001

  CASSANDRA  

  

  Chloroform. 

  

  Captured.

  

   Tied to the bed. 

  

  “I sold you to the ruthless italian mafia.”

  

  Being injected.

  

  I jolted up from the terrible dream, sweating profusely. 

  

  It wasn't real, just a nightmare. That was what I convinced myself with, except—this wasn’t my room. 

  

  In fact, I had no room, since I was supposed to be in a twelve-hour flight. 

  

  I tried to sit up properly and regretted it immediately.

  A sharp jolt pulled my wrists and I looked down to see chains. My hands were chained to the bed! 

  

  No…this can’t be happening to me.

  

  My mother didn’t sell me, it was just a tragic dream I needed to wake up from. 

  

  I scanned the room, it was a bit dark, but I could still see some things, furniture, paintings, and then—a figure! Seated on the black leather chair.

  

  Dread filled me as the realization that all this wasn’t a dream dawned on me. 

  

  My eyes scanned his body, his legs crossed, he wore a well tailored suit and his eyes…staring right at me.

  

  

  “Who the hell are you and why am I chained?” I snapped, my voice laced with anger.

  

  He didn’t answer right away, instead his lips curled into a sly smile, “Welcome…Mia Cara.” His deep baritone voice echoed through the room as a shiver ran down my spine. 

  

  He didn’t stand, but the curtains seemed to open by themselves and the bright light filled the room, making me squint my eyes. 

  

  I blinked rapidly before continuing, “Come take this stuff off my wrists immediately.” I commanded, my eyes blazing with fury.

  

  But instead…he laughed. Not just any kind of laughter, but a cold mocking laugh that made my stomach churn in fury. 

  

  “I see you have a sharp mouth…perhaps your mother didn’t brief you about my kind of person.” He started, his voice cold and detached, “I’m Marco Valentino and the first thing you should know about me is that…no one orders me! When I mean no one, I mean humans,  talk more of my dolls, which I bought with my hard-earned money!” 

  

  

  A shiver ran down my spine. The only thing I could get from all he said was his surname, ‘Valentino’.

  

  Italian. 

  

  I was in Italy? 

  

  My mother had really sold me to the ruthless Mafia don she was talking about? 

  

  “Let me go!” I yelled, “My mother…she has no right over me, I’m a fucking grown woman, and so she has no right to sell me to you.” 

  

  “That’s impossible, darling.” He said, standing up, something about him was unsettling…his aura screamed danger and I knew I had entered the devil’s den, “I bought you with my money and sadly, I don’t do refunds no matter the condition of the goods.”

  

  

  “I’m not some fucking property, stop talking to me like you own me!”

  

  

  “Oh I do, I own you, Cassandra Beckham. I bought you for some mini change and so you belong to me.. Your body, your soul, your everything!”

  

  

  I swallowed hard, my hands sweaty and trembling. Perhaps I should beg? Tone down my voice and plead, maybe he’d reconsider. 

  

  

  “Please sir… I.”

  

  

  “Don’t think about it.” He interrupted me sharply, “The only reason anyone is permitted to beg me is for me to eat them out”. He said, outrightly, without any shame. “This is your new home and tonight, there’s an engagement party. The maids will get you ready.”

  

  

  I nodded my head slowly as tears threatened to spill from my eyes and the words escaped from my lips, “Whose engagement party?”

  

  His lips curled into a cruel smile, “Yours.”

  

  “I’m not getting married to you! This is wrong! I’m a grown ass woman that has a say in what happens in her life.” I choked out, tears now streaming from my face.

  

  He laughed yet again, and it only made my frustration and anger boil, “Actually I’m not your groom. My son is.”

  

  What? 

  Who the hell is his son?

  

  “It changes nothing. I’m not getting married.”

  

  Marco was now standing in front of me, a dangerous glare on his face,“It wasn’t a question, neither a choice for you to make, it’s an order and what you want, doesn’t matter.”

  

  I wiped my tears, “Then you had better get ready to drag me out of this room. Because over my dead body I will I leave here!”

  

  “You don’t have to worry. I have thousands of guards that will be at your disposal, if you can’t walk.”

  

  My head was already pounding, and he made to move when I held his hands, “Why are you doing this to me?” I said, my voice shaky, “I don’t want this. I was supposed to be in Germany starting a new life, my mother forced me, she…

  

  

  “Enough!” He thundered, cutting me off, “I’m sick of your pity witty stories. No more arguments, the maids will be here, and you will make sure to comply…” he gripped my hands tightly, “And don’t think of trying anything funny…you really don’t want to know what I’m capable of doing.”

  

  

  And with that, he dropped my hands roughly and walked out, making sure to bang the door. 

  

  

  Silence filled the room…until I broke down.

  

  Uncontrollable tears streamed down my face. This wasn’t how I had envisioned the next 24 hours of my life.

  

  

  How was I going to escape this? 

  

  

  The door creaked open again, and I adjusted myself thinking it was Marco, but instead two ladies rushed into the room.

  

  

  “Ma’am, we have less than an hour to get you ready.” One of them said, and I wiped my tears, before looking up. 

  

  

  It was an elderly lady and perhaps her daughter?

  If only I could get to speak with her…maybe she’d actually help me. 

  

  My gaze flickered to the guards who had just entered the room. Marco meant it when he said, he had guards on disposal that would carry me if I didn’t want to walk. 

  

  The woman came closer and the tears I had thought had dried up came back with full force, “Please ma’am, save me from here.” I whispered.

  

  

  She didn’t respond, but I continued, “I don’t want to be here. I was forced here and so if you could…”

  

  

  “Shut up! And let me do my job.” She cut sharply, and I could only gape in shock. 

  

  

  “You fucking have a daughter, how would you feel if…”

  

  

  “What’s going on here? Boss instructed you not to engage in any conversation with the lady. ” One of the guards interrupted me, and she turned to him. “It’s nothing, our bride here is just a bit emotional.”  

  

  

  She turned back to me, a deadly glare evident on her face as she started her work. 

  

  I kept quiet all through.

  

  I guess I had cried enough.

  

  It was time to put in a little action, and I was going to do that at the engagement party.

  

  If Marco thinks I would be subdued, then he had better get ready to be tormented by me!