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The big boss happened to be Drey Sandler, son of the biggest Mafia Boss in this whole of the city. The man with whom she encountered last night. However, she couldn’t recognize him, but he did.

Drey was pretty shocked to see that his newly acquired property is the same person he had a one night stand with just the day before. However, he perfectly masked his shock, and scanned the young lady in front of him.

Marie opened her mouth in awe unconsciously as she looked at the man behind the desk. He was completely different from what she had imagined he would look like. It was just like in the stories, but unlike books, she was a victim and she wasn’t finding anything funny.

He cleared his throat, and gave them his most serious look

“Bob, excuse us” he said with a straight face.

Immediately Bob stepped out, Drey looked back at the girl probably expecting her to break character, or say something about their encounter , but she stood there, staring blankly.

“Can I know why I have been kidnapped, sir ?” Marie questioned in a low, but daring voice.

“Do you really not know me?” Drey ignored her question, even more confused.

“I know that you’re someone powerful enough to kidnap me, and bring me here without any questions asked” she retorted, wondering why the man cared about her knowledge of him.

Drey could see the hint of the fiery woman he met last night, and he was all the more certain that it was her

“First of all, you weren’t kidnapped. You were sold off, so it’s merely a transaction.” He replied to her, standing from his seat to lean on his table.

“How can a living subject be sold off without her own consent?” She inserted air quotes around the sold off.

For a moment, Marie forgot she was standing in front of someone affiliated to the greatest and most dangerous Mafia group in the country. But, what did she have to lose? She was already brought here against her own will, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is going to answer the question as to why she’s here.

She looked at the figure in front of her, and he fit the image of a typical novel god. With a towering height of nothing less than 6’3, she could see his muscles flexing from beneath the suit he was wearing. If she cared so much about things like this , she would be pissing in her pants right now.

“Snap out of it.” She jolted herself back to reality.

“Please and please, can someone give me a reason as to why I’m here. I have a whole life to live, so if this is some sort of prank or joke, I want out. I can no longer put up with this …” While she was talking, the man kept walking towards her, and by the time she was done, they were only two inches apart.

She gulped hard, as she stared into his light blue eyes seated on his perfectly structured face. He backed her up into his table and leaned close to her.

“Welcome to your worst nightmare.” The whisper sent shivers down Marie’s spines and her stomach churned from the proximity between her and the piece of art in front of her, and his strong thick voice resounding in her ears.

He retracted from her, and walked back to his seat acting like he didn’t just turn their sexual worlds upside down.

“What is your name?” He asked her directly with a straight face.

“Marie” she muttered, still not over the moment they had just had.

“When I ask you a question, you reply loud enough for me to hear you.” He told her sternly”

“Again, what. is. your. name?”

“Marie. My name is Marie” she answered, a bit scared and shocked at the sudden change in his voice.

Smirking inwardly at her reaction, Drey decided to continue with the attitude till she breaks or remembers their encounter.

“Anyways Marie, from today onwards, you would be working as my personal servant.” He told her straightforwardly

“What??!!”

“No questions asked, as I owe you no explanations. You can get out of my office. Bob will be waiting for you.” He replied her without even glancing at her.

Dejectedly, Marie walked out of the office, and really met Bob waiting to escort her.

Marie was walking behind Bob, as he was leading her to where was going to be her room from now on, according to the big boss, which was two floors below them. Her phone was taken from her, so she wouldn’t be able to contact the outside world.

Tears streamed down her eyes as she was led to the room. She almost decided to turn and start running for as far as her legs could take her, but there were guards and camera everywhere. She just couldn’t process what her parents would have done to lead her in this position.

She understood that she wasn’t her parent’s favorite, but she still couldn’t think that her parents could sell her off right into danger for a reason she didn’t even know.

They finally got to the room, and Marie let out a tiny gasp.

The room was about times two the size of her room back at home. It was painted in cream, and the furniture was brown. The bed was Queen sized, and asides that and the wardrobe, the room was practically empty.

“Go in, freshen up, and come down for dinner in thirty minutes. You should get rid of the idea of escaping, because guards will be placed in front of your room and behind your window.” Bob told her as he pointed into the room.

“Also, you should wipe off your tears. We’re not going to sell your body parts or something.” He turned and left her to her own thoughts.

She walked into the room, and plopped to the ground. Tears started flowing uncontrollably down her eyes, and her thoughts began to flow all over the place.

“Am I a victim of human trafficking?”

“Will I be sold off to another country?”

“Am I ever going to get out of this sad place?”

“Why am I even here? What did I do to deserve this cruelty?”

After wallowing in self-pity for 30 minutes, and resigning to fate, she stood up and began to walk around the room. She walked towards the window, and dragged the curtains open for light to enter, and the view left her mouth agape. She was nothing less than five floors up, so she could see half of the estate from the window, and the beautiful greenery that lay after it.

Taking a breath of fresh air, she felt instant relief.

“Maybe she needs this break after all, especially after her heartbreak.”

…

Drying her hair after the shower, she suddenly remembered that she didn’t have a new set of clothes to change into, and Bob didn’t say anything regarding that.

With a frustrated sigh, she opened the wardrobe hoping for a miracle of some sort.

And there it was, her miracle or rather, miracles. Inside the wardrobe were a series of clothes ranging from formal dresses to nightwears to casual clothings and shoes of all types.

And the most shocking part is, they were all provided in her exact size.

“Since when have they been planning to put her here?”

She waved off the thought, and picked the black, silk nightdress closest to her. Then, she proceeded downstairs according to Bob’s instructions.

****

She approached the dining, and for the 15th time that day, she gasped inwardly at the sight of the dining area. It was also humongous, with a large dining table in the center, and nothing less than 10 chairs surrounding it.

She saw the big boss dressed up in suit at the other end of the dining table, and she stood there awaiting instructions.

“Who the hell wears suit to eat dinner?” She thought to herself while inwardly rolling her eyes.

“Sit” he told her with a straight face, while pointing to the chair on the other side of the dining table.

This was a ritual in Shadow Empire. Any time there’s a new acquisition of a person, be it make or female, the person would have dinner with Drey for three nights in a row before his/her fate is decided. No one could explain the reason behind that Drey’s policy, but there’s also a hundred and one things he does without context or explanation.

The in-house chef clinked the spoon against a saucer, announcing that dinner was ready to be served. Soon after, about three other cooks walked in with trays of food in their hands, placing and arranging them gently on the large table.

Marie found this culture fascinating, as she continued to stare at the food served in bewilderment.

“Is this my last supper?” She thought to herself.

Well, even if it was, she would make the most of it, anyways. And then, she dug into the food, and ate without a care in the world.

They had barely eaten for two minutes before Bob rushed into the dining area with a small tablet in his hands.

“Big boss, there’s a very big problem and we might be in grave danger right now.” Bob said all in one breath.