Prologue

DARINA

I have to finish this project, but I can’t concentrate on it. I slapped my books closed and fell on my bed. Downstairs I heard my parents moving about. Daddy has been so restless of late, more than usual. I knew my parents were involved in some shady business. Not exactly sure what it was, but I’ve heard him mention a name, Necolai Lupei.

They were so secretive about everything, trying to keep their dealings away from me. They’ve always been so protective of me. I love my parents, but I’m a grown woman now. I, Darina Vulpe am twenty-one and still being treated like a child. In a way I suppose it’s my own fault, I could have moved out long ago, but I liked living with them.  It was convenient. I could study when I wanted to, have my privacy, not worry about expenses and meals. My mother was a wonderful cook. So, I guess I was spoilt, being the only child had its advantages. Besides, my parents weren’t poor. The only problems was, how did they obtain their wealth. I’ve never worried about it before.

Until I heard that name. I overheard my father saying, “Necolai Lupei is a ruthless man. If I don’t deliver on time, it will be my head.” Then he stopped abruptly when I entered the room, and they changed the subject. 

“Of course, Darling.” My mother said, “I’ll go bake your favorite desert. Darina dear, come help me in the kitchen.”

Now if that wasn’t enough to have me go online and search for Lupei on social media and the news. Club owner, businessman, I saw his picture and for some reason it sent shivers down my spine. He was handsome in a devilish way – ginger hair and eyes so green they seemed to look right through you from the screen. There was a hardness to his face, even when he smiled, more like a wolfish grin. I had a bad feeling about him.

He was photographed quite a lot, sometimes a celebrity or a model hanging on his arm at a function. A lady’s man, I guessed. There was one piece a journalist wrote where he alleged that Mr. Lupei was nothing but a gangster, disguised as a businessman. That the police were either blind or bribed by him. I scrolled further to find the same journalist’s body had been found in his car. It was deemed a suicide. Coincidence?

These were the kind of people my parents were involved with. I closed my laptop I didn’t want to know anything further. I would never be able to sleep. Those vivid green eyes haunted me, I couldn’t get them out of my head. Little did I know that my life was about to change forever.

I guess I must have dozed off for a while, and I might have been dreaming. I thought I heard my mother screaming. Shaking off the sleepiness I swung my legs off the bed. There it was again. Male voices raised in anger. My mother screaming my father’s name. Adrenaline pumping, I launched myself out of my room and downstairs.

“Daddy!” I screamed, seeing my father’s bloodied face. So much blood on the sofa. And then my eyes met the emerald green eyes of Necolai Lupei. The Devil himself! The Devil that later would be my Prince of Darkness, the only one I craved and adored. But at that moment all I saw was the Beast.