dared to show his face at the Sorelli manor, he would be shot on the spot.

As Aurora was led to her bedroom, she thought that she was being escorted to her own grave.
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The Silent Wish