The contract that freed her

I stared at the contract on the table with a grin on my face. My father’s cold and emotionless words hit me like a truck again and again. Honestly, I did not know why I still hoped he would change his mind and look at me like a daughter rather than a backup plan he kept in his back pocket. One he only used when it benefitted him.

The good things were never mine, but the bad — I had grown up to long and embraced it like a second skin.

Sign it. Your sister cannot marry Luciano Demilia.

Of course she could not. His sweet little daughter could not even stand a mosquito bite; how would she survive marrying a man who loved to kill and torture like a beast who had no humanity?

I was different. In their eyes, I was no different from Luciano. In their eyes, I had lost all my humanity four years ago when I split a man’s throat open when he tried to rape me. For the past four years they had never forgotten to mention it, repeating it like I deserved to be raped.

“Why should I be the one to marry him? He asked for Melinda, did he not?” I said as I leaned back into the chair, ignoring his angry eyes that stared at me like he wanted to burn me alive.

“Melinda is already engaged. How could she marry him? Plus, your younger sister is delicate — she cannot survive in Luciano’s world.”

There it was. Delicate. Melinda was anything but delicate, yet like fools they had believed her mask and manipulation like a holy script that deserved to be worshipped. She could not survive in Luciano’s world because people like her did not deserve to live in any world. People like her should burn in hell and never stay on earth to disgust human beings.

“That was not what I asked, dear father. Why should I marry a man that did not ask for my hand? What do I gain from it?”

My father’s face shifted from angry to disgusted, almost as if he could not believe that the person sitting in front of him shared the same blood as him. I did not care what he thought. For years I had longed for his approval and acceptance. I excelled in anything I did, yet with a single tear from his little princess, all my hard work was seen as me overshadowing her.

I had learned to fight for myself no matter what they believed. Their thoughts were not going to keep me alive in the underworld, nor would they feed me and keep me full if Luciano decided to dump me in a dark and cold underground house because of their stupid stunt in deceiving him.

“Is money all you care about? She is your sister — can you not sacrifice something for her!?” my father roared as his face turned red with anger.

His palm hit the table so hard it shook for a moment, spilling the cup of water all over the table. Ironically, it did not wet the white and black file on the table.

“Sacrifice? Father, you seem to have forgotten who I am. I do not sacrifice myself for anyone. If you want someone to sacrifice themselves for her, go to the church.”

The words left my mouth cold and ruthless. This was me. The me they hated and wanted to destroy. The me they had for years tried to grind into nothing but a mold of my sister.

“25 million and the villa on the coast. Now sign the damn paper, Valentina,” he said as he threw the paper on the table once again, but this time right in front of me.

I picked up the pen and opened the file with a smile on my face. Twenty‑five million — did he really think I was that stupid? If he could afford to buy Melinda a necklace worth 30 million, he could afford more to buy her freedom. Putting down the pen, I turned to him with a cold and detached gaze.

“Father, are you buying your daughter’s freedom, or are you sending away a beggar? 250 million and the villa on the coast, or else get your princess down here to sign the papers,” I said with a calm voice that made his outburst earlier seem like an ungrateful child throwing a tantrum.

“Just sign the papers,” he said with a voice that was meant to sound calm, yet the anger beneath it could not be covered up.

Pathetic.

They were all pathetic and filthy people who only knew how to exploit others. Did they really think me signing a contract would make me disappear forever? I smiled at the thought, took up the pen, and signed my name.

Luciano Demilia.

A name that carried so much weight and horror was now next to mine on a worthless piece of paper. I never feared the unknown — maybe because I have always been a part of it — yet right now all I could think about was how I would return. I would return, and I would take their lives by storm and destroy everything they had built.

The chance I had spent years looking for had come to me with open arms. If my father knew what I was thinking, he would have skinned me alive, thinking I had ripped him off — but so what. The 250 million was for all the troubles and stupid things I had to do for Melinda. Not only did I deserve it, but I also deserved everything they had to their name.

“Transfer the money to my account latest this afternoon, or else I might just decide to give Luciano a call to tell him about your stupid stunt.”

Leaving behind those words, I left my father’s office and turned to my room. I did not want to see the smug smile on that woman’s face right now.