LOGINReneta Drent held my hands tightly as his father approached us. I tried to hold my breath, because somehow that made me feel more confident. But nothing seemed to work at that moment. It seemed the closer he got, the more I lost my cool.Why was I making this such a big deal, I thought to myself.Drent could feel the slight distress through my hands and tried to steady me."Just chill, peach"I nodded, and in seconds his father was in front of us, with his mom's arm tightly hung around her husband's hand."Dad," Drent said to him, and I could tell he was forcing a smile. There was a clear tension between them"It is good to see you, father." He turned to his mom, acknowledging her, while I just stood there hollow."I see you brought..." He paused, turning his gaze on me. "Her." I gripped Drent's hand a little tighter, forcing an awkward smile."Yes, father. I brought her. Meet Renata, my girlfriend and my future wife, who will be joining me to run this empire when you are gone." The
RenataWe arrived in Chicago, the city I had escaped from just about a week ago, and I felt uneasy.The moment our car stopped, some men came to take our luggage inside as Drent got out, took my hand, and led me inside.We got to our room and the place still felt the same way I had left it. Drent walked past me, already pulling off his shirt like I wasn't even in the room. And I looked away quickly before he caught me staring at his abs again.He turned and caught me standing there."Hey, start preparing for the ball. I told you it's by six." I stared, checking my watch."It's just four, and I just got here. Can I at least rest?" He lifted his brows."You have thirty minutes." I sighed. That was enough to rest my already aching back from all the stress I had been through throughout the week.I crashed on the bed. The smell of Drent's cologne had already clung to the sheets and I loved it. In seconds I had fallen into a deep sleep, and in what felt like five minutes Drent came to wake
DrentThat familiar fragrance of hers filled the room again, putting a smile on my face that didn't show. I hated that I couldn't admit I was happy she was back, but I was still stung by her stubbornness.It had taken me days to finally find her on my own. Since my men couldn't do the job, I had to do it myself as always.She sat in my car looking as stunning as I had left her. The silence stretched between us as I drove her back to Chicago, and I wasn't planning on letting her go again. I noticed her mouth twitch. She had something to say but didn't want to speak first. It was amusing how she entertained me even doing nothing. She was like this adorable puzzle I was trying to decode, and I loved poking at it all the time. But I had to keep my expression serious, to scare her enough not to run again."Why did you do it? You could have died, you know," I said with my hands still on the wheel."Do what?" she asked, pretending like she didn't know what I was talking about."You ran from
Renata."Please don't shoot. It hasn't gotten like this," I pleaded with him as I stepped back slightly, trying to use the corner of my eyes to look for any way to escape this gunpoint. But it was hopeless, as there was no way.His foot took another step, his expression angrier."You took my car, you injured me, only because I asked for your body.""Only?" I asked, shocked that he had just said only like my body was a commodity used for bargain. This pointed out why I hated men. They saw a woman's body as a transaction and it made me sick. I was trying to stall him, not to let him shoot, but eventually he ran out of patience."I'm done talking." He pulled the trigger and released two shots. I bent my head with a scream, expecting the bullet to reach me in seconds. Expecting the blood to gush out before I could blink.The bullet came out but did not reach me.Because Lance was knocked down from behind and the gun shifted its direction slightly, which shot the wall, passing close to the
RenetaI had lost it. The perfume. The seventy thousand for my mom's treatment. When the full weight of that realisation landed on me, the pain hit so hard that I stood dizzy for a full five minutes.Was my mom going to die? I stood there confused and hollowed out. I began to imagine my life without her, on top of another six years stuck in school with nothing to show for it.Why was all of this happening to me? I was too exhausted to even cry. So I swallowed the pain, slid back into the truck and pulled both doors shut.I sat there trying to absorb it all. What do I do next? I asked myself. The doctor called and I did not have the courage to pick up. What would I even have said to him?I buried my face against the steering wheel until exhaustion pulled me under and I drifted into a heavy sleep. When I woke up it was already the next day. I was sitting in a stranger's old truck with no plan and no money and nowhere obvious to go.But I could not just sit there. I drove to my rental ap
RenetaThe space between us was thin as Lance loomed over me with lust tearing through his eyes."I said thirty seconds," he snarled at me again, waiting for me to make a decision."Do not do this. I am warning you," I said to him, my hand already closing around something solid I had felt wedged behind the car seat. I was going to swing it at him for self-defence. My body was beaten up and it was the only option I had. If I missed, I feared he would have his way."Or what?" He grinned and stretched his hand toward me with the clear intention of turning me over.I swung the object at him immediately and it turned out to be a small fire extinguisher. It connected hard with his nose, filling it instantly with blood. He screamed in pain, his eyes blinded by the blood pouring down his face. That was my moment. I used the extinguisher to smash the window and reached through to open the door from outside."You witch," he sneered, pawing at the air trying to find me. I was already panting. I







