Chapter 2 The nightmare

ADRIANA

I jerked up from the bed, panting loudly as drips of sweat rolled down my body.

My head snapped up, and I felt my heart clench when flashes of the incidents that took place yesterday filled my head.

I cursed loudly and threw the sheets off my body, then jumped out of bed, but the moment my feet touched the ground, my head swelled and I staggered back.

“What is wrong with me?” I muttered in a low voice as I gripped my head, trying to calm the dizziness and get myself back on my feet.

No matter how hard I tried to get the scenes out of my head, they remained there, mocking me and proving that my hopes of a possible hallucination were false.

The last thing I remembered beholding before falling into darkness was him thrusting fiercely into her.

As I struggled to maintain my balance, a part of me wished and hoped that it wasn't true. I hoped that it would all turn out to be a dream.

“Arlene would never do that to me, never,” I whispered and gripped the sheets for support as tears stung my eyes.

The door suddenly pulled open, and my head snapped up.

Hopes of whoever it was being Arlene filled my heart, but to my disappointment, it turned out to be Valeria.

She trudged into the room, a tray in her hand and a smile on her face.

“You are awake, thanks to the moon goddess. She exclaimed loudly as she dropped the tray.

“What happened to me?” I briskly asked, not ready to beat around the bush.

She sighed and straightened out, then turned around to look at me, the smile on her face slightly faltering.

“We found you lying outside Arlene's door. You seemed to have fainted,” she muttered, and my heart clenched.

I assured myself that everything would be alright once I found out every single thing that happened.

“How did you know I was there?” I asked.

“Your friend came over and told me of how you panicked earlier,” she muttered.

I scanned her body, my eyes dimming with suspicion.

Whenever Valeria was trying to hide something, she always picked at her nails, and that was what she was doing at the moment.

“Where is Arlene?” I asked.

Her head jerked up, and I saw her eyes widening in despair. She sighed loudly and trudged closer, her shoulders slumping.

“Is there anything going on between you and that guy?” She asked.

I felt my heart drop, and horror engulfed me.

“What I saw wasn't a dream, was it?” My voice was breaking, and so was my heart. My eyes were beginning to roll up again, but this time around, not in dizziness, but in anger, fear, and horror.

“Arlens explained everything to me,” she whispered, placing her hand on my shoulders.

“Explain what?” I screamed and knocked her hand from my shoulders, heaving loudly and glaring at her.

“She slept with my boyfriend, didn't she?” I growled. My blood was boiling, and my fangs were slowly appearing.

I wanted to kill her.

I wanted to spill her blood on the ground the same way I did to that witch.

“Your boyfriend? What are you saying?" Valerie snapped, her brows shooting up.

My heart paused for a moment, and I staggered closer.

“Where is Arlene?" I growled loudly.

"She told me you had a secret crush on her mate,” Valerie muttered, and my breath ceased.

"What?” I whispered, huffing loudly in disbelief.

Valerie clasped her hand around my shoulders, pulling her face closer.

"I'm trying to protect you from your brothers. If they find out that you want to be with Arlene's mate, they will definitely hurt you. I'm doing this for your mother's sake, please, live responsibly for once in your life,” she whispered, and my heart dropped.

Confusion slipped in, and I stared at her in silence with a dropped jaw and eyes wide as saucers.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I couldn't hold in the fact that they all sided with her and always saw me as the bad one. Again!

I growled loudly and slapped her hand away, heaving loudly as my heart tightened in my chest.

“Miles is my boyfriend! We've been dating for four years!" I growled, stamping my feet on the ground.

“No!" Valeria snapped, anger flashing across her eyes.

"Miles is your sister’s mate, and they are going to get engaged soon. She is introducing him to your brothers at the moment, so if you have some shame, sit still!” She snapped.

The tears stinging my eyes finally dropped and rolled down my flushed cheeks.

How could she do this to me? How could she take the man that I loved and pretend he belonged to her?

"I hate you! I hate every one of you, and I swear, I will kill Arlene!” I sneered.

Horror darted across her eyes, and she gripped my arm, shaking me roughly.

“Get back to your senses, Adriana! Get back to your senses!" She screamed in bewilderment, but I was already gone, drenched in the thirst for revenge.

“Let me go,” I shrieked and tried to pull her hand away, but her grip on my shoulder was so strong.

“You will do no such thing, you hear?” She screamed out, her eyes as wide as saucers, and the color draining from her face.

“She stole him from me. She snatched the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with,” I growled out.

“She's his mate!” She snapped.

My blood froze, and I felt my breath hitch for a minute as the words she had been saying finally hit me hard and registered in my mind.

“His mate?” I scoffed, quieting down.

Valeria sighed and let go of my shoulders.

“I don't know what's going on, but you need to calm down and sort it out—”

"Do you believe me then?” I asked, filled with hope that I could have someone on my side.

"I don't know what to believe, but do this for your family,” she whispered.

I scoffed, my lips twitching into a rueful smile.

“For a family that never cared about me?” I snapped.

“Your mother sacrificed herself for your sake.”

“No, she did it for her sake!”

"Adriana!" Valeria yelled and raised her hands. I stared at her raised hands and shook my head.

“Don't bother pretending to care, Valerie. I'm used to being pushed aside by everyone, including my mother. I have lived all my life like a stranger who just shares the same face with Arlene Nox,” I whispered, my heart wrenching.

Valerie sighed, shaking her head.

She dropped her hand and reached out to touch me, but I moved back and spun around, then began to head to the door.

"Adriana, stop!” She yelled in a quivering voice, but I never listened.

I moved ahead with a bitter heart, clutching onto nothing but the longing satisfaction to watch Arlene die at my feet.

I didn't care about my brothers, getting executed, or being cast out of the Nox bloodline. All I wanted was revenge for everything Arlene had ever done to me.

I had always overlooked her errors and let guilt consume me ever since we were young. She took away everything from me, my happiness, my family, a motherly love, respect, and now, Miles.

They always saw me as a villain that I never was, but that had ended. I would not please anyone. I would no longer feel guilty for anything that I had done.

I would become the nightmare they had always envisioned in their minds.

I, Adriana Nox, would become their horror. I would finally become a villain.