Choosing which death.

I landed on a chair with no armrest, one I had not seen because the bed had all of my attention. 

My breath was coming out short, my vision swimming and my head filling up with pressure.

I heard a chair squeal, and I looked over to see Jacopo slowly lowering himself to the opposite side of the small circular table separating us.

Despite not being thrown on the bed, I was still unable to calm my heart down, gain control over my breath, and stop my heart from having a heartbeat of its own.

I placed my shaking hands on my lap and slowly raised my eyes to his.

Jacopo Nicolo was staring me down as if he was trying to study me. I can almost see the gears turning in his head, as if he was thinking about what he would do to me.

Jacopo said no words, just boring his gaze into me. 

The burn scars on his face pulled at his cloudy eye when he narrowed his eyes at me, and it quickly made me avoid making eye contact with him.

Jacopo placed something on the table, and the small click it made when he put it down made me look at it.

It was a small bottle of liquid filled to the top, the liquid colorless as water. 

Jacopo didn't stop there. He then reached for something strapped beneath the table and planned it next to the little bottle.

I leaned away from the table when I realized the next item was a dagger, the handle faded from long use, and the edges slightly chipped.

My heart became wild again as I watched him reach for something within his suit jacket. He pulled out his third item, and the small glow of the bulb landed on the black surface of a gun.

It didn't take a genius to know what was happening, and damn it, it was reducing me to a shivering mess.

"Tell me." He said, his voice deeper and rougher than it was at the wedding ceremony. 

"What rewards are you receiving for coming here?" He asked.

Confusion filled my head. Coming here has no rewards, only punishments. I wished to say that to him, but I didn't dare.

I only stared at him with what I was feeling, and that was confusion.

"What exactly did Victor tell you to do once you got here? Dante and Elijah might be foolish enough to believe that this marriage is for peace-making. But I'm not crazy enough. Knowing the Vipers, they have something else cooking behind you while you sit there and play the rest of us for a fool. So tell me, what's in it for you?" 

He couldn't be any more far off. He shot a huge guess, and he failed miserably. It was obvious that he was forced to get into this marriage just as I was. The only difference between us was that I was terrified of him, and he was going to kill me on the day of our wedding.

"Go on. Tell me what your plan is." He demanded, his voice lowering into a hiss and his gaze turning more and more to hatred. 

For someone who didn't know me personally, it showed that he truly hated my existence in front of him.

"Tell. Me." He ordered, but there was nothing to tell.

I shook my head.

"There is nothing..." I started to whisper, but I stopped when he reached for the dagger, leaving the gun and bottol on the table.

He looked upset, agitated even. 

Jacopo traced the side of the blade with his covered fingers until he reached the tip, teasing it and making a small cut into the leather as if to show me how dangerous it was.

"The truth will set you free..." He mumbled before he returned his eyes to mine.

"I'm waiting, Viper," he commented.

It truly felt like being stuck in a cage with a wild animal, one that would certainly pounce on me if I dared try to leap out of the seat and run for the door. 

I froze with fear, unable to say a word or beg for forgiveness, even though I wasn't certain what it was that I had done.

I knew nothing of my father's personal work. I knew nothing of his crimes, let alone be an accomplice of his. 

How could this man look at me sitting in front of him, basically shaking like a leaf, and he would assume that I could be scheming against him or anyone else for that matter.

He let out a tired sigh before he put the dagger back between the gun and the little bottle.

"Depending on your answer, I was planning to give you an easy way out..." He said, his hand hovering over the gun.

"Or a hard way out..." His hands moved over the dagger.

"Or a much harder way out." He added as he hovered his hand over the little bottle that seemed completely harmless compared to the rest.

"Now, I don't feel generous at all." He said before he grabbed the gun, which he had claimed would be my easy way out.

He returned the gun to his inner jacket and the dagger to its hiding place before he picked up the little bottle of what I assumed would be poison.

"I took this from a good... friend of mine." He said as he looked down at the colorless liquid. "I've heard stories of how torturous this little, harmless looking bottle truly is. I have always wondered just how harmful this little bottle can be. I guess, now I can finally know." He said before he laid the little bottle on its side and pushed it towards me so it would roll across the small table and land on my wedding dress.

I looked down at it, understanding what he wanted me to do.

My heart broke for the fate I had finally met, for the life I could have lived, had I refused to follow my captor.

"Go on..." He started but stopped when his phone rang.

Jacopo looked annoyed to be interrupted, showing me just how twisted of a man he was.

He fished the phone out of his chest pocket and answered the call without even looking at who was calling him.

"I'm busy." He snapped before he almost hung up the phone. But something stopped him.

His eyes darkened as he covered the phone with his hand and looked back at me.

"Wait for me. I wouldn't want to miss the fun." He commented before he stood up and walked away.

My goodness, how evil could one be?

I almost laughed at myself for thinking that way.

What was I actually expecting when I came here? 

I knew an early grave was my final destination, I just didn't know it would feel this horrible.

I glanced at Jacopo over my shoulders and watched as he had a hushed conversation. His tense shoulders and balled left hand indicated that he did not like what he was being told.

I looked back down at the little bottle.

How long will I live letting others mock and walk all over me?

How long would I let others get satisfied with me getting hurt?

If I was dying, then I was not going to let another man get pleasure from watching me suffer. Before Jacopo could end his phone call, I opened the cap of the bottle and quickly raised it to my lips, ready to end this misery I call a life.

And just as the bottle was going to touch my lips, a gloved hand came in between and covered the top of the bottle.

I opened my eyes with my head slightly tilted back, and I saw that Jacopo was standing over me, his hand stopping the poison from pouring down my throat.

He suddenly snatched the bottle out of my hands and picked up the cap from my lap before he calmly closed it.

He walked around the table and took the dagger from its place before he turned away from me and walked straight to the door.

Jacopo took a final backward glance at me, his eyes raging before he stepped out of the room and slammed it shut.

A soft click echoed through the silent room, and I knew I was caged in.

I slumped back into the chair, my body exhausted from all the stress. My entire body shook as the little adrenaline left my system, and I was left a sweaty mess, contemplating how my life got to this point, and where it was going to get me married to a monster.